Celebrating The Birth Of Our King!

Introduction

A number of years ago, I was away from my home and family working on a construction project shortly before Christmas. It was a very difficult time in my life when I just wanted to quit everything. One evening after a long day of working in the freezing cold, I was watching the Christmas Story on television. I don’t know if you’ve seen this particular version but there was an episode near the end that involved an old shepherd that was visited by angels who announced the birth of Jesus. I remember the old man because he portrayed one who was waiting desperately for the coming of the long-awaited Messiah. His face was worn and haggard. He seemed tired and just about ready to give up—he looked like I felt. I remembered how he traveled to the stable at the direction of the angel where he found the baby Jesus wrapped in a cloth lying in a feeding trough. I remember the look on the old man’s face; the years of waiting, hoping and praying for help were over. His face said everything—it said, “Finally!” I’m writing this short lesson in the very place and at the very time of year that I did so many years and I got to thinking about that old man and his encounter with God in the person of Jesus Christ and how it moved me so decided to put this little Christmas story together for you.

We often take for granted that we have the Scriptures available to us in written form through the bible and various other forms of media. However, the Scriptures in ancient Israel and the early Church era were transmitted for the most part orally. Scriptures were memorized in whole or in part and then handed down from one generation to the next. Today, we read one book of the Bible and then move on to the next and then the next but can you imagine what it would be like to have memorized a large part of the Old and New Testaments? I believe Scripture would form in your mind as a completed tapestry as opposed to a linear narrative. I wonder if Jesus was trying to point this out when he said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me (John 5:39).” God’s people still saw the coming of the Messiah as the next step in Israel’s living narrative but Jesus was trying to get them to understand that he is not the next step in the story of Israel, he is the Story! The story of Jesus is not the story of a baby that became King. It is the story of baby who has always been King! If the Scriptures formed a completed tapestry in your mind, what would the Christmas story look like? Maybe something like this:

The Christmas Story

            In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David (Luke 2:1-4). Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times (Mic 5:2). [Joseph] went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son (Luke 2:5-7). They will call him Immanuel—which means, “God with us” (Matt 1:23). And the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever (Isa 9:6-7). And you are to give him the name Jesus (Mt 1:21). Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ (Phil 2:6-11) is Lord of lords and King of kings (Rev 17:14)!

Celebrating The Birth Of Our King! 

Merry Christmas!