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He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
--Colossians 1:15
I want you to try to imagine what the world would be like if Jesus had never been born. It’s beyond our imagination, but just try to picture it. We certainly wouldn’t know God as we know Him now. In fact, we’d be fortunate to have even heard about the God revealed in the Old Testament.
So what changed on that first Christmas so long ago? Well, when Jesus Christ came, the Bible says He was Immanuel – “God with us.” God was no longer a distant deity. He was no longer an unfathomable, unapproachable image. God became flesh and blood; God was with us! The Lord of all creation came as a baby, toiled as a carpenter and lived His final years on earth as an itinerant preacher.
He is God incarnate.
That’s why Jesus would later say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
When Jesus was born into the world, He was God! He wasn’t a man acting like God; not even God acting like a man; but God who was fully man and a man who was fully God! What Christ was seeing, that was God seeing. And when Christ was walking, that was God walking!
If Jesus hadn’t come, and if He wasn’t God, we’d never have the knowledge of God we have today. So thank God for sending Jesus to Bethlehem all those years ago so that you might have a clear picture of a God who loves you unconditionally!
The Rejected Stone
Monday, December 23, 2019
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.”
1 Peter 2:6–8
When ancient buildings were constructed from stone, it was critical that the foundation layer, and especially the cornerstone, be perfectly straight and square. All of the walls of the building would be put together based on that one stone. If it was not exactly right, the builders would reject it in favor of one that was. They would keep looking until they found the prefect stone, because they recognized the importance of that foundation.
Peter uses this metaphor to illustrate the way the world responded to Jesus. He was not rejected because of any error or flaw or imperfection. Indeed after his examination, Pilate proclaimed the innocence of Jesus to the people when he said, “Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him” (Luke 23:14).
Jesus was rejected because the people were not willing to accept what He had come to offer on His terms. It is much the same today. People find the message of the gospel offensive in our culture where acceptance of everything and everyone just as they are seems to be the cardinal virtue. The message of Jesus is that we are not ok as we are, and have no hope apart from Him.
Today's Growth Principle:
It is foolish for us to try to make God conform to our ideas and expectations when He is the perfect standard.
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