Wesley was praying for the second of these rests, the peace of God that Paul was writing about to the Philippians. Moreover, if you will permit me to apply it in this way, it seems to me that apart from the truths which the angels revealed to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds two thousand years ago concerning the birth of Christ apart from really understanding what they said and meant undoubtedly, this Christmas, the real meaning of the birth of Christ will pass us by also. Christ was born to save! C For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Sort By Book Order. Trust Him! Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. But our time is poorly spent if we allow the bustle of Christmas to eclipse our times of Bible study and of pondering upon God's Word. The Apostle James was one who knew this, and he spoke of it in a passage that is a perceptive analysis of such problems in the world and in church circles. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! Our gift to our children will be teaching them Who Jesus is and what Christmas is all about. He trusted God and received a great revelation concerning the work of the Savior. This is the peace spoken of by the Apostle Paul in the first verse of the fifth chapter of Romans: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. Jeremiah 10:2-4 ESV / 302 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful. The appearance of first one angel and then a multitude of angels to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. If these four means of celebrating Christmas are new to you and if you are now desiring to put them into practice, I suggest that you begin not with the first verse, verse 17 of Luke 2, but with verses 18, 19, and 20. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. There will be a little Christian sentiment, some happiness, and much activity. It was confused because it lacked revelation and, therefore, also an awareness of truth. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! To the choirmaster. Long ago, when the Greek language was in its infancy, the word from which the word "glory" came meant "to have an opinion." Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jehoshua, meaning "Jehovah is salvation." "Everything" leaves nothing out. He wrote and remember, he is writing to Christians "What causes fights and quarrels among you? I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. And yet this is what we often do with Jesus. Finally, there is the appearance of first one angel, than a multitude of angels to the shepherds as they were in the fields around Bethlehem. Systematic Theology. Music: Adeste Fideles, attributed variously to John Wade, John Reading or Simao Portogallo. It is based upon what God has done, and it is given to the Christian by God and is sustained by God. But the angel appeared and explained to Joseph what was happening. This passage suggests four ways of celebrating Christmas: Tell others about it. I am convinced that this thought was uppermost in Luke's mind as he set about to write this opening section of his gospel. First, it involved her memory; for we are told that she treasured up all these things. There are a few Bible verses that seem to suggest that Jesus did not want people to celebrate his birth. The verse quoted was translated from Latin to English by Frederick Oakeley, 1841. Salvus means "healthy" or "whole." Helpful Not Helpful Praise the Lord! But now, assuming that you have believed on Him and that you are a Christian, what can you add to this in order to properly celebrate Christmas? She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. The Life! This is why carols are so much a rightful part of Christmas; for, when sung by those who understand them, they are a means of praise. Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. We find peace by praying. He explained the full force of the original language which literally means "Glory to God in the highest and peace among men of peace." Jesus Christ does not thus become some magical wand which causes all our troubles to disappear. That is what Jesus Himself said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." It implies a diving beneath the surface. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Both of these ideas are related to the idea of a mediator who brings irreconcilables together. Q Jesus is called God-man. Jesus fulfilled that promise when He died for your sin and rose again for your justification. And the promise of the angel "for He will save His people from their sins" are the greatest words of the entire Christmas story. There are a few theories. Answer: Your question is backward. You can sharpen up your affections; indeed, you must, for it is a terrible thing to have your love for the One who is the Lord of love grow cold. So, you see, if Christmas means anything, it at least means this that God has not forgotten His people. We can estimate when Jesus was born by counting backward from his death on Passover, Nisan 14 in the spring of the year 33 C.E. 12. The answer is in chapter 3, verse 17: "And the way of peace they do not know." If God did that, He would soon make a muddle of our Christian lives because "We do not know what we ought to pray for" (Romans 8:26), and we pray with wrong motives. We only understand the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ by revelation. To me it is a farce! They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with . Home But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. After this type of amazement has run its course nobody gives the cause of it a second thought. The second message brought by the angels concerning the birth of Christ is the message to Joseph. Of course, you can and you should! Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Will Graham Devotion: Why Would Jesus Willingly Die a Horrific Death? One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. His works were first collected in one volume in 1858, by William Barclay Turnbull. And they know that as a result of this faith, they are at peace with one another. One day just before Christmas vacation, the professor said, "Well, Keiper, are you going to preach that old Christmas farce again?" The reasons why they became witnesses are that there was an event, a great event, and that others very much needed to hear of it. Together these verses teach that men are not naturally at peace with God but that God has acted to make peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. 4. Peace on earth. Nor would Joseph have known. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. So they left their flocks and came and found Jesus, precisely as the angels had indicated. One person who has been responsible for watering down the biblical meaning of the word "salvation" is Paul Tillich, the German-born American theologian. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. Do you sometimes feel that God has forgotten you? But in changing the line, the editors of the hymnbooks have probably missed the main point of Wesley's thinking. Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. Unless our way of talking about salvation makes distinctions here, our interpretations inevitably fall short of the biblical conceptions. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate. I know, of course, that Jesus was probably not born on December 25 at least there is no real evidence that He was. I wonder if you have experienced joy at this season. Second, there is the strong possibility that the persons may not be in harmony but that they will want to make a pact between themselves in order to settle their differences. It teaches us that we will find this second rest when we take time to "figure out" the Lord Jesus Christ and attempt to walk in His way. Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? So begin with amazement be amazed at the fact that you have not suffered the just punishment of your sin, that God has loved you, that Jesus came and died for you, that God called you to faith in Himself when you were yet without hope of salvation, and that you are now God's child and are secure in His love. God is faithful. We see His grace. The passage begins by speaking of the shepherds. "Has God forgotten me?" He would have simply thought her unfaithful. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. He would say that He was the life for a world that was dying. And the herald proclaimed aloud, You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Come to Him now! Moreover, the Bible teaches that if you will believe that that is, if you will believe that you are not at peace with God naturally but that He has made peace through the death of His Son for your sin - then God will enter into the kind of eternal relationship with you in which you can be called His son or daughter. In Luke 2:8-20, it says: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. He is the Savior. It is in this sense a doxology, which means to express a right opinion of God verbally. 1. Have you confessed them to God and to others? But of all these things, the incarnation of the Son of God is the most amazing. And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Another example of modern tendencies to reduce biblical salvation to human dimensions is the increasing emphasis upon the social aspects of the Christian gospel conceived in opposition to evangelism as traditionally understood. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Will you take me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band. And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Then glorify and praise God for what you know. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Why? 5. Psalms 118:24 - This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Therefore encourage one another with these words. Why Does God Compare Our Relationship with Him to That of a Bride and Groom? So do that. But how should a Christian celebrate Christmas? Thus says the Lord: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity.A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. "Peace, Perfect Peace" Words: Edward H. Bickersteth, Jr., 1875. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. 7. H His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. On December 25th people the world over will celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. "The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology" explains that the earliest Christians did not have a time when they regularly observed Christ's birth. "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" Words: Heinrich Suso (?-1366); translated from Latin to English by John M. Neale in Carols for Christmastide (London: 1853). And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Systematic Theology Volume 2: Existence and the Christ. This is the perfect combination a knowledge of the Good News and men who need to hear it. One theory is that the early church decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25th in order to oppose the pagan celebration of Sol Invictus. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. In all that he does, he prospers. Instead they carry us deep into the mind and counsels of our great God. God has not forgotten. Be amazed at the event itself. They had no thought about spiritual things at least we are not told that they did and they certainly didn't expect the miracle. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. His birthday was celebrated on December 25th. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Christmas is always a special time for most everyone but especially followers of Jesus. It is unfortunate that these great words "savior" and "salvation" have been watered down so much as they have been in our day. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 8. 8. But if that is true, why do we not see peace today? The appearance of an angel to Joseph in a dream to tell Him to take the Child Jesus and his mother into Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod.
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