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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
While they were there, the time came for
the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped
him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room
available for them.
Luke 2:6-7
This ends
today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Suppose you were given the task of writing
a script for the coming of a baby who was prophesied in the scriptures as being
the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace,
the baby who would be named Immanuel which means God with us, the baby that the
angel Gabriel had foretold was to be named Jesus who would come to save people
from their sins and indeed when Christ was born, a glorious Savior arrived for
all mankind.
So given all this, what would your script
look like?
Wouldn’t a child such as this deserve to be
born in the finest chambers of royalty with the finest care in the holiest city
known, the city of Jerusalem?
Wouldn’t He be presided over by the best
Old Testament pediatric specialists and prayed over by the priests who would
hail and praise the coming of the predicted Messiah?
Wouldn’t He have been guarded and watched
over to ensure protection from anyone who might want to do Him harm? After all,
assassinations of kings and other leaders were common place and this baby was
destined to be the ruler over Israel. The prophets said so themselves and so
there would have been people who would have liked to eliminate that leader
before He had a chance to grow into the man God sent Him to be. We know one
such man was named Herod, the appointed Roman king over the Jews who reigned in
Jerusalem and did not take kindly to the news from the wise men who said they
were searching for a young child who was recently born to become the King of
the Jews.
Yes, if we were writing the story of Jesus,
I doubt any of us would have written it so that Joseph and Mary would have to
travel nearly seventy miles in the late stages of her pregnancy in order to
register in the town of Bethlehem, Joseph’s town as the scriptures tell us he
was of the house of David.
And we wouldn’t have composed an act that
would have found Mary ready to deliver once they arrived in Bethlehem with no
place to stay. We would have never penned a scenario where there were no guest
rooms available for this Son of God to enter into the world. And no one would
have intentionally had this child, who was Immanuel (or God with us), being
born in a setting meant to house animals, his sleeping place being a animal feeding
trough.
Was this any way for the King of kings and
Lord of lords, for our glorious Savior to come?
As one of my favorite classic contemporary
Christian groups, 4Him, have sang, it certainly was a “strange way to save the
world” but it was perfect because it was God’s plan which is always perfect.
Coming in humble circumstances within that
Bethlehem stable, Jesus would be defined by His humility although He carried with
Him infinite power. He was God’s Son but He never carried Himself as if He was
too good to help mere humans. Rather, He never hesitated to place Himself
second for the good will and care of others. His unwavering selflessness was
the thread that would run through His entire life and ministry, all the way to
Calvary’s cross where He would make the ultimate sacrifice, the last atoning
sacrifice ever needed to reconcile the sins of mankind with God, their Father.
Three days after He bore the sins of the world, Jesus was resurrected in power
in total victory over sin and death, making the way clear for others to follow
His lead and step onto the pathway that leads to God. All one had to do, all
one has to do today, is to fully follow the One who is the way and the truth
and the life, the only One who can lead us to the God (John 14:6).
Friends, it’s Christmas and Jesus Christ is
born! The world has never been the same since that day more than 2,000 years
ago, a day when eternal hope came on the scene during a virgin’s delivery of a
little baby boy, a day when our glorious Savior arrived in a way none of us
would ever have scripted but in a way that was perfect because it happened just
the way God wanted it to.
Amen.
Let us pray.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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