The Re:Man Initiative
The Re:Man Initiative
Christmas | The Rest of the Story
Happy Advent Season All
I love this time of the year.
I'm not a big fan of the over commercialized stories of Christmas but there is something wonderful about how people just seem to be kinder to each other in the season and generosity gets put on display a little more than Normal.
There is so much more to Christmas than meets the eye and I want to tell you a little more of that story.
When I was a boy growing up there was a man who had a radio broadcast that I loved to listen to.
His name was Paul Harvey and the title of his program was the Rest of the Story.
In his program, he would tell you a short story that captured the imagination, with facts about someone that was perhaps well known and then at the end he would reveal some truth or fact that tied it all together in a way that left you amazed and then end his broadcast by saying And now you know The rest of the story.
It was some of the best story telling I had ever heard. Even to this day, there are few would could rival his skill.
When I was thinking about this episode the Amazing Paul Harvey came to mind.
I may never have his artful skill to tell a story but we’re talking about Christmas today and I want to tell you The Rest of the Story.
Welcome to the Re:Man Initiative
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 9
6 For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7 The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of Armies will accomplish this.
Each year as we step into the Advent & Christmas season, churches and people of faith will read this scripture which points to this promise of God... which was given to us through the Prophet Isaiah; and we take time to remember that this promise was fulfilled at the birth of Jesus.
There will be live nativity scenes in parking lots around churches and Christmas plays that can’t help but bring a smile to our hearts.... as kids dressed like shepherds, wise men and angels or even donkeys and sheep, retell the story of the fulfilment of this promise.
We’ll imagine scenes of Shepherds in the field, Angels singing in the Heavens, A babe wrapped in a swaddle and laying in a manger and Wise Men worshipping the newborn king with gifts.
It is a beautiful scene, it is also missing a very important aspect of the story.
I mean the sheer brilliance of the Father that was displayed on this night in that little town of Bethlehem is jaw-dropping.
I know..., We love reading this passage from verses 6 & 7, singing O Come Emmanuel or Angels we have heard on high and imagining lowly shepherds worshiping the baby Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem but all of this ...it is set against the backdrop of verses 4 & 5
Which never gets read in the Advent readings or the any sermon I’ve ever heard on this Messianic promise.
And it’s this setting that makes the promise of the Coming King one that filled the heart of those who heard the promise full of expectancy and hope.
Verses 4&5
4 For as in the day of Midian You have shattered the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
That back drop is that of a people who have been sorely oppressed by their enemies, so much so that hope is all but a fade dream and hopelessness seems to fill the air around them.
In the day of Midian, the Israelites were under horrible oppression from cruel enemies. So much so; that this time had become a part of the collective memory as a nation, just as Egypt was.
The slavery and oppression dealt to Israel by the Midianites is beyond most of our imaginations.
In that day The Angel of the Lord (who was Jesus before Bethlehem) calls and supernaturally enables a man named Gideon to bring about deliverance to Israel and crush the forces of Midian.
That deliverance brought hope and renewal to God’s people, such hope that God used that memory in his peoples hearts to compare the hope that was to follow this promised King.
The faithful Israelites weren’t just looking for a child, they were looking for a Gibor, A mighty warrior, a wise cunning military strategist who would once and for all break the backs of all of the oppressors of God’s chosen people and establish a Kingdom that was just, good and eternal.
.
Christmas wasn’t just a baby in a manger, shepherds, angels and wise men.
The first Christmas day, the birth of the Lord Jesus was a brilliant rescue mission. It was a special ops insertion of the God of the Angel armies, the Captain of the Lord’s Host, the Anointed Son of God himself, behind enemy lines to PICK a FIGHT with the Enemies of our souls; and with great cunning, courage, love and skill, once and for all deliver mankind from our true oppressors; the Rebel of Eden and the Fallen Sons of God that had followed him.
He didn’t come to simply offer us some fire insurance, he came to make good on a promise He made to Satan in the Garden of Eden and to restore all that the Enemies of God had stolen and to renew all that they had corrupted.
In the Garden
The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl
and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
And I will put hostility between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring;
her offspring will attack your head,
and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”
The Rebel of Eden knew, this day would come because the promises of God are Sure.
Wars have been fought for thousands of years. Blood has been shed; starting with that of Abel’s in an effort to thwart this promise.
Those cries in the streets of Judea as King Herod has every male under the age of two murdered in an attempt to kill this new born King of the Jews, you think that was his idea? Hmm!
On the first Christmas night, in the most unlikely of ways the King of Glory comes as a baby, grows to be a man, PICKS that Fight with the enemies of God; baits them into killing him and then in a stroke of the purest of genius (we are dealing with the creator here) gives himself as a ransom to redeem us from the curse of sin and the rule of our enemies.
The Apostle Paul called it a Mystery, because the Father artfully hid the truth from our enemies.
1 Cor 2:7-8
Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
See, It was always a part of the greatest rescue mission ever, that the conquering King, the Messiah would give his life for us, but that mystery was hidden from our enemies. For if they had known this, they would never have killed him.
Oh, how they must have rejoiced on the day they killed him and how quickly their rejoicing turned to fear and anger when he showed up in Hades, snatched the keys of death, hell and the grave from their hands and then walk out of that borrowed tomb resurrected, alive, having ALL authority including which was once theirs given to Him now.
Col 2:14-15 He (Jesus) has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross. Disarming the rulers and authorities (those fallen enemies of God and Satan himself), he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Christmas day wasn’t what it seemed, it was an act of War. When the Angels declared “Peace on Earth and Good Will Towards Men” it was so much deeper than a single night of peace; it was a declaration of a victory to come from the single most brilliant military operation ever to be executed.
The Father, knowing the minds of his enemies used their own lust for power and their delusional thinking that they could ever thwart the plans of God Most High to get them to drive the final nails into their own coffins.
Blood would be shed once more, but this time once and for all.
The ransomed was paid, the curse of sin broken forever and everlasting life freely given to those who would simply accept the work that had been done and the Anointed Son of God who accomplished it.
Now you know The rest of the Story
I pray you all receive the Peace and Joy that the Lord of Christmas Offers
Enjoy this Advent Season and Christmas Day ALL!