Jesus Christ: The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

As we head into Advent season, it is good to understand exactly who it is we are celebrating when we celebrate the man Jesus. John's gospel opens at the very beginning. Indeed, it gives us a glimpse before time. Before Man, before Earth, before the Universe, there was God. Outside of what we know as time itself, there He is, the Creator of All Things and Giver of All Life. 

We like to talk about Jesus as Son of God -- and He is. But He is so much more! 

This Man -- this man who was born the lowly, poor son of a carpenter; whose parents were so poor He had to be born in a stable; whose parents fled to Egypt just to save His life; who walked among us, healing and showing us what it means to love; who had no place to call home here on earth; who was mocked and beaten and brutally murdered -- this Man was, and is, God Himself. 

John tells us He was present for the creation of the Universe. That it was by Him that all things were created. He built this world. He created us. And then, by His great love for us, He lowered Himself to our level. 

Words are insufficient to capture the awe of this moment we celebrate once a year. The moment when the very Person of the Creator was pushed into the world of men through the womb of a young virgin girl, screaming and gasping for His first breath of oxygen, and then laid into a straw-filled trough. 

This birth wasn't His beginning. The Word, the Son of God, present and instrumental in the creation of all things has no beginning and no end. But what this birth shows us is that as eternal as He is, so is His love for us.

It's June 25th... Do you know where your Christmas presents are?

Today is June 25th. It's been exactly six months since Christmas -- and it'll be another six before it returns. Do you remember what you got for Christmas? Have you used it? Are you still using it, or is it already gathering dust in a room somewhere? Of my two most memorable gifts of last Christmas, one is already broken, but the other is used daily, and a constant reminder of my family who loves me.

But what about the other gift? The gift that is the reason we celebrate Christmas at all? The birth of a small child -- the very person of God become human flesh -- whose teachings, character, love, and sacrifice would change the world? What have you done with that gift this year?

Is it gathering dust on the shelf of your mind -- given occasional lip service, but mostly forgotten?

Is it a suit you put on for church on Sunday and then maybe vaguely reference the rest of the week?

Do you use this gift daily, whispering prayers to Heaven, but only in private, letting nobody see it?

Or have you taken this gift of Salvation, of faith, hope, and love, and used it to bless others? Have you allowed this gift to become more than the storefront commodity our culture has made it; to instead change who you are, and let it define you until you have no choice to but to share it with the world? Have you taken this Gift, and presented it, unwrapped, as a gift to others?

It's been six months since we celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of humanity. Like all gifts, it won't do you any good unless you do something with it. So, what have you done? What will you do? This is one gift that can change your life and the lives of those around you... and all you have to do is let Jesus do what Jesus does. Allow Him access. And then, allow Him control.

Do that, and you will find each day is like opening the gift anew.

Keeping Christmas

It's all over. The children are basking, under the warm glow of the Christmas tree, in the glory of their gifts and toys. The belly is still full from the ham and turkey and stuffing and a wondrous variety of pies and desserts. The wrapping paper is in the recycling bin or, for the more meticulous among us, folded and ready for use next year. And everywhere there is a sort of satisfied happiness.

But what about Christmas? Is it, too, being placed back in a bin, with the artificial tree and ornaments and seasonal decorations? Are Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, and that whole manger crew being buried once more beneath mountains of packing peanuts, like the figurines that represent them?

We have spent the weeks coming up to this point in remembrance, not only of a small child born in a stable 2000 years and thousands of miles away, but of who that Child really was, and what He did? Can the enormity of God stepping from the Heavens to walk and die as a man, to suffer for our sins and bridge a gap that separated man from Himself for hundreds of generations, really be packed away, tucked into a box until the end of next year?

Or is this message -- that God Himself came to us, born to a woman in a lowly stable, that He walked the earth as a prophet despised by His own people, that He was brutalized and murdered, that He rose again to conquer once and for all the death we brought on our own heads -- perhaps worth remembering all year long? Is it worth taking these touchy-feely "holiday" sentiments like generosity and peace and grace, and spreading them throughout the year?

Or do we really believe as we occasionally act: that God sent His Son so we could have a nice holiday once a year?

Remember Christmas this year. Remember it in your actions toward your fellow man. Remember it in your own generosity of finances and spirit toward others. Remember it in the grocery line, when everybody around you is grumbling about the wait, and snarling at the cashier. Remember who you are, and whose you are. Remember that, because Christ came down as a tiny baby, and because He lived and died and rose again, you are the child of a loving King, and His representative to everyone else who, like you, needs a little grace.

We Pause In Our Celebration of Christ's Birth To Witness The End of the World

Well, it would seem we're all still here. Again. Doing some quick digging, it seems the end of the world has been predicted over 240 times since Jesus walked the earth. That's 240 dates for the end of all things. Apparently, there's even another one coming up in 2016, since the whole Mayan calendar thing didn't work out.

And, since we're at it, we might as well predict exactly how the world will end. Nuclear war was a big one for a few decades. I guess it's still under consideration, but not quite as prevalent since the Cold War. Acid Rain? We don't hear a whole lot about that either, anymore. Not that it isn't still there... I guess it's just not as "in" right now. Global Warming. Or at least, some kind of climate change. Warnings, all. Change your ways, people. The end is nigh.

It's weird how even secular apocalypses take on something of a religious quality, isn't it? In the case of the 2012 Mayan apocalypse, there's even that thread of mysticism.

This fascination we have with our own mortality may have something to do with how temporary we really are. I begin to wonder if this constant warning of impending doom isn't more spiritual than it first appears. A realization, perhaps, that we are not meant to live on this world forever. A longing for our true home.

As the New Testament often reminds us, we are strangers to this world. As people who belong to Christ, we Christians are ambassadors to this world. It is not our home. So, we do long for the day when Christ returns to reign again over this Earth, to welcome His children to His side.

Is it so strange, then, that even the nonbelieving world would have this ingrained, instinctive desire? That even unbelievers would see and know that something isn't right with the world they know, and long for some catastrophic event to change the very face of what they know -- and to, perhaps, forge something better from the wreckage?

It's not that we're a planet full of nihilists. It's that we're eternal beings, with an instinctive longing for Eternity.

So it's proper, I think, in the season when we remember the coming of Christ as a small child, to look forward, as well, to His returning as triumphant King.

Over the Hills and Everywhere!

You know what I love about Christmas carols? Everybody sings 'em. Agnostics, nominal Christians... if you are willing to celebrate Christmas, chances are you sing a Christmas song. And even if you don't, you still know 'em. Catchy little things, Christmas carols.

And -- and this is the part I love the most -- in doing so, whether or not they really mean it, they are proclaiming the birth of the Savior. They are declaring His lordship. They are telling the world.

And when it comes down to it, what Christmas is really all about, isn't merely being nice to one another. It isn't some esoteric ideal of "Christmas Spirit" or even a "spirit of generosity." It is really, when it the rubber meets the road, about telling the world Our Savior has come. That He came among us, that He died for our sins and rose again. That He is coming back. 

That,
Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.

So celebrate, yes. Spend time with family and friends. Spend time worshiping our God and King. And then, Go, tell it!

Thy Deep and Dreamless Sleep

My children and I have started reading the Bible together before they go to bed. Because of the season, we decided to start in the book of Matthew. Yesterday was the first part of Matthew 2. I was struck, as we read, by how much the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law really knew about their coming Messiah. After the wise men from the East visited Herod, the king called all these teachers together and asked from where this Messiah was to come.

⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’

Given the wholeheartedness with which these same priests and teachers later rejected that same Messiah, I often forget they, too, had read the prophecies. In fact, these men were extremely well-versed. They knew the prophecies of the Messiah backwards and forwards. They knew them so well that, when Herod asked a specific question about them, these men were prepared with a specific answer. 

And yet, in spite of this -- in spite of the man Jesus humbly meeting every requirement set forth in these prophecies -- these great teachers of the Law didn't recognize Him. You see, there was prophecy, and then there was expectation. The nation of Israel expected -- and indeed still expects -- an earthly King, to pull them away from their troubles, to make them great among all nations.

And He will. But first, He came to bridge the gap between man and God. He came, as Isaiah said, to bear our iniquity, and be wounded and killed as a sacrifice. He will come as a King, but came first as a man of sorrow. 

It seems to me these teachers and priests were perfectly willing to allow their Messiah to be that man of sorrow, so long as he wore the Crown of Israel. But what God says He will do, He will do, our own preferences aside.

The Messiah did indeed come to Bethlehem, a ruler and Shepherd, not only for Israel, but for, as Paul reminds us in Romans 3, "all who believe." 

The promised Messiah came out of that little town of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. The question is, will you recognize Him?

Heaven and Nature Sing

The lyrics to a favorite Christmas Hymn is actually a song about the return of Jesus. "Joy to the World" was written by Isaac Watts as a hymn to the Triumphant Return of Christ, foretold in the book of Revelation.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

The thing is, it really works well as both. After all, His triumphant Returning wouldn't even be possible without His first coming to Earth. This cultural juxtaposition of beginning (Christ's birth) and end (His return) also serves as a reminder to us:  be ready.

In Luke 5, Jesus is challenged by Pharisees because His disciples don't fast like John's disciples do.

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

And then, as we see in Matthew 25, after he is gone, we must wait for His return, and be prepared for it. 

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
¹¹ “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
¹² “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
¹³ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

So, in celebrating His birth -- His arrival here on Earth -- we remember to live as though He could return at any time.  


He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,

God With Us

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

In the years before Jesus came to Earth, God and man were separate. A veil was hung in the temple, behind which only the Priests were allowed. It was behind this veil that the rites of atonement were performed. It was behind this veil that the priests of Israel, once a year, could come into the presence of God. The veil was a reminder to Israel that the sin of man kept him separate from the Most High. That God could not bear to be in the presence of Sin. It had been this way for generations.

But then, Jesus. 

God came out from behind the curtain and dwelt among fallen men. He walked our paths, ate our food, became one of us in order to bring us Home. God sent Jesus as a man, because, for a mortal man to cross over a chasm, a bridge must have its feet on both sides. Jesus, The Word, was with God and He was God, and he lived as a man to do what men were unable to do: to provide a Way back. 

When the Priests of Israel went, once a year, behind the veil in the temple, the best they could do was make a temporary covering of sins. A mask without a cure.When we go to God, our offerings are paltry, and insufficient. God wasn't interested in a covering. 

God wasn't interested in this religion of sacrifice and atonement, repeated once a year. He wasn't interested in visiting His children by proxy; He wanted a relationship with each one of His children. With you and with me, and with every single member of this sinful human race.

That is why, on the day Jesus -- God right here on Earth -- died, the Temple veil was torn. God was letting us know these days of religion were over. That He had once and for all offered Forgiveness and a true relationship with Him. It could once again be like the old days, when He would walk in the Garden with His Adam. When each one of us could finally be called, once again, His sons and daughters.

But it didn't start with Jesus' death; it began with His birth. Our renewed relationship with God truly began on the Day our Savior, Jesus Christ, came to Earth and dwelt as one of us. We weren't able to go to Him, so God, instead, came to Us. 

That's how it was, and that's how it is. God knows you can't come to Him, so instead, He comes to you. He reaches across the chasm we've built in our own Spirits, and asks only that you take His hand. 

 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

He Will Be Called: Everlasting Father

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

In today's culture a lot of people -- too many -- seem to believe the job of the Father begins and ends at conception. But in fact, the germination of new life is only one part of what we do. A father also cultivates that life. Trains that child up, and provides for her needs. In fact, I would argue that it is all that stuff -- the building and care of a family -- that truly makes one a Father. 

Joseph, Mary's husband, played no part in the conception of the child Jesus. Yet, here on Earth, he filled the role of father from the beginning. When he discovered his young wife-to-be was pregnant, his instinct was to run. Not his kid; not his responsibility. 

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”
²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g] (which means “God with us”).
²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-25)

When Joseph took Mary as his wife, he also accepted the responsibility of Fatherhood to her child. Twice in this passage, we see it fell to Joseph to name the baby. Why? Because from that time on, Jesus was his son, too. It was a responsibility he took seriously, right from the beginning. He found a place to stay, warm and dry, if not ideal, for the birth of his son. He trained Him up, taking Him to synagogue and teaching Him how to live and behave. And he loved Him.

In turn, Jesus is the Everlasting Father. He cultivates the relationship with us, His family. He teaches us and builds us up. He molds us into men and women in his own image. 

I love my children, and do my best to train them up in the Way they should go. Someday, though, I'm not going to be here for them. I'll do what I can while I'm here, but someday I'll be taken from their midst, and they won't be able to turn to me and ask for advice or assistance, or just for the assurance of my love for them. 

But Jesus is their Everlasting Father. He loved them before they were born. He loves them -- and us -- still. And He always will.