Tag: Christmas

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.

Continue reading “Christmas thoughts: Humble Beginnings, Worldwide Ends” →

Unto Us A Child Is Born

The world waited over 700 years after Isaiah told of the coming of the Christ, the Messiah. The world now waits in anticipation for the governance of that Christ in heaven and earth.

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© Can Stock Photo Inc. / Anke
© Can Stock Photo Inc. / Anke

The prophet Isaiah, spoke the word of God and foretold of the coming of the Christ child over 700 years before Jesus was born into the history of mankind in a humble manger. 

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

As Peter said, “the Lord is not slow about His promise, … but is patient toward you.” (2 Peter 3:9). In the fullness of time, God emptied Himself and entered into the history of His own creation. (Phil. 2:6-7)

The angel appeared to Mary and gave her the news that Isaiah foresaw:

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33)

And it would not just be that this Christ child would come for the lineage of Jacob and David; He would come for all mankind. Continue reading “Unto Us A Child Is Born” →

Christmas Thoughts

The incongruity of the festive, popular trappings and the dark, lonely struggles makes this time of year especially difficult for many people.

kevingdrendel3 Comments

This time of year is a joyful, festive time of year filled with family time, days off from work, presents given and received and celebration. At least, that is how this time of year is billed to be; and I often it is, for most of us, for the most part, a joyful time of year. But, life does not live up to the billing or expectations.

I checked Facebook this morning when I awoke. A high school classmate reports that his wife, mother of his daughters, went to “be with the angels” last night. A friend I met in college said goodbye to his mother yesterday, and she is no longer with us today. An acquaintance I know through wrestling described a colleague, only a few months past 50, who passed yesterday. Another high school friend asked for prayers for his daughter, going on two weeks in the hospital. Another friend from high school started chemo again this week.

These are only a few examples of the people I know who are struggling with loss, sickness and other difficulties right now. I am painfully aware that this joyful time of year is anything but happy for people dealing with financial difficulties, health problems and other struggles.

The incongruity of the festive, popular trappings and the dark, lonely struggles makes this time of year especially difficult for many people.

In quiet reflection, we know that the reason for celebration is not in the popular trappings. We celebrate the birth of Christ and the hope He brings.

Implicit in the story of God shedding his omnipresence and exchanging an eternal, omnipotent position for the humble circumstance of a dependent, newborn baby is that God is not unaware or unable to identify with us in our humanity and our struggles. He is not unaccustomed to our suffering.

Jesus Christ became Emmanuel, God with us, as foretold many centuries before. He lived as we live and suffered as we suffer. Jesus felt the weight of depression and the sorrow of loss. He intimately knows our struggles.

As we consider and celebrate the birth of Christ this time of year, we should focus our attention on the context and the purpose for which He was born – to bear in Himself the sin of mankind, to carry that burden to the cross, to die and to bury the sin he carried; and to rise, conquering both sin and death.

The hope that Jesus gives us is not the promise of no suffering, but the promise of redemption and new life on the other side of the suffering.

We have a God who is not distant. He, even is now, poised at the door to each of our hearts. He is still Emmanuel – God with us. He is also now God in us – if we are willing to receive Him. I pray that you would open the door to Him today and receive the hope He has to give.

Though life is often marked by loss, sorrow and suffering, we have hope. I wish and pray for God to fill each person this Christmas Season with that hope and, with it, peace and comfort and, yes, even joy.

In the midst of the difficulties and struggles, we can have joy. Our hope is not in the things of this world. Our hope is anchored in something deeper and more substantial.

In that vein, have a Merry Christmas everyone!