The Great Revelation

Luke 2:15 NIV

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

My earliest memory of Christmas was when final proof came that Santa Claus was real.  I was perhaps four or five years old and Christmas Eve, I heard a loud banging around on the porch, a boisterous, “ho, ho, ho” and a firm knock on the door.  My mom urged me to open the door and go out on the porch and I found the most beautiful tricycle in the world sitting there.  I shouted with glee, jumped up and down and gazed in wonder at what Santa had left for me.  The joy of Christmas was gloriously physical, encompassing, radiating.  Of course, my take on Christmas is much more sophisticated now and so is yours but, I wonder if that makes us better.

Christmas was not always Christian, at least in regard to the time of the year we celebrate it.  We know that it was first a pagan holiday, a time of drinking and carousing.  Yet, it did not immediately “clean up its act” even after the Christian community took it over and made Christmas a time of celebrating the birth of Jesus.  There was much about the reveling that made it a fearful time for good families who avoided the drunken mobs running the streets during Christmas.  It really was not until the Protestant Christians of Germany embraced Christmas fully as a time of honoring the Christ child that Christmas took on its holiness and wonder.

The night Jesus was actually born a great split in the cosmos occurred as the supernatural met the natural in a spectacular display.  Rarely do we see the supernatural beings of God’s universe; they remain almost entirely hidden from us.  Abraham came upon them.  Elisha did too, along with Samson’s parents and Jacob.  They are generally spotted only in dreams if at all.  Of the many billions who have come and gone, only a handful have ever seen God’s angels and knew they had.  However, that one night, whose date has been forgotten by the world, a small cadre of shepherds were stunned by their sudden appearance.

Only Luke records the moment.  The other Gospel writers and apostles failed to mention it when they wrote their parts of the Bible.  There was nothing notable about the night to warn the shepherds of what was coming as far as we know.  No meteor showers, lunar eclipses or bright Christmas stars paved the way.  It just happened without warning; a split second the shepherds were tired and bored and maybe even hungry and the next, the heavens exploded before them.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. (Luke 2:8-9 NIV) A single angel was enough to throw the shepherds into panic.  We certainly must not skirt quickly past the included note that the “glory of the Lord shone around them”, but, it was the solitary angel that shook them violently.  This consideration should not be taken lightly.  When the supernatural crashes down upon the natural, there is shock and amazement.  The senses are almost always dazzled and overwhelmed.  The spiritual core of humanity cannot take in the supernatural casually.  A violent eruption occurs within that shakes the ground of those who come upon it.

We know that the presence of the angel did not bring this to a conclusion though.  More of the night exploded with wonder as the shepherds took in the glory of God.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:13-14 NIV) Imagine the spectacle of it and how shook they all must have been by what they witnessed.  Not a single shepherd could have been unmoved.  Before the sky filled with supernatural though, the first angel announced happily to the shepherds, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 2:10-12 NIV)

How would you have responded to this declaration?  What would you have done if you heard this strangely electrifying news?  Would you have continued to stay with your sheep that night?  Would you have kept watching your show or checking Facebook?  Would you have worked on your dinner or gone through your emails or maybe even headed off to bed?  Not everyone who comes upon the supernatural is transformed by it.  Plenty, like the Israelites who gave little thought to the God who revealed Himself to them in a cloud with lightning and great glory, simply go on with the day as if nothing much happened.  Such was not the case though with these shepherds!  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. (Luke 2:15-16 NIV)

When God reveals Himself to you, it is a supernatural event.  No one comes to Christ without the Spirit of God intervening.  It is not an intellectual exercise, not a logical conclusion, this matter of being born again.  This is always a work of the supernatural Presence of God who makes it clear that you must come to Christ for salvation.  It never is just you and your mind making this connection.  Always God must be there for you to trust Him, want Him.  Any other religious or political or intellectual consideration can spring from just you but not this.  Jesus must enter your mind if you are to ever become actually Christian, truly a new creation in Christ.  The conclusion of the text is one of the most heartwarming accounts found anywhere in literature.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:17-20 NIV)

When the supernatural meets you; when God invades your heart, you are stirred with either resentment toward Him or devotion to Him.  Satan and the Israelites who rebelled against God each did so because the glory of the Lord was frustrating to them and felt like a hindrance to what they wanted.  For the shepherds, it was the beginning of eternal life, the start of joy.  What does God do for you?  Does He stir up resentment and disappointment?  Do you get aggravated by what He expects of you or are you thrilled by His love for you, captivated by His presence in you?  Have you the pleasure of the shepherds in you; joyful that He is there with you?  You can quickly tell who has your heart, the devil or supernatural Jesus.  If it bugs you that Christ seems to expect so much of you, wants more out of you than you are willing to give, then Satan is more your friend than you might be willing to admit.  But, if there are no boundaries to how far you will go to glorify and bring honor to Jesus, then you are close to where the shepherds were, to where Jacob was and where Mary was as she sat with the crucified Christ in the tomb.  What sort of reaction does the presence of God here stir in your heart as you come before Him now?  Are you with the shepherds in this, full of joy at what the Lord has done in you or are you a bit cranky that He expects too much of you?

Mary’s Gift

Luke 2:19 NIV

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

What Sort of Gift Are You Expecting?

This past week I was talking with some children and one of them asked what I was going to do for Christmas.  I gave her a brief summary of our Christmas day plans and told her also that we would go to a church service on Sunday also.  Quickly one of the children stated she too was a Christian and commented that several others of them there were also Christian and they all nodded their heads and smiled.   The girl pointed at another child and asked her if she was a Christian too and she smiled broadly and said she was.  One of the children then gazed deeply into my eyes and asked me if I would be drinking at Christmas.  I admitted I wouldn’t, that I didn’t drink at all and she then solemnly confessed that both of her parents drank and then paused.  “I wish my dad didn’t drink so much. I have tried to get him to quit but he won’t.  I got my grandpa to stop smoking but my dad won’t stop drinking.”  Dumbfounded by this child’s openness and deep sadness, I gave no reply.  What sadness there is in this world!  What brokenness and heartache!  I wonder, if that little eleven year old girl has a Christmas wish that goes beyond toys and games and cool vacations.  I wonder what sort of gift she wants this Christmas day!

Recently I spent a bit of time pondering the circumstances Mary the mother of Jesus faced as she went through her nine months of pregnancy.  Was she aware of the internal struggle Joseph her betrothed was enduring?  Did she know just how heartbroken he was upon discovering Mary was pregnant?  Of course she must have seen it in his eyes, in his frowning, in the tension that hardened his smile.  Mary got to take a break from the public scrutiny for a while.  She went to be with her pregnant cousin Elizabeth and celebrate the child she would soon have in her old age.  There was a gift awaiting Mary that she would always treasure.  When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke 1:41-45 NIV)

The comfort Mary felt at Elizabeth’s reaction to her walking in the house breathed hope into the young and tenderhearted Mary.  After three months though, she returned to Nazareth, pregnant and unmarried.  Soon the whispers began; the rumors, the gossip, the frowns, the withering stares as she passed.  But then came a second gift, a stunning surprise.  Joseph had a dream and in it an angel told him not to be afraid of Mary’s pregnancy.  “Stay with her,” he was told. “Believe her”, the angel insisted.  It was too good to be true.  Joseph was going to still marry her: he trusted her and believed her story.  But as the day of the baby’s birth grew near, a stupendous demand was made of her.  Mary would have to walk all the way to Bethlehem from Nazareth with nine months of baby in her belly.  In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world… And everyone went to his own town to register.  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. (Luke 2:1-6 NIV)

We always picture her riding on a donkey as they trudged along but none of the accounts in the Bible say anything about a donkey…or a horse…or a mule…or even a Shetland pony.  Ninety miles they trudged along.  Up steep hills and along dry and weary valleys they plodded.  This could not have been in any of Mary’s dreams of how this would go.  They say that it is good for women to walk a bit the final days of their pregnancy…but not ninety miles.  It was unreasonable.  Miserable!  Swollen ankles and a heavy belly throwing her balance out of whack added to the wretchedness of it.  They made it though…somehow.

Finally in Bethlehem where Mary was bursting with baby and ready to give birth, no place could found where they could stay.  Famously there was, “no room in the inn.”   Where was Mary’s baby to be born?  We say it was a stable but we don’t really know.  A stable isn’t mentioned, just a feed trough where Jesus was placed after He was delivered by Joseph.  Imagine the disappointment Mary must have felt having to deliver Jesus like a sheep delivers its lamb, like a cow its calf, like a doe its fawn outside or in a stall or some cave somewhere.  Alone with her husband and the baby at her side, it would seem Mary may have felt forgotten, certainly weary, and perhaps unwanted.  At the same time as Mary was giving birth to her baby Jesus in some dirty and forsaken place in Bethlehem, shepherds scattered along the hillsides with their sheep drearily kept track of the flocks they managed.  Every night a lonesome watch!  Shepherds may not have been as despised in Israel as they were in Egypt during Jacob’s time but they were certainly shunned by most people.  Dirty, smelly, poor, uneducated, socially awkward, having all the unique personality traits of those out by themselves for hours and weeks and months at a time, they were no one’s role model, living on the bottom rung of the social order.

But then without warning, the sky exploded with supernatural wonder.  And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  (Luke 2:8-9 NIV)  The angel was not alone though.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:13-14 NIV)  The message to all those shepherds in shocked amazement was astonishing.  But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 2:10-12 NIV)

Off the shepherds scampered scattering about the town of Bethlehem in search of this wondrous baby.  When they found him, the mob of filthy shepherds and their dumbfounded expressions as they approached Mary and her newborn baby Jesus must have been quite a confounding sight for the young disheveled mother and her husband.  Can we imagine what alarm and dismay they might have initiated in Mary’s heart?   What else could go badly she may have wondered!  And yet this was the great Christmas gift, an astonishing one.  As the shepherds, perhaps all at once, blurted out the sight of the great host of angels and the message they gave, Mary may have at first listened in stunned disbelief but then, having experience with the supernatural workings of God, realized that it was the Lord who was once more comforting her, once again giving her peace and encouragement.  Over and over the shepherds may have repeated the message.  "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.   With all the chaos and disappointment and hardship this birth brought, Mary had this amazing gift to consider.  The Scripture says that Mary, " treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19 NIV)

The expression “treasured” is the translation of a Greek word that means “to keep safe” or “to protect carefully in mind”.  “Pondered” likewise means to “continuously cast about in mind.”  In other words, Mary thought about this message from the angels over and over again and never forgot what they said.  In a time of great upheaval, loneliness and troubling thoughts, God presented Mary with a lovely gift that carried her past all her doubt and fear.  God, wrapped in the packaging of dirty shepherds who were outcasts from much of the world, gave Mary something to treasure.  “I am with you.  I am in charge and I will take you through this.”  On this very day and in this one place, do you have a gift that God has given you that you have not noticed, that you have not given much thought, not grasped its great value?  Maybe you have not thought enough of what God has done for you, not yet fully seen what a lovely and great gift He has given you.  Perhaps you could wait just a moment with Christ beside you and consider what gift you have that is precious beyond measure.  Do you see it?  Do you have it fixed in your mind?  What great gift has God given you that you can never repay?

Stable Baby

There is an amazingly casual quality to the description of the birth of Christ.  It is just there without fanfare or histrionics.  The child was delivered and no bright light struck the stable with golden hues, no blast of trumpets heralded the emergence of his arms and head, no earthquake shook the stable as the baby was softly given over to Mary.  It was a birth and in the moments immediately before and after there was a commonality to it...it was like your birth, like the birth of your parents before you and their parents before them.  Christ came as one more birth in a long line of births and the glow of it was as stupendous as when every other wanted and joyously anticipated child has emerged.   Nothing is so small and seemingly insignificant as when the Christ is born in you, when He makes you His home and yet the supernatural nature of it will awaken soon enough and your life will come alive with Him just as it did for the shepherds, the Magi, the Disciples, his mother and Joseph.  It may be silent now and even a bit dark;  it may be mundane and paltry as it gets lost in the uproar of the world's business, this coming of Christ to you but He has come and it will be astounding what He has done in you and through you soon enough.  The Christ will work His way out of you at home, at work and in all your studies.  He will clear out the darkness and His sun will shine brightly wherever you go.  You will become a light for the world because the Light of Christ will manifest itself in you at every point along your way.  Bethlehem may have been a dirty little town and the stable where Christ was born smelly and confining but soon enough His Presence exploded into the world with all the glory of God manifested.  It could be that you feel you are a mere stable for the Christ child's birth but nothing is so noble as the one who has Him born in her soul and the angels cannot contain their joy at seeing  Christ at home in you.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  Luke 2: 6-7a

Are You Aware of the Big Picture?

There is with each of us a great mountain of unexplored territory.  Our personality is beyond our grasp, even the smallest parts of it.  That is why egotism is such a dastardly sin against ourselves because what we think we are is so far from the actuality.  Just consider your dreams and how profoundly they explore your depths.  You dream of someone you cannot recall ever seeing, create a narrative that is far more complex with plots and subplots than anything you could ever put down in writing, express fears and colossal desires you did not know existed.    In your dreams, lusts and cravings spring up from the pit of you that astound and perplex you.  That is just the brief snippets of the dreams you recall after the first minute of waking.  The boundaries of you that are versus what you think those boundaries of you are far surpass the difference between all of Asia and the little mosquito dancing near a swamp in Viet Nam.  You are not merely the sum of your parts…you go beyond all your parts and all the parts of everyone you know of those you have met over the course of your life.  The shepherds were amazed by the angels…first one and then thousands because they never imagined something so wonderful and spectacular.  Come to Jesus and you will find that what you know of Him and what you think you know of Him is even less than what you know of yourself.  Consider the wonder and awe of those first moments when the shepherds looked up into the night sky and watched the heavenly dance played out above them.  They could not have realized that what the angels announced was so much greater than what they presented of themselves.  Why are we so dreary and lackadaisical when it comes to knowing Jesus Christ?  We seem to be like the poor man who smashed his TV to get at the little people who lived in his box and talked to him from inside it..  Can we not see that Jesus Christ is mercy and love and joy beyond our wildest imaginings and that the glory of His being is the most magnificent of discoveries and one that brightens exponentially with each new exploration into Him?  Have we the persistence of the shepherds who scrambled to see the Christ Christmas morning?  Have we an idea of what consists of the “big picture“?  Do we realize how big Jesus is?

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.      Luke 2:16 NIV

Dense Lives

Given the density of so many lives, how is it that we would expect God to supernaturally maneuver among us?  The cry for God is nearly universal.  It is just that expectations have been so diminished by failure to encounter Him on our terms  that we schedule ourselves senseless.  The irony of our discouraged indifference is that we scurry about trying to find what in a moment the Lord Jesus Christ can give us.  Imagine the poor widow of Jesus' parable sweeping out her neighbor's house trying to find her missing coin or going down to the park with her back bent over, her eyes frantically scanning the ground for any sign of it among the shrubs.  The distressed poor soul would have been a fool to go out of the country hoping to find the coin in some far off land.  What she did was sheer genius!  She went into her own home and turned everything upside down there.  Is it any wonder that we have had such a disastrous go at this matter of "finding" God when we have gone hither and thither without our wits engaged at all?  The Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisees that the Kingdom of God was right there with them...it had never been anywhere else and was not disappearing any time soon.  Our frantic chase after something, anything that can match the Presence of God right where we are is pitiful.  Give God enough space in your chaotic mind to meet with you!   Nothing screams more loudly than the wills and whims of the cascading world falling all about us.  The shepherds simply sat where they were in the stillness of the night and God met them there.  The Magi scanned the heavens for some hint of His presence and God met them too.  The disoriented woman at the well stayed long enough at her normal work station to give God a shot at speaking to her there.  Have we discouraged the Savior's efforts at getting through to us because we have been derelict in the one duty we have been given…"wait…"?  Your most productive moment of your day is the point at which you wait for God to wiggle His way into you.  You may not have a marvelous revelation, a fascinating insight but you could gain the sudden influx of Holy Spirit Presence that will re-calibrate your inner core so that God can orient you rightly.  You most likely will not see a blaze of starlight or a vibrant band of angels but you could know how to manage that barking child or gain peace over that tormenting debt.  Your Savior is your Savior.  If you wait upon Him long enough, He will get you through your turmoil with your joy intact.  Isn't that worth something?

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.  Psalm  27:14 NIV