The Spirit of Christmas 3 of 7

--It is to Him You Shall Listen—

                There was a consensus among the experts. Catastrophic events were at hand. The world as we knew it would come to an end unless we revamped the existing infrastructure. Y2K would shut America down. There were some thought things would not be so bad. They were looked at as irresponsible. Generators, canned food items, survival gear, and ammunition flew off the shelves. People were preparing for complete social disintegration. I sat in my family room dressed in my PJ’s with bare cupboards as the ball dropped waiting for whatever would come.

There are Consequences to Unbelief

                Moses stood before the people of Israel and told them, in very clear words, exactly what God expected of them. Israel was serving as a tool for judgment of the people who had rejected God (Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 18:12). God knew that the temptation to adopt their religious practices would be great. However, these religions were not acceptable to God for they were demonic in their inception (Deuteronomy 32:16-17). Their purpose was to provoke people to break God’s commandments (Deuteronomy 32:19) and make them forget the one true God (Deuteronomy 32:18). 

Christmas is a Call to Return to God

                Moses had a unique relationship with God that made him a unique leader (Numbers 12:6-7). When Moses stood before the people that day he told them that God would raise another prophet like him from among them (Deuteronomy 18:15).  He was speaking of Christmas when he spoke of the arrival of a prophet that would know and be known of God face to face. Jesus Christ was this prophet. He alone was intimately known by God and exceptionally qualified to make him known (John 1:18).  A prophet was a person who spoke or wrote the words they were given by God as a message to his people. Jesus Christ is referred to as the living Word of God (John 1:1-2).  He is the perfect expression of God’s love because he himself is equal to God in every aspect (Philippians 2:5-6). The Bible teaches that God is three persons with one divine essence. Jesus is in perfect unity with the Father and the Spirit (John 10:30-31; John 10:33). This divine essence in the eternal person of Jesus Christ became flesh (John 1:14). That is Christmas.  Jesus, his life and message, is a call to return to God by believing in him. Don’t be caught with an empty and shallow faith. Celebrate the expression of God’s love through the wonder of who Jesus of Nazareth truly is and receiving the message that he brought to the entire world. A world that had religion but had forgotten God. Be faithful to the message that Christ came to proclaim and to the work he came to perform.

Please trust in Jesus Christ alone as the Way the Truth and the Life. He is the only One who is sufficient to give men eternal life through a relationship with God.  (John 14:16; John 1:12-13)