Coming to the second part of our series, today we shall focus upon the following points…
Project …
Have you ever wondered why the good Lord “projected” so to speak the Christmas narrative from Mary’s perspective only in Luke’s Gospel and not in any other? If there could have been any one person who would have logically objected to a virgin birth, it would have been a Doctor. And ladies and gentlemen, who was Luke? “Luke, the beloved doctor, sends his greetings…” (Col. 4:14 NLT)!!! Any one still around doubting the miraculous virgin conception and birth?
Peacemaker…
Now why a Virgin birth? No one before or after Jesus had been born to a Virgin. As the Divinely foreordained spotless, sinless sacrifice for the sins of mankind (See Rev. 13:8/ 1 Peter 1:19), the virgin birth provided that “Lamb” who was not only sinless from birth but right from conception onward! Also as a perfect peacemaker (See 1 Tim. 2:5-6), He would be a Son of Man (of Mary), representing human interests before the Almighty. In like manner, as a Son of God (“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, …” Luke 1:35a NLT), He would represent the interests of the Almighty before men. Only in this capacity of peacemaker between man and God and between God and man, would the Prince of Peace (See Isaiah 9:6-7) bring peace in the estranged relationship between God and Mankind. Also we need to note the following:
- The First Advent of the Prince of Peace was all about bringing indescribable peace (John 14:27) on individual level. All who accept Him are at peace with the Heavenly Father (“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:1 NLT). This is the basis for the indescribable peace which would follow in our lives irrespective of circumstances…favourable or unfavourable.
- His Final advent (read Second Coming) would be all about bringing peace at a global level: “The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4 NLT).
While on the subject we also need to remember that since it was Eve (See 1 Tim. 2:14) who was first deceived by the Crafty Serpent, Divine justice required that only the “Seed of the Woman” – the seed of Eve, not of Adam and Eve (See Gen. 3:15/Gal. 4:4) – would trample the head of the Peace destroyer…the Serpent: “This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.” (Rev. 12:9 NLT)
Props …
The world was united in the first century by the Greek language and the excellent roads of the Roman empire.
Before I take even one proverbial step, let me relate now verbatim a Christmas quote from Galatians 4:4 which reads thus: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law…” (ESV)
The key operative words in the afore-referred Scripture are “when the fullness of time had come”. The all-wise Heavenly Father, who had set-up the “stage” (before the “First Adam” arrived — see Gen 1:1-28) was bound to keep the “stage” ready before the advent of the “Final Adam” – another name for our Lord (see 1 Cor. 15:45). Now consider these facts: By the time our Saviour arrived, the World was readied by its unification, to facilitate the proclamation of the Gospel, by virtue of not only a single language (at that time Greek) courtesy the Greek rulers, but also subsequently by excellent roads connecting most of the vast Roman Empire. Minus these “facilities”, the Apostle Paul’s three missionary journeys would not have born fruit at all!!!
All glory be to our Heavenly Father, whose wisdom can never be measured, who kept everything in its place for the arrival of His Son, who arranged for the Good News of Christ-oriented salvation to travel to the ends of the Earth about 3 decades later.
Proposition …
If not for the advent of the Christ-child on the first Christmas, there would not be before us a life lived solely for Father’s glory (See John 6:38) to emulate. Because our Lord “fleshed out” obedience all the way, in contrast to the first Adam, one can make a call today to live as Christ lived (See 1 Peter 2:23/1 John 2:6)! And it’s possible because He is dwelling within us now (See 1 John 4:4)!!! Talk of virtuous cycles….
Prayer: Father, what a joyous privilege it is to live for Your Glory totally in the manner Your Son lived. Enable us to flesh out that kind of life at all times. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
J and SM Ministries
Hyderabad-India
(To access the entire “Lessons From Christmas” mini-series, please click here.)