The Love of God
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17
This month and Season fair
Has something of the aire
Of heaven’s glowing warm eternal light;
For now we celebrate
With songs and contemplate
A loving Gift given that Holy Night--
Our longing hope—Day forever--
Rose glorious Dawn in a simple manger
(ya. i wrote that. I can't help but love Christmas time)
God
Who is God?
Not long ago there was a debate on our Bible college campus concerning creation and evolution.
As far as I'm concerned, whether God created the entire universe in six days by divine fiat, or incorporated all of the required elements required for the formation of the vast universe, including the development of life on earth, and the formation of the first single cell creature with all of the information necessary to develop inevitably into complex life, including those with the capacity to contemplate God and, through His grace, commune with Him-
Who cares? Either way His creation is miraculous, amazing, wondrous, and an incontrovertible testimony to His power and immeasurable wisdom and intelligence.
Francis Collins, Current head of the National Institutes of Health and Former head of the Human Genome Project
said
“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion–letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.” the Language of God
Francis Collins peers at the infinitesimal and sees God. What about the almost infinite? 100,000,000,000 galaxies; 10,000,000-1,000,000,000,000 stars each
About 14 billion light years in diameter
Incomprehensible immensity, and, with typical understatement, the Bible describes the creation of this universe "He also made the stars". Genesis 1:16b
Whether He made all things in a literal six days ex-nihilo, instantaneously or
Used pictorial language to explain to a pre-literate generation three-thousand years ago how He created things through time and evolution
He is unimaginably big and intelligent, powerful and wise. So this is the God that loves us, Something like a man loving an ant. More like something the size of our galaxy loving an ant.
speaking of love
. . . So loved . . .
. . . Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. Matthew 2:11
Gold we can understand. But why incense & myrrh?
Both are used to anoint a dead body.
Surely the gifts at His birth point us to His death
"Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Luke 2:33-35
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Ro 5:6-8
. . . The world . . .
The Roman Empire was one of the most brutal and violent regimes in history-for recent analogues we have to look to Nazi Germany or the Soviet Empire under Stalin. But this empire ruled the Western world for hundreds of years.
The Jewish Religious leadership was hypocritical, politically motivated, and power hungry (this may sound too familiar-with many religions demonstrating similar apparent multiplicity).
Herod, the local governor, or in Indian terms, we might think of him as the Chief Minister of the region of which Israel was a part, was, to state it kindly, a psychopathic, genocidal, sociopathic despot.
Though common people in the age of Rome probably wanted the same things common people want today-peace, a simple living, prosperity for the next generation-the rulers of the age can only remind us of the worst we see in the world today. This was the world into the Son of God was born.
There is no accident there was no room in the Inn. This was a reflection of the condition of the World. There really was no room anywhere in this world for the Son of God to be born. The world had become to dark to provide a proper place for the Light of Glory to rest His infant head.
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him". John 1:10-11
She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7
This is the world to which God have His only begotten Son. A world with no room for God
. . . That He gave . . .
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Is 53:3
The humility of His birth is directly connected to the infamy of His death, and Scripture makes this very clear
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8
Karl Barth, one of the greatest theological intellects of the twentieth century, wrote a neo-orthodox systematic theology took up seventeen volumes and filled an entire bookshelf, was reportedly asked "sir, what is the most profound truth you know?" He thought for awhile, then said "Jesus loves me, this i know, for the Bible tells me so".
Jesus birth always points us to the reason for His coming-the payment of our penalty of death. His sacrifice.
See from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down! Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Isaac Watts
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him need not die, but have everlasting life".
Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade, To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
