Over 300 Prophecies Fulfilled at Christmas

Did anyone prophecy your birth? Or mine? I don't think so! But I doubt that anyone will question that we lived.

And yet the most prophesied birth in the history of the world is occasionally foolishly questioned by the enemies of God who never cease to harass the Christian faith.

No, the Son of God was not born on December 25th...and, yes, the day we celebrate was co-opted from the pagan Roman holiday of Saturnalia in an attempt to convert pagan Rome to Christianity. We, too, supposedly a nation of Christians, have celebrated our national idol of money to the point of nearly commercializing everything holy out of Christmas.

Should we then join the enemies of God by denouncing Christmas? Not at all. We will always be in a spiritual warfare with God's enemies. We need to cultivate the truth of our celebration of the birth of our Savior so that our light shines brightly into a dark world. One ray of light eliminates much darkness. This is a great time to take advantage of this unique opportunity to present the gospel to the world.

Unlike anyone else in the history of the world, the birth of Jesus Christ was foretold for centuries by the Hebrew prophets, along with the details of His life, death and resurrection. No prophecies preceded the births of Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad, etal. None of them were resurrected from the dead. The life of Christ is the most verifiably proven life in all of history. The fulfillment of Bible prophecy is one of the most powerful proofs that we have. Paul used it in converting the lost, turning the world of his day upside down. So should we.

Christianity was not a first-century invention. The birth of the Messiah is the fulfillment of centuries of prophets who spoke with one voice the consistent message of the prophecy of Jesus. There are more than 300 Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. For what reason? So that Israel could identify Him when He arrived.

The very first prophecy can be found in Genesis. The prophecies declared that He must be of the "lineage of David" and the gospels of Matthew and Luke begin with the genealogy of Joseph and Mary, clearly establishing that Jesus met every criteria. No other life in the world has been as meticulously documented, even by secular scholars. His Word, the Bible, is consistently the most purchased book in the world. And yet many of His own people, the Jews, rejected Him then and now.

While great numbers of Messianic Jews are accepting Christ in recent years, the majority of Jews still hope for their Messiah to come and will accept the anti-christ as their messiah for a short period of time before finally recognizing Him at His Second Coming.

Man crucified its Creator despite overwhelming evidence of His Deity.

Many skeptics have been converted to Jesus Christ in the midst of their search to disprove Him. It is impossible to remain an honest skeptic after examining the historical record.

We have the most solid reasons possible for our faith in Christ. The most convincing evidence becomes our relationship with Him. Ours is not a shallow worship of dead idols, eyes that cannot see, tongues that cannot speak. No. Ours is a living relationship with God, one in which we share fellowship with Him. He communes with us.

Don't lose any opportunity to present the gospel with conviction and boldness at this time of celebration of the blessed Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He did not remain a baby in a cradle. He became a living sacrifice to bring redemption to all mankind that would believe and accept Him as Lord of their lives.

He is coming back very soon, not as the meek and lowly sacrificial lamb, but in power and glory as the King of Kings, to judge the world and to reign and rule in righteousness, fulfilling the rest of the prophecies. He wants you to be a part of that kingdom.

A Child of the King

Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

Who could ever have dreamed up something as incredible as the birth and meaning of Jesus? Only the Creator of the universe! Truth is always much more interesting than fiction.

Everything about the gospel message is fantastic. The creator dying for the created. The judge paying the penalty for the guilty. The God of the universe laying aside his royalty, being born in human form in a lowly stable to not only become the servant, but to suffer and die on a cross in the most humiliating way, as the perfect sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. Who could think up something like this? Only God. Only he could make it believable - because it was truth. All of the pagan religions would only be shallow copies of God's mind from the beginning of creation, only deceptive imitations.

It was not that simple. There were great concepts that had to be played out. The Messiah could not be born with a sin nature, thus a virgin birth. Stranger than fiction, certainly. Both Joseph and Mary were visited by angels in order to prepare them for their roles.

There were many angel visitations surrounding this amazing arrival of God's only begotten Son. First, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, who were terrified. And then a great host of angels appeared praising God and bringing the gospel news.

The angels themselves are very interesting. They are very involved in all the affairs here on earth and many are here for the express purpose of ministering to us and for us, the heirs of salvation. They are continually warring with the fallen angels and assisting us in spiritual warfare.

The angels were extremely interested in God's plans for mankind, especially in Jesus' role on earth and the plan of redemption, human beings and how this salvation would play itself out. I believe they were thrilled to be seeing it begin to unfold. The Bible tells us that the angels wondered at all of this, and in our own roles as humans in this, since the angels are not redeemed from sin as we are through Christ's sacrifice. We are never to worship angels but we can be very thankful for them as God's ministering agents to us in our earthly life. They surround us.

Jesus. The Messiah. Fully God, fully human. Sinless. Emmanuel: "God with us."

Amazing story. Amazing truth. Amazing grace.

The complexities in the gospel story can never be exhausted by our human minds and understanding. We should never let this event become trite through annual celebration. There are vast depths to be mined, more than we can understand in our lifetimes. We should finder deeper meaning, deeper praise each year.



Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Christmas: A Renewal

'Twas the week before Christmas; I was on the run,
But ahead of the game -- my shopping was done!
I still had the wrapping, the menus to plan,
The cookies to bake, and the laundry -- again.

There was music to practice and costumes to make
And lines to remember and pictures to take
And the final rehearsal for the church Christmas skit,
And, oh yes! I had promised to babysit.

We'd been to three programs and one special lunch;
There were two more to go to (and more! was my hunch).
Yet threaded through this, recurred a sensation
Of memories, changes ... of realization.

I thought of the Christmases perfect and bright,
A storybook picture with everything right.
But what about Christmas when things were all wrong?
How could one's heart then be filled with a song?

When a young man was missing through a death so untimely,
How did peace fit the scene, and joy? So unseemly.
Or what about Christmas including divorce?
Lone parents, scared children. A time to rejoice?

And then there's remarriage; Christmas with strangers?
Stepchildren, new in-laws, traditions endangered.
And what about friends with a child who was dying?
Or the ones who'd lost jobs and would do little buying?

Estrangements at Christmas? Relationships broken
By desperate actions, or cruel words spoken.
And what of the lonely, the ill and the needy?
And what of the criminal, the deranged, and the greedy?

My reflections were shattered by the doorbell's ring.
My next-door neighbor had goodies to bring.
I thought of this Christmas, still ahead, still unused,
With brand new grandchildren to keep us amused.

With four generations alive, we were blessed;
I knew that this Christmas would be one of the best.
But to make it that way there was now more to do,
Priorities shuffled, I'd adjusted my view.

Who could I help, of the people I knew?
The needs were so great, my resources so few.
But the spirit of Christmas had gripped me within;
I could make some small difference. And so I lit in.

My small beam of light in the dark would be hurled,
To honor the birth of the Light of the World.

Merry Christmas!

Copyright 1993 All Rights Reserved

Peace on Earth?

I don't think so, some would say to the title of this post.

Things look pretty bad on earth. But when you think about it, things have always looked pretty bad on earth. We just haven't been around to see it. All we see is our own little world. Nothing has changed, though. Things are just the same as they've always been, since the Year One. God had barely got Adam and Eve created and dried off before they were up to mischief. Disobeying. And it's been that way ever since. So when will peace come?

We have good news! We have been given a gift for the world. That gift is peace. Well, what a silly thing to say . . . just look around you. Where is this peace?

A couple of thousand years ago some average folks were just sitting around doing their everyday chores when they were shocked and afraid to hear voices in the sky and to see angels who told them about a baby being born, and that he was bringing "peace on earth, goodwill to men". And so they did what the angels told them and found the baby in a place that felt completely familiar to them: a stable. They brought gifts and worshipped their Savior, who had come to them in a setting they understood. They believed. They obeyed. They had peace.

It really seems too simple, doesn't it? So simple that a child could understand it. A little child with a simple faith, who believes the baby Jesus came to save us from our sins and has brought us peace on earth, good will to men. So simple that we don't need an education, a degree, expertise in a field. In fact, maybe those things get in our way. We want to argue with it...and about it. And complicate it up. We're a little more sophisticated than that, after all. The plain fact is that we can't believe it. But it's the truth.

It is simple enough for anybody. The simple fact is that peace came to earth that night. Anybody can have that peace. It's free. Jesus comes to you right where you are, where you feel comfortable. All you need to do is ask Him to save you from yourself (your sinful condition), to be the Lord of your life and to tell you what to do from now on. Every day. And you obey (that's the hard part). And you will have peace.

Yes, Virginia, there is peace on earth.

Accept the gift of peace this Christmas.

The Truth About St. Nicholas

Yes, St. Nicholas was a real person who lived in what is now Turkey.

He was a little man about five feet tall, a cardinal known as Nicholas of Myra and would have been seen in his long red robes. His picture is seen in early Christian art where he has a white beard and is somewhat bald. He came from a committed Christian family, and it was in his childhood that he learned the gift of giving from his parents.

THE LEGEND IS BORN

Nicholas became aware of a man with three daughters who had lost everything and moved to a slum, where the man was attempting to sell his oldest daughter to raise enough money to raise his two younger daughters.

The night before the girl was to be sold Nicholas waited outside the home for the lights to go out, upon which he tossed a sack full of gold through an open window and quickly disappeared before they could discover him. The money was enough to last the family for over a year, after which the father once again felt forced to consider selling the daughter once again. Nicholas again secretly delivered a bag of gold. But this time he was caught in the act.

Wiping away his tears of gratitude the man asked Nicholas why he had given them such large gifts, and why he kept it a secret. Nicholas replied, "Because it's good to give when only God knows about it."

THE LOVE BEHIND THE LEGEND

Nicholas' mother and father both died, probably of the plague, when he was just a teen. During that period of devastating grief his uncle Nicholas -- himself a priest -- prayed with young "Nick" for peace. During this time he discovered a deep sense of urgency to memorialize his parents with the fortune his parents left him. After giving everything he had to the poor and needy he felt a call to study to become more like Christ and was admitted into a monastery school.

This previously wealthy young man went into the priesthood while probably still a teenager. During this time period of great Christian persecution under both emperor Diocletian and Maximian, Nicholas was imprisoned for his faith. He saw in this an opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with his fellow inmates, following Paul's example in the New Testament.

When Nicholas was released he was elected Bishop of Myra. He used his position to oversee a period of ministering to the poor, placing orphans in homes and seeing that these people had all their needs met. He was a well-known figure as he carried a bag of candy and gifts wherever he went, and children loved him and followed him whenever he came out into the streets.

He still attempted to keep his good works a secret by dropping coins into windows and leaving clothing or food on the porches. His fellow clerics knew it was he who was distributing these gifts, Nicholas did not allow the information to get to the public. When some of the poor inevitably told him of their good fortune in receiving these gifts Nicholas would smile and tell them that God had heard and answered their prayers. In the more remote areas the people had no idea that he was a cleric, and thus a legend grew that he was an angel dressed in red.

Nicholas used the opportunity to tell everyone, especially many children, about Jesus Christ and the gift He gave through his death on the cross and he would assure the children how much Jesus loves the little children.

THE LEGEND BECAME A TRADITION

St. Nicholas took the Lord's instruction seriously and saw himself as a shepherd of lost sheep who sorely needed a message of hope. His unselfish work for the lost and needy were so great that his work grew into a legend so great that when he died people followed his example, becoming a widespread practice among the people to leave gifts for others. Many churches were named after him.

It was his great example of a generous and godly spirit which grew into the tradition of Santa Claus, and that spirit of giving continued down through the years.

While many Christians rightly complain about the commercialization of Christmas we have the ability to go back to the simple example of St. Nicholas. We can present Jesus Christ as the primary gift, and give our gifts as a remembrance of the gospel.

We have a powerful tool at Christmas to change the focus back to where it belongs: to the greatest gift of all time, salvation. Give homemade gifts, enjoy the lights and ornaments, but use it as a time to teach the reason behind the tradition.

Take back Christmas and its true meaning!