Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." NIV
The Fullness of Time
Part of the equation is in the hands of the Father. Your longing and your readiness, though required, will not override the timing of the Father God.
Gal 4:4-7
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
NKJV
Jesus comes into the empty places.
He is found where there is room for Him.
Luke 2:7
And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn
NKJV
He is not at all like earthly rulers who require great events to announce their arrivals. There is nothing He needs to add to Himself. He comes for OUR benefit. He is True Love manifested. It is so profoundly simple and so hard to believe that Jesus did not come to “blow his own horn” and get the recognition He deserves (which He really does deserve) but that He came purely for us.
There was no room for them at the inn (Luke 2:7). For whatever the reason, Mary and Joseph could not find accommodation at the public house, so the King of the Universe showed up just down the street (perhaps) and around the corner – in the stable. It is an odd birthing room, but it fulfills an essential requirement - There is Room for Him.
If you want to see Him – even today – give Him a place. Make room for Him. It’s not about the furnishings, but it’s about the space. Perhaps you are already a Christian believer, but there may very well be places in your life and your heart where He is Lord and Messiah simply because you have not made them available for His Presence.
Zacchaeus was a Jewish tax collector who became wealthy by collecting taxes far and above what was required by the Roman government. It was all quite legal, but it was not right. Jesus astonished the crowds of people by going into his house and eating with him. But even before His arrival, Zacchaeus prepared room for the Lord with an attitude of repentance.
Luke 19:8-10
Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."
And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
NKJV
Prepare the Way
John the Baptist’ ministry was a ministry of preparation. He preached repentance and baptism but the purpose was to prepare the people to receive Jesus, their Messiah (Matthew 3:1-6). Jesus said of John that of those born of women, there was none greater than John (Luke 7:24-28). John is greater than Abraham, greater than Moses, Greater than David, greater than Solomon, Isaiah, or any of the other prophets, kings, and leaders.
There is no greater message; there is nothing more important than that you prepare yourself to receive the Messiah.
Make way for the King! – Repent! – Turn from everything else, drop everything you have valued up until now – Open up your heart - Be baptized and recon everything of your previous way of life dead – You will not find Him in the public arena. He is coming to YOUR house. Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)?
The Bread of Life (John 6:32-35) is birthed in the feeding trough. But He only comes to the ones that are empty and vacant of other lesser provisions.
Heaven always rejoices in this! But the world can barely perceive His arrival. They call it everything but what it is – the greatest gift of God. It is the reconciliation back to a real, living, and harmonious relationship with the Lord. That night in Bethlehem, a whole army of Heaven’s messengers broke into the realm of human perception and declared, “Peace on Earth, Good will toward man” (Luke 2:13).
Heaven declared peace between God and mankind through Jesus Christ!
The world wants to make Christmas out to be a season of how we can make peace ourselves – if only we gather ourselves together and get in touch with our “higher selves” and pull out the warm fuzzies – we make up all kinds of stories about the “magic of Christmas”, and the “spirit of the season”- things of this nature, But that’s not the event of scripture. The justice of God demands of us a payment and penalty we cannot create from within ourselves. At the birth of Jesus, God is making good on His promise to bring payment for our debts and failures through His Messiah (Christ).
The Peace on Earth is Him!
Eph 2:14-18
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. NIV
His Peace is made available – as a gift – to receive. We really have nothing to give. It is quite disarming and hard to accept if you are full of a self satisfied sense of your own goodness and strength.
God has declared Peace on Earth. The Lamb of God, perfect and spotless is given…
To all who will receive Him
To all who will give Him room.
Who Does He Come For?
Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." NIV
He comes for the sick, the broken, the lonely, the poor.
These are the ones who have room for a deliverer
He comes to bind up the broken hearted.
These are the ones who have room for a Saviour.
Isa 61:1-3
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion--
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
NIV
Who will miss Him?.
It is the full ones who have no place for Him.
Rev 3:17-20
You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. NIV.
Prepare the way! – receive your King!
JOY TO THE WORLD
(written 1719 by Isaac Watts)
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! (2006)
