FIRST AND SECOND COMING OF THE MESSIAH PROPHESIED IN CHRISTMAS STORY

 

During the Advent season leading up to Christmas Day, we have many activities. One major activity in churches is preparing the children and adult choirs to present a beautiful cantata or drama taken from the stories surrounding the birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. The Gospel of Matthew features the wise men and a jealous and fearful king, and the Gospel of Luke gives details about angel visitations and shepherds in a field with their sheep. These two parts of the story of Messiah's birth are separated by a time period of approximately two years. Unfortunately, nearly all nativity scenes show both narratives happening in the same place and time. The shepherds and wise men arrive at the cave or stable where the baby Jesus is lying in a manger. They are shown kneeling before the Messiah together. This is not how it happened, and an important prophecy is ignored. I wrote the following poem to explore the amazing significance of these two groups of people who came to Bethlehem to witness the infant Messiah. Remember that the word "advent" means "coming." Jesus has come once, but He is also coming again! Let's celebrate the incarnation - God becoming a man, the Word becoming flesh - along with shepherds and kings! 

Also, remember that Jesus' disciples asked what would be the "sign" of His coming. Jesus' answer was: "For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.... Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.... And then all the people of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory (Matt. 24:28-30). Jesus also said, "I am the Root and the Offspring of David and the bright Morning Star" (Rev. 22:16, NIV). What if that star is not the familiar 5-pointed star? What if it is a 6-pointed star, the Star of David? There would be nothing more appropriate than a Jewish star announcing the arrival of a Jewish Messiah to the Jewish capital of Jerusalem to reign as King of the World! (See Zech. 14:1-9.)

SHEPHERDS AND KINGS

Shepherds with the sheep,

That night they couldn't sleep.

'Twas stirring in the air,

And they had the weight of care.

But look!  The sky above

Shone bright, and they felt love!

Frightened by the sight,

Yet strengthened by the Light.

Angels!  Myriads!  Singing!

Across the heavens ringing!

They spoke of just a Baby

Who would be King, not maybe!

The Messiah God appointed

For all men – His Anointed!

 

The shepherds left their sheep and ran.

They had to see this Baby, grand.

They found Him as the angel said,

Wrapped in cloths in a manger bed.

Why did God choose shepherds low

To visit first and see the glow?

To gaze at Diety's face unveiled,

Then tell the world what they beheld?

God chose shepherds when first He came

To show us all He was the same!

To poor He gave the tidings first -

Good will to man and peace on earth.

God and shepherds, you and me -

His first coming!  Can't you see?

 

Kings from afar, following a star,

Coming to the place, by His blessed grace.

The star shone bright at night,

Giving them light.

Gentiles, rich and wise,

Looking for the Prize.

No angel had to tell them,

No circumstance compel them.

Traveling through the countryside,

Keeping their gaze on the skies.

Could this show the Second Advent?

Is this a picture of God's intent?

 

Two years since the Baby came

Could mean two thousand, just the same!

The sign of His coming, a second star?

Look up and hope, the time is not far.

Shepherds and kings speak of these things:

A Lamb for the shepherds,

A Lion for the kings.

Poor and rich, Jesus comes to all –

Lowly, yet kingly – hear the midnight call!

When things get dark, and the journey's long,

Just look for the star

over a world gone wrong.

Jesus will come in the darkness of night,

The Bright Morning Star

bursting forth in the light!

The Good Shepherd laid down

His life for the sheep,

But the King comes to rule

and His promises keep!

by Nancy Petrey - November 29, 1999

 

 

 

WHY DID GOD SEND HIS ONLY SON TO US? - December 16, 2023

           God the Father sent Jesus to die as a sin sacrifice for every human being on earth, so that not one person who put his/her trust in Him would die and suffer eternal punishment for his sins. GOD DID THAT, AND JESUS AGREED TO IT. He said, "... Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.  Then I said, 'Behold, I have come -- In the volume of the book it is written of Me-- to do Your will, O God'" (Heb. 10: 5-7; Psalm 40:6-8).

          God wanted Jesus to die in our place because a just God could not leave sin unpunished, and our God is a just God. BUT WHY did the Father and His Son want all humans to escape death and hell at the price of the cruel death of the sinless Jesus on a cross to take our place? WHY?

          Because GOD LOVES US! LOVE IS THE REASON! In a nutshell this one Bible verse sums it up: "For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

          Look at the baby in the manger. His birth to a virgin mother was a miracle, because GOD ALMIGHTY was the baby's Father. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and said, "... go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God" (John 20:17). Jesus died on the cross as a man. He was 100% human and 100% God! He was like us in every respect, except He had never sinned. He showed us by His life on earth that He could be perfect, and He could perform miracles, but only by the POWER of the Holy Spirit, leaving us an example of how to live our lives. Being sinless, He was qualified to be a perfect sacrifice for us humans. And He opened the door for us into a personal relationship with God as our Father and Jesus as our elder brother, although Jesus would also be our Bridegroom and our King. You and I can agree with Thomas, who confessed upon seeing His nail-scarred hands, Jesus is "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:27-28). "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). Wow!

          Look again at the baby in the manger. Do you see a shadow? It is the shadow of a cruel Roman cross. Jesus would go from the cradle to the cross, his singular mission in His brief life of thirty years on this earth.

          AND HE DID IT ALL OUT OF LOVE FOR US! Never doubt you are loved and forgiven. You would be saying that Jesus' death on the cross was insufficient for you. That would be the height of ingratitude and wretchedness!

          At Christmas, rejoice that Jesus came into the world for a person like you, beginning life as a baby, and growing up, knowing the cross awaited Him, so that you could live with Him in eternity, enjoying the perfect life of LOVE. Let your praises outdo the angels' announcement to the shepherds in the skies over Bethlehem this Christmas!

HANUKKAH - CHRISTMAS CONNECTION - PART TWO

Let us learn more about the Hanukkah-Christmas connection. Hanukkah has great historical and spiritual importance, but its prophetic importance is even greater. Daniel’s prophecy was not only fulfilled in the days of Antiochus Ephiphanes and the Maccabees. It also has a future fulfillment. It points to events preceding the second coming of the Messiah. Jesus said, “When you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel (9:27; 11:31; 12:11) - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains... Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened... all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:15, 29, 30).  Part of Jesus' prophecy was fulfilled in A.D. 70 in the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome.  The Jewish believers in Jesus, about 60,000, fled to Pella in the Judean mountains.  They heeded Jesus' admonition, and they were saved.  Prophecies in the Bible can have multi-level fulfillments.  This prophecy in Matthew 24 has many elements that clearly indicate the end times and are yet to be fulfilled.

“The abomination that causes desolation” that Daniel originally referred to was the statue of Zeus that Antiochus Ephiphanes placed in the temple, demanding that the people worship it. However, at the time Jesus quoted Daniel, he was referring to the anti-Christ that is to come, of which Antiochus was a type. Most of the Jews under Antiochus’ rule committed apostasy, forsaking the true God and worshiping idols. Only a remnant resisted this evil ruler, but God brought deliverance through them for the nation of Israel. As mentioned in Part One, these valiant warriors are referred to in Hebrews 11:36-40 - “persecuted and mistreated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

Jesus warned of a similar time of apostasy in the future: “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:9-13).

A revival like the world has never known will come forth out of these future troubled times. Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). The very next statement (vs. 15) is the warning about the “abomination of desolation” (anti-Christ) standing in the temple. Evidently, world-wide revival will be the grace of God poured out prior to the revealing of the anti-Christ.

Paul adds his warning about the “abomination of desolation” in the temple, saying, “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion (apostasy) occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, and even sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (II Thess. 2:3-4).

The historical events that Hanukkah pictures indeed have meaning for the Christian today. That troubled time when God’s people were persecuted is a foreshadowing of the persecution of God’s people to come. In the days of the Maccabees, God wrought a mighty deliverance through a small band of faithful Jews. The temple was regained and dedicated, and the true worship of God was revived. As Christians celebrate Christmas, the first coming of the Messiah, may they also celebrate Hanukkah and prepare for the testing of their faith prior to the second coming of the Messiah, when their faith will be rewarded. There is a connection between Christmas and Hanukkah.

Primary sources: 

1. From Bondage to Freedom (A Survey of Jewish History from the Babylonian Captivity to the Coming of the Messiah) by Daniel Fuchs and Harold A. Sevener (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux, 1995 by Chosen People Ministries).

2. The Feasts of the Lord by Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal (Orlando: Zion's Hope, Inc., 1997), pp. 163-164.

Hanukkah - Christmas Connection - Part 1

              

Christians today can identify with this story in our struggle to walk out our faith in the midst of an increasingly dark and anti-Christian world.

In the events of Hanukkah, God ensured that Jesus would be born to Jewish parents in a Jewish nation, thus fulfilling over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming of the Messiah. It was this time in history between the Old and New Testaments, called the Maccabean period, that the very existence of the Jewish people was threatened. The victory of the Jews over their enemies and the regaining of their temple in Jerusalem led to the celebration of Hanukkah. Christmas is a celebration of the first coming of the Messiah. Hanukkah is a foreshadowing of the times preceding the second coming of the Messiah. There is a definite connection between Hanukkah and Christmas.

The Hebrew word Hanukkah means “to dedicate.” From 168 to 165 B.C. a faithful remnant of Jews were at war with the Syrians who had forced the Jews to abandon their God and His commandments in the Torah and worship idols. The Jews miraculously won the war and rededicated their temple in Jerusalem. They cleaned out all the filthy remains of idol worship and prepared to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day feast. They found only enough holy oil to keep the menorah burning for one day, but, according to legend, the oil burned for eight days! The people rejoiced at this great miracle and have celebrated the event known as Hanukkah, beginning on the 25^th of the Jewish month of Kislev, every year since then (Kislev corresponding to November-December). The Jews light a candle on their menorah every night for eight nights.

It may surprise some that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah in the Temple (Feast of Dedication - John 10:22). He used this occasion to proclaim to the Jews that He was the Messiah. It is also called the Festival of Lights and is prophetic of the Shekinah glory of God filling the temple that Jesus will build in Jerusalem at the beginning of the Millennium (Zech. 6: 12, 13; Ezek. 43: 4-7).

Much of the story of Hanukkah is a fulfillment of the prophecies of Daniel given about 400 years before (Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). The Jewish revolt started on the 15^th of Kislev, 168 B.C. when the Syrian ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes demanded he be worshiped as God.  He erected an idol of Zeus (which bore the face of Antiochus) on the holy altar in the courtyard of the Temple.  On the 25th of Kislev, the birthday of Zeus, Antiochus offered a pig on the altar (an "abomination"), sprinkled its blood in the Holy of Holies and poured its broth over the holy scrolls before he cut them to pieces and burned them! What horror! Faithful Jews were outraged!

Before this Antiochus had wrought destruction and murder in Jerusalem and hacked and smashed the porches and gates of the Temple, stripping it of its golden vessels and treasures.

The Hasideans were a faithful remnant of Jews who fled to the mountains, carrying with them copies of the book of Daniel. As they prepared to war against the Syrians, they studied the Scriptures and learned when their exile and their suffering would end (Daniel 8:13-14).

Antiochus also had pigs sacrificed on altars all over Israel, and the people were forced to eat the sacrifices (against the Torah). In 167 B.C. his soldiers came to the town of Modi’in and demanded that Mattathias the priest sacrifice a pig on the altar they built. Mattathias refused. Another Jew stepped forward to do it. Mattathias was enraged and killed the apostate Jew and the Syrian captain, too. Then he took his five sons and ran to the hills from where they waged a war against the Syrians. Mattathias and his sons raised the war cry, “Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me” (Apocrypha, I Maccabees 2:27). Many Jews joined them in the wilderness hiding places. There were many courageous martyrs, including a woman named Hannah who had seven sons. Refusing to eat swine's flesh, they were tortured, then boiled alive! Their mother encouraged them, saying they would be resurrected.  She also refused to apostasize and was put to death. These faithful Jews are described in Hebrews 11:35-39 - "Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection ... of whom the world was not worthy.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth...."

Mattathias led the revolt for one year. On his death bed he passed the leadership on to his son Judah, who was surnamed Maccabeus (nickname meaning “hammer”). Before each battle the Maccabees fasted and prayed, and the Lord brought them through victorious. The valiant band of Maccabees defeated the Syrians and rededicated the temple in Jerusalem on the 25^th of Kislev, 165 B.C., exactly three years after the desecration of the temple. This three years is symbolic of the three days in Jesus’ statement, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), meaning His body. The “resurrection” of the temple in 165 B.C. was a foreshadowing of the resurrection of the Messiah some 200 years later. In addition to this symbolism, the rededication of the temple has further significance for the Christian concerning his own body. The Apostle Paul taught, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you [Christians] are the temple of the living God...” (II Cor.6:16).

The Christmas story recorded in Luke shows an example of someone so totally dedicated to the purposes of God, no matter what the cost was to her own body, her reputation, that she willingly submitted to God's Word, saying, "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word" (Luke 1:38).  Mary made the supreme act of dedication, offering her body as the temple of God, thereby giving birth to the Messiah!

Keep in mind that without the sacrifice and struggle of the faithful Jewish remnant against their wicked rulers in the time of the Maccabees, there would not be a Christmas to celebrate.  (PART TWO IS COMING SOON.)