He’s Not A Baby Anymore!
We are in the season where everybody gets all mushy. Maybe it is because a baby in a manger brings out the paternal instincts in people. Maybe it is because a baby is not threatening. There is something about the Christ child that gets more attention than the day we look at the Crucifixion. Maybe it is because birth is more appealing to us than death even though His death and resurrection overcame death itself. I believe it gets more play because there is a strong commercial interest as we buy a lot more than jelly beans and chocolate rabbits during this season.
For whatever reason we like the babe best we must come to grips that He is not a baby anymore. We are not dealing with the cute bundle in the manger. We do not deal with the two-year-old toddler the wise men saw when they arrived. Nor do we deal with the precocious and exemplary twelve-year-old in the temple confounding the rabbis. We do not even deal with the gentle preacher and teacher that healed people and implored people to allow children to come to Him. We deal with the One who has risen from the dead and is the Alpha and Omega in whose glorified presence John fell as one dead to worship. No, He is not a baby anymore.
Now, we deal with Him as a risen and glorified Saviour reaching out His hands in love to bring us forgiveness of sins, salvation of soul and body and everlasting life with Him in Heaven. However, He will not strive with men forever and the time is coming when we will have to deal with Him as Judge if we have not met Him as Saviour and received His gift. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of the future.
Isa 11:1-16
1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
Jesus is that rod. Because of the sin of Jechoniah, a curse fell upon Jesse and David’s seed so that no man would prosper or be king. It appeared that God would not keep His promise to David. God worked it out through the Virgin Birth so that Jesus would be in David’s lineage through Mary and Joseph. God would supply the seed so the curse would be null and void though the stepfather Joseph was from David’s seed in the line of the curse. He was a small twig that would bear fruit out of the cut off stump.
We saw the Spirit of the Lord descend upon Jesus in Matthew at His baptism by John. We see that spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, and knowledge throughout His life. It was briefly displayed in the Temple at twelve years old. He knocked the socks off the rabbis and astounded His parents. He knew what every person He came into contact with needed. He gave them the counsel to fulfill that need. He outwitted all those who tried to trap Him in speech or deed through His knowledge of the Word because He was the Word and they knew Him not. He could show his power through that knowledge when He spoke with His enemies and ran the moneychangers out of the temple for their violation and sacrilege.
Fear or reverence of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He reverenced His Father from the beginning for He was here to do the will of the Father. That will was His very meat and reason to live. In that reverence was wisdom as no one else could have for He and the Father were one. His life taught us how we should live and the purpose for which we were created.
Israel had many judges including Solomon the wisest man that ever lived. Yet, they could only judge by what they saw and the testimony they heard. A human judge, in the heat of the excitement, might have overlooked the fact that the man was not presented for judgment when the woman taken in the very act of adultery was brought before him. Jesus did not miss that fact and if one would go free so would the other. He "saw" and "heard" more than the masses or their leaders and He judged with equity they could not attain and indeed they did not even want to strive to attain.
He judged with righteousness then and He will do so when He returns at the Bema, the Second Coming and the Last Judgment also known as the Great White Throne. Praise His grace and mercy that the same voice that will destroy His enemies with power that will melt them at the Second Coming and cast them forever into flames at the Last Judgment will only consume the dead works of His saints at the Bema!!!
He must judge in righteousness for it is His very nature. His waist or the small of His back is gird up for His work by righteousness. Faithfulness or moral fidelity girds his reins/loins, the seat of His vigor, which is the core of righteousness. He created the world in righteousness and it shall be judged by that same procreative righteousness prior to the New Heaven and Earth. It is by that righteousness that the born-again child of God is created and it is that same righteousness that is the breastplate of that child for spiritual battle. It is that righteousness that preserves the child of God until He reaches home for all other righteousness is a menstrual cloth worthy only for disposal and destruction.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
This is a prophecy of the Millennium where Jesus will sit on the throne of David as king. No babe can rule a kingdom where natural rules and enmities are overturned. Things will return to the nature of the Garden of Eden. The curse will be removed and there shall no longer be a predator and prey. The snake will be a plaything of a child not a thing to be feared for its deadliness. This is the peace and joy that comes with the full knowledge of the Lord in the earth. If only men would turn to Him for salvation and serve Him in sincerity we could get a foretaste of this peace and joy leaving hatred and violence sacrificed at His altar!!! He is already on the throne! Let us worship Him!
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
The Gentiles already seek Jesus and He is a loving banner over His people both Jew and Gentile. When we enter into the rest of His salvation it is glorious, but it is a mere appetizer compared to what we will have at that great day!
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Is it not a blessing that God does not forget His people or His covenants? How often do we forget Him and our promises to Him, but still He remains faithful. He will gather the Jews from all over the earth and bring them back into the land that He promised them. We have seen the start of this in 1948 and it continues unto this day and it will continue. It is fitting that the Star of David flies over the country and symbolizes the Israeli people. For one day the Son of David, Jesus of Nazareth, will fly over the country landing on Mount Olivet at Jerusalem to rule His people who will never again be outcasts or a byword.
13 The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
The Children of Israel will be one family again and the old rivalries will cease. One Lord will rule over them and they will live together as brethren in a house ruled by love.
14 But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.
15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt. (KJV)
It is interesting that much is made of a small part of land in our daily news. If you look at the areas covered in these last verses you see that Israel will get a lot more land than it has already and those that oppress Israel are in big trouble. There are other passages that give us an overall picture of all the land Israel will ultimately possess. God will do it for His people by the hand of their redeemer, Jesus.
You see He is not a baby anymore. All that is to happen in the future to Israel, the Church, and the world will not be handled by a babe in manger. It is a full-grown eternal Jesus with whom we have to do. Be sure that you are honoring Him and understanding His will. Getting mushy over a baby, decorations and traditions will not help you much when you stand before Him. Seek Him now as Lord and Savior or one day He will be your Lord and Judge. He loves you and wants to save your soul. That is the present you need to give Him first. Everything else is froth and fluff that will pass away at His coming. Will you unwrap your heart and let Him give you the gift of eternal life? I pray that you will!!
