Sunday, December 11, 2011

Christmas, 2011

11 December 2011

Christmas is a time when we celebrate the very precious gift that the Lord God gave to humanity, which is His son Jesus Christ, born to the virgin Mary.  We celebrate His birth.

However a few days ago, the thought came to Helen that when we celebrate birthdays for family and friends these days we celebrate all that they have become.  We celebrate and rejoice in who they are today.

There is a place to celebrate the gift of the baby in a manger, as the angels and shepherds did that first Christmas night.  Nevertheless we also need to celebrate Him as He is today.

And how is that?

Revelation 1:12-18 describes Him as He is now.
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;
15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;
16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

So we see that John fell at His feet as dead when he saw the Lord Jesus as He is now.  And we will, too.  But the Lord Jesus will raise us up and say, "Don't be afraid." as He has done so many times in the scripture.

Today, Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Yet He loves us tenderly as a shepherd who loves each one of His sheep, as a shepherd that would leave the ninety nine back in the sheepfold and go out at night and search for us, anyone of us, who wandered away and became trapped, seemingly hopeless.

Today, Jesus Christ is a savior, as it says in Psalm 34:6
This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him,
And saved him out of all his troubles.

Why?  Because of His great love for us.  Rejoice!

Larry Carroll

All scripture quoted is from the New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers.