His Birth and Our New Birth

[soso]

His Birth and Our New Birth

Sunday, December 23, 2018

“‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.’” (Isaiah 7:14 NIV)

His Birth in History.

“So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)  Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it.  He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside.  Jesus Christ is not the best human being; He is a Being //Who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all.

He is not man /becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. 

His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the Lowliest door.  Our Lord’s birth was an advent.

* Advent is a season observed in many Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas and the return of Jesus at the Second Coming. The term is a version of the Latin word meaning "coming".

His Birth in Me.

“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth /until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19) 

Just as Our Lord came into human history from outside, so He must come into me from outside.

Have I allowed my personal human life /to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God?

I cannot enter /into the realm of the Kingdom of God /unless I am born from above by a birth totally unlike natural birth.  “You must be born again.”  This is not a command; it is a foundation fact.  The characteristic of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God //that Christ is formed in me.  Immediately Christ is formed in me,

His nature begins to work through me.

God manifest in the flesh—that is what is made profoundly possible for you and me by the Redemption.

-Oswald Chambers (excerpted and adapted from My Utmost for His Highest)

Jesus was called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”  He dwelt among us; was tested in every way that we are tested; paid the price for our sins /so that we might be reconciled /to the Father and have eternal life; was raised

/to life /as the firstborn /among many brethren; and is now seated /at the right hand of the Father //where he lives to make intercession for the saints.  But before he left this earth, he said that it would be better for him to leave us, because he would send his Holy Spirit. 

Now for the first time, the mystery of God was revealed:  His presence would not be in a tabernacle or temple or any building; his presence would not be in Jerusalem or in New York.  God’s ultimate plan was that his church—his people—would be the place //where he dwells.  It is no longer just “God with us,” but “Christ in us, the hope of glory!”  Thank God for his indescribable gift!

Read Luke 1:26-38.