“And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of Great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
We know December 25 is not the correct date of Jesus’ birth. He died on the Cross at 331/2 years of age, immediately after establishing his memorial (“this do in remembrance of me”) at the Passover dinner he celebrated with his Apostles. The Passover took place immediately after 6 pm which is the beginning of the Jewish 24hr day and he died before 6 pm the next day, placing his death on the same day of the Jewish Passover feast. This would have been in late March or early April. Counting back it seems to indicate his birthdate was in late September or early October. The December date perhaps might have been the time of the Annunciation.
However, since we are not enjoined by Scripture to celebrate his birthday or instructed to refrain from it, any day, every day is satisfactory to commemoration of such a great event.
But wait, from what does our Great Savior save us? Could it be he saves us from a horrifying eternal torment invented by Satan and espoused by the “Harlots” –nominal Christianity? (Rev. 17:5)
Of course not! Our Great Heavenly Father who with Wisdom, Justice, Power and Love created no such horror. In our text, the angel said “Fear Not! I bring you good tidings of Great joy which shall be to ALL people.”
There are four occasions in which GOD said, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17; Matt. 17:5; Mark 1:11; and 2 Peter 1:17) This shows that Jesus was not only the Son of GOD but was a perfect human being and not a sinner. GOD would not be well pleased with him otherwise.
Jesus also is referred to as “The Son of Man;” for he was a descendent of Adam through Mary, his earthly mother. She was the vessel used by GOD to give birth to the perfect human person of Jesus — begotten by the Father, born of the Mother. We can be sure Mary was chosen because of her love for HIM, HIS LAW and her fellow Israelites. She was a virgin and as the mother of Jesus, the second perfect man ever; in her birth-giving she is a type of the true virgin Church who will give re-birth to a perfect human race. They are the new Eve to Christ’s new Adam. The new Adam and Eve will reign from the Divine plane, mother and father of the renewed human race. Just the way our Creator planned it before laying the foundation for His Creation.
Adam was created a perfect, fully grown adult from elements of the earth in the image of his Creator (Hence – mother earth.) In the image of his Creator? What does that mean? Adam was of the earth, earthy adapted by his Creator to function on the highest level of the animal nature, while his Creator is Divine, the very highest level of the spiritual nature. That is, at the least, one image of the first man to that of his Creator. Man was created the Deity of the natural plane of existence — a God over the rest of nature, one of the benefits he lost through disobedience. Adam succumbed to his mate, Eve who believed Satan when he told her she would not die by eating the restricted fruit of a tree. She would become a god and “more alive than ever.” How many times have we heard at nominally Christian funerals some form of this statement — first coined by the serpent — Satan.
Of course Eve did not exist yet when The Creator gave to Adam His one law of life, not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:16,17)
In our opening text above the angel said “Fear not,” understanding that through sin man is fearful in the presence of spirit beings. Only a true Christian has that perfect love which casts out fear. (1 John 4:18) It is for the real children of God today, as it was for the angels at that time, to assure the world that God is better than all their fears. So in approaching mankind with God’s message, it is appropriate that we begin by saying, “Fear not.” The God we teach is not a demon, but a God of Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love, with all power to carry his plan to a successful conclusion. As God’s children realize that his work is surely going forward to success, doubts and fears give way, rejoicing takes the place of the despondency.
“Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isa. 29:13) The LORD would have his people free from this fear, though not free from a proper reverence toward him. HE reiterated the Abrahamic promise, “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 12:3) Glad would we be if we had a thousand tongues to sing our great Redeemer’s praise, and a thousand hands and feet to use in the promulgation of this blessed message.
As God’s children realize that his work is surely going forward to success, doubts and fears give way, rejoicing takes the place of despondency. Repeat: “Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isa. 29:13) The LORD would have his people free from this fear, though not free from a proper reverence toward him.
Good tidings — The Gospels are a good tidings message, a glorious message, assuring the deliverance and blessing of the entire human race. It is a prophecy of good things to be accomplished for the Church and the world, during the Millennium, when Messiah’s Kingdom shall be established. When all the deaf ears shall be unstopped, and blind eyes shall be opened. (Isa. 35:5) Transcending anything and everything else in the world; all other philosophies are foolishness.
In the Gospels there is no reference to damnation and eternal misery of anyone. That good message of GOD’S LOVE began to be lost sight of in the second century. Thus far it has been good tidings only to the true Church. This is meat in due season. We are to tell these tidings by personal contact, handing out literature and preaching. The blessedness of these tidings is cumulative: first, “good tidings”; then “great joy;” and then the crowning feature of it is “to all people.” The sacrificial feature of the Lord’s ministry was made less prominent than his power and majesty and glory, because the sacrifice related specially to God. This is of great joy, not great misery. It should be to all Christians a gladsome message; but it is rejected by the nominal Christian churches. There is privilege, love, hope and remission of sins through Christ’s blood of reconciliation with the Father; just as there was joy and privilege at the return of the prodigal. (Luke 15:11-24) “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound.” (Psa. 89:15)
The announcement recounted above from Luke 2:10-11 took place on the day of the birth of Jesus. We are told by Luke it was made to some shepherds tending their sheep in the countryside nearby Bethlehem. The shepherds and their flocks likely would not have been herding their animals in the winter of December 25th the improper date of Jesus’ birth.
They went immediately to where the baby was and spread the news about the angel’s appearance and the glory of the LORD that shone around them. In fact these shepherds were so excited they celebrated the birth. Even so, nowhere in the Scriptures are we enjoined to celebrate the birthday of our Lord.
He, himself instituted the memorial of the sacrifice of his life during the Passover. Since this occurs in the spring, late March or early April each year and Christ was 331/2 years old at his death, a little simple math would make his birth month in the neighborhood of either late August or early September. December 25th could be about the time of the annunciation. (Luke 1:26-31)
During the first three hundred years after Christ’s birth, there was no celebration of it and the exact date was lost. In AD 245 a group of scholars attempted to determine the date of His birth and there was public controversy. A papacy church council denounced the effort and declared it would be wrong to celebrate the birthday of Christ “as though he were a King Pharaoh.” However, the controversy as to the correct date continues, obviously overruled by the Heavenly Father of all.
Then in AD 349, Pope Julius formally selected December 25 as the day for the Christ Mass — Christmas. The date was already widely celebrated in the Pagan Roman world as citizens observed the Natalis Solis Invicti the (birthday of the inconquerable Sun) in honor of the Sun God, Mithras. The festival took place just after the winter solstice, December 21st, as the days begin to grow longer.
Many modern Christmas customs such as decorating the house, exchanging gifts and enjoying festive meals originated with this pagan celebration. At the time the wily Pope Julius decreed the date of the Nativity, Christianity was beginning to grow popular among the Romans and a number of Pagan festivals were adopted by the harlot church and adapted to fit the developing Christian creed.
However, we feel that the 25th of December is an acceptable day to celebrate this momentous event and we should do it humbly and with propriety for one so great, whose birth, death and resurrection means so much to the human family. His birthday may be remembered and celebrated any day — every day in appreciation of what he has done for us.
Our confidence that Jesus was the Heavenly Father’s only begotten son, our Redeemer, the Messiah, the Deliverer does not rest entirely on the testimony of the Apostles of the New Testament, as wonderful and convincing as they are. Much of the weight and importance of the New Testament comes from evidence of the fulfillment of the promises, types (illustrations) and prophecies given by God in the Old Testament. If we do not see something, at least, of a Divine Plan in connection with our Savior, we fail to get the real strength of the Divine Revelation.
His birth, the first 30 years of his life upon which, he reached his majority according to Jewish law and the three and a half years’ of his ministry afterward, his sacrificial death, his resurrection, his ascension, etc. was designed by God to be a firm foundation for confidence in Him and all the glorious things He has promised He would yet accomplish through this great Savior of ours.
Let us examine, first the original veiled promise of a Savior given in the Garden of Eden shortly after the sin of our first parents brought us under Divine sentence of death. Spoken by God and directed at the serpent — Satan. In Gen 3:15, He said: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, [make enemies of them] and between thy seed and her seed; [Satan’s seed of evil and her seed; — eventually Our Savior] it [her seed] shall bruise thy head, [a fatal blow] and thou shalt bruise his heel [Satan can hurt us, with God’s permission but not finally and not fatally.]”
Now, let us examine the promise to Abraham that the Messiah would be of his posterity. It was made about half way from original sin to the Ransom – 2083 years after the first promise in the Garden, (1656 years to the flood and 427 years to the Abrahamic promise, according to Biblical Chronology.)
“And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 18:4; 22:18)
Now come forward to Moses, 420 years after the promise to Abraham, and note the types and figures of the Mosaic arrangement and how Moses himself was declared to be like unto the greater Savior to come after him. (Acts 3:22 and 7:37) Then, 536 years after Moses, God said to King David in 2 Sam. 7:12,16: “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shall be established forever.
The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isa. 9:6; 244 years after David and 845 years before Christ, “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, Counseller, The [a] mighty God, The [an] everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Surprisingly, this is the only time the expression “Prince of Peace” appears in the Bible. (Isaiah prophesizes as if it was already an accomplished fact, probably an indication of how certain he was that it would happen.)
The prophet Daniel, in Dan. 9:24; 110 years after Isaiah refers to the importance of Christ’s work to make an end of sin and bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the visions and prophecy, which the Almighty had given Christ and the favor to come through him.
If Israel’s hope for a Messiah had been merely concoctions to deceive the people, it is certain the deceivers would have carefully set out some remarkable line of parentage for him. He would be free from parental blights, and scandals. But this was not done, instead the weakness of the flesh of the progenitors of our Lord through his earthly mother are fearlessly set out.
Judah, one of the twelve ancestors of the Virgin Mary, was not above reproach. His general character is faithfully portrayed and not all that favorably. He did talk his brothers’ out of killing Joseph and instead selling him into slavery. Later, it was Judah who offered to substitute for Benjamin in whose sack Joseph’s silver cup was found. Phares, Judah’s son, through whom our Lord’s lineage runs, was born of an unlawful union between Judah and Tamar, the lawful wife of Judah’s eldest son. Rahab the harlot of Jericho, a foreigner who became an Israelite indeed, was among our Lord’s ancestors. As was Ruth, the Moabitess, another foreigner adopted as an Israelite. Even David’s line is compromised. Christ came through Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David caused to be killed in battle, so he could have her.
The above is all from the Old Testament, but the New Testament writers are equally candid and do not hesitate in recording Christ’s genealogy through his Mother, Mary. Our Lord’s virtue, his sinlessness, his separateness from sinners was through his Heavenly Father, not through the flesh, not through his Mother.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” (Heb. 2:16)
But, as already pointed out through various circumstances, he was related also to the outside world. Our Lord Jesus, though born a Jew under the law, and redeeming those under the law, did more than that. His death was a propitiation (made amends) for the sins of the whole outside world. He died as the ransom price for Adam (a life for a life) and thus purchased us from condemnation since all mankind was still in Adam’s loins at the time he was condemned.
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Christ died as the ransom price for Adam who was created a physically perfect human and lost it and his life for disobeying his Creator’s one law.
The Apostle Paul points out; “He is able to save [deliver] them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.” (Heb. 7:25)
This is not only true, but our Lord’s circumstances of birth and early experiences in comparative poverty as a working man, shows us that he is indeed able to sympathize with mankind in every station of life. He passed from the glory of the Father to the lowest condition of humanity and back again. So, he is surely able to appreciate and to sympathize with all conditions and classes of the human and spirit natures.
When the Angel came to the shepherds with the announcement of His birth, the light of the Glory of the Lord shone about them and the shepherds were frightened; according to Luke 2:9 preceding our text in the King James translation, the shepherds were “sore afraid.”
“Fear not, the Angel said. Fear is a dominant impulse of the human mind, especially in connection with the Spirit World — Ghosts. In every case in the Scriptures, where an Angel or messenger of God approaches a human, “Fear not” are the first words, because the human as we might expect, was quaking in his tracks. We all realize we’re imperfect and that the Almighty and HIS laws are perfect. The “sore afraid” fear of man toward God is true with all except the comparatively few who are well informed concerning the Divine Character and Plan.
With some, the very subject of religious beliefs is avoided. Many of these professed Christians do not even know what they believe, much less the reasons for it. They seem to prefer to let some creed, which they have never bothered trying to understand, or some preacher’s words lull them into believing they are “saved” with no further effort.
Some feel guilty — and dread any knowledge, which they fear might bring further condemnation.
This is Satan’s doing.
It is in Satan’s interest to make God out to be an ogre — to instill fear of him. Not the fear that implies reverence but the fear that means to be frightened of Him and His great power. This is the “sore afraid” fear.
“...this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me [God] is taught by the precepts of men.” (Isa. 29:13)
These precepts of men come from the lies of Satan — the deceiver — the world’s first liar, the father of liars. He lied to mother Eve in the Garden, (You won’t die but you will become more alive than ever.)
He lied to the angels whom God permitted to try their hand at saving man in the “world that was” before the flood. He convinced them that they could co-habit with humans and propagate a better race.
What they propagated were hybrids — mules. The offspring of these unions were “Giants” intellectual as well as physical and they were even more evil than man already was. Mythology, much of which was written down by Greek poets and philosophers, probably comes from stories passed on by the survivors of the flood.
Many pagan religions and their gods are passed-on stories from the world that then was. Some of it also crept into the nominal Christian systems. The fallen angels of “the world that then was” — are the spiritual leaders — the teachers of mankind or, in other words, the heavens of that world. Mankind was the earth. So God destroyed the heavens and earth with the great flood. Not the literal earth or literal heavens, but the order of things, but the world that was at that time. Not the literal earth, for the earth abides forever as is written in Gen. 8:22 and again in Eccl. 1:4.
Before this present evil world is wiped out, Christ found himself a man, a perfect man by the heavenly Father through the Virgin Mary. He called Himself the son of man through his mother, with his human perfection from His Heavenly Father, the same perfection Adam had before he sinned. And Christ must sacrifice his perfect humanity to purchase the human race from death. He carries it out faithfully and becomes the Everlasting Farther of the human race. He replaces Adam and becomes the second Adam.
When Christ became an adult under Jewish law at 30 years of age, he was baptized by John, the Immerser, received the Holy Spirit without measure and began to lay down his perfect human life daily, until 31/2 years later, as he expired upon the cross he proclaimed; “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
The Jews, Pilate or Roman soldiers did not take Jesus by force. He laid down his life willingly, obediently and voluntarily.
In Gethsemane, when they came to take him, one of his disciples drew his sword and loped off an ear of one of the assailants. Christ told him to put it away for “he who lives by the sword will die by the sword.” Then he said:
“Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father, and he will presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt. 26:52-53)
A Roman legion was 6,000 soldiers; twelve legions would be 72,000 angels. He could not have been crucified surrounded by 72,000 angels.
No, Christ submitted himself willingly and paid the corresponding price for Adam; the Ransom for all of us in Adam’s loins at the time he disobeyed God and was sentenced to death.
Christ was dead for 3 days. His life was extinguished for that period. He knew not anything in the tomb like all dead people.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest.” (Eccl. 9:10)
“But God raised him from the dead.” (Acts 13:30)
“…firstfruits of them that slept.” (1 Cor. 15:20)
He was not raised to his human nature, which was sacrificed for us, but to a higher spiritual nature than he had before his experience as a human being. He appeared to some of his disciples, but assumed his humanity, before going to his Heavenly Father.
“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself [Christ’s reward for faithfully sacrificing His humanity].” (John 5:26)
Mary was not the mother of God, but of Jesus who became Christ and is “A” God and will be The God of the ‘World to Come,” after he and his 144,000–strong Bride has judged the rest of us during The Christ’s Millennium Judgment Day. This is the Bride who has already been gathered during this “Present Evil World.”
“…though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him [thus] no more.” (2 Cor. 5:16)
The trinity is a satanic deception which much of Christendom has accepted from the harlots, their mother and has believed since about the third century AD.
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9)
Did God send Himself? Was God His “Only Begotten Son?” It is unthinkable.
After death, Christ was entombed in a cave with a huge boulder blocking the entrance. The boulder was in the shape of a huge wheel, 10 ft. or more in diameter and about 10 inches thick. This “door” to the burial cave is chocked in place at the top of a slightly inclined track with the entrance to the cave open. When the chock is removed the massive wheel rolls to the bottom with a rumble and bang sealing off the entrance to the cave. People from all over the world visit the cave purported to be where the body of Jesus was put after his death.
After his resurrection Christ appeared to some of his disciples but it was obvious he was no longer a human being. After this brief encounter, he ascended to his Father.
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