CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! Part II

ANGELS ON ASSIGNMENT

Exuberantly we sing "Joy To The World, The Lord Is Come, Let Earth Receive Her King" at Christmas time, and rightly so! This hymn is among the favorites of Christmas Carols. However, did you know that this song celebrates the Second Coming of Jesus Christ more than His First Advent (His Birth)? This treasured carol is based on Psalm 98 rather than drawing its inspiration from the Christmas narrative in Luke 2. The angel said regarding the birth of Jesus, ". . . I bring you good news of GREAT JOY that will be for ALL THE PEOPLE", (Luke 2:10) so no wonder we sing "and heaven and nature sing!"

Psalm 98 calls for songs of praise, joyful celebration with trumpets, horns, the lyre, along with the roar of the sea in a prophesy describing the Second Advent (coming) of Christ Jesus! "O sing to the LORD a new song . . . The LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations . . . All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God . . . With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!" (Psalm 98:1-7) This Psalm speaks of the Second Coming of Jesus to earth at which He reveals His righteousness, power, authority and Kingdom to

ALL the nations. No wonder we sing, "and heaven and nature sing!"

Let me say with clarification that "Joy To The World, The Lord is Come" IS most appropriate to sing at all times and in all seasons. However, to point out that this carol is pertinent to Christ's Second Coming, let's review some of the lyrics: "Joy to the world, THE SAVIOR REIGNS." "HE RULES THE WORLD with truth and grace, and MAKES THE NATIONS PROVE, the GLORIES OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS." These words clearly declare truth of Jesus' return to earth when He comes again to RULE and REIGN in His Kingdom! These truths did not take place in relationship to His birth, or even during His 33 years of public ministry.

JOY is the dominant theme from the time of the prophetic announcements to the time of the actual birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. We now turn to these Old Testament announcements as a significant part of the Christmas Miracle. The news of the coming of the Messiah actually began when God the Father pronounced judgment on the serpent (the devil) after the deliberate sin of Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden, "I will put enmity (deep-rooted hatred) between you and the woman, and between your offspring (unregenerate, depraved, sinful people) and her offspring; He (the Messiah - Christ Jesus) shall bruise your head and you will bruise His heel." (Genesis 3:15) Both bruisings were fulfilled by Jesus' Death on the Cross! The coming birth of the Messiah is further prophesied and announced in the Old Testament. "The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. . . ." (Isaiah 9:6) "But you, O Bethlehem. . .who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days." (A prophesy of the birth of Christ Jesus in Bethlehem - Micah 5:2) Another prophetic announcement is, "There shall come forth a shoot from Jesse (King David's Father) and a branch from his roots (Jesus) shall bear fruit." (accomplish salvation) (Isaiah 11:1), These prophecies were all made 700 years before Jesus was born!

Now let's turn to the Angelic Announcements in the New Testament. The Christmas Miracle continued when an Angel appeared to Mary: ". . .the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed (seriously engaged for marriage) to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house (linage) of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, 'Greetings O favored one, the Lord is with you!' . . .And the angel said to her, 'do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to Him the throne of His father (ancestor) David . . .' " (in the distant future) "And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?' And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called HOLY - The SON OF GOD.' "

The Christmas Miracle did not stop there. The angels were still on Divine Assignment. The angel of God had Joseph to deal with. He had doubts, anxiety and a lot of confusion. Scripture says, before Mary and Joseph "came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:18) Joseph had every reason to be perplexed, confused and at a loss to know what to do. "And . . . Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly." (Matthew 1:19) But God did not leave him in this state, so He dispatched an angel to rescue Joseph. "But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel' (which means, God With Us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And they called His name Jesus." (Matthew 1:20-25)

I say Joseph deserves a lot of credit. He was faithful to God, a just and honorable man. He and Mary had publicly committed themselves to each other, and now she was pregnant and not with him! She could be stoned to death. He carefully considered their delimma, but not making a quick decision, he slept on it. He listened to the angel and when he was told what to do, he immediately obeyed God! What if he had not?! We need to do as Joseph did, listen to God and obey Him! What if we don't?! Wow, then we place ourselves out of God's blessings, out of inner peace. We place ourselves at a very definite risk of exposing ourselves to adverse circumstances and judgment, even ultimately condemnation. I tell you, ignoring God, and our disobedience to Him is truly not worth the results!

Now take note of Mary! Just a teenager facing all the ramifications of being pregnant out of wedlock! She was promised to Joseph, but they were not officially married. When she was told by the angel Gabriel that she will conceive by the Holy Spirit (totally uheard of, incomprehensible) and give birth to the Son of God, that she is highly favored by the Most High, what is her response? "And Mary said, 'Behold, I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' " (Luke 1:38) And when she later visited her cousin Elizabeth, she exclaimed, "My soul magnifies the Lord." (Luke 1:46) Her humility is exemplary to say the least!

I want to challenge all of us to live like Joseph and Mary (who were just as human as you and I) in fleshing out their personal relationship to and trust in God! No excuses, no short-cuts; just make sure our spiritual "hard-ware" and "soft-ware" are tuned in to God and His will!

There is an appropriate song, sung by Faith Hill, for us to consider right here. Its title is "A Baby Changes Everything". Some lyrics include:

"Teenage girl, much too young, Unprepared for what's to come. A baby changes everything.

Not a ring on her hand, All her dreams and all her plans. A baby changes everything.

The man she loves she's never touched, How will she keep his trust? A baby changes everything.

My whole life has turned around, I was lost but now I'm found. A baby changes everything."

Has the baby in the Stable and the Christ on the Cross changed everything in your life and mine? He can and will IF we make room for Him! We only have this brief life to give Him the room to make His salvation real, personal and present in our lives.

There is another Christmas Miracle as the Host of Angels gave a special message to the Shepherds on the Judean Hillsides, announcing the birth of the Christ Child. The very first Birth Announcement given was to SHEPHERDS! Why Shepherds? Why not to kings, wise men, priests or estate holders? Because, this was a lowly birth (in a stable, involving a cattle feeding trough), a lowly baby boy, born not to a royal family, but to a lowly couple, and a lowly people (shepherds)! How very appropriate! What an awesome interruption to life and work experienced by shepherds that night as the voice and song of angels broke through the stillness with the greatest news ever broadcast. "And in the same region there were the shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, 'Fear Not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.' . . .And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.' " (Luke 2:8-11 and 13-14) Will we join with the angelic host in praising God for the greatest and most inexpressible gift at this Christmas time and through the rest of our lives? "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!" (II Corinthians 9:15)

There are now three distinct questions for us to seriously ponder.

1. Are we afraid? What do we fear? You know the phrase "FEAR NOT" occurs 365 times in the Bible; one time for every day of the year. The phrase "DO NOT BE AFRAID" occurs nearly 120 times. As we anticipate the year 2025, what are we prone to be fearful of? Since God in His Word has told us repeatedly to fear not, then we have absolutely nothing to be fearful of; but rather we have the awesome privilege to TRUST GOD IN EVERYTHING!

2. Are we listening to and obeying what God says? We have so many voices clammoring for our attention and adherence in this ungodly culture we live in. If we are not listening to God, we are indeed listening to wrong voices (maybe even to our own self-talk)! If we are not obeying God, we are following our own fleshly and worldly lusts and desires! If God is not at the very center of our life, then we are being misled by the enemies of the World, the Flesh and the Devil! It is time for a spiritual check-up! Who indeed are we listening to and obeying? You and I must make sure we are on track with God's Word before it is too late!

3. Are we personally experiencing the Miracle of Christmas? The hustle and bustle (a very busy, energetic and noisy, distracting activity or environment) of this season will not only rob us of the true miracle we should celebrate, and the consumer mentality will leave us frantic, and we will miss the sacred significance offered to us by God Himself! Let's then tune our hearts and minds to hear, "O Holy Night", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "O Come, O Come Emmanuel", "Angels From The Realms Of Glory", "Silent Night, Holy Night", "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day", and YES, "Joy To The World, The Lord is Come". Above all, let's WORSHIP JESUS!

   
   

   I encourage you right now to type into your Search Bar the words: "Reawaken Joy To The World" and select it and sit quietly and watch and think about this blog and ponder how the actual words give us hope and anticipation of the soon-coming Return Of Jesus to Earth and His Rule and Reign!