Revelation's view of the first Christmas

Revelation 12:1-2  A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Who Knew?  Christmas is spoken of in the Book of Revelation
When you think of Christmas, your thoughts may turn to the accounts written at the beginning of Matthew and Luke - and certainly those records are the primary sources from which we understand that first Christmas.  Or perhaps you may think of the prophecies and promises of Christmas from the Old Testament - some of which we have explored already in this blog over the past couple of weeks.  But what about the last book of the Bible?  The Book of Revelation? 

Amazingly we find not only what was going on in the angelic realm the night of Christ's birth, but we also get a front row seat to the whole of human history from creation until Christ's return.  In three episodes John relates the vision of what went on in the heavenly realms on the night of Christ's birth (Revelation 12:1-2); followed by a second episode detailing the rebellious career of Satan from creation  until Christ's return (Revelation 12:3-6).  The third episode is a more detailed revelation that helps the reader fit together the information from the first two episodes. (Revelation 12:7-16). 

Episode 1: How much was riding on the night Christ was born
In the opening verse John sees his first vision: a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet and twelve stars.  As we survey scripture, we quickly find out that these are various descriptions of the nation of Israel it has existed throughout history.  Being uniquely called by God through the bloodlines of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12; 15; 17; Deuteronomy 7:7-8), Israel above all other nations was chosen to be the recipient of His law and promises. (Romans 9:1-3)  The idea of "a woman" is ultimately referring to Mary herself - since the prophecies concerning the virgin birth of the Messiah culminate in her. (Isaiah 7:14)

The twelve stars are in reference to the twelve tribes of Israel.  We see twelve stars referring to the twelve patriarchs from whence these twelve tribes would derive in the dream of Joseph about his brothers in Genesis 37.  The moon, being a reflector of light, shows us another apsect of Israel - she was to reflect the glory of God to the nations.  Clearly God is rehearsing to the readers of John's book that it was through Israel that He would bring forth the Savior.

So with the entire history of man and Israel pivoting upon the birth of the Savior that Christmas night, we see Mary crying out in the pain of labor.  As much as Jesus Christ was God in human flesh, as much as his birth was unique in being a virgin birth, the remaining details of the birth remind us that what took place that Christmas night was real. 

What John will reveal next tells us that more was going on than meets the eye.  As much as this was a physical birth, what was occuring in the heavenly realms the night of Christ's birth would reveal just how much this one night would forever change the landscape of both history and eternity.  More to come. 

A Poem - God's Loving Christmas Gift

God’s Loving Christmas Gift

Human hatred, an infinite rift

God sent the son, His loving gift

The plan of love, divinely drawn

Sent to a world that was all but gone

This gift was wrapped in a virgin’s womb

A savior to save from sin’s awful tomb

The pain of love, would be of great cost

To seek and save the ones who are lost

Mary would weep at the foot of his cross

God would experience the pain of loss

Darkness that day could never conceal

The loving gift god sent to reveal

The little infant born to die on a cross

To seek and to save those who were lost

The price of love, the gift was spent

He did the work for which he was sent

They pierced his heart, the deed was done

Death and hell appeared to have won

Christmas began at a virgin’s womb

its hope would end at an empty tomb

The price of love, never to die

He can be yours, if by faith you rely

The significance of Christ's birth to biblical Christianity

Isaiah 9:6-7 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah the prophet wrote these words over 750 years before that first Christmas night.  In this one verse we discover two towering truths about Jesus Christ: He would be born and He existed from all eternity.  What may seem at first to be a contradiction is actually central to identifying the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was virgin born as a true human being
Isaiah first of all identifies the Messiah as having a beginning.  In another passage, Isaiah 7:14, we discover that this birth will be a virgin birth.  This unusual detail is a cornerstone of the Christian faith for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it was a man who had broken God's law in the garden of Eden, and so a man would have to pay for the damages done by the giving of his life.  Unfortunately when God cursed humanity and the earth, all of humanity inherited the sin nature from Adam. 

Which leads us to the second important truth about the virgin birth of Jesus - that Jesus would not inherit the sin nature.  According to 1 Peter 1:18, the sin nature of Adam is transmitted down through the father's side of the human bloodline.  Since Jesus did not have a human father, He could not inherit the sin nature.  This is vital, since a sinless Savior is required to represent sinful man before a Holy God. 

Thus "Jesus" refers to Jesus Christ as truly man.  He would be "a son" given, "born" and having a beginning as it touches his humanity. 

Christ is Eternal God
Isaiah continues on describing the prophecy about the Messiah as being fully and completely God.  When we speak of "Jesus", we speak of His full humanity.  When we speak of "Christ" we are referring to Him being fully God.  Thus before Jesus Christ became a human being, He had pre-existed from all eternity.  Each title given here by Isaiah points us to this truth:

1. As Wonderful, Christ is shown to be beyond human comprehension. 
2. As Counselor He is God full of wisdom
3. The Mighty God is referring to His Divine Nature
4. Everlasting Father speaks to Him sharing the same nature as God the Father
5. Prince of Peace speaks to His Deity revealed through His humanity

Jesus Christ as God is equal in importance to Him being the virgin born man, since God alone can provide salvation (Isaiah 43:10-11).  Therefore in one verse, Isaiah gives us the entire sweep of the Bible's teaching on the identity of the one who was to be born in Bethlehem.  He as One person was fully God and fully man.  He who has always been would become born, having a beginning.  Without this event, salvation and the truth of God's word would had been jeopardized. 

Thinking on Christmas from the cross to the throne

Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said: “My soul exalts the Lord, 47And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

As we continue reflecting on the meaning and purpose of Christmas, we will continue surveying the books of the Bible in our effort to see Christ.  The Gospels portray Christ, and in Acts we find Christ preached. 

As we come into the various letters written by the apostles to different churches, letters which we call "epistles, we discover that Christ is being explained.  In those letters we find statements concerning the true meaning of Christmas.

In Romans He is God over all, forever praised, and is born, touching His humanity, from the seed of David.  In 1 Corinthians He is my sanctifier and in 2 Corinthians the glory of God is revealed on His face. (2 Corinthians 4:6).  In Galatians he came in the fulness of time to redeem those under the bondage to the condemnation of the Law.  Ephesians tells us of God's eternal decree to send the Son to purchase salvation.  Philippians reveals that God became man and Colossians unfolds for us that Jesus Christ, in his full humanity, is the fulness of the Godhead bodily - since He shares in the same undivided Deity as God the Fathjer and God the Holy Spirit.

1 and 2 Thessalonians emphasize His soon return.  1 Timothy 3:15-16 speak about God in human flesh, coming to this earth.  Titus reveals Him as our great God and Savior and Philemon pictures Him as our forgiveness.  Hebrews details Him coming from eternity into time, prasing God for the body, the womb of Mary into which He would enter and take upon himself a human nature.  (Hebrews 10:4-5).  James tells us that He is God with no variation of shadow or turning.  1 Peter reveals Him to be the spotless Savior and 2 Peter shows Him returning in the glory of His Father.

In 1 John He is the endurance of salvation and in 2 and 3 John He is the believer's health of salvation.  Jude tells us that He has promised to preserve all true Christians until the end.  Revelation, that great book at the end, shows us that He is King of Kings and Lord or Lords.

In His first coming he came as unknown, in His second coming He will be known by all.  At Christmas He came as a weak, frail baby and in His second coming He will come as the Omnipotent Ruler of all.  In His first coming He came to redeem and in His second coming He will come to reign.  In His first coming everyone question who He was and in His second coming all will conclude that no one has ever been like Him. 

Truly Christmas is shadowed by the cross, however it points us to the time when Christ will come again, showing Himself to be the One who sits upon the throne. 

Thinking on Christmas from the Cradle to the Cross

Matthew 1:21-22 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

Yesterday we began considering the whole Bible in light of Christ's first coming, and traced God's redemptive plan from Genesis to Malachi.  We ended at the cradle and today, we will journey from the cradle to the cross.

Seeing Christ in the Gospels
The cradle of Bethlehem is spoken of in Matthew and Luke's Gospel and the cross of calvary is spoken of in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark Luke and John.  In these four books we see Christ portrayed.  We come to understand God the Son coming from eternity into time to live a perfect life, die a sinless death and raise to victory over death, hell and the grave. 

In Matthew we see Christ our King.  he is King as it touches His lineage back to King David in the Old Testament and He is King as it touches His Eternal pre-existence as God the Son.  He is the King who came, taught, healed and was rejected by His own people.

Mark shows us Christ the suffering servant.  He came to die and give His life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45).  Though Mark does not gives us the early life of Christ, yet it focuses our attention as to why he was born - to die.

Luke portrays Christ as the Son of Man, full and complete humanity.  He is the Master who calls his disciples to die to themselves and live for Him.  Luke the physcian, the great doctor who penned this gospel, points us to the Great Physician Jesus Christ.  Luke begins His Gospel with the early life of Christ: His birth, His presentation at the temple and the shepherds.  We see 72 names listed in Christ's geneaology - stretching from Adam to Christ. 

John, the beloved Disciple, pens for us the glory of Christ as God in human flesh.  In John's record we see emphasis upon Christ's undiminished Deity and perfect humanity.  We see John's fondness for the number seven in telling us His version of Jesus' life: seven signs or miracles and seven times where Jesus identifies Himself as "I am".

What Christmas is all about
Now all four of these Gospels take us to the cross, then the empty tomb and then His ascension.  When you put them all together, you have a complete picture: the babe in Bethlehem would be the Savior on the cross.  The Savior on the cross would rise again, demonstrating Himself to be the God of glory.  This is what Christmas is all about.

Thinking on Christmas from Creation to the Cradle

Luke 24:44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

As Jesus was speaking to his disciples prior to His ascension into heaven, He was pointing back to the Old Testament Scriptures that spoke concerning Him.  It is true that even though I may not be able to find Jesus Christ in every verse of the Bible, yet from every verse of the Bible I can get you to Jesus Christ.  As we think about Christmas today, and how the Bible focuses so much on what Christ would come to accomplish in His First Coming, as well as what He will accomplish in His second coming, I want to take these next several blogs and survey the whole Bible in light of Christmas and beyond.

From Creation through History we see Christ
As we start at Genesis we see Christ the creator.  The Gospel of John tells us that without Him nothing was made that was made (John 1:3).  Christ is the Origin of all things, Who along with the Father and Holy Spirit, as One God created the Heavens and the earth.  In Genesis He is Creator.  As you go through the rest of the Old Testament books, we discover Christ pictures or spoken of in the following ways:

In Genesis He is my Creator.  In Exodus, my Redeemer.  Leviticus, my Perfect sacrifice.  In Numbers, He is the God who leads me and in  Deuteronomy, the Living God.

From History to the Prophets we see Christ
 In Joshua He is the Captain of my Salvation.  Ruth tells me He is my Kinsman Redeemer.  In Samuel He is my Prophet and in Kings and Chronicles He is my Sovereign God.  In Ezra He is my Faithful Scribe and in Nehemiah He rebuilds what the enemy has torn down.  In Esther He is the God who is always on time. 

In Job He is the the midst of my suffering and in Psalms he is the Song of my salvation.  Proverbs tells me His is wisdom and Ecclesiates reveals Him to be the meaning of life.  Song of Of Solomon presents Him as my beloved Bridgegroom.  Isaiah, the prince of the prophets, shows Him to be Holy God.  Jeremiah shows Him to be the one who weeps and Lamenatations, the one who mouurns.  Ezekiel shows him to be the Glory of God and Daniel tells me His is the fourth man in the fiery furnace.

Hosea shows Him to be the Faithful spouse and Joel shows me the Holy Spirit whom He would send to help.  Amos communicates Him as the Plumbline of Truth and Obadiah reveals Him as Humility against my pride.  Jonah reveals Christ as the one who died, buried and rose again, the Great Foreign Missionary coming to seek and save the Lost.  Micah tells me there is no God like Him and Nahum reveals His way in the whirl wind and the clouds to be the dust of His feet.  

Habbakkuk understands Him to answer my prayers and Zephaniah tells me that He rejoices over me with singing and quiets me with His love.  Haggai unfolds Him as the treasure of all nations and Zechariah shows the purpose of His first and second comings - to provide salvation and bring forth His glory.  Malachi, that great last prophet, tells of the time up to His first coming, and that He will come again as the Sun of Righteousness with Healing in His wings.  

From the Prophets to the Cradle we are led to meet Christ
After Malachi, 400 years passes, with heaven closed and no word from God.  Israel was awaiting the arrival of their King, their Messiah.  Then we come to Matthew and we find out that the long awaited Messiah would be born in Bethlehem's cradle.  By the time Christ would die on the cross, 109 propecies would be fulfilled.  The shadow of the cross was never far from the cradle. 

The Scarlet Thread's purpose in Christmas

Exodus 26:1 “Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.

The Scarlet Thread that would bring about Christmas
Yesterday we talked about how God would use Judah, Jacob's grandson, to be the ancestor from which the humanity of the Savior would come on that first Christmas.  The idea of a "scarlet thread of redemption" signals God's intention of using a particular bloodline to accomplish His plan of salvation by the sending of the Savior.

The Scarlet Thread appears once again
As time marched onward from Judah, over 250 years would pass until the days of Moses and the nation of Israel in the book of Exodus.  Most are familiar with the Exodus out of Egypt.  The reason why God redeemed the people of God out of Egypt was so that they could worship Him in the wilderness.  In order to make this goal a reality, God revealed to Moses instructions for the building of a mobile worship center called "The tabernacle".

Many details were revealed - one of which included the materials making up the construction.  The Bible says that in the coverings for this worship center (which was really a tent of sorts), there was to be woven into much of the fabric fine linen dyed red or "scarlet". 

What the Scarlet Thread points to
Why was it that God wanted His worship center to have scarlet thread in its design?  because Scarlet thread would remind the people of God for the need of blood-bought salvation.  The scarlet thread, picturing redemption, also pointed the the price of redemption - blood.  The Jews would bring sacrifices for their sins, and the priests would represent them.  The whole worship system in the Old testament pointed to the time when the ulitmate sacrifice would be made by Jesus Christ on the cross.

Why the babe in the manger was born
Matthew 1:21 reveals why Jesus was called "Jesus": He shall be called Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins".  Jesus literally means: "The Lord saves".  Christ alone fulfilled the intentions of God's redemptive plan.  He alone completed the long line of the scarlet thread of redemption.  This is the chief purpose and meaning behind Christmas.