The Messiah’s Secret – Jesus Born in Mary

Christmas Greetings

Christmas Greeting Cards are part of our Advent Season as we send them to our friends and family before Christmas Day.  They were introduced into UK in 1843 by the Public Post Office. 


On the right: Front of the card- Christmas Greetings from the International Space Station.
On the left: Inside the card Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem. The greeting 'Peace be with you.' 

Inside every card the seasons sentiments usually a greeting of good will: Happy Christmas, Blessings of the Season’.

Micah 5: 2-5. Luke 1: 39 – 45

St Paul in his letter to the church at Rome gave them 21 greetings from 35 Christians, a greeting-sending their goodwill. Had it been today he would had posted 35 Christmas cards.

In our reading Mary who was cousin to Elizabeth when she arrived at Zechariah and Elizabeth's home when they greeted one another it was amazing. The outpouring of joy as the Holy Spirit spoke through Elizabeth, her remarks confirmed that the word of Archangel Gabriel and the prophets had been fulfilled.

Gabriel said that the child born in Mary was by the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her. God himself the Father of Jesus.

The prophet Micah wrote of a person to be born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah, “From you Bethlehem shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel whose origin is from of old, from the ancient of days.”  An eternal being, from everlasting, God himself.

Isaiah prophesied, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. Isaiah 7: 14.

Prophesies are inspiring they confirm the everlasting presence of God, in the here and now and for someone seeking God that helps them come to faith.

However for some they struggle to believe in the Virgin Birth, from a human view point it seems an impossibility, but for those who do believe it shows us that all things are possible with God. When we look at scriptures

God is able to create life where humanly speaking it’s impossible like in Abraham and Sarah’s old age they had a son Isaac and Zechariah and Elizabeth they too were past the age of having children, but God blessed them with a son John the Baptist.              

Mary who was full of faith and was willing to bear the Son of God.  I look at the Virgin Birth  it this way: when a person receives healing through prayer, God heals within the body, without touching the flesh.

Jesus born in us.
I was asked recently “What would you say to someone who is asking about becoming a Christian?” One of the many answers to that question is as follows: There is evidence from the findings of Archaeologists in ancient burial sites that man worshipped. He tried to influence the seasons that provided his food, he was aware of a supreme deity  so he worshipped the sun, moon and stars and made idols to them. In Judges 8: 21 After the defeat of the Midianites Gideon removed the crescent moons from the necks of their camels. The Midianites were descended from Abraham and his concubine Keturah.     

We believe that the true God made himself known through the Hebrew people, and that he would send them a saviour who would save all mankind and establish God’s kingdom of peace on the earth.

Christians believe that Jesus is that promised Saviour and through faith in him we too can be saved

In God’s plan of Salvation out of his great love for us, God caused Jesus to be born in a woman, to become one of us. He knew, as we know today that he would lay down his life in order to pay the price of sin that leads to eternal death.

Jesus was upheld by God during his life time on the earth, especially when he came up against the Pharisees and Sadducees, I thought he would have read from Isaiah 43: 4 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name you are mine.” These words would have given him assurance from his Father that he would fulfil his task.

Jesus was innocent of the sin that he bore on the cross I repeat; Jesus was innocent of the sin that he bore on the cross God raised him from the dead and in his resurrection he was the first to be redeemed, to know the love of God his Father’s forgiveness.  Colossians 1 18. “He is the head of the body , the church; he is the beginning the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.”

So through faith in Jesus a person coming to God in prayer recognising their need to get right with God will receive God’s forgiveness and as a result Jesus is born in them.  

Colossians 1: 27. “To them, Israel, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”                 

Visual Aid. 

It is like putting a white cloth into water with a dye in it. 
The cloth absorbs the colour. So we absorb Jesus, the Son of God, the Father and the Holy Spirit. 

Colossians 2: “For in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily and you have come to the fullness of life in him.”

 The followers at Colossi had come to fullness of life in Jesus. They had recognised their part in being rooted and  built up in their faith, by being taught the scriptures by the holy Spirit and studying the scriptures for themselves and with others and giving thanks as they put into practice what they believed.

It is no different for Christians today as we take hold of his words and promises in scripture and expecting answers to prayer because of our relationship with Jesus, he is born in us.

Prayer  
Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.Father God, we pray for your holy spirit’s ministry to us, making Jesus known to us. empower us your people to equip us for the work you are calling us to do.

May we be your willing friends in serving you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Messiahs Secret – Zechariah and Elizabeth 

Isaiah 40: 1-11. Luke 1: 1-25.

Lord Jesus you are the living word and your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path, in Jesus’ name.

Zechariah heard from the Archangel Gabriel that his prayer from years before had been answered Elizabeth would bare him a son. In verse 18 he said, “How can I be sure,” he wanted assurance as they were now both too old to have children. 

We may have prayers that we prayed for years ago that are about to be answered, especially were we have laboured in prayer for members of our family.  


Zechariah questioned Gabriel’s word, as a result he lost his speech which meant that he was not able to express his meeting with Gabriel and further more he could not bless the people and that would have had the effect of being chastening by God.                                         

Israel had been chastened by God in their exile into Babylon, now God was comforting his people on their return to Jerusalem. During the journey they had been looked after by Israel’s shepherd, God himself. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd: He will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young.”                                                                                                          

The prophecy in Isaiah 40 that was not fulfilled at that time. 

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord making his path straight.”  

Hundreds of years afterwards it was fulfilled when Archangel Gabriel announced the good news to Zechariah that his son would be the one preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah.                                   

A preparation for the coming kingdom of God: repentance by immersion in water for the forgiveness of sins and to bear good fruit by sharing clothing and food. Luke 3: 3, 4, 9.

John the Baptist spoke of Jesus being the Lamb of God. The Lamb that bore the sins of the people.   Jesus the ‘Passover Lamb’ that laid down his life for his sheep. When Jesus sent out his disciples with the kingdom message it was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

Naomi our church organist keeps sheep on their smallholding, at our Ladies fellowship meeting she told us that when a sheep strays away from the rest of the sheep it is usually because it is hurting in some way, they don’t normally go off on their own.    

The shepherd Jesus, gathered the injured sheep.

 Isaiah 61: 1-4 "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."

Jesus during his ministry brought healing and restoration to the people of Israel and when he died on the cross they did not realise that the Messiah had to suffer and die and be resurrected from the dead.   

The Messiah's Secret Revealed

The chief priest Caiaphas was given a prophecy that one man would die so that the nation would not perish. If only the leaders like Caiaphas had the realisation of these words in the knowledge that Jesus had redeemed and saved Israel through his death and resurrection. John 11: 49 – 53.

Jesus brought healing and reconciliation between God and all humanity: Jew and Gentile. Through faith in him we pass over from sin and death to forgiveness and eternal life.

Jesus gave us a greater promise than just being a shepherd to us, he said, "I and the Father are one and we will come and make our home within you." John 14: 23.                                                                                                                           

 Visual Aid

It is like putting a white cloth into water with dye in it. The white cloth absorbs the colour. So we absorb Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. 

                                                                                       

Jesus calls us to his ministry of reconciliation with the indwelling ministry of the Trinity. Paul’s prayer in his letter to the Ephesians 3: 14 -21 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with the might, through his Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that, you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Paul’s prayer that embraced this message that 'God indwells his people.' He prayed that we would understand what it means to be rooted and grounded in the love of God. Jesus did a complete work on the cross: 

                                the breath, the length, 

the height and depth of the cross

of his victory over principalities and powers, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, surpassing love that is as vast as the universe, its magnitude contained in our being.  “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations for ever. Amen”   

In our walk in Christ we often go where someone else has prepared the ground, where seeds have already been sown and we take the water and by the action of the Holy Spirit, the seed germinates and starts to grow.

A man came to Chatterton Hey House at Edenfield from Langley House Trust’s ‘Tekoa House’ at Rochdale to join our Alpha Course. Andrew had just recently had a God experience saving him from ending his life. In this man’s life, the seed of faith had just germinated and he needed the water of the word, he was so thirsty for the words about Jesus.          

The Alpha Course enables a person to find out about Jesus from the Bible.  He was taking the first steps of putting his faith in Jesus. Where this man never trusted anyone before, he is learning to trust in the word and promises of the Lord our God to him.

As Isaiah 40: 8 stated; “The word of our God will stand for ever.”

The refreshing water of the word of God that brings forth an abundance of life.