THE CRITICS OF CHRISTMAS DAY: WHO QUESTIONS FOR THE BIRTHDAY OF GOD? The critics deny and dispute Christ Jesus with everything that’s said about Him regardless of the many authentic prophecies and witnesses that attest to His revelation and what He came to do on earth. There are about 400 prophecies that reveal Him (He came by with them) yet the critics deny Him with each and every one of them to make Him appear as much as an ordinary, a mere helpless human being. They deny Him His divinity yet the Scriptures reveal Him as God. He’s the only one who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born by a surrogate Virgin mother. He was born to die for the human sin that separated (us) him from God the Father. He died but resurrected on the third day from the grave. And on the 40th day, He ascended to heaven before the glaring eyes of many witnesses. He then transitioned to His divinity as God. Also, He transitions everyone who will believe in Him and His name to His eternal life and reconciles such individual to establish an everlasting (eternal) relationship with the Father God. With His blood He gives new creation and new birth to all who will believe in Him as their Lord and Personal Savior (Rm. 10:9-13). Nobody in his normal frame of mind will ever ask about the birthday or birth date of God. From the day of creation up to the present, nobody had ever questioned his fellow about a particular day when God was born or asked another person to show him the date that God died or will die. However, today, the critics persist in their demand. They want to know the actual date and possibly, the birth date of Christ Jesus, the God-Man else they deny Him with Christmas, the occasion set for to remember or celebrate His appearance on earth as the Scripture prophesied long before His coming thus; Emmanuel, translated to mean “God with us” (Is. 14:7). It’s indeed very fascinating to note how the natural mind cannot observe and comprehend the miraculous work of God when He miraculously concealed from humans the day that He God, Christ Jesus appeared on earth. Particularly fascinating is how God eluded all the scholars of Jesus’ time not to record the actual day and the date that He appeared on earth yet they were able to record circumstances and events that culminated His appearance. Scripture scholars like Apostle Paul who had keen expressive mind and the scientific-historian, Dr. Luke will surely have recorded the birthday, the actual day or date that Christ Jesus appeared on earth if God had permitted them. The case of Apostle Matthew even beats the human imagination let alone his understanding in this matter of Jesus’ birthday or date. We note the Apostle Matthew, at least, as a semi educated fellow whose business was a tax collector. Observe the accuracy and how vivid He articulated the Scripture genealogy from a period of two thousand years before Jesus appeared. This particular apostle was with the surviving surrogate mother of Jesus or had access to her when he wrote his gospel narrative yet we cannot assign any good reason for him why he refused to ask Mary for such important historical record assuming that the apostle did not know. Remember, I did not use the word, ‘born, but I used the day that Jesus appeared on earth. The following are some of the words that the Scripture used for the coming to earth of Jesus: incarnated, manifested, revealed, appeared, begotten Son etc. and these words indicate the idea of something that preexisted before but became visible, obvious or was made known later. We note from the Old Testament a prominent bible character called Moses. He was a servant of the Lord that God used him tremendously. The Scripture testifies that Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said. The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place. No immediate reason is given why God hid the exact burial place of Moses from the people (Deu. 34:5-6). However, the following reference verses given about hidden corpse infer possible reasons why God hid the corpse of Moses from humans. Perhaps, we will have idolized and worshiped him. We validate our conversation with Scripture from the book of Romans 1:25 which speak against such our human tendency thus: “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen” (Num. 21:6-9; 2Kg. 18:1-4; Rm. 1:25 NLT). Scripture states Christ Jesus as the Alpha and Omega. This informs that Christ Jesus has no beginning and end. So we learn in the gospel of John thus: In the dateless beginning the Word (the Christ also called Jesus) already existed. The Word was with God the Father, and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1 NLT). Let us note a fascinating answer the angels gave to the women who went and looked for Jesus in the tomb when He was crucified dead and buried. “In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead?”(Lk. 24:5 NIV). This statement concerned the God-Man, Christ Jesus. The Christ is His divinity and Jesus is His racial or human name. Literally speaking then, the above statement: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” meant Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. However, as the Living and Eternal God, the Christ lives forever, He’s the Eternal God. The Scripture affirms both the His human and divinity combination thus: “Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen” (Rm. 9:5). Let us relate to the encounter and discussion that Apostle Paul had with the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers in the book of Acts 17:24-31. Paul told them that God made the world and everything in it. Since He is Lord of heaven and earth, He doesn’t live in man-made temples, and human hands can’t serve His needs—for He has no needs. He Himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need. From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and He determined their boundaries. His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him—though He is not far from any one of us. For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone. God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now He commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to Him. For He has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:24-31 NLT). We conclude our conversation with the book of Colossians 2: 6-23 which cautions us about human regulations that they presuppose we follow them as God or representation of God. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the Head over every ruler and authority. When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with Him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross. So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ Himself is that reality. Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the Head of the body. For He holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it. You have died with Christ, and He has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!?” Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires (Col. 2:6-23 NLT). One thing is common with all human beings. We are all born by the blood of men except Christ Jesus. The Scripture affirms it in the gospel of John thus: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:13 KJV). All humans are also born with birth days and dates except Christ Jesus who is the Alpha and Omega. He’s the Everlasting and Ever Living God. Yet, the critics deprive and dispute Him everything that’s due Him, His glory and worship. Today, those critics who have nothing good to say, preach and teach about Christ Jesus are seriously determined, once more, to silence or stop us from making known Christ Jesus to the world simply because Christmas is associated with His name. Their reason or argument to stop Christmas celebration or remembrance is very weak because we acknowledge the Christ as God in which sense He has no birth date or date of birth. As much, God the Father concealed the date that He died. The fact that we do not know and cannot know (because God has concealed it from us) the birth date of Christ Jesus cannot deny Him His entry on earth. Of course, the diehard critic even acknowledges that, the Emmanuel, ‘God with us,’ appeared to be with humans, His creation on earth here some two thousand years ago. You may not be a prolific writer like Dr. Luke or, you may not be as gifted with the wisdom of God like Paul or, you may not be a fluent speaker like Apollos, however, you can celebrate Christ Jesus with the Christmas. Make Him known regardless of the pagan thought or, the birthing issue of Christ against the Christmas celebration. Stay bless! Amen.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 09:40:14 +0000
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