The Night Heaven Kissed Earth
Have you ever wondered why Jesus came to Earth? I mean why was it Jesus and not an angel dying on a cross for humanity. Why did it have to be the Sovereign God of the universe, suffering for our sins?
Well, I suppose one could say we needed a perfect sacrifice to satisfy God’s sense of justice for our sin. And God’s holy angels are perfect. They have never known sin like the fallen angels of Satan.
So why not an angel in Jesus’ place? I can’t imagine that any holy angel would not willingly and gladly die for our Lord, can you? They are His servants, after all. They exist to please God alone. He says jump, they jump and then ask, “How high?”
We could say there was prophecy to be fulfilled. The Old Testament is a shadow pointing toward the reality of Jesus. As it was written over the centuries, it was a constant beacon, pointing directly to Jesus.
But this doesn’t answer the question of why it had to be Jesus born to die on the cross. Let me restate the question again - Why could someone else not have taken Jesus’ place in birth in a manger and death on a cross?
I believe we can answer the question with another question. How does one show their undying love for someone else by sending in a substitute? This question illuminates the answer which I believe it has to do with love.
Think of it this way. If your child, whom you love beyond life itself, was deathly ill in the hospital, would you send your secretary in to see and sit with and comfort her? Now your secretary may be a wonderful person. Warm, compassionate and very loving. She is devoted to you and would do anything you ask. But would you send her to see your sick child? Could she really convey the deep love you feel for your child, to her? Would your child really understand and accept this gesture? Of course not! Your child wants to see you, not the second string. She wants her father and mother, her family with her when she is so sick, not somebody else, right?!
Well God sees us as His children. One can also argue He sees us as sick children, in great need of care and comfort. The church is not simply a place to meet on Sunday, it is His hospital for sin-sick souls. He also loves us so much he would rather sacrifice a universe than lose even one of us. He loves us so much that death is preferable to living without even one of us!
That’s a very powerful love that God has for us. It is Agape love. A Godly love for us. A sacrificial love. And that is why an angel cannot pinch hit for God. Quite simply, they are the secretaries not our Father. I said before, when a child is sick, they want their parents and family. And when we are sin-sick, we want our Father in heaven, our Elder Brother Jesus, the Holy Spirit. In other words, our family!
God shows us His compassion and concern for us in John 11, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Note in verse 35 it says, “Jesus wept.” This is the shortest verse in the bible. Jesus is weeping, not for the death of Lazarus. He knows Lazarus will be walking around in a few minutes. No, He is weeping for those that grieve for Lazarus. Mary, Martha and the friends of Lazarus are in pain over his passing. Jesus feels compassion for the and weeps for them. This shows us that God hurts when we hurt. God grieves when we grieve and God cries when we cry.
How can God best show this care, concern, compassion and love? By displaying it in person! There is no other possible answer. Nothing else would satisfy God’s love but to be with His children.
It gave God in the person of Jesus, the opportunity to not only represent God to man, but to identify with him, his weaknesses, his temptations and his needs. It also gave Jesus the opportunity to represent man to God. To intercede for us on our behalf with our Father in heaven. Nobody else could do that for us. Not Moses, not Peter, not anyone born of human parents.
Why could no one else intercede with the Father for us? After all, we intercede for others in prayer all the time. Yet we are speaking of something different here. Sin cannot exist in the Father’s presence. Only through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and our acceptance of the shedding of His blood can we be made righteous and worthy of being in God the Father’s presence. Anything less than the best, that being Jesus, is just not good enough.
Humans being stained with sin, cannot represent and intercede in the manner of Jesus. It is the reason He became our intercessor, so that we could approach the very throne of God in boldness and confidence, knowing that we are loved and accepted - our sins having been washed away by the Blood of Jesus!
So why did He have to be born and go through the whole human development that we all go through? I think we can only identify with one of our own. Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time.
How does God represent God to man? By being man. How does man represent man to God? By being God. It is the only way that we can relate to each other. God is so far beyond us that we haven’t a hope of understanding, much less relating to Him on our own. We have to depend on Jesus, God the Son, to build the bridge for us to meet. Only then do we have the chance to come to really know our Lord and Savior and Holy Spirit as well as the Father as God wishes to be known.
And to seal the deal, God grants us His Holy Spirit to live within each and everyone of us that has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. It is the Holy Spirit that comforts us, teaches us and admonishes us when we stray. He doesn’t control us but looks to grow us into the image of Jesus, to be like Jesus in all things and to instill within us the same Godly character and Agape love that exists in God. Once we have reached this point we will be ready to assume the role and position God has prepared for us in eternity!
The Gospel is a powerful message that God sends to us. We tend to think of it around Christmas time. Unfortunately, it is about the only time that most people do think of it. And we think about it in a romanticized fashion as well.
We have pretty pictures of the nativity scene, a little shed with a few animals around, Mary and Joseph with halos around their heads, holding the baby Jesus, shepherds and wise men kneeling with angels floating overhead, worshiping and a star above casting a beam of light down upon the scene. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
Well, anyone how has ever been in a barn with animals knows it is not quite so pleasant as all that. The aromas shall we say, are hardly what one would want to call clean, fresh air! Noise from animals can be deafening in close quarters too, not to mention the wandering around they do.
The wise men had been traveling for weeks or months, following a star that may not actually have been a star. Yes, I’ve seen the attempts to explain the Star of Bethlehem as a comet, planetary alignment or a nova.
Frankly, I don’t think these explanations hold up to scrutiny. How could any of these things travel ahead of these men and stop at a certain point in the sky, marking one particular spot for them to stop at? And how could such behavior not be noticed and commented on by the scientists of the day?
No, I believe that the “star” was a miraculous event. Perhaps an angel sent to lead the wise men to the destination they sought. (In the KJV the word “star” in the Greek is “aster” (as-tare'). It can mean a star in the sky literally or figuratively. So it could very well have been an angel!) In any event, I’m sure they were dirty and tired by the end of their journey.
Ever been around sheep? They may be fairly gentle, but the are not the cleanest and most pleasant of animals to be near. Fly’s like you would not believe! No the shepherds weren’t any cleaner than the wise men.
And consider Mary and Joseph. They had been on the road. Dirty and exhausted, they managed to find shelter in a stable where Mary gives birth. I doubt they were looking their best either!
So what is the point of bring all this up? Simply this. Consider what the King of all creation gave up to join us here on Earth. All Glory is His. All power is His. All creation is His. Sometimes I think we forget that He holds the mortgage on literally everything created! He is above all, yet He chose to set aside all so that He could identify with us, die for us and lead us to the Father who is above all!
I have to say that when I think of Jesus doing things in this was, it certainly makes me stop and think. It gets my attention. And I hope it gets yours!
I don’t really think there is anything wrong with the sanitized versions of the nativity. They are beautiful renderings to see and that beauty, I’m sure, has drawn people to Christ in its own way. But the truth has a powerful impact on our lives and I think its good to think of the reality and sacrifice of Jesus. It helps us to understand just a fraction of what we truly mean to God and to what lengths He is willing to go to reclaim us for His own.
So as you prepare for this holiday, feeling the stress of all those preparations, please take a little time and settle down with the Gospel of Luke 2:1-20. Imagine what it would have been like to see the angels, wise men and shepherds celebrating one of the greatest events in man’s history - the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The night that God showed His great love for us. Think about God Almighty being cradled in human arms for the first time. Experience for yourself, the night heaven kissed Earth.
And while you are enjoying the day we have set aside to celebrate this historic event, please take a little time to remember just how much you really mean to the God that died for you. Why not consider inviting Him to the celebration. I’m sure He would love to come. After all, you are precious in His sight!
Thank you God for the greatest gift You could have ever given us, Yourself. Father, You held nothing back from us. May we be equally forthcoming with You and everyone else. May we express Your great love to others as Jesus did and still does to us today. And may we celebrate this day in a way that Glorifies You. In Jesus name, Amen and amen.
And may I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
In His name…
© 2006 Church of Hope, Inc.
Have you ever wondered why Jesus came to Earth? I mean why was it Jesus and not an angel dying on a cross for humanity. Why did it have to be the Sovereign God of the universe, suffering for our sins?
Well, I suppose one could say we needed a perfect sacrifice to satisfy God’s sense of justice for our sin. And God’s holy angels are perfect. They have never known sin like the fallen angels of Satan.
So why not an angel in Jesus’ place? I can’t imagine that any holy angel would not willingly and gladly die for our Lord, can you? They are His servants, after all. They exist to please God alone. He says jump, they jump and then ask, “How high?”
We could say there was prophecy to be fulfilled. The Old Testament is a shadow pointing toward the reality of Jesus. As it was written over the centuries, it was a constant beacon, pointing directly to Jesus.
But this doesn’t answer the question of why it had to be Jesus born to die on the cross. Let me restate the question again - Why could someone else not have taken Jesus’ place in birth in a manger and death on a cross?
I believe we can answer the question with another question. How does one show their undying love for someone else by sending in a substitute? This question illuminates the answer which I believe it has to do with love.
Think of it this way. If your child, whom you love beyond life itself, was deathly ill in the hospital, would you send your secretary in to see and sit with and comfort her? Now your secretary may be a wonderful person. Warm, compassionate and very loving. She is devoted to you and would do anything you ask. But would you send her to see your sick child? Could she really convey the deep love you feel for your child, to her? Would your child really understand and accept this gesture? Of course not! Your child wants to see you, not the second string. She wants her father and mother, her family with her when she is so sick, not somebody else, right?!
Well God sees us as His children. One can also argue He sees us as sick children, in great need of care and comfort. The church is not simply a place to meet on Sunday, it is His hospital for sin-sick souls. He also loves us so much he would rather sacrifice a universe than lose even one of us. He loves us so much that death is preferable to living without even one of us!
That’s a very powerful love that God has for us. It is Agape love. A Godly love for us. A sacrificial love. And that is why an angel cannot pinch hit for God. Quite simply, they are the secretaries not our Father. I said before, when a child is sick, they want their parents and family. And when we are sin-sick, we want our Father in heaven, our Elder Brother Jesus, the Holy Spirit. In other words, our family!
God shows us His compassion and concern for us in John 11, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Note in verse 35 it says, “Jesus wept.” This is the shortest verse in the bible. Jesus is weeping, not for the death of Lazarus. He knows Lazarus will be walking around in a few minutes. No, He is weeping for those that grieve for Lazarus. Mary, Martha and the friends of Lazarus are in pain over his passing. Jesus feels compassion for the and weeps for them. This shows us that God hurts when we hurt. God grieves when we grieve and God cries when we cry.
How can God best show this care, concern, compassion and love? By displaying it in person! There is no other possible answer. Nothing else would satisfy God’s love but to be with His children.
It gave God in the person of Jesus, the opportunity to not only represent God to man, but to identify with him, his weaknesses, his temptations and his needs. It also gave Jesus the opportunity to represent man to God. To intercede for us on our behalf with our Father in heaven. Nobody else could do that for us. Not Moses, not Peter, not anyone born of human parents.
Why could no one else intercede with the Father for us? After all, we intercede for others in prayer all the time. Yet we are speaking of something different here. Sin cannot exist in the Father’s presence. Only through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and our acceptance of the shedding of His blood can we be made righteous and worthy of being in God the Father’s presence. Anything less than the best, that being Jesus, is just not good enough.
Humans being stained with sin, cannot represent and intercede in the manner of Jesus. It is the reason He became our intercessor, so that we could approach the very throne of God in boldness and confidence, knowing that we are loved and accepted - our sins having been washed away by the Blood of Jesus!
So why did He have to be born and go through the whole human development that we all go through? I think we can only identify with one of our own. Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time.
How does God represent God to man? By being man. How does man represent man to God? By being God. It is the only way that we can relate to each other. God is so far beyond us that we haven’t a hope of understanding, much less relating to Him on our own. We have to depend on Jesus, God the Son, to build the bridge for us to meet. Only then do we have the chance to come to really know our Lord and Savior and Holy Spirit as well as the Father as God wishes to be known.
And to seal the deal, God grants us His Holy Spirit to live within each and everyone of us that has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. It is the Holy Spirit that comforts us, teaches us and admonishes us when we stray. He doesn’t control us but looks to grow us into the image of Jesus, to be like Jesus in all things and to instill within us the same Godly character and Agape love that exists in God. Once we have reached this point we will be ready to assume the role and position God has prepared for us in eternity!
The Gospel is a powerful message that God sends to us. We tend to think of it around Christmas time. Unfortunately, it is about the only time that most people do think of it. And we think about it in a romanticized fashion as well.
We have pretty pictures of the nativity scene, a little shed with a few animals around, Mary and Joseph with halos around their heads, holding the baby Jesus, shepherds and wise men kneeling with angels floating overhead, worshiping and a star above casting a beam of light down upon the scene. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
Well, anyone how has ever been in a barn with animals knows it is not quite so pleasant as all that. The aromas shall we say, are hardly what one would want to call clean, fresh air! Noise from animals can be deafening in close quarters too, not to mention the wandering around they do.
The wise men had been traveling for weeks or months, following a star that may not actually have been a star. Yes, I’ve seen the attempts to explain the Star of Bethlehem as a comet, planetary alignment or a nova.
Frankly, I don’t think these explanations hold up to scrutiny. How could any of these things travel ahead of these men and stop at a certain point in the sky, marking one particular spot for them to stop at? And how could such behavior not be noticed and commented on by the scientists of the day?
No, I believe that the “star” was a miraculous event. Perhaps an angel sent to lead the wise men to the destination they sought. (In the KJV the word “star” in the Greek is “aster” (as-tare'). It can mean a star in the sky literally or figuratively. So it could very well have been an angel!) In any event, I’m sure they were dirty and tired by the end of their journey.
Ever been around sheep? They may be fairly gentle, but the are not the cleanest and most pleasant of animals to be near. Fly’s like you would not believe! No the shepherds weren’t any cleaner than the wise men.
And consider Mary and Joseph. They had been on the road. Dirty and exhausted, they managed to find shelter in a stable where Mary gives birth. I doubt they were looking their best either!
So what is the point of bring all this up? Simply this. Consider what the King of all creation gave up to join us here on Earth. All Glory is His. All power is His. All creation is His. Sometimes I think we forget that He holds the mortgage on literally everything created! He is above all, yet He chose to set aside all so that He could identify with us, die for us and lead us to the Father who is above all!
I have to say that when I think of Jesus doing things in this was, it certainly makes me stop and think. It gets my attention. And I hope it gets yours!
I don’t really think there is anything wrong with the sanitized versions of the nativity. They are beautiful renderings to see and that beauty, I’m sure, has drawn people to Christ in its own way. But the truth has a powerful impact on our lives and I think its good to think of the reality and sacrifice of Jesus. It helps us to understand just a fraction of what we truly mean to God and to what lengths He is willing to go to reclaim us for His own.
So as you prepare for this holiday, feeling the stress of all those preparations, please take a little time and settle down with the Gospel of Luke 2:1-20. Imagine what it would have been like to see the angels, wise men and shepherds celebrating one of the greatest events in man’s history - the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The night that God showed His great love for us. Think about God Almighty being cradled in human arms for the first time. Experience for yourself, the night heaven kissed Earth.
And while you are enjoying the day we have set aside to celebrate this historic event, please take a little time to remember just how much you really mean to the God that died for you. Why not consider inviting Him to the celebration. I’m sure He would love to come. After all, you are precious in His sight!
Thank you God for the greatest gift You could have ever given us, Yourself. Father, You held nothing back from us. May we be equally forthcoming with You and everyone else. May we express Your great love to others as Jesus did and still does to us today. And may we celebrate this day in a way that Glorifies You. In Jesus name, Amen and amen.
And may I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
In His name…
© 2006 Church of Hope, Inc.