Mixed feelings about Christmas!

Joy and sorrow are opposite emotional experiences that probably all of us know throughout our lifetime. Life is like a tapestry of bright and dark colours and often the bright parts shine the brighter when set against a dark background. 

I am reminded of Benjamin Malachi Franklin’s poem ‘Just a Weaver’, 

(1) My life is but a weaving, between my God and me, 

I do not choose the colors, He worketh steadily. 

(2) Ofttimes he weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride 

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside. 

(3) Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly, 

Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reasons why 

(4) The dark threads are as needful in the skillful weaver's hand 

As threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

The mining accidents in Chile and New Zealand a number of years ago illustrate both extremes. For the families of the thirty-three miners rescued from their mine in Chile, it was a time of great joy, but for the thirty-three families of the Pike River, New Zealand South Island miners, only two could rejoice and twenty nine were plunged into the sorrow of grief. Further explosions ripped through the mine causing the authorities to pronounce the twenty- nine miners dead and the Prime Minister to say “We are a nation in mourning.” 

A video of an interview with one of the survivors revealed that he had been thrown off his machine by the blast and knocked unconscious, the other survivor picked him up and they went 300 metres to the entrance of the mine and staggered out, battered but alive.

The circumstances at each mine were different, geologically, physically and possibly spiritually. The Chile men were gold mining, the New Zealanders were coal mining with the greater danger of methane exploding from leaks in the fault line hundreds of feet below the coal seem. It was not exploding gas that endangered the miners in Chile; it was a huge rock fall that trapped them for over two months. Jose Henriquez, trapped with his colleagues is an evangelical preacher and kept their spirits up by reading the Bible every morning to them. Every man had a small bible sent down the borehole for them to read and many of them committed their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. Above ground the Presidents Pastor held prayer times with the President and the nation prayed for the recovery of the men. What joy it was when all of them were brought up one by one in a 27-inch capsule inside a new borehole that went down to the chamber where they were trapped. Many of the men wore T-shirts expressing that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We rejoice with those that rejoice, we weep with those that weep, and therefore feel and pray for the Pike River miner’s families.

As one travels five miles south from Jerusalem on the Hebron Road, there is a left hand fork that takes you down to Bethlehem. At that fork in the road is Rachel’s tomb, the place where Jacob’s wife died in child bearing and was buried. “And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.” Benoni means ‘Son of my sorrow’ whereas Benjamin means, ‘Son of the right hand’. Both names are an apt description of the Son of God who became the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief at Calvary, but then became the Son of the right hand when exalted in Heaven. Looking from that tomb the short distance to Bethlehem one can see the beyond the city the Shepherds fields and beyond them the mountains of Moab.

Ruth traveled with Naomi from Moab and came to those fields that belonged to Boaz. He became Ruth’s redeemer and married her and they had a son named Obed, the grandfather of King David. Ruth is one of four women named is in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew ch.1. Mary is the fifth!

When Mary and Joseph were required by Caesar Augustus’s edict to go to Bethlehem, they could have gone to a Bethlehem which was only five miles west of Nazareth, but that was the wrong Bethlehem, it was the city of David in Judah that they had to go to. Micah 5:2 reads, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

They left Nazareth and made the arduous 70 to 80 mile journey to Bethlehem. Did they travel down the valley of Jezreel or the Jordan valley? We do not know but either way would have been exhausting, especially for Mary, heavy with child. Passing Jerusalem they would arrive at the fork where Rachel’s tomb is. What thoughts would pass through Mary’s mind when she recalled Rachel’s death delivering her baby? Mary had been told concerning the baby she would deliver, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Regarding the joy of the birth of Christ the shepherds in the fields heard “The angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” When the wise men were seeking the place where Jesus was born, Matthew 2:10 says, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” When they saw the babe they worshipped Him.

It was joy for them but sorrow for the mothers that had their children murdered by Herod, “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.” Mary’s sorrow came later at Calvary when she saw Jesus crucified but “Joy cometh in the morning” and on the first day of the week Christ arose from the dead and is alive today, able to save to the uttermost all that come to Him. You too!

Praying that you have much joy this Christmas and the coming year and that sorrows stay away from your door. God bless.

Stan Burditt

Christmas in the slow lane?

“Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46.10)

Horrendous traffic jams, train network maintenance and flight cancellations have caused headaches for most British travellers this Christmas. [bbc news] We are so used to living in the fast lane, zooming through experiences with little time for reflection and contemplation. The unwelcome delays have enforced a slower pace for many. Thinking time, perhaps? 

The first Christmas was an unhurried experience for most. Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem with all the precaution required by a heavily pregnant mother-to-be. The wise men appear to have journeyed over many months after careful preparation. Only the shepherds ran to the manger that first Christmas night, with joyful enthusiasm and optimism. They encountered no delays – earnest seekers after God rarely get caught up in traffic jams along the way. But once they arrived at the place, hush replaced haste, awe replaced athletics, calm replaced curiosity. It should always be like this when we enter God’s presence.

So if you get held up this Christmas, make the most of it. Read the Christmas story slowly and thoughtfully. Take time out to consider the baby who had that unique name – Immanuel – God is with us. 

   

Born in a Manger - God?

God, born in a manger?

I don’t suppose anyone can ever fathom what it means for God to be born in a manger. How does one explain the Almighty stooping to become a tiny infant? Our minds cannot begin to understand what was involved in God becoming a man. We will never comprehend why He who was infinitely rich would become poor, assume a human nature, and enter into a world He knew would reject Him and kill Him.

Nor can anyone explain how God could become a baby. Yet He did. Without forsaking His divine nature or diminishing His deity in any sense, He was born into our world as a tiny infant. How can both things be true?

Humanity and Deity

For nearly two thousand years, debate has been raging about who Jesus really is. Some say He is one of many gods, a created being, a high angel, a good teacher, a prophet, and so on. The common thread of all such theories is that they make Jesus less than God.

But let the Bible speak for itself. John’s gospel begins with a clear statement that Jesus is God: “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. Who is “the Word” spoken of in these verses? John 1. 14 removes any doubt: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”.

The biblical evidence is overwhelming that this child in the manger was the incarnation of God. For one thing, He was omniscient (knew all things). John 2. 24-25 says that, “But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.” Nathanael was shocked to discover that Jesus knew all about him before they ever met. It was enough to persuade him that Jesus was the Messiah, John 1. 48-50. John 4 describes Jesus’ meeting with a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He knew everything about her, John 4. 17-19, 29, which was to shock her to the core of her being.

Jesus also did the works of God, saying, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves,” John 14. 11. Jesus’ works are convincing proof that He is God. He began His miraculous ministry with a simple act—He created wine at a wedding in Cana, John 2. 1-11. Only God can create. Moreover, He healed people who were hopelessly ill. He gave a blind man eyes. He opened ears that had never heard. He restored withered limbs. He created enough fish and bread to feed thousands. He raised the dead simply by a command.

This child was God

Why would God become a man and be born in such a lowly manner and let men treat Him the way they did?

“It was the Father’s good pleasure . . . through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). He did it to make peace between God and humanity. All of us have sinned, and we sin repeatedly: “There is none righteous, not even one,” Rom. 3.10. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Rom. 3. 23. God hates sin and must respond with His wrath. He is a righteous judge who “is angry with the wicked every day,”  Ps. 7.11. Humanity reacts with more hatred, rebellion, or indifference toward God: “There is no fear of God before their eyes,” Rom. 3. 18. The only possible response of a holy God to our sin is more than we can bear, for “the wages of sin is death,” Rom. 6. 23.

Only Jesus, because He alone is both God and man, could ever resolve the conflict. He takes the hand of a repentant, yielding sinner and the outstretched hand of a holy yet loving God, and He joins the two. He can forgive our sins, reconcile us to God, and thus make “peace through the blood of His cross,” Col. 1. 20. And God is not reluctant for that to occur; rather it is the very reason He sent Christ into the world.

God is justifiably angry with our sin. Yet He loves us enough that He gave His own Son to live on earth, die on a cross, suffering the full weight of God’s wrath, which should have been our lot. He paid the penalty for sin and can bring peace between us and God. It could not have been done any other way.

Will you hear the voice of God in His word, the Bible and trust His Son, Jesus, for salvation. My prayer is that you will.

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Christmas Verses - Friday, Christmas Day - The Daily Diary of a Bible Blogger

This verse describes the place where God's Son would be born. It was written approximately 400 hundred years in advance of the event. So we should not be surprised to discover that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Who arranged that?

We also have a confirmation in this verse that Messiah will be more than a man - his goings forth had been from of old, from everlasting. In other words he is an eternal being. Jesus corroborated this fact when he said in John's Gospel chapter eight, 'before Abraham was, I am'. The Jews knew that he was claiming to be eternal i.e. God, see John 10. 33, and a result wanted to execute him. Unbegun and unending existence is one of the key characteristics of God. 

The third thing we discover here is that the one who comes i.e. Jesus, is to be a ruler, that is a King. Both Luke and John in their gospels list Jesus' family tree (Matthew 1/Luke 3) and demonstrate that Jesus was the rightful heir to the throne of Israel. 

Three amazing facts all found in one verse strengthening my faith and confirming that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is this same Jesus who died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day. 

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