The Season For Joy!
Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon is shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. he never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself.
While a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth–His coat. When he was dead. he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nine long centuries have come and gone, and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that ONE SOLITARY LIFE! by James Francis.
Promise of the Old Testament
God promised in the Word of the Old Testament to send a King into the world who would bring salvation to individual souls and eternal life in heaven for those who believe. It also promised that this eternal king would establish on earth a kingdom of righteousness and holiness.
This king would be born of a virgin conceived in her womb by God without an earthly father. Isaiah 7:14 “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel (God with us)”.
This king will be the eternal God and He will be from the Royal line of David. II Samuel 7:12-13; “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
The New Testament begins with the birth of that King in Matthew who is no other than Jesus Christ. Matthew begins by giving Christ’s genealogy and traces it through David in Chapter one by Joseph his earthly father, not His natural Father and Luke gives us his genealogy back to David by His mother Mary a descendant of David.
The probability of a coincidence of Christ Not being the Promised Messiah is zero. Matthew tells us that the King, the Messiah has connections to four geographical places. Bethlehem, Egypt, Ramah and Nazareth, and Christ fulfills all four of the geographical places.
Matthew 2:1, Christ was to be born in Bethlehem; a fulfillment of Micah 5:2; “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.“
The Messiah had to also come out of Egypt. In Hosea 11:1a; “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”
The fulfilment came in Matthew 2:2-8. The Magi, wise men followed the star as they search for the Messiah. “….. Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them (the wise men) to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.“
In verse 12 God warns the wise men that they should not return to Herod, so they went into their own country another way. God also warned Joseph in a dream, verse 13; “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the LORD appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:”
Why did they flee into Egypt, first because it was close, about 75 miles away and it was also a place of refuge for Jews who fled to Egypt for one reason or another.
vs. 16-20 “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 18In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”
In Matthew 19-20; “But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the LORD appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.”
Joseph was afraid when he heard, vs 22; “…….. that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:”
Joseph went into Nazareth which is about 55 miles north of Jerusalem in Galilee.
John 1:45-46; “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.”
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who meets all of the qualifications! This Christmas the one we need to worship is the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem about 2000 years ago. Christ lived a perfect life for He was God in human flesh. He freely went to the cross of Calvary and paid the sin debt for the whole world for all time and eternity. John 3:16;
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Christ was raised from the dead, His resurrection showing that God the Father accepted His payment for sin for all of humanity. However, some say that since Christ paid for the sins of the world that all of humanity will be saved. But we are told that “whosoever believeth in Him should not perish”
We must place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Lord and Savior in order to be saved. Christ paid for the sins of the world, but what He did must be believed and accepted by faith. If you have never done this, now is the perfect time, for we are not promised tomorrow. Accept Christ as your Lord and Savior and have the most important Christmas of your life!