Luke 2:11-14
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Jesus Is the King of Kings
December 25 is the day commemorating the birth of baby Jesus. However, Jesus is no longer a baby but is the King of kings in God’s history. Therefore, we should give thanks and celebrate the birth of Jesus who came to Earth to save us. The theme of Christmas should be loving God and loving Jesus.
The more we learn about what God has done historically, the more we are filled with awe and grace. God sent Jesus as the king of peace to save the whole world, so Jesus came with the authority of the one and only Son who gives glory to God. He came to those who had been living as God’s servants during the 4,000 years of the Old Testament—those who wished to be saved by God—and preached the gospel that would allow them to become sons of God.
However, they opposed Jesus and killed him out of their ignorance and distrust. As a result, God’s promise of salvation could not be fulfilled for them. Only those who believed in Jesus as the one God sent and followed him received salvation and became children of God. For God to fulfill history this one level higher, from servant level in the Old Testament to child level in the New Testament, it took 4,000 years.
How Does God Fulfill History?
We can know how God fulfills history in the following ways:
- By looking at the time
- By looking at what He has done in the time period
- By what He has done by saving us
During the time of the New Testament, Jesus taught people, and that’s how they knew God’s new history had begun. Christians believe in Jesus who came after the Old Testament and as a result are living having received salvation. However, those who did not follow Jesus but only followed the Law of the former time period, continued to live in the old time period, even though Jesus had come and God’s promised New Testament history had begun.
Since Deities and spirits are not physically visible, in order to speak to and teach people, they appear using the body of an appropriate person who is chosen in each time period. They teach him about the time period, and through him, They save people and fulfill God’s Will of the Purpose of Creation.
Throughout 6,000 years of salvation history on Earth, there was never a time when God taught people and saved them by just coming in spirit Himself and going around in spirit alone: He never fulfilled His Will in that way.
During the Old Testament, God used Noah, Abraham, Moses, the kings, and the prophets to carry out the salvation history of that time period and to fulfill His promised Will. During the New Testament, God sent Jesus and spoke through his physical body to save people as children of God.
After being crucified, Jesus went around in spirit for 2,000 years and worked through those who believed in him to preach the gospel and make history. Throughout those 2,000 years, Jesus never appeared to his believers in his physical body. He always appeared in spirit and spoke and took action through his believers.
Know About Jesus Clearly
Everyone wants to be acknowledged. Everyone wants people to know about them clearly. People even get upset when others don’t know, and it causes fighting and conflict. This is also true with God, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Son Jesus. If you don’t know Them clearly, you won’t be able to connect or have conversations with Them, and it will upset Their deep heart.
Jesus endured all kinds of embarrassment and persecution because people didn’t know. He died for all mankind and made history for 2,000 years, so should we just receive Jesus in an ordinary way? Jesus’ spirit, who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, is more tremendous than we can imagine. We need to know clearly in order to receive him properly and celebrate his birth.