A night of miracles.
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Christmas goes beyond the gift-giving, the xmas tree, and the good dinner; the first Christmas was a night of miracles.
Man is always looking for miracles. “What sign do you show?” was the question of the Pharisees to Jesus. He had done many, but their lack of faith did not allow them to see them and to believe. “Faith is the conviction of things not seen.”
A miracle is the supernatural surpassing the natural, the power of God being shown over the laws of nature.
The night of Christmas reminds us of some miracles; miracles we read about like something normal had happened.
Read Luke 2:8-16
The appearance of the angels.
The appearance of the angels.
The appearance of the angels.
Announcing Jesus’ birth.
Announcing Jesus’ birth.
In the midst of the night’s darkness, the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. I guess that an extremely brilliant light illuminated them in such way that “they were terribly frightened”.
An angel spoke to them (that’s a miracle!), and announced to them the birth of the Savior: “today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
How did they understand the message? Did they speak “angelical language” or the angel spoke to them in Hebrew or Aramaic?
After hearing the angel’s announcement, the angel told them about another sign (same word for “miracle”): “This will be sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” :11
Being part of an angelical choir.
Being part of an angelical choir.
“And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among man with whom He is pleased.”
Can you imagine such a concert for God? It must have been so beautiful! So majestic!
A host (“stratiá”, heavenly army) praising God, and all of them with “angelical voices”. What do we mean when we say that someone has an “angelical voice”?
There was none of them who did not praise God!
The birth of Jesus.
The birth of Jesus.
The birth of Jesus.
The birth of Jesus.
The conception of Jesus was a miracle because it was done without man’s seed. Let’s look at the details:
Mary was a virgin.
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.” (, NASB95)
She is described as a “parthénos”, a virgin, one who has not known a man. Virginity was considered a treasure, a gift to be given to the spouse after the wedding. How things have changed!
We cannot know how old Mary was, but we know she was of marriageable age; that mean she was no longer a little girl or that she already had a menstruation.
Girls showed they were no longer a child by covering their hair. It is highly possible that she was a teenager.
She was really startled when the angel announced her that she would be a mother: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”, “I have never had contact with a male!” That’s humanly impossible! Yes, it is a great miracle!
It happened during the betrothal.
“Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” 8
In the Jewish culture, the betrothal was the first stage of marriage in which a man and a woman were pledged to each other, by parent’s agreement, and that lasted at least a year before the wedding and consummation of the marriage.
They did not live together or touch each other, like in our culture. In Jewish culture there was no trial period to see if it works.
No man would marry a non-virgin girl.
Joseph was a righteous man.
“And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.” Mat 1:19
As a righteous man, he would not touch the bride before marriage.
The Law, tradition, and honor demanded that a woman found no-virgin at the consummation of marriage had to be stoned.
The groom had to come out of bedroom carrying the blood stained sheet, as proof that she was virgin. If she was not, he had to denounce it to her parents and elders, and they would order the stoning. In this case was even worst, she was pregnant!
-Can you imagine his reaction?... But God did a miracle using Joseph’s righteousness. Joseph did not want to make a public show or spectacle (disgrace), but to save her from shame and death. An angel spoke to him in a dream and told him what had happened. Also the miracle of keeping his love for her and the child. He did not lie with her until after the birth.
God becoming a man.
God becoming a man.
A morphological change.
A morphological change.
What is a transformation? A change of form. The birth of Christ was a transformation:
By being conceived in Mary’s womb, there was a miraculous change in His morphology: the Spirit becoming flesh: . From there the word “incarnation”.
The deity, without shape, taking human shape or form:
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Phil 2:6-7
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“who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (, NASB95) slide
No one can be in the form of God unless He is God.
When we heard the word “form”, the first thing that comes to mind is geometrical shape, either two-dimensional or three-dimensional, but the word “morphé” goes beyond physical form. It refers to “the nature”, to “all the characteristics of someone or something”.
The Master and Owner taking the form of servant, the perfect servant, as Mark described Him.
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” ()
The infinite becoming finite.
The infinite becoming finite.
With the conception, all the greatness and infinitude of God was reduced human finiteness.
The transcendental God was becoming a man: with weight and stature.
There is no way that our finite minds can complete understand such thing. It would like being able to reduce the Universe to one point. Only a miracle thru God’s power can do that. The conception of Jesus was exactly that, a miracle from Heaven!
God living among men.
God living among men.
“and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means “God with us.”
To show man a bit of His glory.
To show man a bit of His glory.
1445 years before, Israel had seen a glimpse of God’s glory. When Moses received the commandments, they saw the thunders and lightning on the mountain .
Since then, the following generations had not much idea of God’s glory. What better solution than God himself coming to the world in the person of His Son to show them a little bit of it?
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
14
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” () slide
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” (, NASB95) slide
To show His love for man.
To show His love for man.
Thru the conception of Jesus, God was expressing His love for man:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
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“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” () slide
The conception had an ultimate purpose: Since God cannot die, it was necessary to take human form to die as man. Jesus was born to die and give the maximum demonstration of love.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” () slide
Conclusion: Xmas is more than shopping and xmas trees. It is about giving! God being the main giver: giving to us a miracle, giving His son to us, giving us His love, and giving us hope.
What do you give to Him? He only wants your heart and your life!