12-20-2015 weekly message

Meditation of the week: Isaiah 9:1-7

Main scripture: Luke 1:26-38

Subject: The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ that is to reign forever in his kingdom

       The scripture speaks to remember His death and proclaim not to remember the day of His birth. Of this, Apostle Paul asked to remember the death of Jesus Christ through the Lord’s supper. He asked to remember the death of Christ and proclaim his death until he come eating bread without leaven that symbolize his body without sin, and drinking wine without alcohol that symbolize his blood without sin

             Jesus was born secretly not known to the world. God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to let her know who is Jesus as well as what he is going to do:

“And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”(Luke 1:31-33)

               About seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the LORD God prophesied through prophet Isaiah:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”(Isa. 9:6-7)

               Prophet Isaiah testified in details of the kingdom of Jesus Christ that is going to reign in the earth sitting at the throne of David:

“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 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;

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: 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. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 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.

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 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.(Isa. 11:1-1-9)

               Prophet Isaiah prophesied in detail of the regeneration of the earth when the Lord Jesus Christ reigns:

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.

It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.”(Isa. 35:1-6)

               God was manifested in flesh as the great king that will reign in heaven and earth, but there was very few that was waiting for his birth of Jesus that came as the light of life to the earth as testified by the scripture/ There were Simeon and Anna: they could embrace baby Jesus before they died as they had prayed. And the shepherds also visited baby Jesus upon hearing from the angels that appeared to them. The wise men knew the birth of the king of Jew upon seeing a great star; and they traveled two years to see child Jesus that was about two years old.

               The scripture testifies of Simeon and Anna: “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”(Luke 2:25-32)

“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”(Luke 2:36-38)

             The scripture also testifies of the shepherds that worshipped baby Jesus upon hearing the birth of Jesus: “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”(Luke 2:8-18)

               The scripture testifies of the Gentiles that saw Jesus . They knew of Jesus that is Prophet, High Priest and the King; and they worshipped Jesus knowing him as Christ to come: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel…. When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”(Matt. 2:1-6, 9-11)

             But now, there are very important people that we have not to forget. At that time, king Herod killed all children from infants to two years old children to kill Jesus, They must have been recorded in heaven as the first martyrs for the sake of Jesus. Matthew testified of them: “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”(Matt. 2:16-18)

           Our Lord Jesus Christ is neither a baby nor a child anymore; he shall not be killed by anyone, but he will come to the earth as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords , and judge the world. Even nowadays, there are still the small group of bride of Christ who are waiting for the Lord Jesus preparing to see him as Simeon and Anna praying and fasting, and the shepherds caring for their sheep in the field, and the wise men travelled for two years to Jerusalem to worship Jesus. On the other hand, there also some group of people being troubled and fearing for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as king Herod. And there are another kind of group as the priest and scribes the friends of Herod; they knew of Christ Jesus to be born in Bethlehem, but they followed the lust of flesh. They were the religious leaders worshipping their belly as their God. Even nowadays, such kinds of religious leaders are not willing to testify of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge the world even though they are aware of him. They are modern priests, Pharisees and scribes being called as pastor or some other religious name.

             Almost Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes were not aware of Jesus; it was because they never search the scriptures. Even nowadays, unless we study the words of prophesy, we are neither able to wait for the Lord Jesus Christ coming as King of King and Lord of Lords nor to see him with glory. As the old religious leaders had led the blind being themselves also the same blind so that they were not able to know Jesus, even in this generation exactly same thing is happening. Unless we see them, we also are spiritual blinded. Blessed them that discern the spiritual blind through the words of God. Amen! Hallelujah!