This is a traditional message about Christmas but each year I change some things here and there that the Lord shows me since the last time. And, even though it's a little longer than our usual newsletters I hope you'll take the time to read this article all the way to the end because you WILL find some new things to think about especially in the context of the subject we've been studying for the last fourteen weeks about living life under the New Covenant. Indeed, without the physical birth of Jesus of Nazareth, there wouldn't be a New Covenant to talk about.
Christmas continues to be one of the strongest traditions in Western culture despite the efforts of so many people to do away with it or to at least keep the "religious" parts out of sight as. For many secular folks, anything portraying a nativity scene or mentioning the name JESUS is especially offensive. But then a number of those same people are willing to tolerate a "Christmas holiday" if it's limited to Christmas Trees, Santa Claus (although he's recently coming under attack too as a religious figure), shopping for presents, singing Christmas carols that don't mention Jesus or the manger, and going into debt is okay. Of course the name of the day they're celebrating sounds a lot like the word CHRIST which means MESSIAH so probably that's why some of the more determined secularists want to just call it a WINTER BREAK.
But most people, even secular folks and those from other religions, know full well that Christmas is about the BIRTH OF JESUS. Beyond that, knowledge gets a little sketchy even for many who call themselves Christians. Is Christmas really all that important? And, what are we really celebrating anyway? How does Christmas relate to the subject of living life under the New Covenant? Perhaps this version of the Christmas Story will be a little new for some of you but if you read it with an open mind ready to receive, it will bless you and give you renewed appreciation for that special event we call the Birth of Christ.
The Background
The facts are that Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem (Luke 2:4) not far from Jerusalem and laid in a manger (Luke 2:7) more than two thousand years ago. Scripture confirms that it was a very important event because it was attended by an ANGEL OF THE LORD who told some nearby shepherds that he had some really good news for ALL PEOPLE which was that Christ (the Messiah) had arrived (Luke 2:8-11). The ANGEL OF THE LORD was accompanied by a MULTITUDE of other angels who were praising God, and their group then made the rest of the announcement: "on earth peace, good will TOWARD men" (Luke 2:14 KJV). All those angels were glorifying God and singing and celebrating as they made that announcement; something special was happening and what they specifically said is a really good reason for all of us Believers to celebrate too. But like most things where the Word of God is concerned, we need to make an extra effort to get the full UNDERSTANDING of this particular announcement. And the truth is, what those angels actually said that night is NOT what most people think they said.
The story of Christmas actually started in the Garden of Eden where God placed His first people, a man and soon after a woman. They were created in God's image and from the beginning He DELEGATED to the man the full authority and control over the entire earth and everything on it (Genesis 1:26-28). God would not have done that without also giving them the empowerment they would need and without planning to make Himself available to help carry out His instructions. That's the way God always wants to work: together with and through people.
Unfortunately that original plan got sidetracked when those first two folks disobeyed God by eating from the tree where they'd been specifically told not to eat because by the eating of that forbidden fruit they would surely DIE (Genesis 2:17 and 3:6). The Hebrew word in this scripture translated into the English word DIE means to be DISCONNECTED from the Source. In other words a SPIRITUAL death occurred. The Scripture is not talking at this point about physical death which came later as a separate consequence. So as a result of Adam's disobedience, the spirit of man instantly died to the things of God, disconnected on a Spirit-to-spirit level and we refer to that condition now as "fallen man" or "fallen from grace."
Now mankind has been created with the basic requirement of being CONSTANTLY connected to a spirit. The Holy Spirit is the correct connection. But Satan is also a spirit and so once Adam had disconnected from the Spirit of God, he became connected by default to Satan who then usurped his authority and the related empowerment that God had delegated. It was certainly within Adam's AUTHORITY to give away what God had delegated and so because of sin he gave it all over to Satan. That's why the Bible refers to Satan as the ruler of this world (John 12:31, 14:30), the god of this World (2 Corinthians 4:4), the Prince of the Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2), etc. Yes, the Word DOES say that the earth is the Lord's (Psalm 24:1); He's indeed the Owner of it. But the control of it, the management or stewardship of it was originally assigned to Adam as the chief Steward and subsequently taken over by Satan.
The Bible also says that by the act of one man sin entered the entire world and by sin death spread to all men (Romans 5:12). Indeed sin has taken over everything on the earth (except for the Kingdom of God that was re-established on the earth by Jesus) and what many folks forget or choose to ignore is that someday God will eventually JUDGE everyone according to their deeds (Revelation 20:11-15). The consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and this time the New Testament Greek word is talking about physical death.
Fortunately, from the moment Adam sinned God started implementing a substitute plan designed to provide a way of escape for mankind so we could be reconnected to the Holy Spirit. Some folks like to say God went to WAR against sin which seems like a pretty accurate description because the Bible says that before Christ we were God's ENEMIES (Romans 5:10). In sum, EVERYTHING God did after the Fall was directed at providing a way for man to escape His WRATH through Jesus (Romans 5:9).
And so, on the night the Angel of the Lord began speaking to those shepherds near Bethlehem, the People of God had been trying for 4,000 years to find a way to re-establish the spiritual CONNECTION that had been lost in the Garden. Indeed, God's people were desperate for God's forgiveness and the arrival of MESSIAH.
The Gift of Jesus
Now the Bible says that forgiveness requires the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22) and it was going to take nothing less than the blood of a PERFECT human being to pay for all the sins we had come up with. That would require some special circumstances and only a loving God could have arranged to produce that PERFECT human. Mary was a faith-filled virgin and her virginity was an essential requirement for producing a human being with no inherited sin nature. Don't let spiritually-limited folks talk you out of the reality of Mary's VIRGINITY because it was a REQUIRED CONDITION. The other required condition was that the Father of the perfect human had to also be perfect. And so God arranged for that by sending the Holy Spirit to "overshadow"Mary and conceive the PERFECT child BY THE SEED OF HIS WORD. Nine months later Jesus the CHRIST (Messiah) was born in Bethlehem and the Angel of the Lord appeared there at that time to make the official announcement of His arrival.
Every year most of our churches do their best to commemorate what happened that night with their Christmas Pageants and Cantatas and dancing and special lights. The kids are so cute in their costumes and the people have fun being a part of all those activities. Indeed, those things about the local church are great to be a part of. But many of those folks maybe even most, no condemnation intended, don't have much of an UNDERSTANDING about what they're celebrating. Yes, thirty-three years later Jesus DID die on the Cross, the blood of redemption (reconciliation with God) was shed at that time and He resurrected from the grave. We traditionally celebrate all of that on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. So then here's a question: is the significance of Christmas simply that it was the beginning of a life that eventually led to Calvary and redemption for mankind? If that were the full story, it would have certainly been enough: job well done, life well lived.
But the angelic announcement was MORE than that. Up until the night of the birth of Jesus, God had been engaged in a 4,000-year "war" against sin and yet the multitude of angels that came to Bethlehem that night said, "peace on earth good will TOWARD men." The English word TOWARD is mainly found in the King James Version of the Bible. Other translations say "peace and good will AMONG men" or something to that effect. But where is the peace and good will AMONG men either then or since the birth of Christ? It's certainly not AMONG us now. Jesus Himself said later: "Do not think that I came (to earth) to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). The Greek word in Luke 2:14 can be translated as either TOWARD or AMONG. But because of other scriptures, AMONG doesn't really fit what happened that night because all those angels would have been celebrating something that has never happened. There's never been peace AMONG men on earth since Adam left the Garden, and there won't be until Jesus returns to earth which is still in the future. Therefore, the word TOWARD is the appropriate translation: "peace on earth good will TOWARD men" just as the KJV translated it and in this case there's a HUGE difference between the two renderings.
What they were announcing that night, what they were celebrating about was that the 4,000-year "war" was soon coming to an end. God was making PEACE available TOWARD mankind and putting in place a way for ALL of us to escape the WRATH that's STILL to come. From the birth of Jesus forward, God started a process of releasing good will (favor, grace) TOWARD mankind. This was all about the relationship between God and people, the SPIRITUAL relationship that had been broken in the Garden and had made us the enemies of God (Romans 5:10). By the birth of Christ the angels were announcing that PEACE between God and mankind was being restored, hostilities were ending, the parties to the "war" were about to be reconciled, a peace treaty was in the making. Mankind was about to have an opportunity to be reconnected to the Spirit of God!
Keep in mind though as pointed out already that for the "war" to actually come to an end, blood would have to be shed. The blood had to come from a person because a MAN had abdicated his authority over the earth and it would have to be a man that recovered it. Jesus the perfect "man" was born that night that the angels were celebrating. But He still had to live in perfection on the earth for a time without sinning so that His blood would be acceptable and eligible for the payment of ALL the sins of ALL mankind for ALL time (Hebrews 9:12). When Jesus accomplished this 33 years later, the construction of the way of escape was completed. What people can do now to escape the final WRATH is believe and confess that Jesus is Lord and that He was raised from the dead (Romans 10:9). Meanwhile, because of what Jesus accomplished God has CHOSEN TO NOT REMEMBER ANY of our sins (Hebrews 8:12) because they've already been paid for by the One who came to earth on that special night two thousand years ago. THAT IS WHY SCRIPTURE CLEARLY SAYS THAT GOD IS NOT COUNTING OUR SINS AGAINST US (2 Corinthians 5:19, Romans 4:8, 4:15 and 5:13). We are NOT accountable for our sins and in the eyes of God, it's as though we NEVER sinned.
God's war against sin and against those who committed sin was over! A truce was called that night in Bethlehem when the angels said that God was releasing good will TOWARD men. God has ALREADY judged our sins by the blood of Christ. Some Believers have a hard time accepting that but the TRUTH according to scripture is that the hostilities have ended and the bad things that happen to us in life don't originate with God; they come from Satan, from the world and from our own bad choices and decisions. They do NOT ever, ever come from our loving God. If we RESIST our enemy the devil, he must flee (James 4:7) and because of the birth of Jesus we can now enter into battle against an enemy that is ALREADY defeated and has ALREADY lost ALL the authority he had previously stolen (Matthew 28:18). Now BY FAITH in Christ the RECONNECTED Believer has regained the AUTHORITY that had been lost by Adam and we can use that AUTHORITY to achieve His victory in every area of life: spirit, soul and body!
Which brings us now to the main point of this article: the announcement of the angels that night in Bethlehem was for ALL mankind, not just for the Jewish people that God had chosen to live under the LAW for 1,500 years but for all of God's creation INCLUDING the nations (Gentiles). You can see this confirmed in more detail in Galatians 3:14-29 and the point to be made is that included in the big announcement was that a way was being made for God's everlasting Covenant with Abraham to be fulfilled with ALL people on the earth by connecting it to a New Covenant through Messiah. For the first time the BLESSING of God was being made available to everyone and anyone who would be willing to TAKE it by GRACE (God's undeserved good will) through FAITH. The BLESSING of God was being offered for the first time since the Garden to ALL of mankind. Now a Believer in Christ anywhere on the earth, Jew or Greek (Gentile), bond or free, male or female or whoever (Galatians 3:28) can receive God's FAVOR in every area of life simply by FAITH.
The final point to be made is that along with creation itself, the birth of Jesus is the greatest event in the history of the world. Everything changed that night. The war ended, grace and faith were released on the earth and hope came back to the hearts of men everywhere. But in addition to that, according to Scripture Jesus was MESSIAH from the time of His birth (Luke 2:11). In other words He was ALREADY Lord. Therefore, when He was born He was ALREADY the King of Kings. And a King is the head of His KINGDOM. In sum then, the birth of Jesus on that special night some two thousand years ago marked the moment that the Kingdom of God was restored to earth and it happened on a spiritual level so that we can involve ourselves in it by FAITH. It's not a future event still to happen; IT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT and what people have to do to become a part of that Kingdom is to be born again (John 3:3). The Kingdom of God is ALREADY here and Jesus who was born a King brought it with Him!
So, celebrate CHRISTMAS DAY with joy and thanksgiving just as the multitude of angels did in Bethlehem that night and receive by faith the gift of ABUNDANT LIFE that God wants you to have (John 10:10). That life is available to everyone who will learn to live life under the New Covenant that Jesus worked out for us and has made available. We have a lot to celebrate once we UNDERSTAND a little more fully what we're celebrating.
Thanks for joining our discussion tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on December 27. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), pushing you to VICTORY in every area of life! AND OH BY THE WAY, HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!
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Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be your Lord, you can do so today by believing and saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus, I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and I believe that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven for all time and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed, God has already come into your life and you're a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
When you get a moment have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
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