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And they shall Call His name "Emmanuel" (St. Matthew 1:23)
His physical arrival on the surface of the earth was foretold hundreds of years before He was eventually born. We never heard of such in history.
In fact, His coming to the earth had been pronounced by God the Father, right after our fore parents lost their relationship with God with the sin of disobedience when they ate the forbidden fruit.
By the sin of our fore parents, all, born of human, have inherited sin and by that condemned to hell (Rom.5:12)
So God Himself was to come to clean the slate i.e. to reconcile us and restore us back to our original relationship with Him. He would come by the name Jesus, Emmanuel etc
He foretold this as He passed judgment to all that sinned in the garden of Eden i.e Satan, Eve and Adam as recorded in the book of Genesis 3:15
Moses made his statement concerning the coming of Christ at between 1400 and 1450BC.
Micah made his pronouncements between 740 and 687BC, about the same time as prophet Isaiah.
The thing that so much amazes me most is that all prophesies made about Him by different people, tally and without any cross reference between any of them. Yet the people who made the forecasts lived hundreds of years apart and I do not see how anyone of them or any group of people could have cooked or faked them.
Micah pronounced as recorded in his book chapter 5:2 the very city Jesus would be born; Bethlehem. But who is this Jesus?
The Bible in St. John 1:3 tells us that "All things were made by Him and nothing exists that He did not make; meaning He created the heaven, and the earth including Adam through whom you and me came.
Is He God then?
Absolutely. The Bible says so. The Bible calls Him "Word" who exists from the beginning and was with God and He is God (St. John 1:1).
His would be mother never slept with anyone when she became pregnant of Him though she had been Beth rowed to a man by the name Joseph. So it was necessary for the angel Gabriel to talk to him (Joseph), to explain what was happening.
Angel Gabriel told Joseph that the incident is in fulfillment of the prophecy.
The prophesy was made by Isaiah in 7:14 "Behold, a virgin shall be with Child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call His name "Emmanuel" interpreted as "God with us"
How can someone be a baby and at same time be God? Who is the one in heaven and it may be asked who He prayed to each time He did. Nicodemus, a lawyer and a Pharisee, very knowledgeable in the Jewish religion and laws was equally puzzled. Jesus explained it to him this way "----no man had ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven (St John 3:13) meaning the same person holding meeting with Him, Nicodemus is the same in heaven.
Let us remember that God is Spirit and no one ever sees Him and no one can see His face.
Apostle Paul explained this in his letter to the Colossians 1: 15, saying "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God---" He also wrote it to Timothy as recorded in 1Tim. 3: 16 saying "God was manifest in the flesh-"referring to Jesus.
The writer of the book of Hebrews described Him as the brightness of His glory and the express image of His glory (Heb. 1:3)
Paul in the book of Philippians 2 wrote that Jesus being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal to God but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men and being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phil.2: 5-8). One of Jesus disciples, Philip, asked Him "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." 9 Jesus replied, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show Him to you? 10 If God could make man from mere dust, what makes it impossible for Him to translate Himself to a human and be born by a virgin? Actually I can recall that He had appeared two times before the time He came as a baby. He earlier came as Melchizedek. He met Abraham as he (Abraham) returned from a war where he went to rescue His nephew, Lot (Gen. 14:18-20). He was described as one, without father, without mother, with no genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abide a priest for ever (Heb.7:3). We saw Him again when He visited Abraham with two angels on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen.18) But He had to come as human with blood so that His perfect blood can atone for our sins because without the shedding of blood is no forgiveness of sin (Heb.9:22) for it is blood that makes atonement for sin (Lev. 19:11) We read in the book of Hebrew that He went through temptations like us yet committed no sin (Heb. 4:15). Clearly, Jesus on earth was a detachment from God. He is God with us "Emmanuel" though while on earth, He referred to Himself as the Son of God. Prophet Isaiah wrote that Jesus will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of peace (Isaiah 9: 6). A paralyzed man was brought before Him for healing and He said to him "Young man, your sins are forgiven" Jesus could have said something else. He could have simply told the paralyzed man "Stand up and walk" But Jesus purposely told the man "Your sins are forgiven" so that the Pharisees and the Religious leaders who were present might know who really He is, that He has power to forgive sins (Matt.5:24), which only God can do. What further proof does anyone need in order to believe that Jesus is Emmanuel translated as God with us? One day a discussion ensued between Him and the Jews. Jesus told them 56 "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" 58 Jesus said unto them "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8: 56-58). Note that Jesus did not say " ____Before Abraham was, I was but Before Abraham was "I am" And this was Abraham who lived about 1700 years before Jesus came into the world as a baby. Yet Jesus said He had been, before Abraham. His arrival on the earth left sufficient evidences that something that never happened in the history of the world was happening.
Heaven and nature stood still on the day of His birth. Same at His crucifixion. Those who murdered Him though initially were excited about it and even cursed that His blood be upon them and their children (Matt.27:25), they were afterwards full of regret. A star appeared when He was born. Some astrologers from the East saw the star as unusual. They knew the meaning and followed it (the star) until they became sure of where the star stood. They worshipped the little baby and presented Him with gifts (St. Matt.2: 1-12). An angel of God also descended from heaven to break the news of the birth of the Messiah, which has been prophesied hundreds of years earlier, to some shepherds who were on the field at the outskirt of Bethlehem watching their flocks on the cold winter night. Multitudes of other angels promptly joined to sing praises. The astounded shepherds hurriedly left their flock to locate where the new born laid and reported to the parents of the baby, what they had just seen (St. Lk 2: 8-20). Why would these shepherds and the astrologers worship a newly born? It is because they recognized that the baby is the King of all kings. He performed miracles, never heard of in the history of mankind. He spoke to nature and it obeyed. He calmed tempest. He brought to life, Lazarus who was dead for 4 days. He spoke with authority. He spoke of events that occurred since creation signifying that He was aware of it all. No one in history ever died, rose again and lived except Jesus Christ. After He resurrected from death, He lived further for 40 days and was seen by hundreds of people (1Cor.15:6) before He physically disappeared into the cloud to heaven (Acts.1:9) He is the greatest phenomenon that ever crossed the planet earth. Certainly He is God who came to live with man. This cannot be disputed. But why will the King of kings come to earth in human form and be subjected to all human indignity? The simple answer is that He came because of you and me, in order to re-unite us with Himself, from who we have been alienated due to our sins in order to escape hell at the end of the world. He came to pay the penalty of our sins.
Our fore parents Adam and Eve had a perfect union with God until they sinned. Sin separated them from God. They thereby became outcasts.
By that act of our fore parents, we all have sinned.
The Bible, in the book of Romans chapter 5 vs 12 reads:
"When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned"
The book of Ezekiel in Chapter 18 vs 20 says "The soul that sins shall die"
The Bible is not talking about physical death alone but separation from God. And if we are separated from God, it means we are disqualified from getting into heaven, but instead, we are doomed for hell, where there is excruciating pain and gnashing of teeth. Jesus, our soft landing to heaven. Atonement of sin with the blood of Jesus was the original plan of God. God planned salvation by the type of faith of Abraham (Gen.15:6; Roman 4:3). 1450 years before the arrival of Jesus at the scene, God gave a set of rules to the people through Moses, call it Sharia. The laws were set so that man will know how Holy God is and the standard of the holiness required of us to live with Him in heaven after we die (Gal.3:19, Romans 3: 19-20) They were also given to allow the people to live at peace among themselves; particularly the Civil and Moral laws. The era of the Law System, which came through Moses, under which the people operated was harsh. Violation of many of the laws resulted in instant death. The Ceremonial rules were cumbersome as well as burdensome. They consisted of many sacrifices on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis with the hope of having sins forgiven. Thanks to Christ who freed us of those draconian laws after fulfilling them with His blood. He said "I have not come to abolish the law-----but to fulfill them" (Matt.5:17). Peter described the laws as a burden or yoke, which neither they nor their ancestors were able to bear (Acts 15:10). Paul described same as "Doom of impossible system" (Gal.3: 11-13). Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would come and break the yoke and the chains of those burdensome and cumbersome system of law and religion (Isaiah 9:4). So Jesus said "Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt.11:28). Whoso ever takes the advantage of this soft landing by believing in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). It is called grace (Eph.2: 8-9) i.e Blessing or gift not worked for. The only person who does not need the soft landing is he who never commits a single sin all his life because according to the judgment of God, if you keep all the laws but miss one, you are as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws (James 2: 10). I hope no one will leave this arena today without taking the advantage of the soft landing to salvation as given by Jesus by asking Him to accept you into His Kingdom. You may want to tell me that Jesus came only for the salvation of the Jews and you are not a Jew. I can confirm that you are in the plan of salvation made through Jesus. Because God knew that you will raise this question is the reason why He made sure that the blood of all the races in the world as of the time He came flows in His veins. I can confirm to you that in His vein flows the blood of Tamar and Ahab. Both women are Canaanites. Canaanites are descendants of Ham, from whom all the black race descended. Everyone who recognizes himself as a sinner is in the plan of God for salvation through Jesus. Jesus is the only name that must be confessed by everyone in order to inherit heaven. No other person in history ever claimed that He is the way to God. He said with all assurance "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father but by me" (St John. 14:6) Commending NUJ Christian Fellowship Kw St. I commend the Christian Fellowship of Nigeria, Union of Journalists, Kwara State for considering its worth to celebrate Christmas. Some sects whose trade is setting confusion have pronounced publicly that they do not celebrate Christmas, thereby setting confusion in the minds of the very people, who we are praying for, that they be saved by taking the advantage of the soft landing of salvation provided by the blood of Jesus; ingrates, Holier-than-Thou, who always want to prove that they are better than or different from other Christians, worldwide. I do not care the academic status or Christian height or the acceptability in the society of such people. I do not care about the origin or the semantics or argument anyone may have about the word "Christmas" The understanding and intention of what we are doing is all that matters to me. It might have been a celebration of a pagan god thousands of years ago. I do not care. For me and millions of others all over the world, we rejoice and celebrate the day when God the Almighty came to live among us in human flesh to do for me and others, what we are incapable of doing to make us live with God after we die. Jesus might have been born in March or April and not in December, that is not what matters. All I know from thousands of available written records is that Jesus was born. That cannot be disputed. When and where He was born is not what matters to me. The tribe through which He came is immaterial to me; He could come through only one tribe among many in the world. The color of His skin does not matter to me. He could come only in one skin color. What matters to me is that He came and paid the penalty of my sins and others who believe in Him and confess Him as Savior and we can live with Him in heaven after we die. That certainly calls for celebration of His birth. There are uncountable numbers of people who do not have a birth record, yet they pick a date and that becomes the official date of their birth and their friends celebrate it for them. Many people might have commercialized the season for quick businesses, it still does not matter to me. For me every day is Christmas, because every day, it dawns on me that by my deeds, I am not qualified to live with God in heaven but for what Christ did. Relevance of Jesus in 2024 Nigeria Jesus understands clearly that the body must be taken care of, in order for the soul to be able to live Godly. At the very beginning of His ministry, one Sabbath day, He went to His village Temple in Nazareth where He grew up. The book of Isaiah was given to Him to read. Interestingly, the portion given to him to read was a 700 year old prophecy about Him found in Isaiah 9. So He read as recorded in St Luke 4: 18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him."[b In carrying these assignments, Jesus offended the mighty in the society, particularly the Government and the Religious leaders of His days. Jesus, before He departed the world instructed His followers to continue with what He was doing among, which were to heal the brokenhearted and the downtrodden to be freed from their oppressors (John 14:12). Poverty as it stands today in Nigeria is oppressing millions of families. The human suffering is much. Are we followers of Christ today obeying Jesus by confronting this evil with all seriousness? Consider the millions of Nigerians today living in abject poverty. Millions are very hungry in a country flowing with milk and honey. I make bold to say that God does not destine Nigeria with poverty. I am not in a position to know how rich Nigeria is but going by the daily news of humongous theft and looting of the commonwealth by the State officials, Nigerians should have no business with poverty, had the commonwealth been made available for all and not commandeer by the Government officials and those who have access to it. The Law system was still in operation when Jesus came but the custodians of the laws; the Pharisees abused it. They went beyond what God enacted and oppressed the people. They loaded the people with impossible demands, which they themselves didn't even try to keep (Matt. 23:4). They found offence with Jesus for doing healing on the Sabbath, whereas if their sheep fell in the well on the Sabbath, they would rescue it (Matt.12:9-13). What group of terrible hypocrites they were!! Keeping the law was more important to them than saving lives. Ask yourself, were Jesus here physically, will He fold His hands and do nothing with the ravaging poverty? All people who love God have a duty to work out, how all our reproach can be eradicated in our nation so that our journey to heaven can be a bit easier. We have a duty to work out how the reproach of Nigeria can be a thing of the past. This is the character of Jesus whose birthday we are celebrating. The birthday celebration of Jesus is meaningless when the majority of the people are living in squalor. Nigeria was not like this at Independence and few years after. Individual businesses thrived. The reason was simply because the government of the days and civil servants and people in all vocations were Godly. They did not steal the government money, even though they did not speak in tongues or attach Mosques to their homes and there was no revenue from oil. The antidote to the prevailing poverty is for every citizen to return to the life of Godliness of the fathers, which made life bearable for the citizens. Looting of government money by people who have access to it is oppressing the majority of the populace and I challenge you journalists to set in order, mobilization to Godliness. I have stickers to distribute freely to everyone sitting here to mobilize Godly behavior in our nation A primary objective of my Mission is to return Nigeria to what I met it over 70 years ago but it will be achieved more rapidly if the journalists will spearhead it. I am always available to offer suggestions. The incomprehensible love of God for us, to depart His throne and come to earth, live like man; hungry and thirst like man and worst, laid down His life so that whoever believe in Him will have everlasting life should drive us to jointly work for the rehabilitation of Nigeria. If we feel unconcerned, even concerned but will not join hands to set things right, our celebration of Christmas is meaningless. Merry Christmas to you all and a prosperous 2025. Remember however to take the advantage of the soft landing of salvation provided by the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus.
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