The Beloved Son Sent and Rejected

Genesis 37:3-4 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. 4His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.

John 1:11  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

A beloved son of the father 
We read twice that Joseph was loved more than all of his brethren by his father.  This fact clearly caused animosity to arise against Joseph.  Then to add insult to injury, Joseph began to share a series of dreams that he had about himself and his family - dreams the depicted the family bowing down to him.  To hear that they were going to bow down to their youngest brother was just too much to bear. What was annoyance with a little brother quickly snowballed into outright hatred. 

A beloved son sent by the father to his brothers
Jacob, who is also called Israel, sends his beloeved son Joseph to check on his brothers who are supposed to be shepherding their father's flocks.  Since Joseph had a special relationship with his father, the Bible tells us that Jacob (israel) had made him a coat of many colors.  When Israel was ready to send his son, he called for him to get ready.  In Genesis 37:13, we see the sending off, and Joseph simply and voluntarily expressing his willingness to do the father's bidding. (Genesis 37:13).

God the Son, Eternally beloved by God the Father, was sent on that first Christmas
The Son loved the father, and did not go out of compulsion, but out of a willing love.  John 3:16 tells us familiar words regarding the Eternal Son doing His Father's will: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him will not perish, but have everlasting life."

Just as Joseph was sent to his brothers, who would ultimately reject him, Christ experienced the same exact thing.  In John 1:11 we read: "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him."  To further compound the level of rejection, we read in John 1:5 that the whole of humanity was in opposition to the One being sent to them. 

Thank the Lord for Christmas
Praise be to God for His grace.  Though God knew that the world and Jewish nation would reject Christ, He and the Son still followed through with the original plan of Christmas.  Saving grace was purchased and as a result, we read these words in John 1:12-13: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

Thus the logic of John follows the logic of Genesis 37: The Father sent His beloved Son to those who would reject and betray him.  Once again the awe of Christmas is inseperable from the agony of Calvary.  What seemed to be a mission frought with danger and risk would be accomplished and victorious.  Why?  Because the babe in the manger would prove to be the Beloved Son who would overcome death, hell and the grave. 

Christmas is all about the beloved Son

Genesis 37:3-4 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 4And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Christmas is all about the Beloved Son
Jacob, whose name had been changed by God to "Israel", who is one of the patriarchs in Genesis, became the father of twelve sons, the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Of those sons, none was more dear to him than Joseph.  Now Joseph is a fascinating character in that no other Old Testament character pictures Christ in so many ways like he.  When we think about Christmas and Christ's coming to earth, Joseph points us to Him, since like Christ he was the beloved Son of the Father. In today's Christmas thought, we want to consider how Joseph's life as a beloved son points us to the first coming of The Beloved Son.

The Beloved Son is born to take away shame
Joseph's life begins in Genesis 30:22-24, wherein his mother Rachael, barren for many years, finally conceives and gives birth to him.  Rachael interpreted the birth of her son as being the son who would take away her shame or "reproach".  She had been barren, unable to have children.  For years she bore that stigma of shame among her family and friends.  But now that was all gone, thanks to the birth of Joseph. 

Even though Rachael would live to have one more child, Benjamin, the Bible tells us that her second birth would be painful, ending in her death in pain and sorrow of child birth.  (Please compare Genesis 35:16-22)

The sorrow surrounding Christ's birth
In the Christmas story, during the time following Christ's birth, King Herod of Jerusalem had issued a decree to kill all the Jewish baby boys two years and under.  In Matthew 2:18 we read a quotation from Jeremiah 31:15 concerning a prophecy of that event: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning.  Rachael weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they were no more."  Just as Joseph's mother Rachael died in sorrow giving birth to a child, that event would prophetically point the the days following Christ's birth.  That event would prompt the family of Jesus to flee to Egypt until Herod's death.

Why God the Son came - to remove the shame of sin
The parallel above serves to give a backdrop to the main purpose of the birth of Christ - to take away the sins of those whom He would call and convict to believe on Him.  Just as Rachael had spoken of Joseph as being the son who had been born to "take away her reproach", Christ is described as the Savior who would take away the sins of His people.  When the angel announced to Mary that she would bear forth the Savior, the following words were spoken to her in Matthew 1:21 - "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."

Truly the miracle of the Bible is how in all of its details, it points us to the Christ of the cradle, who would grow to be the Christ of Calvary, who died and rose to be the King of glory. 

Seven men tell the story of Christmas

The Book of Genesis unfolds the reason for Christmas through seven men
Yesterday we considered how God's eternal purposes for Christmas and the sending of the Eternal Son were first spoken of in the book of Genesis.  We saw God's first couple, Adam and Eve, being granted the Covenant of Grace to redeem them from their tyranny against God in Genesis 3.  Since they had broken God's original covenant with them - the Covenant of works - we discovered that only God could rescue man from His fallen condition.  Adam and and wife were hiding and running away from God.  Adam was that original man who had through his rebellion brought forth sin and misery upon the whole human race. Thankfully God's plan for Christmas would go beyond Adam.  (please compare Romans 5:11-21)

The Bible's uses of symmetry - God's fingerprint for preparing for Christmas
From Adam we go forward to Genesis 5, where we see 10 generations listed - depicting for us the human bloodline that God would use to bring about the "seed" promise first spoken of to Eve in Genesis 3:15.  The tenth man in that listing is a every familiar one - Noah.  In Jesus' genaeology of Luke 3:36b-38, as Luke unfolds for us the events leading up to and following Jesus birth, we see 10 generations stretching from Noah back to Adam- truly a remarkable example of God's preparation for that first Christmas. 

From Noah we see God issuing forth earth's second catastrophe, the flood.  Following the flood the Bible introduces us to the third major man involved in the continuation of God's plan for Christmas - Shem.  Shem was one of Noah's three Sons, and his entire bloodline is detailed in Genesis 10-11.  During his days the third great catastrophe, the tower of Babel, would occur.  Shem's bloodline also mentions ten generations.  In the tenth man of his bloodline we are introduced to another familiar figure - Abram (whose name would be changed by God to Abraham). If we turn back to Luke's genaeology of Jesus bloodline once again, we see in Luke 3:34b-36a another 10 generations stretching from Abraham back to Shem. 

Thus in all from Adam to Abraham would represent a span of over 2000 years period of time.  Likewise from Abraham to Christ's birth on that first Christmas would be more than 2000 years of time.  Of these first 20 generations listed in both Genesis and Luke, we see our first four major patriarchs: Adam, Noah, Shem and Abraham.  Understand these numbers are no accident nor coincidence.  God's hand was working in history to bring about His purpose of accomplishing the entry of His son into humanity on that first Christmas.

How God specified his intentions for bringing about that first Christmas
So with these four men: Adam, Noah, Shem and Abram - we see God specifiying more clearly who and what He is going to us in bringing about the redeemer who would be born on Christmas.  From Abraham would come the promised son - Isaac.  From Isaac and his wife Rebekka would come forth Jacob - the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Six men are reckoned so far in God's plotline for setting up His plan of salvation in history.  Symmetry and numbering are signs of Divine Majesty at work in the otherwise mess of humanity.  The seventh main figure we will note in Genesis is born in Genesis 30 and revealed most fully in Genesis 37-50 - Joseph.  Seven is God's number of fulness.  It means that all that God has planned is coming to fruition.  Joseph, more than the other six prior men - most fully pictures for us the focus of the Christmas story - the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In tomorrow's blog we will look closer at Joseph, as we continue thinking on the true meaning of Christmas. 

Christmas B.C - The Bible's first hint of Christmas

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."

From Eternity to History
Having established that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit had planned together as One Eternal God the plan of redemption, we now enter into the arena we call history.  Genesis 1-2 is themed around "creation".  It is in creation where God declares seven times that all he made was "good".  In Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 2 we see God making man and woman in His "image and likeness", meaning that they alone were made with the capacity to know and relate to God.

History's first Catastrophe
In Genesis 2 God makes a covenant with the man and woman that is based upon their willingness to obey the simple commands he gives them.  This covenant, called "The Covenant of works", was issued by God to the man and woman, with the idea that once they fulfilled its requirements, they would attain eternal fellowship with Him.  As we come to Genesis 3, the serpent, Satan, enters the scene and tempts Eve and ultimately Adam.  The couple together complies and willingly breaks the Covenant of works.  With the covenant broken, the question would be: What would God do about it?

The first mention of the need for Christmas
In Genesis 3:15 we find God issuing forth the first mention of the gospel - whereby He promises the woman that through her offsrping (her "seed") that victory would over come the serpent and "his seed".  When the text talks about the serpent's seed, its referring to all human beings who died in Adam, inheriting his sin nature, and who are under the power and dominion of the Evil One. (please note John 8:44; Ephesians 2:1-2).  In contrast to the serpent's seed, we see reference to "The Seed" coming forth from Eve.  That "seed", that "descendant" would be none other than the babe born in Bethelehem's cradle. 

Christmas points us to the grace of God
As time would march forward, God would clarify and specify what He would mean in those first words spoken to our parents.  In Genesis 3:20-21 Adam's "confession of faith" was in the naming of his wife "Eve", the mother of all living.  He, along with her, by grace embraced the promise of a descendant spoken by God to them.  God had ordained that He would offer to them a second covenant, a covenant not based on Adam and Eve's work, but His own - a covenant of Grace. 

Christmas would be fulfilled through a specific birth, and a specific death
This covenant of grace involved God clothing Adam and Eve in coats of animal skin - meaning that as a result of the death of innocents, the guilty - Adam and Eve - could be saved from deserved eternal punishment.  In Matthew 1:21 we read these words concerning the birth of the Savior - “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 

Just like those two animals slain in the place of Adam and Eve, God would send forth His Son, termed the "Lamb of God", an innocent, to die in the place of the ungodly. (Romans 5:6-8)  As we look forward to Christmas, let us not forget the reason for the season.  The reason for Christmas in history originated in a garden, was brought to bear in a manger in Bethlehem, was accomplished on the cross at Golgotha and was complete in the empty garden tomb. 

How long had God thought about Christmas

Hebrews 10:5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME;

Planning for Christmas
It always amazes me how every year the stores begin advertising for Christmas earlier and earlier.  I've seen ads a early as July, touting themes such as "Christmas in July".  When we think about Jesus Christ born in that manger in Bethlehem, many questions begin to swirl: Who was He?  Why was He born?  What's the significance?  For the next month we will be aiming to supply the reader of this blog with a Christ centered resource to communicate and capture the true meaning of Christmas.  Today we begin by asking this simple question:  how long had Christmas, or the sending of Jesus, been on the mind of the Triune God?

It was before the manger
The passage above is remarkable for at least two reasons: whom it quotes and where it derives its material.  The quote is attributed to Jesus Christ Himself as He was before He took upon Himself a human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary.  In what the Bible describes as a "Mystery" (1 Timothy 3:15-16), God the Son agreed to come to earth and enter into time through a virgin's womb as a human baby.  As He is looks down the corridor of time He sees the moment wherein He will perform this mighty miracle.  The Bible refers to that moment as the "fulness of time" (Galatians 4:4). 

This leads us to the second reason why this verse is significant - namely that the writer of Hebrews, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is quoting from Psalm 40:6-8.  That portion of scripture was written by King David a 1,000 years before God the Son assumed, took upon Himself a robe of humanity. 

It was before time began
As remarkable as the above text is, we discover in surveying more scriptures that the plan of salvation in the sending of God the Son was in the heart of the Trinity before time began.  2 Timothy 1:9-10 states: "who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, 10but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."  Titus 1:2 echoes similar thoughts: "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began". (KJV) 

It was agreed upon in Eternity
Scripture tells us that God's plan for sending the Son was an agreement, a Covenant that was made between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Eternity (what Bible teachers call: "The Covenant of Redemption").  As we have already seen, God the Father and the Son had agreed in Eternity that this was to be the case.  Ephesians 1:11 tells us: "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."  That last underlined phrase refers to the Triune God, within the members of the Trinity, meeting as One Counsel of God on the plan of salvation.

1. God the Father planned salvation
2. God the Son would become a man, born of a virgin, live a perfect life, die on the cross, rise and be ascended
3. God the Holy Spirit would apply salvation to all believers whom He calls and convicts

The cradle in Bethlehem was to be in the shadow of Cross
Christmas cannot and should never be without the cross.  God sent the Son with the intent that the Son would humble Himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. (Philippians 2:5-11)  As we close today's blog, let me give you the remainder of Hebrews 10:6-7 which ties the mission of the Son to His point of entry at the virgin's womb: "In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God."

Are you ready for Christmas?

Luke 2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Starting tomorrow we will be taking the next 31 days to consider what the Bible has to say about the purpose and meaning of Christmas.  Tomorrow the blog will have a new look.  My hope and prayer is that this "Growing Christian Resource" will enable you, believer, to maintain a solid focus on the glory of Christmas - Jesus Christ.  We will look at everything from the various pictures, to striking parallels to some of the 109 prophecies that would be fulfilled in Christ's first coming.  Christmas is mysterious, and miraculous, because its message is about the Marvelous Christ who came to die and conquer death, hell and the grave.  May God richly bless you in the upcoming month!

How to die to the world, and live for God

Genesis 35:3-4 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; 3and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

Dying to self in a nutshell
In these last several blogs we have covered the crucial concept of "dying to self"  We have discovered that in order to die to self, I must do three things: Get in order with what God has said; Reckon my former identity (before salvation) to be dead and third, understand that in God I want to move ahead.  We have also explored the benefits that come with "self-denial" or "dying to self": God's power is released to deal with trials and there is clearer illumination of who He is in your life. 

Where dying to self leads - "Dying to the world"
In the passage above Israel (formerly Jacob) makes a statement that demonstrates that he has truly died to his former identity of self-reliance.  His family had been trvaeling all over the land of Canaan with a bunch of idols in their possession.  When you read passages such as Joshua 24:1-2, you discover that these idols had been in Israel's family for centuries - stretching all the way back to the days of his grand-father Abraham.  God had certainly been working a lot of things in Jacob's life - with His great encounter in Genesis 32 breaking the strong will of Jacob. 

1 John 2:15-17 tells us this - "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

What in the world is "the world"?
When the Apostle John in 1 John 2:15-17 (just quoted) refers to not loving the "world", he is not referring to the people of our planet - rather he is referring to the system of human thought and satanic-inspired activity hostile to God.  The word for "world" is the Greek word "kosmos", from whence we get our English terms like "cosmopolitan" and "cosmetics".  It speaks of a certain arrangement of things.  Thus for instance when a woman applies "cosmetics" to her face, she is using a product that helps her "arrange" her appearance.  To hate the "world" means to not go with the flow, to hate what God hates, to oppose the system "arranged" against the God of the Bible.  In short, to die to the world means to love what God loves and hate what God hates.

The reason for dying to the world - Prioritize fellowship with God
When Israel told his family to "put away the idols", he was in effect declaring his left over allegiance to ungodly priorities to be at odds with his now-God-centered approach to life.  In the course of Israel's experience, God had made a "fellowship issue" with Israel and his family.  A fellowship issue is when God reveals to you that a certain thing in your life must go if you are to remain in close walk with Him. (please compare 1 John 1:6-7) 

God had to deal with other issues in Israel's life first, such as self-sufficiency, lying and stealing.  With those issues out of the way, Israel had this area he had to deal with - the family idols.  Unless Israel died to the world in this area, then he would only demonstrate that he had not died to self back in Genesis 32.  Fellowship with God had to take priority over his own comfort and preference if he were to move forward in his faith-walk.

Dying to self is the only means to dying to the world
What would had happened if Israel had not died to self back in Genesis 32?  He could not had carried out this bold initative to get rid of the family idols in Genesis 35.  Often when Christians hear about not being worldly, they think that dying to the world means wearing a longer skirt or adopting some type of legalism.  Whenever we try to escape the world without dying to self, we actually end up becoming more worldy!  Why?  Because legalism only deals with behavior, and not the heart. 

Dying to self deals with those deep seated, anti-God assumptions in my heart.  Unless I root those out by exposing my thought-life to God's word and surrender to God in prayer, I will never see the true need to die to the world. (compare 2 Corinthians 10:4-5). 

The cross is the only means to die to self
At salvation the cross is the place where I anchor my faith in the death, burial and ressurection of Jesus Christ.  In sanctification (the process whereby I am becoming more like Jesus Christ following my conversion), the cross is the tool used to bring-about Christ-likeness and death to self.  Co-crucifixion with Jesus Christ is where I daily identify my life with the cross.   Paul writes these words in Galatians 6:14 - "But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." 

When Israel told his family to "get rid of the idols", we see him building an altar to the Lord.  Israel was demonstrating an important truth - that only in identity with the blood can the Christian truly overcome the world.  That altar pointed to the ultimate event of Christ'as death, burial and resurrection. 

As we close this important blog series, I think it appropriate to give a verse from the last book of the Bible, Revelation 12:11, that captures the heart of faith that readily dies to self and the world: "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."