I started talking about having a Christmas worldview last week in my blog. We saw that a Christmas worldview features miraculous events and that you and I need to be looking for these miraculous events that God is performing all around us. The second feature of developing a Christmas worldview is to recognize God’s presence in fulfilled prophecy. Jesus’ coming fulfilled many Old Testament Scriptures referring to the coming of the Messiah. One of the most significant is found in Micah 5:2 which reads, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you were small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times,” (NIV). This passage clearly states that the Messiah, who is referred to in this passage, would come from Bethlehem Ephrathah. In fact, it was this passage of Scripture that the scribes quoted when Herod was visited by the wise men and asked him where the Messiah was to be born (see Matthew 2:3 – 6). Bethlehem was just 6 miles outside of Jerusalem and the wise men went to seek Jesus, but none of the religious leaders could be bothered. Micah accurately predicted the birthplace of Jesus Christ hundreds of years before He was born. The promised eternal King in David’s line, who would come as a man and be born as a baby in Bethlehem, was “from of old, from ancient times”. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, and He is the one who is from of old. In fact, John begins his gospel with these words, referring to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word, when he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made,” (John 1:1-3 NIV).
Another feature of developing a Christmas worldview is to see how God uses divine revelation to bring blessings into the lives of those who faithfully serve Him. One of the clearest examples of this is seen in the second chapter of Luke’s gospel where we read, “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God,” (2:25-28 NIV). If we were to read further, we would see the amazing declaration that Simeon made about the work that the Lord Jesus Christ would do in bringing salvation to the Gentile world. It was the divine revelation of God that had made it clear to Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Christ. Furthermore, it was the Holy Spirit of God who led him into the temple courts as Mary and Joseph were bringing Jesus in to fulfill the purification rights described in the Old Testament. It was then the divine revelation of the Holy Spirit of God that directed Simeon to make his amazing statements about the future ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Divine revelation allows us to see things that we would not otherwise be able to determine. It is divine revelation also that leads Simeon to say to Mary, “and a sword will pierce your own soul too,” (Luke 2:35b NIV). His words to Mary must’ve hung like a dark shadow in the face of his amazing testimony. Mary’s heart would be broken and grieved over the widespread rejection of her special Son, but nothing would have caused deeper sorrow to her than seeing her Son Jesus hanging on Calvary’s cross. Then she fully understood the words of Simeon about “the sword piercing to her own soul”.
When we develop a Christmas worldview, we should be looking for God to be working in miraculous ways in our world, we should understand that the whole Christmas story is built on hundreds of years of biblical prophecy and that God is still desiring to bring fresh revelation to us to have a greater understanding of who Jesus Christ is and what He desires to do in our lives. Jesus deeply desires to show up in the elements of a Christmas story that we have all around us. You and I need to be looking for opportunities to tell the story of God’s plan of redemption for the human race and for each individual life. For each of us that involves understanding that Jesus Christ wants to invade our lives with His presence and with His power, not only during the Christmas season but every day of the year.
All for God’s Glory,
Pastor Rich Sivo