You Can’t Delete Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2016 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

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“Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.'” – Luke 2:10-12 (NKJV)

I asked my wife to do something with me a day after my birthday that I thought would be really cool to do and that was to go a coffee lounge – to listen to some spoken word and smooth music. I found such a place. Nestled away in a little town called Northfield there’s a bookstore that does things a bit different. The “Truth That Rocks” bookstore, which is owned Bill Link, (a very active brother who also runs radio station WXGN in the OCNJ area) has this little spot in the back of the store called “Solid Grounds Coffee Lounge.” He has had an ecliptic array of musicians come and perform and on this night, it was Dave Miller. Dave did some Christmas music and some of his original compositions. I had a really blessed time with all who came out (and, yes Kathy enjoyed it too).

As it is with a lot of Christian musicians, Dave gave those in attendance a little glimpse into the Gospel message and at one point shared something that struck a chord with me. Dave said, “If He wanted to, God could just undo creation, ya know, like hitting the delete button and that would be it.” And the first thing that hit me was The Flood. If there ever was an undo creation “DELETE” button, that would have been it. It would have been really simple. Press delete, flood earth, everything gone, with no one around to tell the tale. BUT (there’s always a BUT in God’s creation) YHVH did not do that, why? Genesis 3:15, that’s why. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

 

And to touch on something from last week… It was the 11th year of King Zedekiah’s reign and Nebuchadnezzar is at the door. He ain’t none too pleased with the attitude of the last king of Judah…neither was YHVH. YHVH would tell Zedekiah to “Remove the turban, and take off the crown; Nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted.” (Ezekiel 21:26) Nebuchadnezzar had other ideas. “Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew all the nobles of Judah. He then blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters of bronze to bring him to Babylon.” (Jeremiah 39:6-7) The rest of Zedekiah’s story can be left to history, there was a reason why this happened and it shares a place with what happened in The Garden. REBELLION…yeah maybe God should just hit the delete button.

BUT, that ain’t gonna happen at this moment in history either…there has been too many promises made for Messiah and that brings me to today’s verse.

 

The one thing that ran through my mind while Dave went on to perform was that last part of the Ezekiel passage, “Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted.” Many of us would look at that and say that Zedekiah had that coming, after all he was the wickedest king Israel had. But it struck me that YHVH did this Himself. “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” The God of the universe, exalted above all others, humbled Himself to be among us to bring us salvation…through a horse stable. That’s beyond hitting the delete button. That’s beyond earthly wisdom. That’s Christmas.

Throughout our history, God has chosen to speak to us through many different vessels (almost sounds like Hebrews 1:1-2, doesn’t it?) and yet so many turned a deaf ear to Him. If He was like us, hitting the delete button would be as easy as us hitting the unfriend button on our social media sites… but He has chosen not to do that. Instead, He has chosen to give us an example of what amazing grace looks like and then tells us to do likewise. Yes, it is a high standard to go for, but when the Hebrews of Hebrews gives this encouragement, “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Phil 3:14) the best thing you can do is not quit.

 

After all, for all the worldly effort put out there, you can’t delete what Christmas is really all about…it is sharper than any two-edged sword, able to cut through bone and marrow, (read John 1:1-5) to get to the heart of what Elohim wanted His creation to be. “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) Amen?

 

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) is married (Kathy) with two adult children (Kevin and Karen) and has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.

The Daily Bible Reading: Psalm 45; Proverbs 15

Daily Quote: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” —C.S. Lewis

This Week’s Verse to Memorize:

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. ~Psalm 5:11

 

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