A Poem: The Savior Revealed

The Savior Revealed

The Father Veiled His Son from view

God drew a plan on what to do

The Son and He saw humanity’s curse

Mankind’s sin would only grow worse

A bloodline from Adam and Eve had been decreed

From Adam to Abraham came the Seed

A nation born from slavery’s hate

Israel would grow and exist as a gate

God the Son would open the door assigned

In Mary’s womb God and man aligned

The One Who omnipotent, with worlds at His command

Would be veiled in weakness, with soft infant hands

Omniscience whose knowledge knew no bounds

Would be veiled in frailty uttering cooing sounds

The One who Omnipresent in time and space

Would limit Himself to human space

Though veiled in flesh His deity remained

A cross was his destiny, with blood to be stained

Revealed he was, died he did

The guilt of sin, its penalty rid

He rose and ascended, his body changed

                 The Revealed Savior accomplished what was arranged

How Jesus' incarnation and resurrection delivers meaning, value and purpose in life

Luke 2:1-6 "Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth."

Introduction:

The human predicament is a phrase used by Christian thinkers to describe human life lived in such a way as to assume the non-existence of God and the denial of life after death. Thinkers such as the late Christian theologian Francis Shaeffer called such an approach to life: "The absurdity of life without God". Both God's existence and the concept of immortality (or life after death) constitute what is the necessary foundation for having meaning, value and purpose in this life. Today's post wants to consider how the Christmas accounts deliver to us none-other than God Himself as well as immortality.

Why life is meaningless without immortality and without God, and how Jesus came to deliver both. 

Without immortality – there is no ultimate significance. Our brief lives are not long enough to achieve such. Even legacies, at best, last centuries without being reinterpreted and forgotten. We have eternity written on our hearts, as Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes. Without God, we have no obligation to live good and do good in this life. Without the moral lawgiver, there is no morality, no meaning and thus – no purpose.

Now when we think of the opening text in today's blog, we see life carrying on historically and personally. Caesar's census is a true fact of history. Not only does Luke prove to be a reliable source for recording this event in which we find Mary and Joseph, but other sources outside the Bible - such as the Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus, also record this general event. The birth of Jesus is described as none other than the appearance of God in human flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Moreover, this little baby would grow up to be a man, who would die and then rise from the dead three days following His crucifixion. Jesus of Nazareth was indeed truly man, however He was more than a man, since at the same time He ever remained truly God (John 1:14; Colossians 2:9). Hence, Jesus Christ in both His incarnation and resurrection delivered personally the meaning of life by making available God Himself and the hope of life with God after death. Such realities bring the necessary meaning needed to live out meaningful lives in this world.

Why life is valueless without immortality and without God, and how Jesus came to deliver both. 

God and immortality answer the questions: who has the right to tell me how I ought to live? And “why live how I ought to live?” Value cannot be discerned apart from a reference point with which to measure good, evil and meaning.

When we think again about what the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus achieved, we see that Jesus Christ validates and personally delivers not only the moral foundation but spiritual power to live out the moral values and duties embedded within the fabric of the universe. We know that our world is not only physical, but moral in nature. To have in the Gospels the paragon of perfection - Jesus Christ - is to have the embodiment of the very base-line of all morality and meaning. Whether believer or unbeliever, objective moral values and duties bear on the human heart that sense of "oughtness". That is to say, there is a God to Whom I'm accountable ("oughtness"). The duties deal with those actions that demand accountability to an ultimate authority. Jesus Christ, and His redemption, deliver the power to the person who responds to the quickening work of the Spirit. Hence, Jesus Christ gives us the value of life - since He delivers to us God and the hope of life-after-death. 

Why life is purposeless without immortality and without God, and how Jesus came to deliver both. 

God and immortality affirm a direction, an overall narrative and point to the universe. Moreover, the purpose is defined by the grandeur of the origin and the extraordinary means employed to reach the purpose or end point.

Once more the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus Christ speaks to the provision of life's purpose. Jesus Christ as God incarnate delivers to me God on a one-on-one level at the moment of saving faith. In Jesus Christ there is an ultimate purpose to life. We discover in the Bible that Jesus is coming back to bring history to a close (see Titus 2:13). Furthermore, in Jesus the immortal life of hope that is looked forward to after death is fore-tasted by way of the new-life and new nature He delivers by the Spirit at salvation. As the old song states: "Heaven came down and glory filled my soul". 

So, Jesus Christ delivers to us God and immortality, and thus provides life's meaning, value and purpose. Through Jesus alone can we escape the absurdity of life that attempts to conduct itself under the false assumption that there is no God and no immortality. 

A podcast link: The reality of miracles and their relevance to Christmas

Matthew 1:19-21 "And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. (20) But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying: "Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

Today's post features a link to a recent podcast that aims to equip people on how to defend and communicate the historicity of the virgin birth conception of Jesus. Just click on the link and then push the play button. The episode is roughly 12 minutes in length. https://gcrpodcast.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/podcast-the-reality-of-miracles-and-their-relevance-to-christmas/

This time of year provides prime opportunity for Christians to share their faith with loved, friends and neighbors. In the podcast, I deal with the subject of the possibility of miracles, and how such a subject is relevant to the main truth of Christmas: namely Jesus' Christ's incarnation and virgin-birth conception. The hope is that the podcast will encourage and motivate readers and listeners to see why it is reasonable to believe in the historicity of the virgin - birth narratives of Jesus Christ in Matthew and Luke. To God be the glory! 

How Revelation points to God's victory through Jesus in Christmas

Revelation 12:7 "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war."

Introduction:
In this third and final episode of John's vision in Revelation twelve, we see him doing a couple of things:  first he is expanding in more detail upon the previous scene in Revelation 12:4-6 and second, he is including some of the details from the scene in Revelation 12:1-2.  When he does this, we are getting a complete picture of history as scene from both the visible and invisible realms.  Clearly one of the themes associated with this vision is the wrath and hatred of Satan for God, Christ and the people of God.  All of these events center upon the moment when Christ entered into time on that Christmas night.  The question we want to know the answer to is: why does Satan hate Christmas?

1. Satan was expelled from heaven.  Michael, the archangel and chief guardian over the nation of Israel, led the offense against the angelic rebellion.  We cannot imagine the scale of the battle - being that the combatants would had numbered in the trillions.  We cannot imagine the power involved in such a fight, since scripture records how one angel for instance would wipe out 185,000 human soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). That ancient battle did take place, and as a result, Satan and his minions have been on the assault ever since as a result of their defeat.

2. Satan hates the nation of Israel
There are two reasons why Satan would hate Israel.  First is because Michael, the one who led the effort to cast him out of heaven, was assigned guardianship over Israel (please note Daniel 10).  Undoubtedly Satan's memory is still fresh.  But even moreso Satan's hatred for Israel stems from the fact that through that nation, and through the bloodlines of men like Judah and David in its history, God brought God the Son from eternity into time.  No doubt Satan tried to foil God's plan, but of course as scripture reveals, Christ was born, was crucified, raised from the dead and will return once again.

3. Satan hates God's people
As you look at this text, you find out that Satan as turned his attention to accusing and persecuting the people of God.  Revelation 12:11 reveals - “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death."  We read of further details in Revelation 12:17 - "So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus." 

These verses points to the saints of God who have lived throughout the ages of the Old Testament as well as this current church age.  They also speak of those saints who will endure to the end of history leading up to Christ's return.  All believing Jews and Gentiles in the Lord Jesus Christ embody the reality to which the hope of Christmas points: the victory of God through Jesus Christ. 

At each step of Jesus' ministry sojourn here on earth, Satan attempted to stop him and failed. As we saw here in Revelation 12, Satan waged war in the heavenlies during the time of the Son's incarnation - and lost. Then later on after Jesus' public baptism, Satan would tempt Him for 40 days in the wilderness - only to lose once again. Throughout Jesus' public ministry, there would be battles faught by Jesus against his human and demonic opponents - yet again spelling further defeat for Satan. The cross looked for a moment to be a turning of the tide, being that Satan had entered into Judas, who betrayed Jesus to the level of accelerating the process that would lead to Jesus' crucifixion. What Satan thought was a pre-emptive victory ended up spelling his most crushing defeat. Jesus' work of redemption was to be done on the cross. Death would not have the final say, since three days following, Jesus would raise from the dead. 

As we close today's blog, I'm reminded of a 500 year old hymn written by Martin Luther entitled "A mighty fortress is our God".  In that hymn we find these words:

"But still our ancient foe, doth seek to work us woe; his power and wrath are great, and armed with cruel hate, none on earth is his equal."  Then later on in the hymn we find these words: "were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing; Just ask who that may be, Christ Jesus it is He; Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same, and He will win the battle."

How the Book of Revelation refers to the 1st Advent of Jesus as spelling the defeat of Satan

Revelation 12:3-4 "Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child." 


We looked yesterday at how the truth of Jesus' incarnation is discussed in the Book of Revelation. It may surprise some to know that the Christmas story is touched upon throughout several places in the New Testament. Revelation 12 deals with the wide-sweep of Biblical history and includes Jesus' entry into time as being the decisive factor in the unraveling of Satan's ongoing war with God. Today's post continues on this study with a further look into Revelation 12 to see how this cosmic conflict came to a head the moment Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin's womb and how His life and death would spell the defeat of Satan.

Demons, Angels and the war in the heavenlies
John, the human author of the Book of Revelation (along with the Divine Author, God the Holy Spirit), takes us now into "Episode Two" of this grand vision of history leading up to and beyond that Christmas night.  It is here that we get a clear view of the origin of the demonic realm, the great fight in the heavenly realms leading up to Christ's birth, and the warfare that will continue until the end of time.

1. The Great Red Dragon. This is none other than Satan himself.  We see him appearing as a serpent in Genesis 3:1.  His nature as a Dragon, as "that serpent of old", is full and complete, as seen in the repetition of the number seven.  According to Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, Satan was not always Satan. He was created as an angel, a chief Angel, perhaps the chief choir director of the angelic hosts.  He was "Lucifer", the "enlightened one", who in focusing upon his created beauty became prideful.

2. A third of the stars.  According to John, Lucifer rebelled and seduced 1/3 of the angelic host to follow him in a massive revolt in heaven.  This revolt might very well had occured either between days 1 and three of the creation days described in Genesis 1, Psalm 104 or perhaps shortly after the completion of the creation described in those same chapters.  We know that angels are described as "stars" since we see such description in Job 38:7. 

Some of these "fallen ones", these demons, had reblled so badly as to "lose their former estate" and were chained in the darkest regions until the time of the final judgment. (Jude 6)  Others of these fallen angels were permitted by God to roam over the earth and torment people, as seen in the eight or nine occassions where Jesus performed exorcisms in Matthew, Mark Luke and John. 

Lucifer Himself is currently "Prince of the power of the air" and "a god of this age".  (2 Corinthians 4:1-6).  He is roaming to and fro over the earth, along with his demonic hoards, seeing whom he may torment, destroy and blind to the truth of God. (1 Peter 5:8).

3. Stood in front of the woman.    John next writes that This Dragon stood in front of the woman, awaiting to devour her child.  Clearly Satan, though powerful, is still a creature, being that he did not know when exactly the day nor hour would occur for Jesus to enter into this world.  He is behind the persecutions of the Jews throughout the Old Testament.  Galatians 4:4 tells us that Jesus was born into this world in the fulness of time.  Despite the Old Serpent's best efforts, the Christ-child was born.  The Virgin Mary was that woman, who in the bloodline ordained from God from Eve, through Abraham, through David would bring to bear his purposes in her. 

4. The One born a king will rule as The King In Revelation 12:5-6, we see a summary statement from the moment of Christ's birth in Bethlehem to when He will return to earth to rule and reign as King.  Satan will attempt to destroy Israel in the days leading up to Christ's return.  God will have provision for protecting her in the last 31/2 years leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

5. Christmas reminds us that God finishes what He begins, He has defeated the enemy
Just as God would accomplish His purpose in the birth of Christ in His first coming, the purpose of God will reign supreme in the Second coming.  The outcome of the warfare is sure.  Christmas reminds us of the victory of God in Jesus Christ: His birth declared victory; His cross won victory; His resurrection and ascension confirmed victory; His word communicates victory and the Soon return will demonstrate to all that He alone is the victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords.   

The victory of Christmas proclaimed in Revelation

Revelation 12:3-4 "Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child."


Demons, Angels and the war in the heavenlies
John, the human author of the Book of Revelation (along with the Divine Author, God the Holy Spirit), takes us now into "Episode Two" of this grand vision of history leading up to and beyond that first Christmas night. We saw yesterday the significance of Christmas in Revelation and began looking at Revelation 12. As we will see today, in-as-much-as Christ's 1st advent was a historical event - it also was a cosmic one. Jesus came in the virgin's womb through the virgin conception - resulting in His uniting of a truly human nature to His Person. He came to redeem fallen humanity. 

However, the Son's incarnation also affected the spiritual realms. It is here that we get a clear view of the origin of the demonic realm, the great fight in the heavenly realms leading up to Christ's birth, and the warfare that will continue until the end of time.

1. The Great Red Dragon. This is none other than Satan himself.  We see him appearing as a serpent in Genesis 3:1.  His nature as a Dragon, as "that serpent of old", is full and complete, as seen in the repetition of the number seven.  According to Old Testament passages such as Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, Satan was not always Satan. He was created as an angel, a chief Angel, perhaps the chief choir director of the angelic hosts.  He was "Lucifer", the "enlightened one", who in focusing upon his created beauty became prideful.

2. A third of the stars.  According to John, Lucifer rebelled and seduced 1/3 of the angelic host to follow him in a massive revolt in heaven.  This revolt might very well had occured either between days 1 and three of the creation days described in Genesis 1, Psalm 104 or perhaps shortly after the completion of the creation described in those same chapters.  We know that angels are described as "stars" since we see such description in Job 38:7. 

Some of these "fallen ones", these demons, had rebelled so badly as to "lose their former estate" and were chained in the darkest regions until the time of the final judgment. (Jude 6)  Others of these fallen angels were permitted by God to roam over the earth and torment people, as seen in the eight or nine occassions where Jesus performed exorcisms in Matthew, Mark Luke and John. 

Lucifer Himself is currently "Prince of the power of the air" and "a god of this age".  (2 Corinthians 4:1-6).  He is roaming to and fro over the earth, along with his demonic hoards, seeing whom he may torment, destroy and blind to the truth of God. (1 Peter 5:8).

3. Stood in front of the woman.    John next writes that This Dragon stood in front of the woman, awaiting to devour her child.  Clearly Satan, though powerful, is still a creature, being that he did not know when exactly the day nor hour would occur for Jesus to enter into this world.  He is behind the persecutions of the Jews throughout the Old Testament.  Galatians 4:4 tells us that Jesus was born into this world in the fulness of time.  Despite the Old Serpent's best efforts, the Christ-child was born.  

4. The One born a king will rule as The King In Revelation 12:5-6, we see a summary statement from the moment of Christ's birth in Bethlehem to when He will return to earth to rule and reign as King.  Satan will attempt to destroy Israel in the days leading up to Christ's return.  God will have provision for protecting her in the last 3 1/2 years leading up to the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

5. Christmas reminds us that God finishes what He begins, He has defeated the enemy
Just as God would accomplish His purpose in the birth of Christ in His first coming, the purpose of God will reign supreme in the Second coming.  The outcome of the warfare is sure.  Christmas reminds us of the victory of God in Jesus Christ: His birth declared victory; His cross won victory; His resurrection and ascension confirmed victory; His word communicates victory and the soon return will demonstrate to all that He alone is the victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords.   

How the significance of Jesus' birth is explained in the book of Revelation

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; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth."

How Christmas is spoken of in the Book of Revelation
Where do people typically go in the Bible to read or study the accounts of Christ's birth? When you think of Christmas, your thoughts may turn to the accounts written at the beginning of Matthew and Luke. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are primary sources from which we understand that first Christmas. Other sources for studying the first advent of Jesus can include the prophecies and promises of Christmas from the Old Testament. 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). 

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 and in-so-far 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 occurred in the heavenly realms on the night of Christ's birth would reveal just how much this one night would forever change the landscape of both history and eternity.