Following Judah's Lion

The Birth of God (christmas)

Back in those days Caesar sent out an order that a census should be taken of the entire Roman Empire. This was the first census taken while Quirinuis was governor of Syria. All the people went to be registered in their home town. And Joseph went to Bethlehem, the city of David, because he was of the tribe of Judah. So Joseph and his wife, Mary, who was about to give birth, went to be registered in Bethlehem. And when they arrived in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary, who was still a virgin, to give birth. And when Mary gave birth to her first-born Son, she wrapped Him in household cloths and laid Him in a cattle trough, because their no room for Jesus in the inn.

Now in the area around Bethlehem there were shepherds watching their flocks that night. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the visible glory of the Creator of the universe was all around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them,”Don’t be afraid, I have a wonderful message of unbelievable joy from Almighty God to every person. This very day a Savior has been born to you in Bethlehem. This baby is Jehovah, the Messiah“. And this is how you will recognize Him. He will be wrapped in household cloths, and He’ll be lying in a cattle trough.

And suddenly there appeared a multitude of the angelic army of heaven, and they were praising God and shouting,”Glory to the Most High God, and on earth, He has shown good will to men”.

Ah, Christmas. That's what the world calls it, but it is, in truth, the fulfillment of a promise God made before He ever created the universe. GOD HAS KEPT HIS WORD! God leaves His glorious dwelling place to not only visit OUR cursed dwelling place, but He comes disguised as one of US. There can be no human mind that can fully understand the magnitude of this event, and so the apostle Paul calls it a mystery(I Tim.3:16). No one can believe this glorious birth unless God’s Holy Spirit helps him.

Read the account of God’s birth in Luke chapter 2. With all the details before and after His birth diligently recorded by the Holy Spirit about the actual birth of His Son, God gently pulls a sacred veil over the event and only reveals,”And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger.” That’s all God reveals. We don’t need to know the details of His physical birth, we need to fully embrace the profound truth about WHO this infant was and WHAT He came to do!

Let us repent of all the sentimentalism that surrounds this observance, and let us revel in the event that changed everything, and most importantly everyone who follows this infant who now sits high upon a throne, not as an infant, but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The time for families, feasting, and all other parts of this time that the world celebrates should be overshadowed completely by our corporate and PRIVATE worship of the Lord Jesus Himself.

The birth of Jesus was probably close to if not on the Day of Atonement. This is based upon the ministry of Zechariah which was in the early summer months and doing some math we see the Savior’s birth in late September or early October. But the exact time is irrelevant, suffice to observe that eternity has arrived in the subset we know as time. God has come to give Himself a ransom for many and if you like me are one of the ransomed ones we can rejoice in the love that drew salvation’s plan. I realize that the story of a divine infant being born in a stable and as the only hope for man is unsophisticated in today’s intellectual genre. And even further the unsightly and repulsiveness of the cross is rejected by the carnal mind of human reason. But the deepest truth masquerades as the simplest revelation. The apocalypse begins in Bethlehem and will culminate in Jerusalem. So can we capture the exhilaration of those first shepherds and bow down before this God child?

The ultimate glory of God will not be found in the incredible make-up of the human body. It will not be found in the molecular design of all creation. It will not be found in the wonders of this earth. It will not be found in the indescribable expanse of the universe. It will not even be found in the place called heaven. No, if you desire to see the true glory of God, crawl on your knees in a spirit of worship over to that cattle trough, place your hands on its side, lift your head up and look over the side of that manger; clear your eyes, push away the hay, and look full in the face of that baby and you will see God Himself, “UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY”. You now see, "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ".

LORD, HELP US TO SEEK YOUR FACE ALONE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQOcwKwwa9Q&search=The%20Passion%20of%20the%20Christ