Isaiah 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.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33)
Even King Herod’s scribes knew that Micah 5:2 predicted that Christ would be born in Bethlehem. The wiseman could decode the signs of history and they knew for sure what was happening in the world during the birth of Jesus. When they saw the star in the east they could interpret that it was not an ordinary star. It was a star that was depicting the birth of a divine king of kings and Lord of Lord.
Do you know that Creation was sensitive to the birth of Christ because the Bible says that without Jesus nothing was created without Him in the beginning?
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
100 prophecies were foretold in the Old Testament that predicts the birth of Jesus. All of these were written centuries before Jesus was born. The book of Zechariah was written over 500 years before Christ. The book of Isaiah was written 700 years before the birth of Christ. David wrote part of the book of Psalms over 1000 years before Jesus walked the Earth.
The prophesies of the Old Testament was fulfilled in the New Testament. This indeed is awesome for us to know and realize during this season as we celebrate Christmas.
Matthew chapt.2
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.( Can you see Jesus was born in the East. It all started in the east. It was not a western religion as many of us are mistaken about.
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,…
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. These were very precious items in those days only reserved to be given to kings.
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
KING HEROD WAS WORRIED HOW-COME THERE IS NEWS OF ANOTHER KING THAT IS BORN.
KING HEROD BECAME INSECURE SO HE PASSED A DECREE TO KILL ALL THE MALE BABIES 2 YEARS AND BELOW.
King Herod passed a decree to kill all the male children from infant to 2 years. Can you imagine 2000 babies were killed? Why? Because king Herod knew there was a King of Kings that was born in the east to bring light to the world who has come to set the captives free and heal the sick and the lame, the deaf and blind. Satan could not stand the birth of this powerful seed and therefore he wanted to crush the seed by all means.
WHO WERE THE WISE MEN?
MAGI FROM THE EAST. THEY WERE PROFESSORS AND PHILOSOPHERS OF THEIR DAY. THEY WERE BRILLIANT AND HIGHLY EDUCATED. THEY WERE EXPERTS IN MEDICINE, HISTORY, RELIGION, PROPHESY AND ASTRONOMY. THEY WERE ALSO TRAINED TO FORETELL THE FUTURE: ASTROLOGY, IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT. THEY WERE ALSO ADVISERS TO THE KING. IN FACT YOU COULD CALL THEM KING-MAKERS AS THEY WERE ALSO POLITICAL ADVISERS TO THE KING. KINGS IN THOSE DAYS DEPENDED GREATLY ON THEIR ADVISE TO RULE AND DIRECT THE NATION.
Matt. 2:9-12
WHAT WAS THE DESIRE OF THE WISE MEN? THERE WERE PASSIONATE AND SERIOUS ABOUT THIS BIRTH.
The first desire of the wise men was to seek to worship God They went all the way looking for the baby. I am sure it must have been a tremendous journey in those days. We don’t know exactly how long it would have taken them. But the fact of the matter is that they went with one desire in their heart to HONOUR and worship Jesus.
Therefore, Christmas without worship is worthless and meaningless. It’s another festive celebration that passes by without any impact at all.
THE WORLD IS BLINDED BY SATAN
They don’t realize the truth that Jesus is the reason for the season.
When you remove Jesus from this season, isn’t it therefore a mockery to God? Do you realize how cleverly the God of this world has blinded the minds of the people to remove Christ from the equation? When you take Christ out of the picture it’s like removing the entire purpose and plan of God for mankind. It merely becomes another pagan celebration.
THE WORLD WANTS CHRISTMAS BUT THEY DONT WANT JESUS
Therefore, can Christmas be celebrated without Jesus? The world wants Christmas but they don’t want Jesus. They are afraid to include Jesus because then the meaning of Christmas will absolutely become different. You see Christmas without Jesus is only a temporary celebration leading you nowhere. You can celebrate Christmas year in and year out it doesn’t mean anything to you at all. It’s just another festive occasion. It comes and goes. It doesn’t mean a thing to you.
Christmas is all about celebrating and worshipping Jesus. Because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. You remove Jesus out of the equation you are out of order in the kingdom of God.
CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT GOD’S LOVE TO MANKIND (JOHN 3:16)
You remember sin crippled humanity. When God created the universe perfect in every respect. Finally he created man and commissioned him with authority and power. He gave him dominion over this earth. To rule and subdue it. To take care of it, then God handed it over to us and He stepped aside. But instead of being a good steward by ruling and taking care of what was entrusted to us, we handed this power over to Satan. We became enslaved to Satan.
We were thrown into a state of hopeless and helplessness and poverty, heading towards eternal damnation. Everything we touched was marked with a sign of curse, a sign of lack. We literally lived with a slave mentality.
Meanwhile, the spirit man in us was crying desperately to worship God but we were unable to because we were separated from him because of sin. We struggled in life. We lived in sorrow and pain because we were unable to have peace with God. Because of lack, every fabric of our human nature was disintegrating with sickness and poverty.
God saw the pathetic predicament of his creation and He said this will not do. He said, “I cannot bear to see my creation being destroyed in such a manner” because His love for us was overwhelming Therefore:
ALTHOUGH THE WORD WAS WITH GOD FROM THE BEGINNING (John 1:1-18) THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH
THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELLED AMONG US
God came into this world born of a virgin in the person of Jesus Christ to give life to us. To save us from hell. To shine forth in darkness that was engulfing us.
Today the world seems to remove Christ. So it is crucial that Christians know Jesus. But it is very crucial that you and I who are born-again can tell the difference between this relationship with Jesus and those who are standing outside of Jesus.
It is therefore very significant that we as Christians are not carried away by the secular view of Christmas which is absolutely not in line with God’s word.
We need to celebrate Christmas with the understanding and significance of the Bible. For the simple and logical reason that Christmas is the significance and the profound birth of Christ.
“Joy to the world the Lord has come let us receive the king.” There is no way you can celebrate Christmas and leave Christ out of the picture. He is everything to the story! He is everything to the season.
Another thing that we need to be clear about is that, a lot of people are arguing and cracking their heads as to when exactly Jesus was born. I believe it’s a waste of time. It is not important whether he was born on the 25 or some other date. That could lead us to a lot of unnecessary argument and debate.
But the reality is that it is a historical fact. It is a Biblical fact that He was born into this world, He came into this world and impacted the world and He lived in this world. There is no other historical figure that I know of that has ministered for three and a half years and left an impact so great that it has literally revolutionized the whole world so tremendously.
APPROVAL ACCEPTANCE
Ex.32:You must not follow the crowd in doing wrong.
Prob.14:12 There is a way that appears to be right to man, but in the end it leads to death.
The world is chasing approval acceptance of society. What do I mean by that? We are dying to be part of what others are doing and following. We want to identify with the crowds. We want to mimic, we want to copy what others are doing.
A people pleasing-mentality hinders your growth in your faith. If all what you are doing is to please man instead of seeking to please God then you are heading for trouble.
Prov.29:25: The fear of human opinion disables
Truly our fear of human opinion hinders our ability to grow into a relationship with Jesus.
The worse tragedy in life is to be successful in everything we do without Jesus in the picture.
Statistics shows that a lot of successful people in the secular world died a miserable death without peace. They couldn’t buy peace with all their wealth. Jesus is our peace. Because He is the Prince of Peace.
Therefore what I am trying to convey to you today is that we have a great responsibility to share the love of Christ to the people who are living their lives in darkness. Are you willing to influence others who are lost without Jesus and save their souls?
The Result of Christmas: Jesus Is Lord
The Bible says that because Jesus was willing to walk in humility,
“God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11 TEV).
What does it mean to be a Christian, to be a believer? It means to say, “Jesus is my Lord. I acknowledge the fact that He is God, I believe that He has everything under control, and I commit everything I have to Him.”
What does it mean to say, “Jesus is Lord”? HE IS MY SALVATION. I AM ASSURED OF HEAVEN BECAUSE HE DIED FOR ME ON THE CROSS.
This is the central truth of Christianity. God has entered human history in order to provide for our salvation. What we could not do, He did for us through his Son. Everything else flows from this truth. If He had not been born, He could not have died for our sins. And He would not have risen from the dead. He had to become like us in order to save us. There was no other way.
God was manifest in the flesh. He was not half-God and half-man, but fully God and fully man. He did not cease to be God, although He laid aside the outward glory of His deity.
The message of Christmas is a message of hope to the world. It’s forgiveness, it’s salvation. It’s a profound message to embrace Jesus as lord in our lives.
WISHING ALL MY READERS A BLESSED CHRISTMAS
Note: Rev Dr Jai Kumar is an ordained & licensed minister of Covenant Ministries International N.J. USA. He is a mission minded pastor who carries an apostolic anointing who preaches and teaches an uncompromising gospel with boldness. A member of ECCM (Malaysia) Spiritual Adviser & overseer to various ministries and churches. An itinerant speaker. He is also the author of a book entitled, ‘God’s Time Clock.’ Currently he worships at C3 Subang.
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Rev Dr Jai Kumar
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