Jesus and Christmas - What's It All About? (Part 2)

The Christmas story reveals many things about God and His plan for man.  The story of the birth of Jesus has become a nice story to tell.  If we look at it, stopping to ask, "What does that mean?", and really understanding what took place, we may find it more than just a nice story.

The first hint of the birth of Jesus and who He is, was revealed by the prophet Isaiah in his 7th Chapter, verse 14;

           "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child
           and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."

Immanuel means, "God with us".  That would be something to ponder.  This child being called, "God with us, what might that mean?  A virgin being with a child, how is that possible and what might that mean?  To make it  even more to ponder, Isaiah made another revelation of this child in his 9th Chapter, verse 6;

            "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest
            on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
            Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

This is a very popular scripture on some Christmas cards, but if we are looking at what it is saying, we have to ask ourselves, "What does this mean?  "His", being capitalized, refers to the child as being God.  This is backed up by the fact that one of His names is Mighty God.  To make it even more interesting, this child's name will be called Eternal Father.  How could this child be a God and Father?

If we look at the story of Jesus birth, as revealed in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, we can learn how this is possible.  Luke writes this in his 1st Chapter, verses 26 - 38;

            (26)"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee,
            called Nazareth,(27) to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
            descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.(28) And coming in, he said
            to her, "Hail, favored one!  The Lord is with you.(29) But she was greatly troubled
            at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be.(30) And
            the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; For you have found favor with God.
            (31) And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name
            Him Jesus.(32) He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the
            Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David;(33) and He will reign over
            the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end."

There are a few things to look at here in these verses.  First, it is a great honor to be told that you have found favor with God.  Isaiah wrote in his 64th Chapter, verse 6,  that all man's righteous deeds are as filthy rags.  So how did Mary find favor with God?  What was it about Mary, that God would find favor with her?  I don't think that it was because God was just looking for a virgin, for I am sure that she was not the only virgin in Galilee.  There had to be something else about Mary that God felt favorable towards.  Maybe she was a girl who read the old testament writings and understood what God really required of man.  The burnt offerings that the High priest would perform, once a year, for the cleansing of sin,  I am sure that Mary participated in the Passover Feasts to receive this temporary forgiveness.  I am sure that Mary probably also fasted.  Both these acts are good, but these things are for a persons benefit, it is not that they are benefiting anyone else by practicing such things.  I am sure that other virgins in that day in Galilee also practices such things.  Maybe Mary, in her readings in the old testament, understood the heart of God and what He really liked.

These verses from the Old Testament writings might be what caught Mary's attention;

The prophet Micah wrote this in his 6th Chapter, verse 8;

            "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you, but
            to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

The prophet Isaiah wrote this in his 58th Chapter, verses 3-11 about what God's fast means;

             (3)"Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see?  Why have we humbled ourselves
             and Thou dost not notice?  Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And
             drive hard all your workers.(4) Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike
             with a wicked fist.  You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
             (5) Is it a fast like this that I chose, a day for a man to humble himself?  Is it for bowing
             one's head like a reed, And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?  Will you
             call this a fast, even a acceptable day to the Lord?

             (6) Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the
             bonds of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke?(7) Is it
             not to divide your bread with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house;
             When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
            
             (8) Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring
             forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your
             rear guard.(9) Then you will call and I will answer; You will cry, and He will say,
             'Here I am'.  If you remove the yoke from your mist, The pointing of the finger, and
             speaking wickedness,(10) And if you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire
             of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become as
             midday.(11) And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in
             scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be  like a watered
             garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail."

If you notice here, it is not what we do in ourselves to please God, but what we do to benefit others that pleases the heart of God and brings His blessings upon us.  Mary must have understood and practiced such things, because she loved God enough to want to do what was pleasing in His sight.
In return Mary found favor with God and would be found as blessed by God.  The writings of Isaiah were probably a common read by Mary, for when Jesus would teach in the synagogues, He would read from the prophet Isaiah.  When He would read about the parts in Isaiah that told about Himself, Jesus would tell them that today in your hearing this is being fulfilled.

And in Psalm 51, verses 16 and 17, David wrote this in regards to burnt offerings;

            (16)"For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, other wise I would give it; Thou art not
            pleased with burnt offering.(17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and
            contrite heart, O God , Thou wilt not despise.

So God chose Mary for this very special event.  Here we have Mary a virgin, who can not be very old, told by the angel Gabriel that she would give birth to a Son that she shall call Jesus(Yeshua).
Mary understood what the name Jesus meant, for it was a Hebrew name meaning, "The Lord our Salvation".  Mary may have known also, from the writings of the prophet Isaiah, that her God that she worshiped was the only Savior.  For Isaiah wrote this in his 45th Chapter, verses 21-23;

            (21)" Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together.  Who has
            long since declared it?  Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A
            righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.(22) Turn to Me, and be saved,
            all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.(23) I have sworn by
            Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn
            back, That to Me every Knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."

Where we have come to learn that this is Jesus, the Lord our Salvation, from what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians in his 2nd Chapter, verses 5-11:

            (5)" Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,(6) who, although
            He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
            (7) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the
            likeness of men.(8) And being found in appearance as a man, He humble Himself by
            becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.(9) Therefore God
            Highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,(10)
            That at the name of Jesus every name shall bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the
            earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
            Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

How is this possible though and what does it mean?  How can God come to the earth, being born to a virgin, desiring to be called Jesus, and why?  The story of Christmas, Jesus birth, answers these questions.  We know after the fact, but Mary was experiencing what we now know.  She knew that she was going to give birth to the Lord our Salvation, but how?

In Luke Chapter 1, verses 34-38, Mary asked the question to Gabriel and he gives her the answer;

            (34) And Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I am a virgin?'(35) And the
            Angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
            of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be
            called the Son of God."

Do you really think that this answered her question, or at this point do you think that she was living by faith, trusting God?

             (36) And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age;
             she who is called barren is now in her sixth month.(37) For nothing is impossible with
             God.(38) And Mary said, 'Behold the bond slave of the Lord; be it done to me according
             to your word.' And the angel departed her."

What the angel Gabriel said to Mary in verse 35 is the clue to how this child will be God.  Mary becomes pregnant by the Holy Spirit of God.  This makes the Holy Spirit the Father of this child. Back in verse 32 Gabriel told Mary that the child would be called the Son of the Most High.
This is how this child Jesus is both the Mighty God and Eternal Father.  You have to look at it from God's plan.  He wants to come into this earthly realm, so He puts a very part of His presence in an egg of Mary.  What is growing is not like a man making a women pregnant, for the mans child is different than the man.  In this case this child that grows in Mary is from the very essence of God.  It is actually a piece, if we might say, of God Himself growing in Mary.  He is an actual piece of the Father, the Holy Spirit, growing in Mary.  God at this point is existing as both Spirit and Man.  You can look at it as if Jesus is more God's body than a son as we would perceive Him to be.  Jesus did not come into this world under the sin curse of Adam as we have all descended from, for Jesus comes forth from the very seed of God Himself.  This is how Jesus was sinless and the only one, according to the law, who could qualified for entrance into heaven at His death.

A lot to ponder.  Part 3 will view this event from Joseph's perspective.  Could you imagine?

Jesus peace be with all of you.

    
           
           

Jesus and Christmas -- What's It All About?(Part 1) This Gospel is The Power of God Unto Salvation and Eternal Life.

Many people have many different views as to what Christmas is all about.  For some it is a religious Holiday.  For others it is about Santa Claus and the exchange of gifts.  Many view it as a time to spend with family.  There are those who look at it as some or all of the above. Some despise it for many different reasons.  Most everyone would know that it has to do with the birth of Jesus.  What about the birth of Jesus?  What is it really all about?  How has this story, of the birth of Jesus, survived over two thousand years now? What is it's significance?

To understand the real meaning of Christmas and why it has survived as long at it has,  we have to look at what Christmas is all about from God's eyes.  First of all, God did not name it Christmas.  Man named it Christmas as a celebration of Jesus birth.  Many celebrate Christmas and still do not understand the importance of Jesus birth to them.  If we look at it from God's eyes,  we will see the beauty and wonder of it all.

The idea of birth of Jesus was conceived even before the earth was created.  God, known as the Holy Spirit, for He had no form, had a plan to create a new existence.  Not only a new existence for Himself, but also the new existence of a new living being.  At this time, when God was planning to do a new thing, He was Spirit.  All the other created beings who existed with Him were spiritual beings known as angels.  One third of the angels had become fallen angels because they rebelled against God and followed after Lucifer's uprising to rise above God.  These angels God renamed Demons and Lucifer was renamed Satan, which means, "the adversary". 

I know, so far it doesn't sound like much of a Christmas story, but just stick with me.  If we can see it from God's eyes, Christmas, or the birth of Jesus, reveals much about God and much about you.  When God was planning the birth of Jesus, He had you in mind.  God wanted to create a new living being.  He did not want to do it as He had done before and just speak into existence beings like the angels who had no choice whether they wanted to be created or not.  The angels are beautiful creatures and a marvelous creation.  Because they had no choice in there coming into existence, one third of the angels misunderstood the Love of God and His character.  They could not see God, for He existed as a Spirit, a Holy Spirit. The third of the angels that fell and followed after Lucifer, were probably captivated by the beauty of Lucifer who they could see.  Lucifer was the anointed cherub who covered and was one of God's most beautiful creations.  His beauty made him arrogant and proud to the point that he attempted to overtake the throne of God.  This is when God cast Lucifer and the angels, that followed Satan, as fallen.  Their eternal life existence was now gone.  Their new fallen existence rendered them in a state that would later result in eternal death.

God can only create beings that are eternal and have an eternal life existence, because He is the Eternal Life.  In Lucifer and the angels rebellion, they chose not to follow God who is the Life, therefore surrendering the part of them that had life and that being God.  God could have just destroyed Satan and his demons.  I am sure that He didn't want to spend the rest of eternity with the other two-thirds of the angels, having to always wonder if they were staying with Him only out of fear of being cast out like the angels that rebelled were.  Looking at what had transpired in the heavenly realm, God wanted to come up with a new plan of creation.  Not only was God desiring to create a new type of creation, but also He was desiring to create a visible body for Himself.  One that could relate visibly with the new creations that He desired to bring into existence. The only problem here is that God had to come up with a way to create a being that would come into existence by wanting to do so, by choosing Him for His Love and character.  These new creations would be beings who understood God's Love for them, and for all eternity never stop appreciating who God is and what He did for them.  To achieve this, God had to somehow bring into existence a being with a fallen nature.  He cannot speak such a being into existence.  In doing His plan this way, I am sure that he wanted to fully express his true nature and Love in such a way that the remaining two-thirds of the angels will know that they had made the right choice in choosing not to rebel against the Most High God.  So He comes up with a plan.

Where is Christmas in all this?  We are getting closer, so hang in there.  God's plan was this.  God decided to create a physical realm.  A physical realm that could sustain life for a physical being.  Therefore, God created the Earth with the universe as we know it, with the sun and moon and planets working together to sustain a physical being that we know as humans.  He needed a being that was a physical being that would choose to become an eternal spiritual being.  Who wouldn't want that?  You'd be surprised.  To do this, God took a chance, knowing the deceptiveness of Satan, God would create a man and a women from man, on the earth He created, and just give them one commandment.
Hence, we have Adam and Eve.  God gave Adam and Eve just the one commandment, "Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil".  The consequence for breaking this command would be, "On the day that you do so, you shall surely die".  Here is where God's trust in Satan to slither in and deceive and tempt Adam and Eve to rebel and eat from the tree comes in.  Satan got them to eat of the fruit by telling them that if that eat from the tree they will be like God.  Such a Satan thing.  Adam and Eve did eat from the tree but they did not die.  Something about them must have died.  Adam and Eve were created beings who had a soul that was filled with the life of God.  They where created as an eternal spiritual and physical being that had the eternal life of God in them.  When they disobeyed they lost that life that was in their soul.  The living spiritual part of them died. God asked Eve, "What is this you have done?" God did not zap them.  Instead God's plan was right as He desired. 

God now had the mechanism in place to where Adam and Eve could now begin the process of inhabiting the earth with beings who had fallen natures and empty souls.  God could not just speak such a being into existence, but now they could come into existence.  This empty soul would be the very place that God would use to create a new creation.  It would be, as you might say, an egg that could be fertilized by the very Spirit of God, that would become a New Creation.  God also had in place the mechanism in which He could create for Himself a body.  This is where the Christmas story comes in.

The prophet Isaiah wrote a verse in his writings that has become a very popular saying around Christmas and says something that I have found is seldom realize by the hearer.  Isaiah wrote this in his 9th chapter, verse 6;

              "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest
              on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
              Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

We often under play the reality of who Jesus is.  When it refers to His shoulders and His name, the capitalized His refers to God.  He is the Mighty God, Eternal Father.  Do we realize that this Jesus, who was this baby that is celebrated during Christmas, was God at His birth and not only God but an Eternal Father.  Do we not stop to contemplate and understand what this means and how is this possible?  Two chapters earlier in Isaiah's writings, Isaiah wrote this in his 7th Chapter, verse14;

              "Therefore the Lord Himself will give us a sign: Behold , a virgin will be with child
              and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."

Immanuel means, God with us.  This child, Jesus, born to the virgin will be "God with us".  How is this possible?  Do we ask ourselves, how does a virgin give birth.  The story of Christmas as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke reveal what made this possible and how this baby could be God and why He came.  The Christmas story reveals the whole gospel message.  So let's look at the Christmas story in my next blog.

May Jesus' peace be with you. 1