OUR FATHER'S WORD
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Psalm 119:105

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CHRISTMAS - WHY WAS CHRIST BORN?


by Jim Lisenby
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The birth of Jesus

Luke 2:11  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

It's Christmas!  And what a wonderful exciting time it is, especially for children.  It is a time awash with pleasantries and memories.  The smell of evergreen trees spectacularly adorned with pretty lights and ornaments with gaily wrapped presents beneath.  The sounds of beautiful Christmas carols and songs that we love wafting in the air or going through our minds.  The satisfying taste of good food and beverages at Grandma's house.  Receiving and giving of gifts among families and friends.  And, of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Santa Claus and Rudolph.

At the church there will be all sorts of things going on.  The story of the birth of Jesus will be told countless times during December in Christmas plays and from the pulpit.  It is all very nice, and I am not about to hammer Christmas and tell you that it is pagan or anything like that, but nevertheless, let's consider a few things.

December 25th is celebrated as the birthday of our Saviour, but I think most of you know, or at least suspect, that He wasn't really born on that particular day.

Well, so what?  Does it matter?

Probably not from the standpoint of celebrating His birthday because nowhere in the scriptures are we commanded to celebrate His birthday.  So, in that sense it may not be very important, but I personally believe that the true day of His birth is important because it may indicate that day when He appears the second time.  However, for the purposes of this article the important thing for us to remember is that He was born, and the reason for His birth.

Incredibly, many scholars and great thinkers, including some who are so-called ministers of the gospel, don't believe that He was born at all even though Josephus, the Jewish non-Christian historian, believed that He lived and wrote of him.  They think that it is all contrived and dubious, and for the time being, let them think what they like.  I thank God that most Christians do have the good sense to believe that He was born and that He did live 2000 years ago.

So, if He wasn't born on Christmas Day, when was He born?  He was actually born in very late September or very early October in 4 B.C., but December 25th is still related to His birth in a very important way.

Confused yet?

Do this and you won't be.  Count backwards 9 months or so from late September or early October and see where you end up.  That's right, you come to around December 25th of the preceding year.  That was the day when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she conceived.  It is the day of His conception.  So, with that in mind, December 25th can still be considered a blessed day.

If you are interested further, consult The Companion Bible for more.  If you don't know what The Companion Bible is, see my article entitled Study Recommendations at ourfathersword.org.

We need a Savior

So, when He was born is somewhat important, but far more important is the question, why was He born in the flesh at all?

Go back up and look at Luke 2:11 again and you will see that the angel calls Him a Saviour.  What do saviors do?  They save people or things, and in this case He saves us from dying in our sins.

That's right!  If you are a Christian and have studied the Bible any at all, you are aware that Jesus Christ was born in the flesh on this Earth for the purpose of saving us.  You also know that is the reason He is called our Saviour.  Right?

Sadly, during this Christmas season millions of people will hear a story of His birth over and over again, but they probably won't understand why He was born in the first place.  What is even sadder still is the fact that most people won't really care why He was born.  They just enjoy the season for the fun aspects of it.  Sorry, but that is the way it is.

The reason for His birth


Why did it have to be this way?  Why do we need a Saviour, when did the need arise, and how did it come about?

Is it possible that it became known to our Father that we needed a Saviour only after we began to sin in the flesh body?  Some might feel uncomfortable with that idea because it presupposes that God has to make changes to His plan from time to time as needed.

Well, don't be uneasy about it because indeed that is so.  God does make corrections to His plan when things don't work out right.  Reflect on Gen. 6:6-7 for instance, He obviously changed His mind in these verses even though it pained Him to do so.

Gen. 6:6  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Gen. 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

In any case, He decided that we needed a Saviour and He provided One.  He sent His only begotten Son to us and He was crucified, sacrificed if you will.  You know that verse, John 3:16.  It has to be the most quoted verse in the entire Bible, even though some say that it was a late addition to the text.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Man cannot save himself.  Nevertheless, many do not really look to Jesus Christ for their salvation.  They look elsewhere, primarily to technology.  Could this be because what is being taught in the churches is so confusing and  unbelievable?  Perhaps, but nevertheless I say to them, look around you and consider what you see.  What kind of world do you see?  Do you see a utopian world saved through technology, or do you see one still in need of saving?

You do see incredible technology here at the beginning of the 21st century, but don't be deceived by it.  Why do I say that?  Because much hyperbole abounds and it is so easy to become absorbed and overconfident in technobabble.  Most of the problems extant in the world today are spiritual in nature and technology cannot solve them, so it likewise cannot be our saviour as some men teach.

Over the centuries and millenia we have developed a system filled with technology, but we have failed to solve spiritual problems such as loving God and our neighbor.  We can invent and use wonderful machines but we can't seem to change man's heart.  Sin abounds and people suffer for it on a massive scale even now during our digital information age.

The long and short of it is, as individuals we cannot overcome our shortcomings in this flesh body to the degree where we are totally sinless no matter how hard we try.  Further, the history of mankind shows that we cannot do it together as a group, or under any form of religion or government.

Religions have only served to muddy the waters by introducing man made doctrines and dogmas designed to control us, and which have utterly failed to produce favorable results overall.

In like manner, governments seek to correct societal problems through enacting and enforcing more and more laws and regulations which in reality only serve to make more criminals when you understand it rightly.

To make matters worse, law enforcement and the legal system in general have become growth industries.  They build more and more prisons to incarcerate those who violate the ever growing volumes of regulations and statutes that most of us aren't even aware of and certainly don't comprehend.

We have big problems and we stupidly exacerbate them by treating the symptoms and not the cause. A Saviour was never more needed, not only to save us from the overwhelming pulls of the flesh, but also from the ungodly system that we have allowed to be built through Lucifer and his offspring.

This system, this first wild beast of Revelation 13, is filled with technology, religion and government and even though they all tacitly promise salvation, they won't deliver it.  No technology, religion, or government produced by devils or men can save us.  History proves that, but our Father in His love for us has provided a way out for us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  His pure and just government will soon replace what we have now.

The why, how and when of it


What really happened that made a Saviour necessary?  Consider the following brief hypothesis:

Once upon a time the Earth and Paradise were together.  We lived happily in that spirit world called Paradise as the children of God and He loved us dearly, but an unexpected problem arose.  A maverick cherub named Lucifer grew proud and rebelled.  He convinced some of God's children that he had a better way of doing things and many followed him which hurt our Father deeply.  They built things and did things on the physical Earth that offended Him.

It alarmed Him and He was angry to the degree that He separated the spiritual Paradise from the physical Earth and promptly overthrew it.  The method that He used is not clearly stated anywhere, but it almost certainly was impact which produced almost total destruction.  Only basic life forms survived.

Because He loved us deeply in spite of our disloyalty, He was not willing that any should perish, but that we should be given opportunity to change our minds (repent) and to prove ourselves.  The decision was made that we should all pass through a testing period on the physical Earth while in a flesh body.

At this point we were in jeopardy on an individual basis, but there was no need for a Savior, or Messiah, yet.

As a result of the overthrow, the Earth had to be restored and prepared for us to live on in the flesh body, so the Creator got busy and restored the Earth's ecology in 6,000 years.  On the sixth day of that re-creation, or sixth millennium, using DNA patterns that were already extant before the overthrow, He created many different people, or races, and placed them throughout the Earth where it pleased Him that they should dwell.

Within these flesh bodies were placed the souls of His dear children according to the plan for testing them, but once again a huge problem arose.  It soon became apparent that we were utterly failing in the flesh.  The hormonal and visceral demands of the human body proved to be too overwhelming for our spirits, so once again something had to be done to salvage us.

It was at this point that we needed a Savior, not before.

Once begun, the original plan of salvation to place us all in flesh bodies had to be followed through to the end, so a revised plan was developed to redeem us.  God Himself would beget a Son born of woman to be offered for our shortcomings and to take our sins upon Himself.

The sixth day creation people had already failed and were living in a manner contrary to God's wishes, so it was decided that He should come through a new and special group of people.  As a result, Adam was then created, followed by Eve, and it was through their progeny that the Savior came.

Now you know the rest of the story

That is it in a nutshell.  As Paul Harvey would say, "now you know the rest of the story".  Work with it!  Prove me wrong or prove me right.

How loving and merciful is our God, our Father, and the Son, to give us every opportunity to qualify.  Our sins of the flesh, and some spiritual sins, can now be covered by the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, if we repent of them.

That is why He was conceived in Mary and why He was born.  Hopefully now Christmas has a new and different meaning for you.  Think on these things.

Merry Christmas from Our Father's Word.

God bless with understanding of His word. 

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