The Birth Announcement

 

    

   

Isa 9:6

 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

KJV

 

There are two types of news that usually brings ridiculous amounts of joy:  1) an engagement; 2) a pregnancy.   There is something that is very exciting about these two life-changing milestones.  After these occur, nothing is ever the same in the life of those involved. 

 

The news of this particular impending birth changed the course for all humanity- both past and present.  The promised Messiah!  The long-awaited deliverer and King!  The Jewish people had suffered under oppression, waiting  for the day that a King would come.  Only, He did not come in the package that they expected.  They expected Him to come in a King's chariot, but rather He arrived in a lowly manger surrounded by common farm animals. He was nothing that they expected, and everything that they needed.

 

The birth of Jesus Christ is a beautiful celebration each year.  But I think we sometimes forget that the manger in Bethlehem was only the beginning.  He was born not only to die, but to rule and reign!  A day is coming when all will bow before Him and declare that He is Lord!  All of His enemies, all  of our fears and struggles will bow before Him in abject subjection to His authority. 

 

I am a sucker for movies with a plot that results in the beleaguered hero rising from the ashes.  Sweet vengeance and victory, restoring to the hero all that was due Him.  It stirs and excites me to see that kind of storyline.  Sometimes, I just sit around and imagine what it will be like on the day that Jesus is avenged.  For all of the suffering, the pain, and the rejection that He suffered, Jesus will be exalted! The lowly, suffering servant will arise as an  all-powerful magnificent King!  Can you imagine the beauty of the glorified Lord when at last we can see Him with our own eyes?! Surely He is "wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."  He is all of that and so much more!  This Christmas allow Him  to rise in your heart from the manger to the throne!

 

 Dear Lord, thank you for coming!  Thanking you for leaving the glory of heaven to suffer for me.  Thank you that one day I will see You just as You are.  You are wonderful to me!  I acknowledge you as the everlasting Father.  In Name.  Amen.

 

 

 

Deal Breaker

"Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.   This is how we know it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.  For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.  I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.  Who is the liar?  It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ.  Such a man is the antichrist- he denies the Father and the Son."  I John 2:18-21

 

Some things in life are just deal-breakers.  Picking your nose at the dinner table?  Deal-breaker.  Having animals walking on the kitchen counter during meal preparation?  Deal-breaker. Having a child shout "I hate you" as they storm from the room?  Deal-breaker.  Once these things happen, the number of likely outcomes reduces a great deal.

What you do with Jesus is one such thing.  If you accept who he is and all that he has to offer, you gain eternity in heaven with him.  If you deny him, you close the door on the one way to salvation.  Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One.  He fulfills all righteousness and perfectly paid the price for our sins.  When a person chooses to reject Jesus, they are rejecting God's Son.  They are rejecting his gift and therefore close the door to a relationship with the Father.  This passage says that a person who refuses to acknowledge him as Christ is a liar!

Some religions says Jesus was a righteous man, a prophet or teacher.  But they categorically deny his deity.  This is the true litmus test of a faith based upon the Bible or some other man-made teaching.  What will you do with Jesus?  Will you accept or deny him?  Those really are the two choices available to all mankind.  He paid the price for every one of us.  He opened wide his arms upon Calvary bidding all to come as he willingly gave himself as a sacrifice for our sin. The next move, so to speak, is on our side.  To deny Christ is to become anti-Christ.

We are taught that tolerance is a highly desirable virtue.  And to a certain extent, it is.  We should respect everyone's  right to their own opinions and beliefs.  God allows them that room.  But tolerance should not go to the point that we deny the basic fundamental principles of Christianity.  The Bible clearly teaches that all roads do not lead to God.  Rather, the narrow way is found in Jesus.  The one way.  Are you pointing others to Jesus?

Dear Lord, please help Christians arise and stand for truth.  Help us boldly and lovingly profess truth to a lost world.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri