Luke 1:42: And she spake out with a loud
voice and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
God has a wonderful plan for man when
HE created man. In Genesis, Bible says that God created man in His own image to
have fellowship with man. God handed over and gave man authority over all
creation.
But Satan, a rebellious angel, thrown
unto earth was not in favour of God’s idea (Rev. 12) and therefore he cunningly
and subtly deceived Adam and Eve to disobey God. Since that mistake, man died
spiritually; wickedness, fear, jealousy, pride and generally sin has been a
desire of man. God in time had wiped out all mankind because of wickedness and
disobedience (Noah’s time) but this sin has continued even to today.
In all these hopelessness of man, God
Almighty, as good as He is, had thought of a plan to save sinful man and
restore that wonderful relationship He had with man at the beginning of
creation.
The plan
In the Old Testament, God has made
promises to the effect that a ‘messiah’, who is God, coming in the form of a
man will save Israel and mankind-(Isaiah 9:6-7, Micah 5:2). Some believed but
did not know how. In the olden days, almost all things are by law cleansed by
blood and without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins (Heb
9:22). Therefore when anybody sinned in the old testament days, all he does is
to buy a goat or bull, kills it and the blood used to do cleansing by the
priests at that time- but the sins are not wiped out completely and
therefore the ritual was continued- I wonder those of us who can continue
buying goat for sacrifice looking at the price of goat today.
It was therefore necessary that God
use a better sacrifice to fulfill his plan to save man once and for all. How
did God do it?
Jesus, the Lamb
With the prophesies that have been said about the coming messiah, most
Jewish girls at the time were expecting to be the carrier of the ‘messiah’. But
God’s plans are not man’s. Luke tells us that an angel visited a betrothed
virgin, called Mary, with the promise of she carrying the ‘messiah’. The
promise was so sure that when she visited and greeted her pregnant cousin
Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother), the baby leaped in her womb and she
proclaimed under the influence of the Holy Spirit the words in Luke 1:42- Blessed art thou among women, and blessed
is the fruit of thy womb. I believe all pregnant women will be glad to
receive such statements.
Thereafter, Bible says that Mary conceived, not by carnal process but by the
Holy Spirit. Mary praised God for her
choice, that as a no-body, the fruit of her womb will save mankind. Our
God always uses the no-bodies for His purpose. Joseph, Mary’s husband to-be and
a carpenter accepted the situation he found himself. The baby Jesus was born in a manger in
humility and bible says there and then an angel of God revealed the birth to
shepherds on the field with their flock that night. A sign, in the form of a
star was also shown in the skies for Wise men in the east, who traced the star
to find Jesus- even wise men seek Jesus, what about you? Satan knew the essence of baby Jesus, so he
wanted to kill Him through Herod, a Roman King who did not see any other king than
himself only. But God was bent on fulfilling His plan for mankind and therefore
Jesus survived all the plans of the enemy, Satan.
Importance of the birth
Brethren, I want to assure you that the fruit that came out of the womb
of Mary- Jesus Christ of Nazareth is good news for mankind because salvation
has been made easy. Mankind has now a savior who can free us from the torment
of Satan, the destroyer of mankind.
· We need not buy goats and bulls any
more to have forgiveness of our sins (Matt.1:21, Jn1:29, Jn3:17, Heb.7:27, 1John
1:7 ,1John3:5, John 3:16)
· We need not pay any priest to enter
into a holy of holies anymore, because Jesus our high priest has finished that
sacrifice completely and now sits at the right hand of God interceding on our
behalf. Everyone of us can now speak to God through Jesus Christ.
· God has revealed his character to
humanity – John1:1-3
· A perfect sacrifice has been achieved
to remove mankind’s sins (a perfect lamb without spot or wrinkles
· We now have a mediator unlike the
levitical priesthood, who has to offer sins for himself and the people as
well (Heb 6, 9)
· Jesus birth has also made available
the Holy Spirit to mankind. Because through the death, resurrection and
ascension, we now have the Holy Spirit- the guardian, counseller and power to
live victorious Christian life in this sinful world.
Lesson from the Birth
Brethren the
birth of Jesus Christ is good news for mankind because salvation has been made
easy and this birth of Jesus is not about eating and drinking or picnics. Pleasure
will only feed the flesh and for a short time, so why don’t we lay hold on the
significance of the birth every day? As bible-believing Christians what can we
learn from this wonderful birth and gift of God?
- Like Mary:
Lk 1:46-56 talk about the qualities of Mary (as in 1corin.2:27-29).
If you want God to use you, be humble, eschew pride.
Irrespective of her situation as a virgin, Mary was glad to be used, was
ready for the shame and obeyed the angel’s voice. Do you hear God’s voice
when He speaks to you? Or you only hear it when it is what you expect to
do? Do you avail yourself willingly to be used by God for His good works?
- Like Joseph:
you should be obedient to God’s word, although not palatable. How
many men will accept this situation? But Joseph obeyed God and accepted
Mary as a wife and did not expose her to ridicule. Some of us are area
Fm stations, we are good at broadcasting bad news.
- Like the Wise men: you should seek Jesus till you find Him and worship Him as your King and not to expose Him or His seeds to be harmed. Are you seeking Jesus the right way? Is your lifestyle telling people good things about Jesus? Wise men, who were sorcerers, magicians and gazers of stars even sought Jesus.
- Unlike Herod:
you should worship Jesus sincerely, irrespective of our position or
title, as our King of Kings. Some of us are like Herod, we worship God
cunningly and pretentiously-“with our lips but our hearts are far away”.
We will be exposed one of these days so let’s be sincere with God. As a
Christian you are light so be sincere with God and your neighbours.
- Like the Shepherds: you should put every treasured possession aside at the
expense of Christ to use you. Obey His commandment and take the
opportunity to proclaim Him everywhere and to everyone- that will be a
better celebration. God needs people to preach Him to the world and to
serve in the church. Why should your job, your marriage, your education or
your friends prevent you from serving the Lord.
