The Word This Week

Christmas 2022

In order for the tomb to be emptied the manger had to be filled.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

For Jesus, Who IS the Word, (the Logos - the very image of the Living God,) to be IN the beginning with God, He had to have existed BEFORE the beginning. We say it all the time, but it cannot be said enough, and it certainly cannot be said too often, Jesus is God. Jesus is eternal. Jesus is LORD.

So, we know Jesus pre-existed the manger from eternity past.

He always had this in mind…

To invest Himself in the form of a baby and submit himself to the care of the humanity He Himself created. This is why Christmas is such a phenomenal celebration! This is why Christmas is so incredible!

In the fullness of time, and according to the fulfillment of all the Biblical prophetic accounts, God entered the world of His creation to experience the fullness of the experience of mankind in human frame – a human body born apart from sin, prepared to receive the wrath of God deserved to be felt by men – yet taken by Himself upon the cross.

And here God in Christ is. A baby. Who could resist Him?

Mary had been singled out by God as His own caretaker. Joseph had been called by God to be His protector. We know precious little about this extraordinary couple except they were chosen by God in specific, and they were each a descendant of David in particular.

For 28 generations God in Christ prepared for this couple. Each of them would be greatly challenged to accept the call of God upon their lives. It was no natural duty they were each being called to but supernatural. For Mary, it was a call to be impregnated prior to marriage by the Holy Spirit. For Joseph, it was the call to trust Mary with her explanation of how she had become impregnated prior to their ever coming together. How could this be, but God?

And so, those closest to Messiah were the first ones called to sacrifice. Their reputation, their trust in the material realm, their love for each other, the arrangement of their marriage, in fact, everything.

This is the degree of trust in the Father’s plan each of us must place in the coming of Christ into the world He created – to die for our sin. Trust in God’s plan of salvation is first met in the sacrifice of the flesh. Let this mind be in you which was also (and first,) in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Bill