What Manner of Man is this?
PRIOR
TO LAST CHRISTMAS I received an email from an acquaintance from The United States India
Person in the
Holy Trinity, coequal and coeternal with the only true God, the Logos, the Word and hence is beyond
birth and death. God became a man in Jesus
and this earth-shattering event took place in Bethlehem 2000 years ago in Jesus’ birth. Christmas commemorates this event on a particular
date arbitrarily chosen by the church. That day is Christmas. It is not even
uniformly celebrated all over the world on December 25.”
Really I can’t blame
this lady for her fractured knowledge. During a Christmas service I was leading,
I invited a man sitting at the front row to say the starting prayers. He had a
doctorate in theology. He prayed “Our loving heavenly Father, we thank you for
the opportunity you have given us to get together and celebrate Your
birthday!...” God’s birthday! Oh, my God!!
Most television channels are run by people who are
not Christians. Come December, year after year, they start broadcasting instructions
on baking cakes during their culinary programs. This service is supposed to be for the
benefits of their Christian viewers. In
their confused minds, a cake is in some way connecting with Christ! Is it not we Christians who are responsible
for this blasphemous situation? Is it not our bad witness the reason for identifying
the Lord with an item of food? It is time to be reminded who Jesus is – to meditate
upon His identity. I am quoting Matthew 16:15-17: He said to them, “But who do you say that
I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona,
because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who
is in heaven.” If you are not 100 percent aware of Christ Jesus’ identity, the
Holy Spirit is not in you. Please consider the following pages and make up your
mind.
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1 It was not
only Jews, but the whole world that awaited the arrival of the Messiah. Of the more than 350 promises, the first was
made by God Himself in Genesis 3:15--we
don’t know when. Job who lived during prehistoric days said: “I know my Redeemer
lives”. Probably the Jews who traveled abroad carried the news taught people
and wrote books. The Magi traveled a long distance in their
search for the King of Jews, met Him
and worshipped Him. They knew what offertory to take with them – tributes
worthy of a king and High Priest– gold, frankincense, myrrh.
2. The message of the Lord’s birth had to
reach every layer of the society—from mighty kings to the humble Shepherds. When
told by the angels that He is Christ, the Lord, and Savior, the illiterate
shepherds had no doubt whatever– they went quickly, saw the baby, paid homage
to Him and returned. They instinctively knew they had to spread the message!
3 Simeon, a
devout and just man, a servant of God waiting for the Consolation of Israel,
filled with the Holy Spirit declared Him to be the Salvation prepared before all
people.
4. Anna,
prophetess: recognized Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.
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Ironically, it was not only the appointed servants
of God, but also His sworn enemies recognized Him:
1 King Herod – He
was an Idumean convert to the Jewish religion, (an Edomite if you like). He must
have had a thorough knowledge of the law and prophecies—otherwise, the orthodox Jewish
priesthood would not have allowed the conversion. Genesis
49:10 prophesied “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s
staff from his descendants, until the coming of the One to whom it belongs, the
One whom all nations will honor”. He knew the throne didn’t belong to him; he
was installed by the Romans to spite the Jews.
It was no surprise he was troubled when he heard the news the Magi had
revealed to him the King of Jews was born. Any ruler would have consulted the
army brass when informed there was a rival king born, but Herod consulted
scribes and high priests where the King of Jews would be born! On confirmation,
he proceeded to eliminate the Lord..
2 Pontius Pilot was
puzzled by Jesus’ attitude during the trial. Curious about His identity he asked Him if He
was a king and was frightened and confused when Jesus said yes! Jesus’ claim to
kingship had a strong impact on him and he tried everything in his power to let
Him go. He instinctively knew he was before someone very special–on three
occasions called Him king. He put up the sign over His head on the cross that
He was ‘The King of Jews’ in three languages so that there won't be any mistake–this was no
joke–and refused to correct the ‘king’ expression when demanded to do so.
3 The Thief on the cross
took one look at Jesus’ face and knew He
was a king and there was a kingdom He
was coming into. What did he see that
the others missed? I am tempted to think he was one of those Paul was talking
about– “In love He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus
Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will…(Ephesians 1:5)
4 The high priest Caiaphas, the worst of Jesus' enemies, went berserk when he heard
about Jesus raising the dead Lazarus. As his determination to eliminate Jesus
hardened, in his agitated mental condition he admitted “the whole world had
gone behind Him” and uttered an immense truth that it is better one man should
die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. He was actually
prophesying from his position as High priest like “Satan was quoting the
scripture!”
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Jesus told His disciples (Matthew 13:11) “You have been given knowledge about the secrets of
the kingdom from heaven, but it has not been given to others”. Ephesians 1:18 says “Then, with the
eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence that is produced
by God having called you”. Jesus said in John 15:16 "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last…”
Do these verses mean there are areas God’s call
can’t reach? No! It means there are people who are so hardened, who had
so constantly ignored the call, that they have become stone deaf. The learned
pundits refused to recognize Jesus was their promised Messiah in the face of
overwhelming pieces of evidence--in spite of Jesus making the claim over a hundred
times. But the ignorant shepherds and a despised Samaritan woman had no problem
making the connections. Let us look at a few cases of people who heard the call
clearly and responded with alacrity.
1 Zacchaeus belonged
to that vile class of Jews who collected tax forcibly and fleeced their fellow
Jews. They worked for the oppressive Roman regime and were fattened by
ill-gotten profits. Zacchaeus also
nurtured a deep longing to see Jesus. He was startled when Jesus called him
from his hideout and accompanied him to his home, under a disapproving glance
of the public. Once there Zacchaeus stood before Jesus and promised ‘'I will give half my wealth to the poor; if I
have cheated anyone on their taxes, I will return them four times the amount". (He
knew the Levite law!) To the crowd’s utter surprise Jesus proclaimed Zacchaeus a true son of Abraham and pronounced salvation
to him and his home.
2 Thomas – One of
the twelve disciples of the Lord, he doubted the resurrection story that was
making the rounds and wanted more proof--(actually did the right thing?). When
the resurrected Lord entered the room he was in, addressed him by name and asked
him to come over and examine His wounds, feel His side, the truth of Jesus’
deity suddenly dawned on Him. He was the only person to address Jesus as
God, while Jesus was in flesh--a remarkable thing for a Jew to do. His confession
was superior to Peter’s. Jesus delivered
a mild rebuke and introduced him to a higher level of faith—to believe without
seeing.
3 Nicodemus – Among
the horde of religious leaders who hated Jesus, this was one Pharisee who
wanted to get at the truth about this mysterious carpenter from Nazareth kingdom of Heaven
His life
underwent such a momentous change that during the Festival of Tents, when the
officials who were sent to arrest Jesus returned empty-handed (John 7:50), it
was Nicodemus who stood up for Jesus and
advised the committee “"Surely our Law does not condemn a person without
first hearing from him and finding out what he is doing, does it?" Later
on, after Jesus’ death he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a
hundred pounds to embalm Jesus’ body (John 19:39).
4 When Jesus revealed to the common Samaritan woman the dynamic truth that
He was the Messiah, she had no reason
whatever to suspect Him. How her life changed on knowing His identity! When you
know who Jesus is, your life changes, your witness changes, your goal changes
and you go and change lives.
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Colossians
1:15-19 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for
through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made
the things visible and invisible. Everything was created through him and for
him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead. So He is first in everything. For God
in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ...
In conclusion
Jesus is the Christ who lives from everlasting to
everlasting, rules from eternity to eternity. He is the same yesterday, today
and forever; He was the Word that was in the beginning and the Word that was
with God, and the Word that was God; the Word that became flesh, and lived
among us. (John 1:1, 2, 14). The Gospel writer remembers his experience on the
mountain of transfiguration when he
witnessed Jesus Christ in His original glory and goes on to say “And we beheld His
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of
truth”. He was writing 50 years after the incidence!
Christ has always been active in human affairs, revealing
the Father to mankind (John 1:18). He
is the fulfillment of more than 350 prophecies mentioned in Old Testament, the
first of which was uttered by God Himself. (Genesis 3.15 ). Being truly God –He voluntarily set aside His
godliness to become a human in His Messianic incarnation. He became human
because only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the
power of the devil, who had controlled men through his power of death. Christmas is a day arbitrarily chosen by the
Church to commemorate this earth-shattering occurrence that happened
2000 years ago, the Bethlehem
“What manner of a Man is this?” His disciples asked
one another in amazement when Jesus rebuked the waves and the wind and they
obeyed Him. On the one hand, He was foreknown before the creation of the world,
but on the other hand, He was revealed at the end of time for your sake. (1 Peter 1:20).
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