Christmas 2013: A Christ foretold.

I am currently doing an internhsip program/ discipleship year and working part time in an amazing shop. I realise I haven't posted in a while which is kind of stupid because last week we did a spiritual gifts inventory and two of my top scores were artisan and writer. Which has made it rather obvious to me that I have not painted nor written  in some time which is denying what god has placed within me... 

Therefore I am going to be blogging over the next few days on the things that God has challenged me on this Christmas:

A Christ foretold ( the prophetic surrounding christ's life as the turning point of human history)

And he shall be called Emmanuel - God with us.( the amazing truth of a God whom dwelt amonst us and is with, for and in us.)

Mary's Boy Child - how our culture seeks to keep Jesus as a baby.

and maybe something else if God challenges me more...

A Christ Foretold

As someone who would call themselves, if anything, a Historian with a BA(hons) to prove it. The fact that hundreds ( arguably thousands) of years before that bethlehem night  so many of God's prophets ( God's mouthpieces) were proclaiming almost every aspect of Christ Jesus' birth is astounding to me ( notably the only thing missing was the date unless of course you count Daniel's gold head Dan 8-9). Not because it isn't in God's power to do so but that God would. Think about it, of course God knew as he knows the date, time,circumstance and place of all births ( lives and deaths ) in creation. But that he bothered to share something so great with his children, even if they didn't understand it, astounds me. If nothing else in the bible (and believe me a lot does) tell you that God cares about people that he told his people that hope was coming is kind of crazy. Sure some of the prophecies are nothing if a little tenuous if you don't know much about Jesus life and ministry or you have read Jesus life and ministry with your own agenda ( Isaiah 61- if you are reading the prosperity gospel will make no sense!) 

There is no point in human history that has been spoken more about (before during and after) than Jesus life thirty three years that changed everything. None, not even the year 2000, space travel or tv remakes of the medieval period. 

We live in the post modern era where truth is relative and well everyone's opinion is well, equally valid and if you are vehement about any truth it is seen as a negative thing that you are imposing your opinion on others ( and as all opinions are equal well that isn't the done thing).  The truth is that we  don't get it. the whole prophesyed king part, firstly because there is on the whole exponentially less historical evidence as you get further back in history ie we have lots of sources from the twentieth century but very few from say the sixth Century BCE.  This means that we tend to see history in larger blocks the further we go back. The prophet Isaiah spoke around 700 years before the birth of jesus (Isaiah 9 amongst others) we don't think about it as that long and even the prophet Daniel was proclaiming 400 years before. its like Thomas Aquinas in the 1200s talking about methodist Wesley or Martin Luther ( the german reformer) discussing Justin Welby or pope Francis or proclaiming the birth of Prince George. Obviously Jesus ministry is more important than all of these combined and they themselves would agree with that except prince G who can't speak yet being as he is 6 months old... but still we don't think about it like that as it is all in such distant past we don't count it. Now there are some things about your life and ministry that you can control but there is no way Jesus could have controlled the cirmstances around his birth... I mean come on - no one chooses where they are born or that their mum was 'knocked up' by the holy spirit. 


So why would God do it? why would God give us all the clues... well in a way it is obvious so we knew that there was no denying this was him. The long awaited messiah. That his life was the pinnacle of human history. It kind of makes it undenable - beyond post modernist reasoning beyond relative truth one life stands the most foretold and the odds of him fulfilling every single prophecy that is billions to one possibility of happening (which is crazier odds than it being a white Christmas every year for a decade!) therefore it has to be of God.

... the people who have walked in darkness have seen a great light ( I am the light of the world)....a virgin shall concieve and bear a son ( how can this be since I am a virgin)... out of you bethlehem a future ruler will come from you (so joseph went from nazereth to the town of bethlehem in Judea)... a shepherd to his people ( I am the good shepherd).... the house and line of david ( david begot... joseph)... I will remove this land's sin on a single day ( Christ died for us so that we should not perish but have eternal life)....

There are hundreds of them literally. The mesmerising truth that God loved us so much he put a big pointing arrow throughout all of scripture... look here is my son with whom I am well pleased ( Yep God is down with the street lingo). He died to reconcile us back into the heart of God and that my friends is the true Christmas miracle.