Category: Jesus

Christmas Thoughts: Psalm 22

We celebrate the humble birth of Christ, knowing that the redemptive work God started then is finished, even as it is playing out in our own lives and the times we live in.

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I don’t typically think of the Psalms when I think of Christmas. My Christmas thoughts this season have revolved around prophecies in the Old Testament, and that is where the Psalms enter the picture. The Old Testament is full of prophecies that came true in the person of Jesus from Nazareth, who was born in Bethlehem a little over two millennia ago.

Psalm 22 may have been written by David before he became King when he was on the run from King Saul, who was jealous. On the other hand, it may have been written after David became king when his son, Absalom, formed a coupe to wrest the kingdom from him. Psalm 22 is David’s cry to God in the midst of his own impossible circumstance.

But Psalm 22 is more than that. Psalm 22 is a foreshadowing of God’s own cry when His creation turns against Him. It becomes the cry of God, who shed his divine glory to enter His own creation in the form of a man, which we celebrate at Christmastime. We don’t think of Christmas in these terms, but it foreshadows the death of God incarnate at the hands of His own creation.

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Christmas Thoughts: Prophets & Fools

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My Christmas Thoughts have taken me to the prophecies in the Old Testament of the coming Messiah. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ, which is the Greek term for Messiah. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, and he said the Old Testament is about him.[i]

The concept of a Messiah is unique to the Abrahamic religions. A messiah is a savior or liberator of the people. The Messiah predicted in the Old Testament (Tanahk) is the Savior of the Jewish people according to Jesus, and he is also the Savior of the world. The Messianic prediction goes back to Abraham:

I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” (Gen. 22:18-10)[ii]

Both the Jews and Muslims trace their lineage and heritage back to Abraham, and Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, is traced directly back to Abraham through David.  (Matthew 1:1-17)[iii] That the Messiah would come through the lineage of Judah, of whom David was a descendant, is echoed forward in the prophetic passages in the Old Testament writings.

Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: Prophets & Fools” →

Christmas Thoughts: The First Prophecy

The first prophecy in the Bible was spoken to Satan about the coming of the offspring of Eve who would bruise his head.

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(c) Can Stock Photo / aleksask
(c) Can Stock Photo / aleksask

We have explored one of the great passages of the Old Testament, written centuries before the Christ child was born in lowly estate in the beginning of the 1st Century, which predicted in great detail this man, Jesus. (Isaiah 53) Isaiah 53 is one of many predictions, prophecies, of the coming of a Messianic one who would be the Savior of the Jews, and of the world.

We will explore a sampling of other foretelling passages of the Old Testament in future installments, including today’s segment. Many of them are stunning in their accurate, specific and sometimes obscure detail. Not so today.

But the passage we will review today is central to the story. We go all the way back to Genesis for this one – Genesis 3:15 to be exact. This is considered the first prophecy in the Bible: Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: The First Prophecy” →

Christmas Thoughts: What Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Have to Do With Christmas?

When that young Jewish man found a Tanakh, located the Book of Isaiah in it and compared the passage in the Tanahk to the same passage in the “Christian” Old Testament, he was shocked to find that it was virtually identical.

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(c) Can Stock Photo / lucidwaters
(c) Can Stock Photo / lucidwaters

In the first installment of Christmas Thoughts, I left us hanging with a long passage from the Bible. I didn’t give the reference. I wanted the reader to think about it.

If it isn’t familiar to the reader, I wanted the reader to wonder where it might be found.

I have to admit that my inspiration came from a true story. A young Jewish man was presented the same passage and asked to identify where it was found in the Scripture. Like many of us, myself included as a young man, he wasn’t overly familiar with the Scriptures. His knee jerk reaction was that it is from the New Testament somewhere (which he hadn’t read either … but he was Jewish after all).

When he was told where the passage is located in the Bible, he was skeptical – Isaiah 53 … in the Old Testament. His next thought was, “That’s your Bible! I bet it’s not in the Tanuhk!” Continue reading “Christmas Thoughts: What Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Have to Do With Christmas?” →

Christmas thoughts: Humble Beginnings, Worldwide Ends

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(c) Can Stock Photo / Anke

Christmastime is a time to consider the birth of Christ. It’s “the reason for the season”, as the saying goes. Even with the busyness, commercialism and looming red eclipse of Santa, we usually pause to connect the dots to the birth of Jesus.

Whether you wish people a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, Christmas involves some acknowledgment of the birth of a man who was called Jesus who lived and died in the 1st Century in the region we identify as Palestine and Israel today. Here, in the confluence of Roman, Greek, Jewish and pagan influences, an obscure carpenter who lived maybe 33 years began a movement in human history that has spanned the globe and stood the test of time.

That movement has become the largest religion in the world today found on every continent and in every corner of the world. It is largely responsible for all the fundamental values of Western Civilization, though many people in “the west” have lost of sight of its influence. As appreciation seems to be waning for those foundations in the west, its influence is spreading in the east and global south.

It flourishes in the cold, communist climate of China and in the hotly hostile religious climate of Iran. It has made its way into the far reaches of the earth, down remote jungle streams and over barren desert sands to touch all people groups of the earth.

The circumstances of the birth of this influential, but humble, man are shrouded in mystery and quiet awe. Though many doubt the claims attached to him, no one can doubt his time enduring and global influence. His birth is the pivotal moment in human history and the pivotal point of God’s plan for his creation if we believe what has been told.

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