The Man and the Birds - Paul Harvey's Christmas Story

Maybe you remember this........


This is a transcription of Paul Harvey's classic original verbal presentation of this commentary just as he spoke it on the radio.

                                                                             * * * * *

Unable to trace its proper parentage, I have designated this as My Christmas Story  - "The Man and the Birds."

You know, "The" Christmas story, "God born in a manger," and all that, escapes some moderns. Mostly, I think because they seek complex answers to their questions, and this one is so utterly simple. So for the cynics and skeptics and the unconvinced, I submit a modern parable.

Now the man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a scrooge. He was kind, decent, mostly a good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with other men, but he just didn't believe all that incarnation stuff which churches proclaim at Christmas time.

It just didn't make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn't swallow the Jesus story about God coming to earth as a man.

"I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "But I'm not going with you to church this Christmas eve." He said he'd feel like a hypocrite, that he'd much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.

Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall.

He went to the windows to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.

Minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another. And then another - sort of a thump or a thud.

At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They had been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.


Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter if he could direct the birds to it. 

Quickly, he put on a coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn.

He opened the doors wide and turned on a light. But the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted, wide open door to the stable.

But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them. He tried "shooing" them into the barn by walking among them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction - except the warm-lighted barn.

Then he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, "I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could let them know that they can trust me." But how? Because any move he made tended to frighten them...confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led, or "shooed" because they feared him.

"If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm .....

....to the safe, warm barn......but I would have to be one of them so they could see and hear and understand."

Suddenly he realized exactly what he was thinking. And at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood there listening to the bells ringing  "O Come All Ye Faithful." Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas....

And he sank to his knees in the snow.

                                              ``````

Christmas - Simeon and Anna Understand!

                           Simeon and Anna Understand!

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

     Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation for the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.
      -- Luke 2:25-32



Here's an old man holding baby Jesus and making some bold claims....Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples...a light for the Gentiles...and a glory for Your people Israel....

(But, Simeon, it's only a baby!)

Notice "all peoples" and "Gentiles" are mentioned before Israel. Simeon understood Jesus' rescue mission better than most.

Then a prophetess, Anna, appears on the scene.


Coming up on them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

               -- Luke 2:38



Luke does not give any more of her speech.

But it is interesting that Luke relates the story of a man and a woman here, dual threads of the story he is weaving for Theophilus.

This is typical of Luke's writing. In his gospel he makes it clear that Christ came for all -- Jew and Gentile - men and women.

There are at least twenty-seven "sets" of stories in his book that focus on both men and women.

In Luke 15 - the parable of the shepherd who lost his sheep and then the good woman who lost her coin.
In Luke 13 the farmer who plants a mustard seed in his garden and the woman who kneads some yeast into her bread dough.

In Luke 7 we see the story of the faithful centurion whose servant was sick, and then the raising of the widow's son at Nain.

Even the mother of John the Baptist is singled out: I tell you of those born of women there is no one greater than John....Luke 7:28

And here in the story of His miraculous birth we read that Gabriel visited two people: Zechariah and Mary. Two hymns of praise are written: Zechariah's and Mary's. Two witnesses in the temple: Simeon and Anna.

When Luke looked back over the ministry of Jesus,
he must have found Christ's attention to women and the particular needs of their world rather extraordinary. Certainly nothing like this exists in any other literature of the ancient world.

[The reactions of Zechariah and Mary to the message of Gabriel are quite different. Zechariah hesitated and chose to doubt - he was struck dumb until the child was born.

Mary, however, humbly received the gift of costly discipleship. "Let it be done to me according to thy word," she said. And so she was able to witness a second miracle, the news that her cousin would also have a miracle baby.

Zachariah's response of doubt brought him also a second miracle, but one of judgment (his temporary dumbness), not one of blessing.]


Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph marveled at Simeon's words to them about Jesus. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, His mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and the rising of many in Israel ..... And a sword will pierce your own soul also.'

Your own soul also....A prophecy for two. 

Faithful Jews realized from the "suffering servant" prophecies that the Messiah would be wounded.
Now Simeon included Mary in the suffering of God's Anointed One.

Thirty-three years later she chose to stand at the foot of the cross, witnessing the cruel punishment of her Son, and she felt the sword pierce her own soul also.

She was not under arrest. She could have left. She could not have saved Him. She could not have convinced the soldiers to take her Son down and give Him to her so should could take Him home and take care of Him.

She made the free choice to stand by and enter into His suffering and feel the sword pierce through her heart. A memory she would never forget.

It's the cost of discipleship.


[I remember reading about the assassination of President Garfield in 1881. When officials went to visit his mother and give the harsh news to her, she  responded in shock, "But who would kill my baby?"
That's the hard burden of love.]

Robert Cottrill - Who are the Merry Gentlemen?

One of the chapters in Robert Cottrill's book, Discovering the Songs of Christmas, is about the old carol, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."

[This is such a delightful book, and if the author had not responded to one of these blogs, I would never have known about the book --  and I would have missed a real treasure!]

Anyway, here's the story about that carol.

It was written about 500 years ago.

Our wonderful English language, with its vibrant words and phrases, is in constant change, and this carol is an example of how the meaning of many words changes through the years.

The text does not refer to  "merry gentlemen," as though they were some giddy revelers. Nor is the word "rest" used as it is today. Five centuries ago it meant "make" or "keep."  A modern paraphrase of the words might read, "May God keep you joyful, gentlemen. May He fill your hearts with gladness!"  -- Robert Cottrill

[Also, there should be a comma between "Merry" and "Gentlemen" and many publishers forget to put that important punctuation in place.]

The poem then reminds us of the words of the angel in Luke 2:10: Do not be afraid, for I bring you good tidings of great joy. And then in verse 11 we find the reason for that great joy: For there is born to you...a Savior....

So let's all sing it -- like Anna would have sung it -- sing it loudly and joyfully --  (Remember God loves to hear us sing -- He must, because He keeps reminding us to sing to Him and about Him!)

God rest ye merry, Gentlemen

Let nothing you dismay

Remember Christ our Savior

Was born upon this day

To save us all from Satan's power

When we were gone astray

O tidings of comfort and joy

O tidings of comfort and joy!

P.S. During the time of the Reformation (1500's) carols were very popular among the people. They were not sung in church, but were sort of folk songs -- expressing the joy of the common people during the Christmas season, and, in fact, they were sung throughout the year. (Maybe they understood the Gospel message better than most of the churchmen and religious leaders in those days.)

Then in the 1640's the Puritans took over the government of England and the Puritan Parliament outlawed the celebration of Christmas and all festivals -- saying they were all too pagan and worldly. Christmas carols could not be sung anytime. (My ancestors came to the New World from London in the 1640s -- I don't know exactly what prompted their voyage to this wilderness, but maybe they just wanted to keep singing Christmas carols!)

About 175 years later Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837) and she revived the practice of carol singing. She loved the carols herself and urged the clergy to begin teaching them to the congregations, and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" was one of the first!

That's why much of our Christmas imagery today has a "Victorian touch" - a reminder that Queen Victoria restored Christmas! And what a celebration it became!

P.P.S. Remember the White Witch in Narnia? While she ruled, it was "always winter and never Christmas." What a sad state of affairs....always winter...but never Christmas....

For those of us who have received the Gospel message -- it is always Christmas!

Christmas - An unsentimental and realistic holiday? - from Timothy Keller

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned....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. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

                       -- Isaiah 9:2, 5-7

Christmas ... is the most unsentimental, realistic way of looking at life.

It does not say, "Cheer up! If we all pull together we can make the world a better place."

The Bible never counsels indifference to the forces of darkness, only resistance, but it supports no illusions that we can ever defeat them.

Christianity does not agree with the optimistic thinkers who say, "We can fix things if we try hard enough." Nor does Christianity agree with the pessimist who see only a dystopian future.

The message of Christianity is, instead, "Things really are this bad, and we can't heal or save ourselves; things really are this dark--nevertheless, there is hope."

The Christmas message is that "on those living in the land of the shadow a light has dawned."

Notice that it does not say, "from the world a light has sprung," but "upon the world a light has dawned."

It has come from outside. There is light outside of this world, and Jesus has come from it to save us.

   From Timothy Keller's amazing book, Hidden Christmas, Chapter 1. Read it this month - you'll be so glad you did.

Christmas - God is with us!

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and call him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

Six hundred years later.....

The angel said to Joseph:

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. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sin.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' -- which means, 'God with us' (Matthew 1:22-23).



At the beginning of Matthew's Gospel - Immanuel - God with us -- and in the closing verses:

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20).


God is with us. God is with us always.

So many wonderful Names of God are given to us in Scripture:

Messiah,
Redeemer,
Priest,
King,
Alpha and Omega,
Beginning and End,
Wonderful Counselor,
Savior,
the Only Wise God,
Ancient of Days,
the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World,
the Lion of Judah,
Almighty,
Good Shepherd,
Anointed One,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace,
Resurrection and the Life,
Light of the World,
Door,
Bread of Life,
King of Kings,
Faithful and True, 
Lord of Lords...
and so many more...

My favorite? IMMANUEL!

God is with us! Always!

From John's Revelation of the future new Jerusalem:

Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God (Revelation 21:3).


God is with us.

God is with us always.

God will be with us forever!

What's your favorite?

Not too early to begin to reflect - James Montgomery Boice

....If you make room for Christ, then from this day on, the world will have no room for you.

We see this in Luke 2:7. For, notice, it does not say "because there was no room for him in the inn." It says "for them." That includes Mary and Joseph as well as the infant Jesus.

And who are Christ's mother and father and sister and brother today? Are they not those who do the will of Christ's Father, as He told us in Matthew 12:48-50?

He replied to him, "who is my mother, and who are are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

Are they not those who open their hearts to Him and follow Him?

Well, then, if you have followed Him, the world will have no more room for you than it had for Him.

You must not think that if you follow Jesus you will be praised for doing so. The "angels will rejoice over every sinner who repents," no matter how insignificant in the world's eyes.

But the world will not rejoice.

The world will scorn your decision. The world will seek to put you down. Then, if it cannot get you to renounce your decision or compromise your stand, it will turn its back on you and go its own way, shutting you out.

That is what Jesus foretold. It was He who said, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" (John 15:19).

Jesus said, "Woe to you when men speak well of you" (Luke 6:26).

Jesus said to His disciples, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

To be Christ's follower is to be a person without a country. A displaced person. It is to follow Him into the poverty of the early years at Nazareth, the loneliness of the itinerant ministry, eventually to the cross, all the time knowing that the disciple, like the Master, has no place to lay his head.

Taken from The Christ of Christmas, by James Montgomery Boice

Christmas - No more myrrh...

No more myrrh...

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh (Matthew 2:11).



We don't know much about the wise men. How many were there? (There were 3 gifts mentioned, but no mention of how many "wise men" brought them.)

Were they from the area of Babylon? Many think so. Others say, "No, because Babylon was a well-known location and would have been given as their homeland and so China, or some other exotic place is most likely." 

Kenneth Bailey reminds us that "from the east" was an expression used for many centuries, even today, to mean "across the Jordan," and so likely they were from Arabia, where frankincense and myrrh were found.

How long did it take them to get to Jerusalem?

We don't know. Maybe up to 2 years. We know Jesus was no longer a new-born baby, and He was in a house by the time of their arrival. Why did Herod ask that children under the age of 2 years be killed? Did he calculate that the little baby was now a small child? (It appears from the record that he did.) Did it take them that long to travel to Jerusalem?

And I have another question: Why did the wise men come to worship the child? Were they accustomed to worshipping Kings? Did they worship Herod? Or they could have gone all the way to Rome if they wanted to worship a famous king.

Who were these mysterious men and who gave them all the information? Maybe they had read the available Greek translation of the Old Testament and knew all the prophecies.

I guess all those answers are locked in a great safe somewhere awaiting a later time to be opened for us.

Anyway, I think about the gifts. We have all heard the symbolism: gold for the King; incense for worship; myrrh for burial needs.



Gold is easy. It's the precious metal of kings and has been for centuries.

Incense is significant because it was used in Temple worship. It was mixed with the oil that was used to anoint the priests. It was part of the meal offerings that were given for thanksgiving and praise to God. It gave the offering its pleasant odor.

Paul compared the gifts he received from the Philippians and praised them because  "they are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasant to God" (Philippians 4:18).

It was most important that incense was never mixed with sin offerings, which were meat and wine. Sin offerings never included incense. Only the offerings of thanks and praise were to have incense. Christ would never need to appear at the Temple with a sin offering. His offerings would always include incense.

What about myrrh? Much is made of this gift since it was used primarily for embalming. It was very costly. It was not  a typical baby gift. But for the wise men it was a gift of faith, just like their hazardous journey from the "east" to Jerusalem was a journey of faith.

We don't know what they knew about Christ's suffering. Probably they had the Old Testament scrolls and were familiar with the passages about the suffering Messiah.

Were they Jews who had been dispersed during the times of the Babylonians?

Or were they Gentiles who perhaps possessed some documents, oral and written,  that had been handed down from one generation to the next after the fall of Babel? Did their information predate Babel?

We don't know, but the ideas are certainly fascinating.

But what we do know is that myrrh was for embalming, not a gift for an ordinary baby.

What else do we know? Isaiah 60 foretells the second coming of Christ and His reign from Mount Zion. The text tells us...."The LORD rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn...and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the  praise of the LORD."

Gold and incense....no myrrh.....because the future coming of the Messiah will be a King reigning in glory....no suffering..no death...no need for myrrh.

WOW....DOXOLOGY!!!!

How We Come to the Manger

 

                                              How We Come to the Manger

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the  Lord shone around them and they were terrified...'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'" (Luke 2)

Sometimes we forget that those words of good news of great joy that came for all mankind were delivered to individuals. The word "you" appears four times  in these few verses.

God loves all mankind because He loves each! Don't ever think you are unimportant individually in God's great rescue plan.

Don't let yourself get lost in the crowd.

Remember Jesus tells us that He call us individually by name.

We come to the manger as we come to the cross......one by one!

Christmas - Emmanuel - Sally Lloyd-Jones

Mary and Joseph had to take a trip to Bethlehem, the town King David was from.

But when they reached the little town, they found every room was full. Every bed had been taken.

"Go away!" the innkeepers told them. "There isn't any place for you."

They couldn't find anywhere except an old, tumbledown stable

So they stayed where the cows and the donkeys and the horses stayed.

In there, in the stable, among the chickens and the donkeys and the cows, in the quiet of the night, God gave the world His wonderful gift.

The baby that would change the world was born -- His baby Son.

Mary and Joseph wrapped him up to keep Him warm. They made a soft bed of straw and used the animals' feeding trough as his cradle. And they gazed in wonder at God's Great Gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.

Mary and Joseph named him, Jesus, "Emmanuel" -- which means "God has come to live with us."

Because, of course, He had.

     --From The Jesus Storybook Bible
                      by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Wise Men Still Seek Him!

After the shepherds and the wise men received their summons to meet the Christ Child, they obeyed.

They journeyed to Bethlehem. They found the Savior.


They discovered that the words of the angel and the message of the star were not misleading. It was not a hoax!

God's Son had been born. Immanuel had arrived!

He was there for all who would leave what they were doing and come to Him.

That is also true today.

In our day people talk as if it were hard to find Christ, or act as if it were hard to find their way through the superstitions of religion to the truth about God.

What a terrible misunderstanding!

To talk like that is to suggest that God is lost and that it is up to us to find Him.

He is not lost nor is the truth lost.

We are the ones who are lost, and the difficulties are in us and not in either God or His gospel.

Do not say the truth cannot be found.

Jesus said, "I am the....truth" (John 14:6).

Jesus is presented in Scripture.

If you want to find Him, you must search the Scriptures.

As you do, pray:"God, I am not certain what the truth is concerning religious things. But I believe that if You exist and if Jesus Christ is truly Your Son and the Savior You have sent into the world, then You should be able to show this to me as I study the Bible.

If Jesus is the Savior, I want to find Him. If I do find Him, I promise to be His disciple and serve Him all my days."

Christmas - 0 Holy Night - Thoughts from Ace Collins

                                     O Holy Night

Declared 'unfit for church services' in France and later embraced by US abolitionists, the song continues to inspire......

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till He appeared and the world felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born

O night, O holy night, O night! O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand

O'er all the world a star is sweetly gleaming

Now come the wise men from out of the Orient land.

The King of Kings lay in a lowly manger

In all our trials born to be our Friend.

He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

The story begins in France, in 1847, when a parish priest of a small town asked the local commissionaire of wine to compose a poem for Christmas mass.

The commissionaire, Palcide Cappeau de Roquemaure, was surprised by the request. He rarely attended services but was well-known for his accomplishments as a local poet.

He was honored at the request from the priest and
and began thinking about what he should compose.

While riding in a dusty coach down a bumpy road to Paris, he considered the words of the Christmas story as recorded in the Gospel of Luke.

He imagined being there and witnessing the miraculous events.  By the time he arrived in Paris, "Cantique de Noel" was completed.

As he re-read the lines he sensed the words were not just a poem, but worthy of a master musician's hand.
He turned to his friend, Adolphe Charles Adams, for help.

Adolphe was the son of a well-known classical musician and had studied music in Paris, filling numerous requests for orchestras and ballets all over the world.

But the words Placide had given him were a different kind of challenge - he was a Jew and didn't celebrate Christmas or worship the Christ Child!

But he loved Palcide's beautiful words and set about to compose a worthy musical score.

His finished work pleased both the poet and the priest. And the song was performed just three weeks later at a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.

Initially "Cantique de Noel" was wholeheartedly accepted by the French church and was heard often throughout the country.

Then Placide, in the philosophical change of heart, left the Catholic church and united himself with the socialist movement. And church leaders found out that Adolphe was a Jew.

So the leaders of the French Catholic Church declared the moving "Cantique de Noel" to be unfit for church services and would not allow it to be sung.

Yet, as the Catholic Church tried to discredit and bury
the popular Christmas song, the French people continued to sing it, and a decade later a unknown American writer brought it to the United States to a new audience halfway around the world....

The Rest of the Story ...

The American writer -- John Sullivan Dwight -- saw another vision for the great carol.

An ardent abolitionist, he took note of the message in verse 3 and his English translation fell on eager ears, especially in the North, during our Civil War:

Truly He taught us to love one another

His law is love and His gospel is peace

Chains He shall break, for the slave is our brother

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

It was sung, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year, during the struggle to eliminate slavery.

Back in France

Though banned from the churches, many commoners still sang, "Cantique de Noel." Legend tells us that on Christmas, 1871, in the midst of the fierce fighting between the armies of Germany and France during the Franco-Prussian War, a French soldier suddenly jumped out of his muddy trench. Boldly standing, with no weapon, he lifted his eyes to the skies and  began singing, "O holy night..."

When he finished three verses, a German infantryman climbed out of his hiding place and answered with a well-known Christmas hymn by Martin Luther; "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come."

There was a 24-hour truce as both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of Christmas day.

But There's More.....

Christmas Eve, 1906. Reginald Fessenden, a 33-year old university profession and former chief chemist for Thomas Edison, did something long thought impossible.

Using a new type of generator, Fessenden spoke into a microphone and, for the first time in history, a man's voice was broadcast over the airwaves.

"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed," he began in a clear, strong voice, hoping he was reaching across the distances.

Shocked radio operators on ships and astonished wireless owners at newspapers sat slack-jawed as their normal, coded impulses, heard over tiny speakers, were interrupted by a professor reading from the gospel of Luke.

To those who caught this broadcast, it must have seemed like a miracle -- hearing a voice somehow transmitted to those far away. Perhaps some might have even believed they were hearing the voice of an angel!

Fessenden was probably unaware of the sensation he was causing on ships and in offices; he couldn't have known that men and women were rushing to their wireless units to catch this Christmas Eve miracle.

After finishing his recitation on the birth of Christ, Fessenden picked up his violin and played "O Holy Night," the first song ever sent through the air via radio waves.

Material from The Amazing Story of 'O Holy Night' by Ace Collins

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Fall on  your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O holy night, O night divine!

  

How God Speaks To Us!

 

How God Speaks To Us!

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us  by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of His being." (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Back in Genesis, before we even thought to speak to Him, He turned His Face toward us and spoke to us.

And then He continued to speak to us through His prophets and then through His Son, and now through His Word.

Yes, He spoke to us before we even thought to speak to Him!

"If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father," Jesus said. He is "the exact representation" of God.

And in 1 John 4:19, "We love Him because He first loved us."

And that's what Christmas is all about!

What is Christmas all about? - John Stonestreet

Thoughtful words from John Stonestreet:


"...feeling like Charlie Brown screaming at Linus, 'Can't anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?'

"....Well, one important thing is to remember what Eric Metaxas reminded us, that it's not really Christmas season -- it's Advent season, a time set aside by the church to help believers prepare to receive the fullness of Jesus' coming."



The real Once and Future King...


"And it's not just in remembrance of His incarnation, coming to Bethlehem as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, but also in anticipation of His return as the 'Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory,' who will 'send His angels to gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the ends of the heavens' (Mark 13:26-27).

"Over the past few years, walking through this season of Advent in prayer, in scripture and devotional readings, has been a huge blessing to my family, my church, and to me personally.

"Another thing that has really helped me is studying just how big this Christmas story is.

"Behind all the gifts, the carols, nativity scenes, and dinner parties is a narrative that spans from the creation of the heavens and earth to the re-creation of the heavens and earth.

"Here's what I mean: All those characters we remember in the Christmas story -- Mary, the Wise Men, Shepherds, Angels, Joseph, Zachariah, Elizabeth, Simeon -- they all have something in common. They identified what was happening to them as being firmly rooted in the promises of God -- promises to His people detailed in the Old Testament.

Thinking like they did -- that behind all of the noise and chaos of this time of year is a story still being unfolded -- has changed almost everything about how I approach Advent and Christmas...

"And this Advent, let's look beyond all the glitzy schmaltziness of our culture's celebration of the holidays and see the grand story behind Christmas, and prepare ourselves to celebrate the bedrock truth of our faith, and the reason for our hope: 

Christ has come and He shall come again."


--From Breakpoint, November 25, 2013

Christmas - How wise were those wise men?

The Bible does not tell us very much about those visitors from the East who came to worship the Christ Child.

Christmas carols and Christmas cards speak of the three 'kings' presenting their treasures to the infant.

Were there three? We don't know. There were three gifts mentioned, but nowhere are we told how many Magi came.

We are not told they are kings and we don't know when they arrived in Bethlehem.

Since they came from a great distance, their journey would have taken more time than the shepherds' trip. And since Herod had all children under 2 years of age be killed, we would think that they arrived some months after Jesus was born.



In Matthew 2:16 we read:

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.


Likely in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi indicated that they had seen the star almost two years earlier and Mary and the family were then settled in a house in the area.


On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh (Matthew 2:11).


What about that star?

We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him, the Magi told the people in Jerusalem.

Many scholars have explained 'his star' as an astronomical phenomenon.

One of the earliest explanations was that it was a comet. That was the view of the great church father
Origen of Alexandria.

Later, Johannes Kepler, the father of modern astronomy, explained it was the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces in the year 7 BC.

This fits a logical timeline and is probably the favorite view of astronomers today. (It makes a great planetarium demonstration!)

More likely, though, is that the 'star' was a miraculous phenomenon. (Remember Jonah and the great fish? The text says God "provided a great fish to swallow Jonah").

Maybe God "provided" this miraculous appearance in the eastern sky.

And maybe, since the Jews were scattered throughout the known world, the Magi had heard rumors about their coming Messiah/King and understood he would come to Israel.

So when they saw the display in the sky, their thoughts turned toward the Jewish homeland.

Maybe this miraculous star was the appearance of the Shekinah glory that accompanied the people of Israel in their desert wanderings, signifying God's presence with them. James Montgomery Boice favors
this view.

Only something like the Shekinah manifestation could have led the wise men over the desert to Jerusalem, reappeared after their meeting with King Herod, guided them to Bethlehem, and then "stopped over the place where the child was" (Matthew 2:9), which seems a clear explanation of the written record.

What's most important?

Matthew doesn't seem concerned with exactly where the wise men came from, how many there were, or with the star itself.

Rather, he wanted us to know that from the very beginning of Jesus' story, Gentiles came to worship the Jewish Messiah, and that the message Jesus brought was for the whole world.

Which brings us back to Matthew's closing words when Jesus, after His resurrection, appeared to His disciples:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,  baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).

So during the first months of the life of Baby Jesus, Gentiles, not just Jews, came to worship Him. And at the end of His earthly life, He reminds us to go out to the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike!

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations....



From John's Revelation of the future....

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb....
(Revelation 7:9).

Disciples from all nations!

Christmas - What about that curse?

Joy to the world!

A favorite carol of almost everybody - written by Isaac Watts, in 1719, the same year Robinson Crusoe was published and 13 years before George Washington was born. The melody we use was arranged from a composition  by George Frederick Handel.


Words we usually miss are:

No more let sin and sorrow grow

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found!

    What curse? And His blessing are to flow...as far as that curse is found...how far is the curse found?

Back to Genesis. Chapter 3

Cursed is the ground for your sake...through suffering shall you eat of it all the days of your life...  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you...in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread...

     So the ground was cursed and would bring forth weeds among the food (and remember, those were days of vegetarian diets) and so producing crops would be harder and apparently there would be some physical change in man--he would perspire when he worked because it would be much more laborious to harvest food now. Maybe he wouldn't be as strong, either.


    We don't know all the details. God has just left us the outline of what happened when sin entered our glorious garden world.

     Looks like wherever man goes on this earth,  the curse is there. As civilizations spread out to seek new land they encountered (and brought with them) the curse.

     Does the curse go with man into space? Man, who is fed with food from a cursed earth and machinery that is built with items from the cursed earth -- even man himself..."For dust you are and to dust you will return...."

      I can remember when the two Voyagers left on their missions in 1977.

     For almost 50 years they have plummeted into space, still going, still sending out messages and reports back to us....still searching for other life.


The Golden Records

     Remember the "Golden Record" that was placed on each Voyager?

     These records contained information from our planet, in case the rockets were intercepted by another civilization or perhaps landed on an alien place where life forms might find them.

      On the Records were things like sounds from earth (a wave crashing on a beach, a sound of wind, a waterfall, birds, whales, etc.) and sounds of human beings (baby's cry, a kiss) and music from around the world.

      The one thing it did not include, and certainly should have, was a "Warning" sign, with the words from Genesis 3. After all, shouldn't life forms through out the  universe know who they were dealing with? We are containers and generators of a curse - we are violent, selfish people who seek control and set out to hurt each other. The whole universe should be warned! Stay away from planet earth.

   "Open these doors at your own risk" it should say.

   But in the future Kingdom to come, what happens to that curse?


      And there shall be no more curse  (Revelation 22:3)

His blessing will flow...as far as the curse is found! Throughout the earth - throughout the universe!

Voyagers 1 and 2 are now the farthest from the earth than any other made-made objects!

Christ's rule will dwarf that distance!

When the curse is removed,

all things will be made new for Christ's new kingdom.

P.S. I have seen copies of the material on these Golden Records. Carl Sagan selected the earth's sights and sounds that he felt should be included -- it is a total distortion of what life is really like here! (We were strange people in the 70's....we had great difficulty seeing reality...)There were pictures of interracial and trans cultural  families eating bountiful meals around the world... plates heaped with food...everyone happy and joyous....lots of crops and content, satisfied people. No scenes of war...none of hunger...none of prisons...no crime, no abortions...just happy people eating and playing with each other without a care in the world! What idiotic propaganda!

     You can go online and see what was on the record. Chuck Berry, but no Silent Night... no Amazing Grace....nothing spiritual.

     Perhaps one day in the far future, some unsuspecting life form will arrive here in their space ships, with one of those "Golden Records" in their "hands" and find out what we are really like - then sue us for false advertising!

    (It would be like booking a vacation trip to a leper colony!)

    

P.P.S. Isaac Watts based this wonderful song on Psalm 98, which is primarily about the 2nd coming of Christ, and which is also the main topic of his famous carol. So it will be more appropriately sung at Christ's return as King, not to celebrate His first coming as a suffering servant. Read Psalm 98 and check it out.


Joy to the World is not about the Nativity -- it's about the 2nd coming of Christ as King!

Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Learning from Simeon - Timothy Keller

Little Jesus was presented at the Temple.....From Luke 2:34-35


Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: 'This child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.'


Jesus said He came to bring a sword. Simeon said so, too. Do we see what that means? It means we will get hostility for Jesus' sake.

It means we will have many painful struggles in the Christian life. Christmas, then, teaches us that Christians should not give in to self-pity. Nor should they be shortsighted, because the ultimate results of these conflicts are deeper peace and joy.

The word of Simeon is that Christians should expect and be ready for trouble. They should expect conflict as a way to get to peace. We can see it in Jesus, in how He brought peace through the agony of the cross. We should not be surprised, then, when conflicts come upon us.

How can we resolve to face the "sword" of trials and difficulties? Only by seeing how Jesus got the resolve to face the ultimate sword for us. Genesis 3 describes how God exiled humanity from His presence and from the tree of life. When He did that, we are told that "a flaming sword" was put in place to guard the way back to eternal life (Genesis 3:24).

That was another way to say that "the wages of sin is death"(Romans 6:23). The entire Old Testament bears witness to this, because every time sin is atoned for in the tabernacle or temple, a substitute animal goes under the knife and dies.

What was Jesus doing, then, when He went to the cross? He was paying the penalty for sin; He was going under the sword. It came down on Him. "He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished" (Isaiah 53:8).

Let's not give in to self-pity or cowardice. The sword that passed through Jesus, the battle that He fought for us, was infinitely greater than anything He asks us to endure. And when He faced His final moment, and the sword was descending, He was utterly alone and forsaken, even by the Father. (Matthew 27:46).

When we walk through our difficulties, however, we are never alone. He always walked there with us. "I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless and sanctity to thee thy deepest distress" (From the hymn How Firm a Foundation).

When Simeon said to Mary, "There'll be a sword through your soul, what if Mary had said, "I don't want a sword in my soul"? What if Jesus had said, "I don't want a sword in my soul! I don't want to bring peace that way," and then where would you be? Where would I be? 

Don't shrink back. Follow Him to  peace.

          -- From Hidden Christmas, by Timothy Keller, Chapter 7.

Herod the Horrid - (Part 2)

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi (Matthew 2:16).

If Joseph is the model of goodness and mercy in the Christmas story, Herod is certainly the model of evil and cruelty.

It was a brutal world into which the little baby Jesus was born.

Some challenging thoughts from Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth Bailey:

"Those who lived in the Middle East across the second half of the twentieth century (including this author) experienced frequent warfare.

"In Lebanon, particularly, there were seven wars in a thirty-five year period. One lasted for seventeen years. Others were quick, yet brutal. People saw friends and family killed by bullets and explosives and all the other horrors of modern war.

"How do people retain their faith under such conditions? One answer is that they remember both the Christmas story and the cross.

"A mindless, bloody atrocity took place at the birth of Jesus. After reading that story, the reader is not caught unawares by the human potential for terror that shows its ugly face again, on the cross.

"At the beginning of the Gospel and at its conclusion, Matthew presents pictures of the depth of evil that Jesus came to redeem.

"This story heightened the reader's awareness of the willingness on the part of God to expose Himself to the total vulnerability which is at the heart of the Incarnation.

"If the Gospel can flourish in a world that produces the slaughter of the innocents and the cross, the Gospel can flourish anywhere.

"From this awareness the readers of the Gospel in any age can take heart."

Herod the Horrid - (Part 1)

One of the stories recorded in the Christmas narrative involves Herod's rage when he realizes he has been tricked by the wise men and so orders the murder of all boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity, two years and under.


When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious and gave orders to kill all boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi  (Matthew 2:16).


The story is only recorded in Matthew, and it is sometimes purposely overlooked in all the peace and good will messages of the season. It is not a story that fits into pageants and nativity scenes very well.
Its brutal tones disturb us when we ponder "Joy to the World."

In church history the event is known as the "Slaughter of the Innocents."

Why was the story even included in Matthew's account?

Maybe to tie the remarkable historical connection between the birth of Moses and the birth of Jesus.  Two leaders were arriving on the world stage to lead their people from slavery into freedom.

Not a welcome thought for Pharaoh or Herod.

Or maybe to remind us that Jesus was born and lived in a cold, cruel, harsh world, and yet, in spite of that, a world that could and did receive and spread the gospel message of peace and joy.

A world not unlike our own world today.

So what kind of a man who make such an order to murder infants and small children?

More About Herod....

Our information on Herod is brief, but the picture that emerges through the centuries is of a cruel, self-serving, arrogant leader.

His background was complex. He was an Arab, whose father was from a tribe in the southern part of the Holy Land called Idumea (Edom - where descendants of Esau settled and whose people refused to allow the Israelites to pass through their land after the Exodus many centuries before).

His mother was from Petra, which was the capital of an Arab kingdom in northern Arabia.

But Herod's religion was Jewish. A century earlier a Jewish ruler had conquered the Edomites and on threat of death forced them to become Jews. His grandfather, Antipater the Elder, was a provincial governor.

Culturally Herod was a Greek and Greek was his first language. His name was Greek and he was known for various attempts to turn Jerusalem into a Greek city.

Politically, Herod was a Roman. He always sided with Rome in any conflict.



He was a well-known military figure. He personally led his armies in ten major wars. One of the most famous was the war between Cleopatra and Antony against Octavian.

Herod chose to side with Antony against Octavian for control of the Roman Empire.

When Octavian won decisively, Herod showed his clever ingenuity by traveling to meet Octavian and gaining his attention.

It was a brilliant move. Octavian (who called himself Caesar Augustus) granted Herod an audience.

Herod boldly appeared without a crown and freely admitted he had helped Caesar's enemies. He even admitted his high regard for Antony and his loyalty to him.

Then he climaxed his audience  by saying, "What I ask you to consider is not whose friend, but what a good friend, I was."

Caesar did consider the words and told Herod to put his crown back on and to return to Palestine to rule!

It was down hill for Herod from there. He had ten marriages. He considered his sons to be political rivals and had two of his 'favorites' strangled in Samaria. He began to suspect his favorite wife, Mariamne, of disloyalty, and had her killed. Later he wandered helplessly through the palace halls calling her name and sending servants to find her. When they failed, he had them beaten.

He attempted suicide and the crown prince, who Herod had imprisoned, was released to assume leadership. Herod survived and killed that son also, and then died a few days later.

His last order was to command his troops to arrest thousands of notables from across the country and place them in a stadium in Jericho. Upon Herod's death, the notables were to be executed so that there  would be mourning in the land when the king died.

Herod knew only too well that no one would weep for him.

That order was not carried out.

But it does show us that as an old man Herod certainly had the capability of ordering the killing of the babies in Bethlehem, the act we have called "The Slaughter of the Innocents" in the Christmas story.


It was truly a brutal world into which Jesus was born, and Herod was a man of his times.

A fact we should not ignore. Because it looks more and more like our world today.