He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of Lords. He is God Almighty…..and yet…….
“For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.” Isaiah 53:2
“And speak unto Him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold a man whose name is THE BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place…” Zechariah 6:12
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9
With the above scriptures from the Old Testament in mind, let's jump ahead to the New Testament.....
“And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7
“Jesus, knowing that the Father has given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” John 13:3-6
“They were saying, Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He say, I have come down out of heaven?” John 6:42
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men….”Philippians 2:6-7
""The disciples went and did as Jesus instructed and brought the donkey and the colt and laid their coats on them; and He sat across their coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road and others were cutting branches.....The crowds were going ahead of Him shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord..." Matthew 21: 6-9
“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
The arrival of the Messiah was missed, in part, because people were looking for the arrival of a “KING” and a “MESSIAH”. They were expecting trumpets and fanfare that you think should herald the arrival of someone important. They wanted signs of power and might as the world translates power and might. Also, many Jews believed it would be two messiahs that would come. They thought one would be the suffering Messiah and the other would be the Mashiach Nagid, Messiah King. It was hard to imagine the prophecies could be about just one man because they seemed to contradict themselves. And yet that was exactly the case. It would be one Man fulfilling all of it. Jesus came the first time as the suffering Messiah. When He returns to earth next time it will be as the Messiah King, the Mashiach Nagid, to reclaim possession of the earth from His enemies.
When God said, “Your ways are not My ways,” in Isaiah 55:8, He was not kidding!! When Jesus came the first time, He entered His creation in the most humble of ways, and spent the next thirty-three years living the most humble of lives. Jesus was born into poverty. Leviticus 12:2-6 outlines the offering for a newborn child. If you had the means, you offered a lamb. If you were poor, you offered two turtle doves. Luke 2:22 tells us Mary and Joseph brought a pair of turtle doves to Jerusalem to offer as their burnt offering after Jesus was born. Mary and Joseph were poor.
Second Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
This verse is referring to God, leaving His glory and power in heaven for us to empty Himself to become the propitiation for our sins. But it is also a picture of His life on earth. Jesus was born in poverty, lived a life of poverty, and died in poverty. He came to live in and amongst the people He created. He was fully human, living a fully human life.
Jesus was surrounded by the injustices and hardships of the world He lived in. His humble life made Him more accessible to the people. They could find Him sitting in a boat, standing on a rock, or sitting on the grass teaching. Little children could come running up to Him, climb all over Him, and He loved it!! A blind man could cry out to Him for healing, a leper could approach Him, or a woman who was ill could touch the hem of His garment and be healed.
He did not live in a palace. Our King had no place to lay His head. He did not have the hands of a palace prince. His were the calloused hands of a servant. Those precious, calloused hands, that would one day be nail scarred, could build a table, turn over the table of a money changer, heal the sick, cook fish for His disciples, or bless a small child. Jesus didn’t come to observe life on earth. He came to live it. He humbled Himself to enter His creation as a baby, to grow up living a fully human life. Our King knows what it means to be poor, go hungry, be hated, abused, laughed at, tempted, rejected by family, and the list goes on.
By coming in meekness and humility Jesus fulfilled so many prophecies spoken of Him in the Old Testament. This speaks to the truth…He is Who He says He is!! He is the Son of God.
Christmas is the time of the year set aside for the purpose of celebrating our Savior, Christ Jesus. We set it aside to celebrate the birth or our Lord, whose purpose in coming was to be the Savior of our souls. And yet, how often during the Christmas season do we actually stop and think about this baby we celebrate? Every day during the Christmas season, and every other day of the year I want to keep the focus of my life on WHO truly matters. THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES!!!!
Merry Christmas, my dear family and friends!!!
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