12-8-14 <\/p>\n
This is awfully secular, but a lot of us have memories from television\u2019s black-and-white days. On Thanksgiving afternoon, before, after, or in-between the turkey and four varieties of carbohydrate side dish meals, a local station would air Laurel and Hardy\u2019s \u201cMarch Of the Wooden Soldiers,\u201d based on Victor Herbert\u2019s \u201cBabes in Toyland.\u201d The tenuous connection to Christmas was trouble in Santa\u2019s workshop, but it was enough to usher in the Christmas season.<\/p>\n
Now, black and white movies are most obsolete. Laurel and Hardy have been banished, too. My friend Jean Shepherd\u2019s classic \u201cA Christmas Story\u201d does make it annual appearance now, usually in a 24-hour cycle on TCM, but closer to Christmas, warning boys everywhere to be careful not to shoot their eye out. But. Thanksgiving is no longer the starting-line for the Christmas race.<\/p>\n
After Hallowe\u2019en, these day, stores start festooning aisles and windows with Christmas decorations and merchandise. Some stores before THAT. Observant chambers of commerce start decorating Main Streets with lights and messages while pedestrians underneath often still wear shorts and Ts.<\/p>\n
You know the complaints, because you probably complain, as most of us do \u2013 and not all from a theological perspective, of course: everyone has internal Tackiness meters and Tawdry antibodies in our systems. I hope. It is all too early\u2026 too cheesy\u2026 too pushy\u2026 too commercial\u2026 <\/p>\n
\u2026 and, of course, even atheists take note, very little about Jesus. And \u201cHe is the reason\u2026\u201d etc. Shop owners and greedy legal consultants can say that secularists should not be offended, but in truth merchants, window decorators, chambers of commerce, and many of our neighbors, could not care less about the advent of Jesus, the Incarnation of Jehovah, God-with-us, the Word made flesh, the Savior of humankind. But: Disney characters around a cartoon manger do not cut it, folks.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting ready for Christmas,\u201d it is argued. \u201cAll for the kids.\u201d Heaven forbid. Never in the history of ideas has a civilization worked so hard to commemorate a holy event by straining so mightily to deny its holy significance.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, \u201cgetting ready for Christmas\u201d does not depend on commercial, sanitized fluff, and never did. God does not need our sophisticated understanding to become flesh and dwell among us. He did not, despite the announcement via angels, 2000 years ago. Nor did He, approximately 700 years before those events, when He prophesied through Isaiah the birth of the Savior.<\/p>\n
A great teaching of Mark Driscoll laid out many of the prophesies, meanings, and fulfillments concerning Christ\u2019s Incarnation \u2013 God becoming human and living amongst humankind:<\/p>\n
Jesus will come from the line of Abraham. Prophecy: Genesis 12:3. Fulfilled: Matthew 1:1.<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 mother will be a virgin. Prophecy: Isaiah 7:14. Fulfilled: Matthew 1:18\u201323.<\/p>\n
Jesus will be a descendent of Isaac and Jacob. Prophecy: Genesis 17:19 and Numbers 24:17. Fulfilled: Matthew 1:2.<\/p>\n
Jesus will be born in the town Bethlehem. Prophecy: Micah 5:2. Fulfilled: Luke 2:1\u20137.<\/p>\n
Jesus will be called out of Egypt. Prophecy: Hosea 11:1. Fulfilled: Matthew 2:13\u201315.<\/p>\n
Jesus will be a member of the tribe of Judah. Prophecy: Genesis 49:10. Fulfilled: Luke 3:33.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Jesus will be from the lineage of King David. Prophecy: Jeremiah 23:5. Fulfilled: Matthew 1:6.<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 birth will be accompanied with great suffering and sorrow. Prophecy: Jeremiah 31:15. Fulfilled: Matthew 2:16. <\/p>\n
Jesus will live a perfect life, die by crucifixion, resurrect from death, ascend into heaven, and sit at the right hand of God. Prophecies: Psalm 22:16; Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:10\u201311; Psalm 68:18; Psalm 110:1. Fulfilled: 1 Peter 2:21\u201322; Luke 23:33; Acts 2:25\u201332; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 1:3.<\/p>\n
Many Old Testament writings prophesy the coming of the Messiah and His birth. All without snow bunnies and frosty snowmen. No electric lights, no cartoon characters, no commercial jingles. For those who have not read Isaiah (especially) 52-53, many of its themes and words are familiar anyway through the citations of Christ, St Paul, the Book of Revelation, the libretto of Handel\u2019s \u201cMessiah,\u201d which was not a poetic paraphrase but the actual words from the Bible. <\/p>\n
God let the world know Christmas was coming. Shame on us: unlike the shepherds in Bethlehem\u2019s hills, we KNOW the tremendous spiritual significance of this humble birth that was also the most life-changing moment in history.<\/p>\n
He is coming. He was coming. He died and rose. He will come. He rises every day. \u201cIf He be lifted up\u2026\u201d We lift Him up. We are crucified with Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He sits at the right hand of the Father. He comes again with glory. He is forever Mary\u2019s son, the Babe in the manger. <\/p>\n
The Resurrection is as real \u2013 and is as fresh \u2013 as the Incarnation, the birth of the Holy One. They are new every day, or should be to us, and renewable as sources of Truth and Strength and Life.<\/p>\n
Actually, Christians could, and perhaps should once in awhile, think of the Easter message on Christmas Day, and celebrate the advent of our Lord, Jesus\u2019s birth and Incarnation, on Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n
It is the same Message; He is the same Savior. We could even exchange gifts at random times. After all, the Father\u2019s Gift to a lost humanity was not meant for one day, one season, or one people, or one time. <\/p>\n
For ever and for ever, amen: Jesus, the Gift that keeps on giving.<\/p>\n
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A relatively new song that has become a commercial standard but also a sacred favorite, sure to find a hymnbook home is \u201cMary, Did You Know?\u201d by Mark Lowery (lyrics) and Buddy Greene (music). Sung here by the Christ Church Choir to images from \u201cThe Passion of the Christ,\u201d all reflecting our message that what was, is; and what is, was, in the providence of God.<\/p>\n