Simple America

As a Christian, Christmas represents a time for me to reflect on the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the beginning of the hypostatic union or combined divinity and humanity in a single creature. This represents a unique event for the history of mankind and one not replicated nor will it ever be repeated. Christ the second Adam, the third person to exist at creation without the curse of spiritual death.
The first Adam was created whole with a spirit untainted by any corruption. In Genesis 1:26-27 it states that God created man in his image. A lot of folks get hung up on the physical form here, but it is a reference to the human soul which is in the image of God’s essence. When Eve was pulled from Adam’s rib she also received an untainted soul.
The first couple was perfect but eventually they disobeyed God and the result was spiritual death. You can read about this in Genesis 3. There were other curses passed on to man at this time. In Genesis 3:16 woman became cursed for her part in the fall of mankind by bearing the children, (I’m thankful for that. All men should be. I could not imagine being the child bearer. Sorry for the intrusion) pms and all the trouble associated with reproduction. In Genesis 3:17-24 man received the curse of working for a living, where in paradise all had been provided. No longer would he receive the bounty of the earth without labor. The earth too became cursed with thorn and thistle coming into existence.
In Romans 5:18-19 it explains how Adam’s sin cursed all that followed him. It is all significant to note that Eve’s sin is not mentioned as a curse to man, but specifically Adam is charged with passing on the curse to all that follow him. This is why a virgin birth is important, for it is through the male that the curse is transmitted and not the woman. That is why the birth of Jesus is so special. Insemination came not from the seed of man but from God the Holy Spirit. This is presented in Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:35, the pregnancy of the Virgin Mary. Now in the opening passages of Matthew 1 there is listing of the antecedents of Mary. This is significant as it shows God kept his promise that the savior would be from the line of King David, and it further establishes Jesus with a claim to the throne of Israel. There are numerous other listings of antecedents throughout the Bible. If you follow these from Adam to Abraham to David and then to Mary it is important as it confirms the humanity of Jesus and God keeping his promises to the Jewish people.
But why do we need another Adam? A perfect human existing among all of those who are cursed with spiritual death by the justice of God and are unable to meet the standards of God’s divine righteousness. In Galatians 3:13 it describes how Christ removes the curse from us by taking the curse of all humanity upon himself. From the most innocent tiny babes to the most notorious dictators in history, Jesus did not discriminate in his suffering for us all. For the hypostatic union to work the humanity had to be free from Adam’s sin for the divine may not coexist with anything corrupted by spiritual death.
The purity of Jesus would face much attention from Satan, but I shall leave that for a future post. Perhaps Easter will be a good time to visit this subject.
I choose to take this time to explain why I focus on the birth of Christ at Christmas. Now a lot of people that like to pick at Jesus and the Bible state that they don’t think Jesus was born in December. I have to agree with them. No one knows the exact date of the birth of Christ. But based on the writings in the Bible describing the savior’s birth it is unlikely to have been in the winter. It would have been too cold for the shepherds and the sheep in the countryside for one thing. December 25th is a custom that is firmly entrenched in history now. There are a lot of things done as tradition and as long as they do not interfere with the message of God’s grace then it should not become an issue. I will give thanks to God the Father for sending his son for that is far more important than getting the date right.
Luke 2 describes much of the birth of Christ and the events that occurred historically. We see that Romans under the Emperor Augustus control Israel. They called for a census and this required everyone to travel to their ancestral home. For Joseph and his new wife Mary, pregnant and still a virgin, they must register for this Roman tax. Joseph is also directly related to King David and because of this he had to travel to the ancestral home at Bethlehem in order to register. Unfortunately this registration brought a large number of people to Bethlehem and all the inns were filled. Joseph and Mary had to settle for sleeping in the stables, as that was the only space available.
There in the stables the savior was born. His mother wrapped him in the same cloth used for burying the dead and laid him to rest in a manger (feeding trough for animals). A very humble and symbolic start as he was born to die spiritually for us all.
A host of angels announced the birth to shepherds outside the town. Now these were not just any shepherds mind you. The flocks they guarded were the sheep used by the temple for sacrifice. These sheep were bred to be without blemish in a representation of the perfect humanity of Christ who would be a perfect sacrifice. These shepherds went to Bethlehem and found the child. They worshipped the Lord and then went out and announced the news to all they met as they returned to their flocks.
And that is the humble beginning of our Lord. You may ask where are the three wise men? They arrived at a much later date. Jesus had been taken to the temple and presented for circumcision according to the law. And then he was taken for presentation at the temple in Jerusalem. The three wise men probably arrived when he was a toddler.
Please feel joy on this day. You have been saved by the divine mechanics that allowed for this birth. The Lord Jesus Christ came to Earth for all mankind and not just a few. As part of our soul we are given volition, the opportunity to make a choice. And because of the sacrifice that babe would make as a man, we may choose to have faith that he died for our sins. Once we make this choice we are accepted by Christ and have eternal salvation that neither man nor demon can ever remove from us (John 3:16). We may not even rescind this gift for God places all that belong to him firmly within his grasp. God gives based on his character not that of the recipient of his grade. God also gives salvation freely. Nothing may be added to faith.
Bless you and your families on this time set aside for the remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ, the man-God and savior of all who accept and reject him.

Merry Christmas. I love you all.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2005 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.