Every year when I set up my manger scene, I put baby Jesus in the center of the display and all the other figures around Him. I try to make sure they are all facing Him with their attention directly on Jesus. In human terms, He is the smallest and frailest of the group. But in reality, He is the most powerful and the One Who is necessary for our existence, both physically and spiritually. Considering His greatness and love, shouldn’t we always live our lives constantly facing Jesus, giving Him our full attention and recognizing his deity and glory?
One scripture describes Jesus like this: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” (Isaiah 9:5-7)
This prophecy
was given by Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus was born. But the message is
for us even today. “Unto us a child is born”. That “us” includes you and me.
Jesus came into this world as a baby, wrapped in human flesh, yet He was God.
The first
chapter of John tells us, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without
him was not anything made that was made.”
Jesus was there at creation speaking
the stars into existence and every living thing as He brought order to this
earth. He has always existed. Yet He limited Himself to time and space
when He took on human flesh to be Emmanuel, God with us. His presence among us
and the words He spoke brought life, light and order just as when He spoke
everything into being at the Creation. And He can bring
wonderful things and order into our lives, too. That is why He came.
Jesus is called the Word because He is the expression of the
Father to us. He showed us the Father, and this is how He did it. “And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Jesus, the child
that was born, was also the Son that was given. There
is a song that says “He left the splendor of heaven, knowing His destiny. Was
the lonely hill of Golgotha, there He laid down His life for me.” That is love.
The greatest love! He bore in His own body the wrath of God against our sins so
we can go free.
We
are also told that the government is on His shoulders. He is in complete
control. There are people on this earth who have great power, and they think
they are controlling things, but they just don’t realize they can do nothing
unless God allows it. Jesus said, “All power is given
unto me in heaven and in earth.”
He
is Wonderful. The word wonderful means “a miracle, marvelous”. Jesus’ ways and
thoughts are much higher than ours. He is far above human comprehension in
every way.
He is also the Counselor. He is all wise, all knowing,
and will lead us in paths of righteousness and peace if we will follow Him. He
will counsel us with His limitless wisdom.
He
is the Mighty God. In being the expression of God, He showed His power and
authority clearly through His words, His deeds and all the miracles He
performed while He was in human flesh.
He
is the Everlasting Father. He will never leave us and His love and care are
always with us.
He
is the Prince of Peace. Jesus came to bring peace between us and the Father, to
close the gap that was caused by sin. He did that by taking our punishment for
us. To those who receive Him, He gives the power to become the sons of God, to
as many as believe on His name.
As
children of God, we can have peace with God. We can become one with Him and start
living in His kingdom now by the Holy Spirit within us and continue our new
life uninhibited by the pull of this world after these bodies have died. We can
do that because it is a spiritual kingdom. It is the kingdom that Jesus lived
in even while here on this earth. He lived in spiritual power, principles,
knowledge, holiness and connection to the Father. We can do the same, but we
can have this life only through Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
The
government of this Prince of Peace will never end! This is the good news of
great joy for all people!
Jesus
is the Child that was born – the Son that was given!
If
you haven’t already received Him, do it right now!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
