The Spirit of Christmas 4 of 7

And the Lord God Will Give to Him the Throne of His Father David

                When we consider thrones and kingdoms today we tend to think of the European royalty or of fairytales we heard as children now made popular through Disney movies.  These figureheads and fantasies have very little to do with the concept that the Bible teaches about the conquering king and absolute and sovereign ruler over all creation.  The hopes and dreams of a nation used to rise and fall with the coronation of a new king. Those who ruled with justice were loved by the multitudes and mourned after their death. King David loved God. God recognized his genuine love and declared that his family would rule forever over Israel (2Samuel 7:16). A problem seems to arise when we consider the division of the kingdom two generations later and the occupation of Assyria and Babylon. How then could this divine promise be true?

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.

The Spirit of Christmas 2 of 7

In You Shall All the Nations Be Blessed.

                Abraham is revered in several major religions around the world. The divinely inspired word of God tells us that God planned to bring joy to the entire human race through an offspring of Abraham (Galatians 3:16; Genesis 22:18). God prepared a people to deliver a divinely inspired, inerrant, and preserved written account of God’s faithfulness to his promise of redemption but also his love expressed through the gift of his Son (John 3:16). The mention of Christ as a descendant of Abraham helps us understand more about the meaning of Christmas.