Behind the curtains of Christmas

 Based on devotions by Max Lucado, Charles Stanley and  Alice

" Behind the curtains of Christmas"
Christmas songs, Santa' s world, gifts and presents, Christmas cards, Christmas tree and decoration- one of the nicest seasons in the year.
Why do we celebrate Christmas? There is a saying 'Christ is a reason for a season' and that is right! The greatest gift God gave to us was Jesus. But do we have a room for Him or we celebrate His birthday without Him?
Jesus was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” (Luke 2:7)
And when He was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection?  “We don’t have room for you in our world.”
For those who fond a room for Him and accepted Him into their life, the life brought completely a new meaning! Christmas time became a different marvelous celebration of His coming to earth.

A few days I read a Bible verse talking about the past and how God was disappointed with the mankind wickedness and regretted  that He created everything; "When the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth  and that every intent of the thoughts in his heart was  only evil continually ....And the Lord said " I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land ....for I am sorry I have made them" Genesis 6;5-7
It sounded sad, God could have wiped us out completely, nobody would stay alive. The reason we are all hear still existing on this earth is thanks to Jesus. Christ is our 'second chance'! And that is a great news!

God decided to spare the human race. He was determined, however,  not to leave things in the chaotic state they were in. His ultimate goal was to restore man  and his world to its original state. But there was still the problem  of sin  and the curse it brought upon all creation. What resulted was  a two- part plan  by which sin  and its consequences could be dealt with once and for all. And the plan was...Jesus- the Redeemer  promised from the very beginning.

God could have wiped out every creature and just forget, but in His love He didn't. Jesus coming to the world was the greatest expression of His love, to come and wipe away our sin, reconciling us with God. That's the greatest gift to the world. But the gift must be accepted, it is not enough to know about it.
"The New Testament writers were calling people to place their trust in the person of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and the promise of eternal life.
It was more than acknowledging that Christ was from God. It was more than hoping that what He said was true. It was a personal commitment  to dependency upon Him for forgiveness.It was a matter of casting hopes for eternity upon the claims and promises of Jesus Christ. God's gift of forgiveness must be accepted on an  individual basis. Although it is an universal offer, it has no effect on the sin debt of a man or a woman who has not personally put trust in Christ. It is like a paycheck that is never picked up. Christ creatively communicated his concept of "put your trust in Me' through the use of word pictures and parables.
He told the woman at the well to ask for 'living water'.  ( John 4;10)   He instructed the Jews to come to Him and receive 'life'. ( John 5;40)
 He told one group that they would have to 'eat the flesh of the Son of Man  and drink His blood'
 ( John 6;53) which meant to feed on His words. To the leaders of Jews He said " If anyone keeps my word, he shall never see death" ( John 8;51) He presented Himself to the Pharisees  in this way; " I am the door, if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find  pasture. ( John 10;9) He used every conceivable illustration  to show His audience that they needed to personally  and individually respond to God's gift  of eternal life for themselves. Most people  want to avoid the subject of accountability to God. Hearing the gospel might be bearable  but making the decision to place their trust in Christ  to be the payment for their sin  is going a step too far. It is easy to focus on Christmas time as a nice tradition without going into its meaning. But that means to 'overlook' the greatest gift, never opening  it! It is to ignore 'the second chance ' God gave us.
" For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given  and the government  will be upon His shoulder . And His name will be called; Wonderful Counselor , Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" Isaiah 9;6

God's gift - eternal life

“For a closer look at the gift, God has for man, we must turn to an ageless literary miracle, the Bible.   People throughout the history  have died to keep this book in their possession and centuries of critics have failed to remove it  from the best -seller list.   Why? Because the Bible has  a power of its own, it transforms lives.   Lots of skeptics  trying to disprove  it’s content end up  on their knees in awe  of the treasure  they find. They uncover the gift.  The overriding theme  of the Bible  from beginning to the end is the gift  God has for man. That it is itself a miracle  that 60 individual books  would produce  a unified  system  of information when written over  a period of more than 1600 years  by more than 40 different man.
Inspired by the One who operates outside of our time domain, the Bible  books reveals history before it takes place. Almost one-fourth scripture is prophetic.
Accurate predictive prophecy sets this book apart from all others in the world. Although most people  are aware of the Bible  and may own many copies, majority have no idea what its pages contain. Not too many notice the scarlet thread which runs from one end of Scripture  to the other,  leading one to God’s gift. This book is designed to reveal  this  scarlet  thread , woven throughout the Scripture, that seeking hearts  might grasp what God desires to bestow.”
“the free gift of God is eternal life(…) Romans 6;23
To understand what this gift is about  is in the words of Christ  as He prayed for those who would receive this gift.
” And this is eternal life , that they might know  Thee, the only true God, and your Son Jesus Christ.” John 17;3
Reading that verse carefully  it says that eternal life  will bring an individual  to the place  wherein  he or she will know
“the  only true God.”    Eternal life- is to know and experience  personally  the Creator  of the universe.   God’s gift of eternal life is  is to accept  in this life.  It is received this  side  of grave or not at all.
God says that knowing Him  is the only thing we can boast about in this life;
“Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might,  let not the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who  boasts , boast of this, that he  understands and knows Me.” Jeremiah 9;23-24a
God  would not make that declaration if it was not possible  for us  to experience Him. The innermost  self, by design, finds rest and true fulfillment  only in relationship with Him.
God’s plan -scarlet thread-leading to  His  Son.
In the prophetic  book of Isaiah  we read that His Son would be;
v.5 “wounded for our transgressions, crushed because of our sins,
 the punishment  that brought us peace was upon HIM and by HIS wound we are healed“
v.11. ” My righteous Servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities“
As the verse 10 says; He made HIS soul offering for sin .He made HIS life a quilt offering,
Left on our own everybody of us is destined  to receive God’s wrath, which is the  just response  of a Holy God  toward sin but God has devised the way  to spare us that wrath. In His mercy and love for man there can be forgiveness  for every one of our failures because HIS  SON  DIED IN  OUR  PLACE.
He took  the wrath- we would have incurred -upon Himself.
Would people throughout the centuries die for a lie or for hope they put in God’s promise of forgiveness and everlasting life?
The Vail of the temple torn.
As`Jesus  died, the 20 foot high and 60 foot long curtain covering the Holy of Holies in the temple was split supernaturally from top to bottom .
Woven of dense linen fiber as thick as a man’s palm, this massive curtain has served as a barrier, separating man from God’s presence for centuries. It was now taken down by God Himself, revealing to all the world that His presence was open to those who would come to Him through faith  in the finished work of  His Son. The book of Hebrews10;19  tells us;
“Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is His flesh..”
“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, set down at  the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies  are made His footstool.
 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Hebrew 10;12-14
Reconciliation between God and all mankind  became possible that day on the cross.The door is open into God’s presence for any individual who will enter.
A decision set before every man.
Foretold hundreds of years before His birth, was the fact that His mother would be a Jewish young woman, and He would be born in the city of Bethlehem. He would be one of the tribe of Judah  and of the seed of Abraham. King David would be His ancestor . He would be called out of Egypt and known as a Nazarene. The miracles ; the lame, blind, deaf and dumb would be healed by His touch. He would be light to the Gentiles . He would raise the dead. He would be revealed  as the Messiah  483 years after  a decree  was issued to rebuild Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity. He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey . He would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver, and that money would be  used  to purchase a potter’s  field. He would be beaten, spat upon, and disfigured  through cruelty. Tormenters would pluck out His beard. He would be forsaken by His disciples. He would be rendered up as a guilt offering. He was to give His body as a ransom for others. The details of His death by crucifixion  were described  hundreds  of years before this form of death was ever devised. His hands and feet would be pierced. Not one of His bone would be broken. Men would gamble for His clothing  as He died . He would be raised  from the dead. He would be ascended into heaven. More than 300 prophecies were recorded  by men about Him before He was born. The details are in Psalms, book of Isaiah, Zachariah, Daniel, Ezekiel.   Today the majority  of prophecies  concerning the Messiah  have been fulfilled as foretold. Others have yet to be fulfilled. It is mathematically  impossible  for one-tenth of these specific prophecies  concerning  a single  individual  to be fulfilled apart from a miracle. Irrefutable evidence beyond human explanation. Only God would bring it to pass.
The entire Old Testament was written to let man know that help was on the way.In one sentence God is saying to us;
” You and I are separated, but I am going to do something about it.”
The books of New Testament  were written to let us know that help has arrived;and it is a proclamation of His good news to us;
” It is finished! I opened the way through my Son Jesus Christ .You and I don’t have to be separated any more.”
 

The greatest work done in Jerusalem

 

“The greatest  work  done in Jerusalem”

Isaiah 53;5     “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His bruises we are healed.”

v.11 says ” My righteous servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities”

v.12. “He poured out His soul unto death and He was numbered with the transgressors and He bore the sin of man."

In all the religions of the world -what differs all man-made up gods from the real one God is " The true one God sent a Savior to rescue the mankind and confirmed Christ  coming in hundreds  prophecies throughout the Biblical Scriptures  written in the span period over 1000 years before Christ came.

One of the  greatest things that has ever  been done for all  people happened  in Jerusalem    and  it  is the work  Jesus  did   for you on  the cross 2000 years ago!
The Son of  God came down to pay the  price of our sin and His forgiveness is available for  everybody who believes.

Salvation was always by grace, not by good works.  The given law is  for recognizing  the sin.
Even Abraham and  Noah  were saved by faith, born  before the law was given to Moses.

This is what the Bible is promising;
As we read in Romans 8;1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are  in Christ Jesus.”
Jesus said;”I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned , but he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5;24   The work  Jesus  did for you is the salvation work that gives you access to God and eternal life!

Prophecy about  Savior's’ birth;

Isaiah 9;6
“ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given and the government will be  on his shoulders.  And he will be called  Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Matthew 1 starts with words;  ” The book of genealogy of Jesus Christ , the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.”
The promise that was made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, founders of the Jewish family, a promise later renewed to Kind David, that one of their descendants would reign over the nations forever ( see Gen 28;14, 2 Sam7;16) Yeshua fit the prophet’s description in every detail and was hailed  by thousands  of Jews a Messiah. ( John 19;38-39, Acts 6;7)
In Matthew 1;20-23  we read  what an angel said Mary ” that she will bring forth a Son and that His name will be Jesus and that He will save His people from sins” v.22 ” So all this was done  that it might be fulfilled  which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet , saying; ” Behold the virgin shall be with child, and bear a  Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated  ‘God with us”. Prophecy already  fulfilled from Isaiah7;14
Other facts;
Jesus knew  that he would be killed  in Jerusalem and that he would rise again on the third day;
Luke 18;31-33
Jesus took the Twelve  aside  and told them, “ We are  going  up to Jerusalem and everything  that is written  by  the prophets  about  the  Son of  Man  will be  fulfilled.  He will  be  handed  over  to the Gentiles . They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him  and kill him. On he third day he will rise again.”
Jesus’   triumphal  entry to Jerusalem     ( Matthew 21;5  John 12;15 )
“The next day the great crowd that had come for the feast heard  that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out  to meet  him, shouting,  Hosanna! Blessed  is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel! Jesus found  a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written  in Zechariah 9;9;
“ Rejoice  greatly, o Daughter of   Zion, Shout  Daughter of Jerusalem!
See your  king  comes  to you  righteous  and having  salvation, gentle  and riding  on a donkey,
On a colt,  the foal  of a donkey.”
The  Old  and the New Testament tells us about why Jesus  came  to die;
Isaiah 53 ;5
“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed  for our iniquities, the punishment  that brought us peace was upon him and by his wound we are healed.”
See; Hebrew 10; 14 “(…) by one  sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those  who are being made  holy.”
Hebrew 9;26 “(… he has appeared once for all at the end  of the ages  to do away with sin by the sacrifice  of himself.”
Psalm 22; 7    tells us details about what Jesus was facing on the cross and all these things happened exactly how they were described in the Old Testament;
“All who see me mock  me, they hurl  insults, shaking their  heads.  He trusts in the Lord let the Lord  rescue him, let him deliver  him since he delights in him.”
(  fulfilled in the  New Testament in Mathew  27;39,    Mark 15; 29   Luke 23;35)
Psalm 22; 16-18
“(..) they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all  my bones.  People stare and gloat over me.
They divide  my garments  among them  and cast lots for my  clothing.”
( fulfilled in the New Testament in  Matthew 27; 35  Mark 15; 24   Luke 23;34  John 19; 24 )

Psalm 69;21

“ They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”
( fulfilled in  the New testament  in Matthew 27;48    Mark 15; 36     John 19;28-29)
Psalm 34;20,  Numbers 9;12 ,  Exodus 12;46,
“  He protects  all his bones, not one of them will be broken.
(Fulfilled    in  John  19; 33-36 )” But when they came  to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his leg”
Zechariah 11; 12-13  tells us about Jesus  that would be  betrayed  for 30 silver coins
“  If you think   it best, give me my pay, but if not keep it. So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me ; throw it to the potter – the handsome price  at which  they priced me.”
( fulfilled in  Matthew 27; 3-9) ” When Judas , who  had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.”
v.6  ” The chief priests picked  up the coins and said; ” it is against the law  to put  this  into the treasury , since it is bloody money.”
v.9 ” Then what was spoken  by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled; They took the thirty silver coins, the price  set on him by  the people of Israel.”
About Jesus  conquering  death;
Matthew 28;6  The angel said  ” I  know that you are looking for Jesus , who  was crucified . He is not here , he has  risen, just as he said. Come and see the place  where he lay”
We learn that God  gives us salvation while we believe in Jesus;
Romans 10;9  “If you confess   with your mouth ” Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that  God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Galatians 3; 11 ” Clearly no-one  is justified  before God  by the law, because ;” The righteous will live by faith.”

Hebrew  2;14   If you know Jesus   there is no fear of  death  for you;

” Since the children  have flash and blood, he too shared  in their humanity so that  by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is , the devil, and free those  who  all their lives  were held in slavery  by their fear of death.”

The place where you are going to spend your eternity depends on your relationship with Christ. 
He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
( John 3;36)
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." Matthew 10;32-33