| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net At Christmas time, we love to celebrate family, friends, giving, eating, and even counting our blessings. All these are good, and if you are blessed enough to enjoy all of these, I envy you. But for your consideration, here are three things that cannot/must not be left out of Christmas. 1) the Incarnation. What does that mean? That Jesus was born? Well duh; that’s what we are celebrating - right? Well, the issue isn’t that Jesus was born, but that He eternally existed. Daniel 7 calls Him “the ancient of days”. Charles Wesley wrote in a Christmas carol: “veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity”. Colo. 1:16 says of Jesus: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him:”. John 1:1 = “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Note the capitalization, as this is a proper name for Jesus.) Vs 14 = “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,”. One of His names is “Emmanuel”; literally, God with us. There are points we can disagree on, and still get to heaven. But not the incarnation. If so, we worship what 2nd Cor. 11:4 calls: “another Jesus”, and preach what the same verse calls: “another gospel”. 2) the Revelation. Revelation of what? Jesus said “he who has seen me, hath seen the Father”. Did he mean that as a close comparison? A similitude? Or was it something much deeper? Even literal? “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”. - Colo. 2:9. He and God the Father are not having some kind of celestial power struggle. “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell”. Colo. 1:19. Pick your favorite World Religion. None of their prophets or figureheads ever even claimed anything like this. Only Jesus. 3) Salvation. When the infant Jesus laid in the manger, the Shadow of The Cross was already upon Him. Think about that. For this purpose He came. And why? Because “All (in the Greek, this means everyone) have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 “The wages (payment or penalty) of sin is death” 6:23 “But God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet (still) sinners, Christ died for us” 5:8 When you gather around a beautiful Christmas table this year, surrounded by your children and grandchildren, please teach them these three; the Incarnation, the Revelation, and the Salvation. These must not, indeed can not be separated from Christmas. God bless you all. |
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