“…and you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall take away the sins of my people” (Matthew 1:21b)
God has a mind. We know that because we know he has thoughts; God thinks (Jeremiah 29:11). Well, we may not be able to compare God’s mind with our mind, but I believe they are both designed in relatively the same manner. We think in our mind and executes the actions. The mind is the well spring of issues that will come to pass.
When God was passing across key details to Mary and Joseph through angel Gabriel, God 'coded' His mind to them and enveloped everything in the name JESUS. This was a mystery. God want to come and dwell among His people and deliver them from their sin. God meant business with Jesus. He wanted to solve the puzzle, but this time He’s no longer sending messengers or prophets or priests nor Judges nor kings like He did in time of old (e.g. Leveticus 4:35, 5:6, 12:6, 14:13, etc), God is coming 'personally' this time, and it’s at Christmas*! Until this moment in history, God’s people (the people of Isreal; you and I) had a critical issue to deal with. The issue was and still is the issue of SIN.
The time of the birth of Jesus came into history when God want to literarily deal with the issue of sin headlong. He had to come in the form of man (not as angel) because he wants to prove to us that sin can be dealt with in the flesh.
How did the issue of sin become such a serious matter?
In the beginning (Genesis 3:1-8) we saw how Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Sin and death came through that order (Romans 5:12-21). God could have put an end to the devil and of course sin there and then in the garden of Eden (or don’t you think He has the power), but in His divine nature and power, He patiently brought us to the time He could literarily deal with it for us. His intervention was His only begotten son, who eventually crushed the head of the serpent. The process began at Christmas and climaxed on the cross.
Sin is of the devil and for this purpose the son of God was made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8). Not as though God was making a mistake by taking His people through the laws through out the Old Testament, He was showing what their sin really is. Along with the law came more sin. God wrote the requirements for being justified on the tablets of stones as seen in the ten cammandments. From the time of Noah up until the exile in Babylon, the sin of men continued. The law could not save, neither could burnt sacrifices and offering, except Jesus. The law made us more aware of our sinfulness however, through the birth of Jesus, God is showing us the path of Justification by faith. (John 1:17, Roman 5:20, Galatians 2:21, 5:4)
God took the ordinary simple ways to show us that everything he required of us as human is not too big to achieve. This is it: we could live above sin because Jesus did (Hebrew 4:15). Did someone say that was Jesus! I say, that was a man like you and I!! Jesus was an ordinary man born in an ordinary place through ordinary people but he did extra-ordinary things. God came to us through Jesus to do two major things:
#1. To destroy the reign of sin and collect power from death, thereby, giving us eternal life (Matthew 1:21, 2Timothy 1:10, Romans 8:2, Romans 5:21, John 3:16)
#2. To establish His kingdom among the children of men wherein He can dwell within us; Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23)
This was why the heavens rejoiced when Jesus was born! (Luke 2:13-15). The wise men had a glimpse of what God intended to do with Christmas so they could afford to leave their ordinary lamb in pursuit of the Lamb of God. They also did not mind how expensive what they were bringing to baby Jesus was; the world project that God was running was their utmost delight.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace"(Romans 6:14)
Shalom,Also available on the author’s facebook note. If you wish to receive this material in alternative formats: MSword, PDF, etc, feel free to contact the author.
While the bells of Christmas rang at the wake of the New Testament as Jesus was born, I could 'imagine' what God was thinking in His mind. I think It looked something like this: “My people will no longer need the bloods of lambs and other animals for the remission of their sins; I will use the blood of the precious Lamb to wipe away their sins once and for all (1Peter 18-21, John 1:29). No longer will there be a break in connection between you and Me again, I’m coming to adopt you as sons by my spirit (Romans 8:15, Ephessians 1:5). I want to make everything new (2Corinthians 5:17). And my kingdom shall know no bound (Luke 1:33)"
Can you appreciate what makes Christmas unique in history. Not Santa or fanta or rice and chicken, it is that God made a way of escape for us from sin and destruction which has ravaged from generation to generation.
For this process (of the elimination of sin) to become real in our lives my dear friends, we need to accept the truth. Lets face it:
1. That we are sinners (1John1:8,10; Romans 3:23)
2. That if we confess our sins He will forgive us (1John 1:9)
3. That when we accept Jesus into our lives we are free of sin (1John3:9)
4. By God’s spirit we receive adoption to become sons that will replicate Jesus here on earth (Romans 8:1-end, John 1:12)
God has a mind. We know that because we know he has thoughts; God thinks (Jeremiah 29:11). Well, we may not be able to compare God’s mind with our mind, but I believe they are both designed in relatively the same manner. We think in our mind and executes the actions. The mind is the well spring of issues that will come to pass.
When God was passing across key details to Mary and Joseph through angel Gabriel, God 'coded' His mind to them and enveloped everything in the name JESUS. This was a mystery. God want to come and dwell among His people and deliver them from their sin. God meant business with Jesus. He wanted to solve the puzzle, but this time He’s no longer sending messengers or prophets or priests nor Judges nor kings like He did in time of old (e.g. Leveticus 4:35, 5:6, 12:6, 14:13, etc), God is coming 'personally' this time, and it’s at Christmas*! Until this moment in history, God’s people (the people of Isreal; you and I) had a critical issue to deal with. The issue was and still is the issue of SIN.
The time of the birth of Jesus came into history when God want to literarily deal with the issue of sin headlong. He had to come in the form of man (not as angel) because he wants to prove to us that sin can be dealt with in the flesh.
How did the issue of sin become such a serious matter?
In the beginning (Genesis 3:1-8) we saw how Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Sin and death came through that order (Romans 5:12-21). God could have put an end to the devil and of course sin there and then in the garden of Eden (or don’t you think He has the power), but in His divine nature and power, He patiently brought us to the time He could literarily deal with it for us. His intervention was His only begotten son, who eventually crushed the head of the serpent. The process began at Christmas and climaxed on the cross.
Sin is of the devil and for this purpose the son of God was made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8). Not as though God was making a mistake by taking His people through the laws through out the Old Testament, He was showing what their sin really is. Along with the law came more sin. God wrote the requirements for being justified on the tablets of stones as seen in the ten cammandments. From the time of Noah up until the exile in Babylon, the sin of men continued. The law could not save, neither could burnt sacrifices and offering, except Jesus. The law made us more aware of our sinfulness however, through the birth of Jesus, God is showing us the path of Justification by faith. (John 1:17, Roman 5:20, Galatians 2:21, 5:4)
God took the ordinary simple ways to show us that everything he required of us as human is not too big to achieve. This is it: we could live above sin because Jesus did (Hebrew 4:15). Did someone say that was Jesus! I say, that was a man like you and I!! Jesus was an ordinary man born in an ordinary place through ordinary people but he did extra-ordinary things. God came to us through Jesus to do two major things:
#1. To destroy the reign of sin and collect power from death, thereby, giving us eternal life (Matthew 1:21, 2Timothy 1:10, Romans 8:2, Romans 5:21, John 3:16)
#2. To establish His kingdom among the children of men wherein He can dwell within us; Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23)
This was why the heavens rejoiced when Jesus was born! (Luke 2:13-15). The wise men had a glimpse of what God intended to do with Christmas so they could afford to leave their ordinary lamb in pursuit of the Lamb of God. They also did not mind how expensive what they were bringing to baby Jesus was; the world project that God was running was their utmost delight.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace"(Romans 6:14)
Shalom,Also available on the author’s facebook note. If you wish to receive this material in alternative formats: MSword, PDF, etc, feel free to contact the author.
While the bells of Christmas rang at the wake of the New Testament as Jesus was born, I could 'imagine' what God was thinking in His mind. I think It looked something like this: “My people will no longer need the bloods of lambs and other animals for the remission of their sins; I will use the blood of the precious Lamb to wipe away their sins once and for all (1Peter 18-21, John 1:29). No longer will there be a break in connection between you and Me again, I’m coming to adopt you as sons by my spirit (Romans 8:15, Ephessians 1:5). I want to make everything new (2Corinthians 5:17). And my kingdom shall know no bound (Luke 1:33)"
For this process (of the elimination of sin) to become real in our lives my dear friends, we need to accept the truth. Lets face it:
1. That we are sinners (1John1:8,10; Romans 3:23)
2. That if we confess our sins He will forgive us (1John 1:9)
3. That when we accept Jesus into our lives we are free of sin (1John3:9)
4. By God’s spirit we receive adoption to become sons that will replicate Jesus here on earth (Romans 8:1-end, John 1:12)
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