Followers (Of Christ),
It is an irony, that the world over often regards Christmas as the most sacred, popular of the well celebrated of the Holidays. For good reasons. You would think with something this huge that we would have so much material to back it up with in the Bible. Even that it would be larger than the Library of Congress (largest library in the world, with 162 million items), because what could be more important than birth of The Savior? You might think that we could go totally Snopes and totally fact checking on a vast repository of information about the birth of Christ. Truth is, there is inaccuracies floating around about Jesus birth and Christmas. It is not that easy to some Pastors to write sermons about Christmas. There just is not much material to work with in the Bible about the birth of Jesus Christ. Not lacking...just short, accurate and condensed information.
For all the elaborate work ups about Christmas, Mathew and Luke only wrote 39 versus, ...less than 900 words about the birth of Jesus. With that little amount of scriptural account given...it is like asking the money of all the worlds banks in the world to come to a screeching stop...on one single penny on the sidewalk. That is okay. That is how Jesus is described, a Chief Cornerstone cast out....the appointed one many people simply overlooked, that some today still dismiss and overlook in daily lifes walks. Like that mere penny on a sidewalk, some just don't see the value of Jesus to themselves personally and wont lower themselves to pick it up. Just a baby in a manger. To the other extreme from his birth, the crucifixion and resurrection on the other hand has a whopping 711 versus. 39 versus of birth, compared to 711 versus of death and rising. In contralateral comparisons of Christmas commercialized in America, you would think that it would be the other way around given the magnitude of money we devote to Christmas. As well, with only 39 versus to work from, many churches and pastors get their portrayals about Christmas and the nativity scene slightly inaccurate at times.
A very common error is saying, or showing the wise-men appeared at the manger. They didn't show up to a manger, but later at an actual house. We don't blame them, we would prefer to show up to a house too. Not a big deal. Yet if we get OCD about it and nitpick the little details, think of all the cheap plastic decorations we spent money on and imported from China, only to toss into the trash due to a perceived technical inaccuracy.
Just Like That, Tomorrow It's Christmas, Open Presents And That Is All There Is?
Not Just like that, no. That unspoken sense of despair, frustration or dismal loneliness some get when the big frill is finally done and over, and one realizes Christmas went dry, and back to normal as the trash cans are filled with Christmas wrapping paper. The commercial Christmas over saturation dies dead in it's tracks and vanishes without a trace...Santa killed and buried, gone in 60 seconds like a freak isolated rapture incident. The excitement and seasonal joy crash lands. Done. Time to separate commercialized version of Christmas from true faith...and cling to the latter the next regular business working day. You vow to keep defending the faith firm into 2018...
Christmas did not suddenly just happen "just like that", nor will it end just like that. Consider the fact there is also about 17 prophecies in the Old Testament about, and leading up to the birth and life of Jesus Christ that is correlative and reaches ahead into time, that are fulfilled in Mathew and Luke. By example, Isaiah 7:14 – Is the prophecy that Jesus (the Immanuel) would be born of a virgin, as one example Isaiah looked ahead about that was later fulfilled in Matthew 1:23.
Or that Micah 5:2 – which is the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (fulfilled in Matthew 2:6, and John 7:42). Yesterdays past, is so connected to the then future about Jesus Christ that the adventures and intrigue to studying the bible is like being a detective hot on the trail of hope, like a time-walker stepping back and forth across the division lines of time and seeing the clues add up in real time.
The real reason it is not just like that "over" after tomorrow mornings presents being opened, is this only marks the present moment of Christmas that is rather an eternal rule of Jesus Christ in a Kingdom that will not ever end. Luke 2:1-7 –Unlike the census count and baby murders ordered by temporary kingdom of Caesar Augustus, who had no idea that his decree for a census was all part of God’s plan to bring a king who, unlike Augustus, would have a reign that would never end.....it is not the past or even the present. Rather the wide open future of a kingdom that is only getting started. There can be all kinds of things to happen on this planet and economies or empires can collapse someday or fry under war heat that makes this earths kingdoms seem futile...but Jesus Christ started one that is only just starting to really catch on in the hearts of men (Okay...women too).
So If There's Only About 39 Versus About Jesus Being Born, What's The Trip About R-12?
R-12? This Ministry began on the whirling winds of the Book Of Revelations Chapter 12 (BOR) as the opening theme focusing on Revelations 12 (R-12). While there is only about 39 versus about Jesus being born in New Testament, the BOR now, Revelation 12 does make a "reference" to his birth in a slightly different way. Revelation 12: 5 says: “She gave birth to a son, a male child.” That is the only "reference" in the BOR to his birth. It is then immediately followed by the words: “Who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.”. Three main phrases here..1.-Rule and 2.-All The Nations, 3.-"is to" rule...so we still have the grandest gift still to come after any ol' given Christmas yet. The phrase "is to" is our clue....that the strongest connotations are yet to come in greater fulfillment.
The BOR having just once mentioned Jesus birth, it goes immediately to the great forward looking core issue of the BOR: The triumphant return of Jesus Christ when He comes as sovereign Lord, King, and Judge. There are some who describe this as something that has already happened past tense, but that we are becoming surrounded by Magog and going to a severe judgment phase in years ahead someday. Others yet say this rule with a rod of iron is something still to come but only in allegory, others say already has come and is ongoing, and yet others say it is much more literal, and that parousia (another phrase for "second coming") is the bringer of it's fulfillment. We hold a view that "most of the above is correct". Yet with an end outcome to be looked forward to with exciting sense of anticipation someday in the future. We predict that as surely as Augustus "census" in Jesus time actually led to Christ emerging through that with calling for his own Kingdom that is rather eternal, that we have another similar "global census" coming in years ahead with a microchip, that will rather also prove to be temporary like Augustus reign, and Christ rule and Kingdom will supersede that too to instead give rise to his Kingdom in it's ruin instead. The world still has gifts coming in the future.
Most of you are consumed with Christmas with Family, Church and travels, so keeping it simple, our concluding point to share is simply this: When you see the Christmas present wrapping paper fill the trash cans in your neighborhoods tomorrow and next day, do not get a empty feeling inside. Think not Christmas as to it's meanings and future meanings is somehow "over". The indescribable gift is eternal, and the prophecy is still unfolding and has future context to manifest as it will forever.
The gift will keep on giving...as we look forward to his Kingdom future even more so. Throw away the wrappings, but keep the gift (Immanuel).
It is an irony, that the world over often regards Christmas as the most sacred, popular of the well celebrated of the Holidays. For good reasons. You would think with something this huge that we would have so much material to back it up with in the Bible. Even that it would be larger than the Library of Congress (largest library in the world, with 162 million items), because what could be more important than birth of The Savior? You might think that we could go totally Snopes and totally fact checking on a vast repository of information about the birth of Christ. Truth is, there is inaccuracies floating around about Jesus birth and Christmas. It is not that easy to some Pastors to write sermons about Christmas. There just is not much material to work with in the Bible about the birth of Jesus Christ. Not lacking...just short, accurate and condensed information.
For all the elaborate work ups about Christmas, Mathew and Luke only wrote 39 versus, ...less than 900 words about the birth of Jesus. With that little amount of scriptural account given...it is like asking the money of all the worlds banks in the world to come to a screeching stop...on one single penny on the sidewalk. That is okay. That is how Jesus is described, a Chief Cornerstone cast out....the appointed one many people simply overlooked, that some today still dismiss and overlook in daily lifes walks. Like that mere penny on a sidewalk, some just don't see the value of Jesus to themselves personally and wont lower themselves to pick it up. Just a baby in a manger. To the other extreme from his birth, the crucifixion and resurrection on the other hand has a whopping 711 versus. 39 versus of birth, compared to 711 versus of death and rising. In contralateral comparisons of Christmas commercialized in America, you would think that it would be the other way around given the magnitude of money we devote to Christmas. As well, with only 39 versus to work from, many churches and pastors get their portrayals about Christmas and the nativity scene slightly inaccurate at times.
A very common error is saying, or showing the wise-men appeared at the manger. They didn't show up to a manger, but later at an actual house. We don't blame them, we would prefer to show up to a house too. Not a big deal. Yet if we get OCD about it and nitpick the little details, think of all the cheap plastic decorations we spent money on and imported from China, only to toss into the trash due to a perceived technical inaccuracy.
Just Like That, Tomorrow It's Christmas, Open Presents And That Is All There Is?
 |
| Only one little verse referenced in Revelations 12 about one little male baby born and referenced as only one little present that winds up ruling all the nations... (source) |
Not Just like that, no. That unspoken sense of despair, frustration or dismal loneliness some get when the big frill is finally done and over, and one realizes Christmas went dry, and back to normal as the trash cans are filled with Christmas wrapping paper. The commercial Christmas over saturation dies dead in it's tracks and vanishes without a trace...Santa killed and buried, gone in 60 seconds like a freak isolated rapture incident. The excitement and seasonal joy crash lands. Done. Time to separate commercialized version of Christmas from true faith...and cling to the latter the next regular business working day. You vow to keep defending the faith firm into 2018...
Christmas did not suddenly just happen "just like that", nor will it end just like that. Consider the fact there is also about 17 prophecies in the Old Testament about, and leading up to the birth and life of Jesus Christ that is correlative and reaches ahead into time, that are fulfilled in Mathew and Luke. By example, Isaiah 7:14 – Is the prophecy that Jesus (the Immanuel) would be born of a virgin, as one example Isaiah looked ahead about that was later fulfilled in Matthew 1:23.
Or that Micah 5:2 – which is the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (fulfilled in Matthew 2:6, and John 7:42). Yesterdays past, is so connected to the then future about Jesus Christ that the adventures and intrigue to studying the bible is like being a detective hot on the trail of hope, like a time-walker stepping back and forth across the division lines of time and seeing the clues add up in real time.
The real reason it is not just like that "over" after tomorrow mornings presents being opened, is this only marks the present moment of Christmas that is rather an eternal rule of Jesus Christ in a Kingdom that will not ever end. Luke 2:1-7 –Unlike the census count and baby murders ordered by temporary kingdom of Caesar Augustus, who had no idea that his decree for a census was all part of God’s plan to bring a king who, unlike Augustus, would have a reign that would never end.....it is not the past or even the present. Rather the wide open future of a kingdom that is only getting started. There can be all kinds of things to happen on this planet and economies or empires can collapse someday or fry under war heat that makes this earths kingdoms seem futile...but Jesus Christ started one that is only just starting to really catch on in the hearts of men (Okay...women too).
So If There's Only About 39 Versus About Jesus Being Born, What's The Trip About R-12?
 |
| This year 1919 picture about Christmas is called "Strangers at the Door", is from and stored in the Library of Congress where there is more "stories" about Christmas than what the Bible gives us. A picture about Jesus birth celebrated is a picture worth a thousand words, yet the Bible only had less than 900 words to say. So...did we get shorted by 100 words or more? Is there more? Frankly, we think there is so many Christmas stories created to make more from less, but not for any lack. Maybe the Bible is simple, clear, concise about the birth, and got it totally right the first time that simplicity and shortness was to keep us looking forward to the bigger picture in the bigger future,...not behind us in debates over too much information. |
R-12? This Ministry began on the whirling winds of the Book Of Revelations Chapter 12 (BOR) as the opening theme focusing on Revelations 12 (R-12). While there is only about 39 versus about Jesus being born in New Testament, the BOR now, Revelation 12 does make a "reference" to his birth in a slightly different way. Revelation 12: 5 says: “She gave birth to a son, a male child.” That is the only "reference" in the BOR to his birth. It is then immediately followed by the words: “Who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.”. Three main phrases here..1.-Rule and 2.-All The Nations, 3.-"is to" rule...so we still have the grandest gift still to come after any ol' given Christmas yet. The phrase "is to" is our clue....that the strongest connotations are yet to come in greater fulfillment.
The BOR having just once mentioned Jesus birth, it goes immediately to the great forward looking core issue of the BOR: The triumphant return of Jesus Christ when He comes as sovereign Lord, King, and Judge. There are some who describe this as something that has already happened past tense, but that we are becoming surrounded by Magog and going to a severe judgment phase in years ahead someday. Others yet say this rule with a rod of iron is something still to come but only in allegory, others say already has come and is ongoing, and yet others say it is much more literal, and that parousia (another phrase for "second coming") is the bringer of it's fulfillment. We hold a view that "most of the above is correct". Yet with an end outcome to be looked forward to with exciting sense of anticipation someday in the future. We predict that as surely as Augustus "census" in Jesus time actually led to Christ emerging through that with calling for his own Kingdom that is rather eternal, that we have another similar "global census" coming in years ahead with a microchip, that will rather also prove to be temporary like Augustus reign, and Christ rule and Kingdom will supersede that too to instead give rise to his Kingdom in it's ruin instead. The world still has gifts coming in the future.
Most of you are consumed with Christmas with Family, Church and travels, so keeping it simple, our concluding point to share is simply this: When you see the Christmas present wrapping paper fill the trash cans in your neighborhoods tomorrow and next day, do not get a empty feeling inside. Think not Christmas as to it's meanings and future meanings is somehow "over". The indescribable gift is eternal, and the prophecy is still unfolding and has future context to manifest as it will forever.
The gift will keep on giving...as we look forward to his Kingdom future even more so. Throw away the wrappings, but keep the gift (Immanuel).
Blessings,
MMM
www.mountainmajestyministries.com
FaceBook
Mountain Majesty Ministries, Inc
P.O. Box 1375
Westcliffe, Colorado 81252
MMM
www.mountainmajestyministries.com
Mountain Majesty Ministries, Inc
P.O. Box 1375
Westcliffe, Colorado 81252
No comments:
Post a Comment