Christmas mystery: part two.(You need to read the previous entry before you read this. It is a sequel.)
This is Christmas day, although it might be boxing day before you get this but as I write it is Christmas, a day set apart to honor the birth of Jesus and it is as big or bigger than it ever was. It is celebrated the world over, even in places where Christianity hardly exists……that is the commercial aspect is and the gift giving as well as the drinking and partying…..so much for Jesus birth. It is the biggest retail event of the year…many retailers just would not make it were it not for this holiday.
What is it really all about anyway? The real meaning is a mystery but don’t lose heart, it is a mystery that has been revealed in the Bible.
In the previous blog entry, I said that this mystery is God becoming man that He might bring us unto Himself. If I did not say it in those actual words that is what I meant. He came to earth to save us from the curse of sin which has had a tight grip on our souls. He came to set us free. In fact it is His grace or His unearned favor that sets us free. His unmerited favor, His matchless favor. He said when the woman was taken in adultery and the law said she had to be stoned to death, “neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” That is grace.
Paul was writing again to the Ephesians in chapter 3 verses number 1-7 1 "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
"Here is the mystery revealed and here is what the apostle means, that being that Christ died for all men everywhere. Here is what he says concerning the mystery from chapter 3 verses 14-19:14 "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,[c] 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." That is the real meaning, the mystery is solved, the mystery of Christmas
About Me
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The mystery of Christmas:
The gospel of John records “In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The NLT says “and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:1-5. Verse 14 of this same chapter declares” And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..”
The great apostle Paul who was the instrument God used to give us so great a portion of the New Testament, wrote the following lines in his letter or epistle if you like, to the church in Ephesus. It reveals this great mystery of what the Gospel is all about in regards to those of us who are not Jewish having a place in the Kingdom of God along with those who are Jewish and in chapter 3 starting at verse 1,” 1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.”
Paul explains his calling and the purpose of it in verses 8-13. Here is how that reads, “8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship[a] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;[b] 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.” Paul explains this mystery of the Gentiles being co-heirs with the Jews through Jesus Christ. And the intent is that every Christian would make known the fact that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh to save sinners of all races and creeds no matter who or what they may be. Verse 19 says “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is what Christmas is for, not trees and mistletoe as pleasant as that may be, but that God became a man so that He Himself could become that ransom required for our sin. The God of the universe became a man. (to be cont’d.)
The great apostle Paul who was the instrument God used to give us so great a portion of the New Testament, wrote the following lines in his letter or epistle if you like, to the church in Ephesus. It reveals this great mystery of what the Gospel is all about in regards to those of us who are not Jewish having a place in the Kingdom of God along with those who are Jewish and in chapter 3 starting at verse 1,” 1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.”
Paul explains his calling and the purpose of it in verses 8-13. Here is how that reads, “8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship[a] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;[b] 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.” Paul explains this mystery of the Gentiles being co-heirs with the Jews through Jesus Christ. And the intent is that every Christian would make known the fact that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh to save sinners of all races and creeds no matter who or what they may be. Verse 19 says “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is what Christmas is for, not trees and mistletoe as pleasant as that may be, but that God became a man so that He Himself could become that ransom required for our sin. The God of the universe became a man. (to be cont’d.)
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The Christmas Storey
The gospel according to St. Luke , CH. 2 GIVES us a snapshot of the birth of Jesus. Most of my readers will know the story, so I will not reread it again, save a verse or two. I find it most interesting to note just how many and who it was that were notified of the coming birth of the One who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Also it is interesting to know who was aware of this great event and what it was truly all about.
First of all the young woman who was to give Him birth, Mary was approached by none other than the Angel Gabriel, the same angel who had appeared to a priest named Zacharias and announced to him that he was going to be a father, the father of John the Baptist as it turned out.
Luke 1:31 says ", you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus." Then her cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias, who at the time was carrying her miracle child, John. Mary had gone to visit her and the Holy Ghost within Elizabeth witnessed to her that Mary was to be the mother of her Lord. Luke 1:43 reads ?But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"Then of course there were the shepherds, the Bible doesn't say how many of them were there but they received the news that night while most of the populace slept.. Sound familiar?
It seems notable to me that not one of the religious hierarchy, not one priest or chief priest, not one Levite was notified or was there. Just some humble shepherds, the local herdsmen of whom the priests and high priests would not even consider as amounting to anything. So it was that these shepherds were chosen to announce what the angel told them. And so they did Luke 2:17, "Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child." That was His first coming. There had been plenty of notice given, the prophets since the time of Moses had prophesied His coming. The general populace by and large seemed to ignore it. How about His next coming? There is plenty of notice given it also...the signs point to it as not too far away. To ignore it is to miss out and be left behind. If it seems like it has been delayed or that God has put it on hold, it is because of what it reads in 1 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." God doesn't make idle or slack promises, He doesn't make promises He can't keep. Be ready.
First of all the young woman who was to give Him birth, Mary was approached by none other than the Angel Gabriel, the same angel who had appeared to a priest named Zacharias and announced to him that he was going to be a father, the father of John the Baptist as it turned out.
Luke 1:31 says ", you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus." Then her cousin Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias, who at the time was carrying her miracle child, John. Mary had gone to visit her and the Holy Ghost within Elizabeth witnessed to her that Mary was to be the mother of her Lord. Luke 1:43 reads ?But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"Then of course there were the shepherds, the Bible doesn't say how many of them were there but they received the news that night while most of the populace slept.. Sound familiar?
It seems notable to me that not one of the religious hierarchy, not one priest or chief priest, not one Levite was notified or was there. Just some humble shepherds, the local herdsmen of whom the priests and high priests would not even consider as amounting to anything. So it was that these shepherds were chosen to announce what the angel told them. And so they did Luke 2:17, "Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child." That was His first coming. There had been plenty of notice given, the prophets since the time of Moses had prophesied His coming. The general populace by and large seemed to ignore it. How about His next coming? There is plenty of notice given it also...the signs point to it as not too far away. To ignore it is to miss out and be left behind. If it seems like it has been delayed or that God has put it on hold, it is because of what it reads in 1 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." God doesn't make idle or slack promises, He doesn't make promises He can't keep. Be ready.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Abba, Father, GOD
From Romans chapter 8, verse 15 we read, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father"
I was sitting in my rocking chair ,which I find myself doing more often these days, when my little two year old granddaughter, Charley, came up to me with an armload of her stuffed friends and said, "Gabby". That's as close as she comes to Grampy right now. I knew what she wanted, so I reached down and picked her up and all her friends and we rocked for a few minutes. It probably did more for me than it did for her but what a wonderful moment we had together and she presented all of these stuffed toys one by one and then after a few minutes she got back down and pursued other interests. It made me think about our relationship with the heavenly Father, Abba....sort of sounds like Gabby doesn't it? But in reality it is closer to "Daddy"and that is how God sees our relationship. He is my Daddy, a term with much more intimacy than Father, at least I think. That's the way little Charley is with her Daddy and another granddaughter, Sophie who just turned one year old is with her daddy. It delighted me when I held Charley for those few minutes and it delights our heavenly "Daddy" when we climb up on His lap and share time with Him. How little we take the time to present all of our friends or our cares and rest them in His care. He delights in answering our prayers when we come to Him and in faith receive His blessing. Have you had that intimate moment with Him today? He is waiting for you to call Him today.
I was sitting in my rocking chair ,which I find myself doing more often these days, when my little two year old granddaughter, Charley, came up to me with an armload of her stuffed friends and said, "Gabby". That's as close as she comes to Grampy right now. I knew what she wanted, so I reached down and picked her up and all her friends and we rocked for a few minutes. It probably did more for me than it did for her but what a wonderful moment we had together and she presented all of these stuffed toys one by one and then after a few minutes she got back down and pursued other interests. It made me think about our relationship with the heavenly Father, Abba....sort of sounds like Gabby doesn't it? But in reality it is closer to "Daddy"and that is how God sees our relationship. He is my Daddy, a term with much more intimacy than Father, at least I think. That's the way little Charley is with her Daddy and another granddaughter, Sophie who just turned one year old is with her daddy. It delighted me when I held Charley for those few minutes and it delights our heavenly "Daddy" when we climb up on His lap and share time with Him. How little we take the time to present all of our friends or our cares and rest them in His care. He delights in answering our prayers when we come to Him and in faith receive His blessing. Have you had that intimate moment with Him today? He is waiting for you to call Him today.
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