Christmas: Light After Darkness

"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." Matthew 2:9-11

Winter Solstice is an astronomical event, marking the longest night of the year, and it usually occurs between December 21-23.

Just before Jesus was born, the Israelites experienced a long night themselves, held up only by faith in God's promises to bring them a King. The period between Malachi and the Messiah was known as the "400 years of silence," during which time there were no prophets and God did not speak to the Jewish people. They remembered the prophecies of old:

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

“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.” Isaiah 9:6

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2

“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.” Zechariah 9:9

Then, a light came out after that long night, and the silence was broken forever.

Like a man stumbling out of a dark room into the bright sunlight, when Jesus was born, many were blind to the fact their King had finally arrived.

"-the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." Matthew 4:16

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have a light of life." John 8:12

It's interesting to note that Hanukkah, the festival of light celebrated by Jews, is followed by the darkest period of the year. This is followed by Christmas, a celebration of Jesus' birth. In the same way, the Jews rejoiced in God's light, which lasted in faith throughout a silent time of darkness, before Jesus came to Earth to be the light to even the gentiles.

Will you celebrate the light this season? Will you remember to be the light for others all year around?

Merry Christmas and may your homes be filled with light, love, and joy.



Sources other than Bible:
https://www.gotquestions.org/400-years-of-silence.html

God's Dwelling Place

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

First, there was a Garden of Eden. This was the first dwelling place of God amongst His people. Adam and Eve, as you know, were said to be naked and to know nothing of clothing. This may have been literal, but it was certainly figurative. They were without sin because they didn't know anything of good and evil or the separation it could give them from God. Therefore, they had nothing to hide and lived vulnerable, unafraid, and unashamed. Once they did sin, they covered themselves in fig leaves to symbolically hide their sins. (It's interesting to note that the fig tree came to be a constant symbol of the tribe of Judah, who would come to be known as simply Jews, throughout the Bible.)

They attempted to cover their own sins, but fig leaves did an inadequate job. So, God made the first sacrifice, performed in the first type of temple, the garden. There, he slaughtered a lamb (symbolic of Jesus) and covered their nakedness (which exposed their sins). There was now death that stood between God and mankind.

Later, the tabernacle and then temple would be a new type of garden for God's people to be in His presence and make necessary sacrifices for their sins.

However, in the temple and tabernacle, there was a place called the Holy of Holies, the only place God would visit His people. It was an area of the structures that was separated from everything else, even normal priestly rooms. The high priest himself only went into the Holy of Holies once a year, and it was covered with a thick curtain to keep it from stray eyes (symbolic of the sins and death that separated God and mankind). When Jesus died, that veil was torn, ripped from top to bottom. Let's put this into more perspective. The curtain was about sixty feet tall, thirty feet wide and four inches thick. Four inches thick. This was torn from top down, because it was an act from above.

It is important to note that Jesus rose again because God's people never die. True death would never again stand between God and His children, so neither would the curtain that stood for it.

As His children, we are now filled with the Holy Spirit that once only came to Earth within the Temple and Tabernacle's Holy of Holies area. We are literally His temples.

"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." Ephesians 2:19-22

This should be a sobering thought. First, God communed with us in his garden, then his tabernacle and temple, and now, he communes WITHIN us.

"This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord." Jeremiah 7:3-11

We must be careful where our heart lies, as we are not only symbol of God's people and His message. We are literally His temple! If you wouldn't do or say something before God's face, you should not do or say that thing at all. You are an organic church, made to reach the world! It's not enough to say "I am a temple" as if you being a "believer" is enough. What stems from your heart will show. The seeds you water in your heart will grow.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean." Matthew 23:27

A garden, tabernacle, and temple are teeming with life. The opposite would be a tomb, filled with death and decay. Don't cover your sins with fig leaves and white-wash paint. You can't cover up sins or its stench with your own actions. The only one who can eradicate death and fill you with life is God, and as His child you, as His temple, can spread that life and light to the world.


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Sources besides Bible:
https://www.challies.com/book-reviews/the-temple-and-the-tabernacle/
https://heritagebbc.com/bible-question-and-answer-archive-1/i-1-why-did-adam-and-eve-cover-themselves-with-fig-leaves/