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CHRISTMAS TREASURES
BY
GLENN PEASE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 HIS WONDROUS NAME based on Isaiah 9:1-7
CHAPTER 2 WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS based on Haggai 2:1-9
CHAPTER 3 CHRISTMAS SECRETS based on Matt. 1:18-2:12
CHAPTER 4 HIS WONDERFUL NAME based on Matt.1:18-25
CHAPTER 5 ANGELIC HOST based on Luke 2:8-15
CHAPTER 6 THE ENJOYMENT OF GOD based on Luke 2:8-20
CHAPTER 7 THE BABE AND THE BELL based on Luke 2:1-20
CHAPTER 8 CHRISTMAS EXPECTATIONS based on Luke
2:8-32
CHAPTER 9 PARADOXES OF CHRISTMAS based on John
1:1-14
CHAPTER 10
THE TRUE LIGHT based on John 1:1-14
CHAPTER 11
THE FACE OF GOD based on II Cor. 4:1-6
CHAPTER 12
THE FOOLISHNESS OF CHRISTMAS based on I.Cor.1:18-25
CHAPTER 13
WHERE DOES CHRISTMAS COME FROM? based
on Gal.4:1-7
CHAPTER 14
RECIPE FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS based on Phil. 2:1-4
CHAPTER 15
CHRISTMAS AND THE CROSS based on Hebrews 12:1-2
1. HIS WONDROUS NAME based
on Isaiah 9:1-7
Corrie Ten Boom is one of the best known names in the 20th
century. But many do not know that
Corrie had more than one name. In 1977
a group of several hundred Christian Indians honored her in Flagstaff, Arizona,
by giving her an Indian name. Tom
Claus, a Mohawk and president of the group, made this presentation-
I want you to know that we accept you as an Indian; you are our
blood sister, and you are
our spiritual sister in Jesus Christ.
When we bestow an Indian name, it is the highest honor we can
give. When your name was
nominated to our CHIEF committee
thought that we would like
to pick a name that is really meaningful to
you, Corrie.
We realize that in the past you have identified with the Jews
in
their suffering-now you have
identified with American Indians in
our plight. Even though you
have been on the front line of battle and
have seen bloodshed and war,
you have always been a demonstration
of God's love. That is why we give you the name Loma-Si, which
is Hopi for "beautiful
flower," because you are one of God's beautiful flowers. We do thank God
for you ....
Like many of the people of the Bible she received a new name
of honor. Because names have always
been important to Indians they have left their mark on our culture. Over 20 states have Indian names. The great rivers like the Mississippi and
Missouri and 4 out of 5 of the Great Lakes have Indian names. There are hundreds of cities and lakes and
streams all over our nation with Indian names.
The poet has rightly said,
Ye say they all have passed
away
That noble race and
brave
That their light canoes have
vanished
From off the crested wave.
That mid the forests where
they roamed
Their rings no hunter's shout
But their name is on your
waters
Ye may not wash it out.
Names play a major role in our history and our heritage as
Americans. In 1507 a German professor
in a French college edited a map of the world.
As he read up on the discovery of the new world he found that much of it
was explored by Americus Vespucci. He
said, "I do not see what hinders us from calling it America." He did so name it and the name stuck. Professor
David Muzzy in his American History writes, "so it came about that
this continent was named by a German professor, in a French college, for an
Italian navigator in the service of the King of Portugal."
Names have determined so much in our history and our
environment but more important yet they determine our destiny. God is a great lover of names and name
giving. The book of Revelation says, we
will get new names in heaven. The Bible
is full of genealogies which are just lists of names. Many of them mean nothing to us but they were important to God
and His people. God gave the first man
and woman their names and He gave the second Adam His name as well. This most important child ever born on this
planet was named by his true Father in heaven.
Gabriel came to Mary and said to her in Luke 1:31, "you will be
with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus.' Later in a dream the same
message came to Joseph in Matt.1:21.
The angel of the Lord said to him, "she will bear a son, and you
shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their
sin." Like the spirit of the
child, the name of the child also came from heaven. This name was so important to God He made sure both of His
earthly parents received a supernatural message as to what they were to name
Jesus.
This name is now the most celebrated name in history. Like the vast majority of babies Jesus was
born without fanfare or fame. There
were no reporters and no headlines for though all heaven rang as the angels
sang, on earth there was barely a ripple.
Everything is different now,
There's no other name like
that of Jesus,
There's none in all the world beside,
For there's no other name
can give salvation,
In His love I will abide.
There are more songs on the name of Jesus than any other
name-Jesus Is The Sweetest Name I Know; Take The Name Of Jesus With You;
There's Something About That Name and His Name Is Wonderful, Just to mention a
few that are well known.
The prophet Isaiah predicted that a child would be born in
Israel who would acquire a name for himself- a name above every name.
If you like to know big names then you will want to get acquainted with
this coming child, Isaiah would advise.
His name will be the biggest ever.
In fact, His name is so big it is a multiple name. There are not enough powerful descriptive
adjectives to describe it. Isaiah says
He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace.
Wonderful or full of wonder is His name. It inspired
Handel's Glorious Messiah with it's Hallelujah Chorus that has brought millions
to their feet before the bearer of this
name. Napoleon was rightly
awestruck by this name. He said,
"Is it not amazing that whereas the ambitious dreams of Caesar, Alexander
and myself should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant should be able
to stretch a hand across the centuries and control the destinies of nations and
the children of men."
There is no other name
like that of Jesus. It is truly a
wonder. Emerson said, "His name is
not so much written as ploughed into
the history of the world."
At one time the Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus on a
pagan holiday. Now the pagan world
celebrates on a Christian holiday.
Everything connected with the name of Jesus is transformed for His name
is wonderful and does wonders. There is
no greater wonder in the universe than the wonder of Christmas. This marks the day when our planet was
invaded by a superior force from
another realm. A power opposed to the
sin and folly of human nature and yet it did not invade to destroy but to redeem. This is no minor wonder but rather the
greatest wonder of all and that is why His name of Wonderful.
He did not come to
judge the world,
He did not come to blame,
He did not come to seek, it
was to save He came,
And when we call Him Savior,
then we call Him by His name.
There are so many names of Jesus in the Bible that He is
literally all things to all men. He is
the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.
He is to the artist-THE ONE
ALTOGETHER LOVELY
He is to the architect-THE
CHIEF CORNERSTONE
He is to the baker-THE
LIVING BREAD
He is to the biologist-THE
LIFE
He is to the builder-THE
SURE FOUNDATION
He is to the carpenter-THE
DOOR
He is to the doctor-THE
GREAT PHYSICIAN
He is to the educator-THE
TRUTH
He is to the farmer-THE LORD
OF THE HARVEST
He is to the florist-THE
ROSE OF SHARON, THE LILY OF THE VALLEY
He is to the philosopher-THE
WISDOM OF GOD
He is to the preacher-THE
WORD OF GOD
He is to the statesman-THE
DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS
We could go on almost endlessly as there are several hundred
names, titles and symbols of Jesus in the Bible. But the name above all these names is the name that covers all
the rest and that name is Jesus, the Savior of His people. This is the most wonderful of all His
wondrous names.
This is the name God gave to Mary and Joseph. This is the name that makes Christmas the
greatest day of celebration in history.
This is the name that opens the gates of heaven. In God's plan it is not what you know but
who you know that makes the difference.
If you know this name you can get into the very presence of God. Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and
the life no one comes to the Father but by me." There is no other name under heaven by which we can be
saved. This name is the open seseme to
the mind of God.
The New Testament is filled with reference to the power of the
name of Jesus. The prayer of the church
in Acts 4:30 sums up the whole of the early Christians conviction about the
source of their power. Their prayer
was, "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and
wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." The early Christians called upon the name of
Jesus for their every need. They were
baptized in the name of Jesus. They
preached and healed in the name of Jesus and they suffered for the name of
Jesus.
The purpose of God in choosing Paul was that He might have
someone to carry the name of Jesus to the world of the Gentiles. The essence of success in the New Testament
is described in Acts 19:17, "And the name of the Lord Jesus was held in
high honor." That is the bottom
line, not just for Christmas but for all the year. Do we hold the name of Jesus in high esteem? Do we honor and exalt that name that God has
made the name above all names?
Our text is the only place I am aware of where the Christ
child of Christmas is given a series of names that make Him the greatest being
ever born. He is called-
I. WONDERFUL COUNSELOR.
There is debate as to whether there should be a coma between
these two words or not. Should it be
Wonderful, Counselor as in two
different ideas, or just one as in Wonderful Counselor? The NIV leaves the coma out but the Berkley
puts it in. Obviously scholars are not
absolutely sure which way Isaiah intended us to take it. It really does not make any difference if
you realize the point is these names are to exalt Jesus. They lift Him to the heights of adoration. So
you simply need to reason, if He is wonderful and a counselor it follows
that He is a wonderful counselor. In
this context of being the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace, it follows that He is wonderful as everything that He is.
A WONDERFUL SHEPHERD
A WONDERFUL SAVIOR
A WONDERFUL SON
A WONDERFUL SERVANT
A WONDERFUL STAR
And on and on we could go
from alpha to omega. There is no point
in trying to figure out if the coma is needed or not. Take it both ways and any other way you can imagine, for the
point is He is wonderful in every way that can be imagined. You never have to fear lest you exalt the
name of Jesus in some way that is not so.
He was the wonder baby of all time. He was the only baby of all time that was older than His
mother. He made the ground on which she
laid to give Him birth. He made the air
that she breathed and the stars that she gazed up at in her labor. Without Him was not anything made that was
made.
There was no room in the inn for this wonder baby but the
wonder is He grew up with a heart so big He took in the whole world. He died for the sins of the whole world and
thus this wondrous gift was the only gift ever given to meet the deepest need
of all mankind. No wonder people all
over the world sing-
Wonderful, wonderful, Jesus
is to me
Prince of Peace, Counselor, Mighty
God is He
Saving me, Keeping me from
all sin and shame
He is my redeemer, praise
His name!
II. MIGHTY GOD
When a Jewish writer tells us a baby is going to be called
Mighty God, he has either gone insane or he is revealing the mystery of the
Incarnation. The latter is what Isaiah
is doing here. He is saying a human
baby will be called a name that no one would call anyone but Jehovah. Here is the God-Man in prophesy as clear as
you can get it.
The Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah because they were
strict monotheists. What they failed to
realize is that Jesus did not change that.
There is only one God and He is the One. The Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old
Testament. Everything we know about God
is known through the Word of God and Jesus is the Word. Jesus said, "He who has seen me has
seen the Father." Jesus is the
Mighty God, the God of all gods.
If Jesus was not this we would have to agree with Judaism that
it would be idolatry to worship Jesus.
But at His birth this baby was worshiped by angels, shepherds and wise
men. He was, is, and every will be
Mighty God. Jesus said, "All power
in heaven and on earth is given unto me." This was His clear claim to be the one Isaiah pointed to. Nobody else has ever claimed such
power. Christmas is the celebration
that it is because it is the birthday of the Mighty God in the flesh.
This infant is the Mighty
God
Come to be suckled and
adored
The Eternal Father, Prince
of Peace
The Son of David and His
Lord.
III. EVERLASTING FATHER
Isaiah is saying this baby is the father of eternity. He who was born gave birth to all that
is. He is the father of all. Jesus said He and the Father are one and so
He takes on the very name of the Father.
He is Immanuel, God with us; not anyone else with us, but God with
us. You cannot separate the Father and
the Son for they are one.
Isaiah anticipates John's saying, "In the beginning was
the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." The Old Testament and the New Testament are
united in this, the Messiah who would be born as a baby was God for all
eternity. The pre-existence of Jesus is
clearly revealed in both testaments.
Jesus is the Father of eternity in the sense that everything
that will last forever is His doing. So
much of reality is only temporary and it will pass away. But that which Jesus creates will be forever
for He is the Father of foreverness. If
there is eternal life it is because He fathered it. If there is eternal song and joy it is because he fathered
it. He only stayed a baby for months
but He is a father forever. His
birthday and childhood are only celebrated because of what he fathered. Adam is the father of the fallen race of men
but Jesus is the father of the risen race of men. Jesus never had a child in His manhood but He has fathered the
one and only race of men who will live forever. He is the Everlasting Father.
IV. PRINCE OF PEACE
Many Christians hate the war-torn pages of the Old
Testament. God's people were constantly
in battle and death was ever lurking near even if they won. Well, they hated it too and longed for one
who would bring a lasting peace and set them free from a life of strife. This was the messianic hope. G.Cambell Morgan, the prince of expositors,
writes, "If I could write one word across the prophecy of Isaiah, a word
that catches the underline motive, what would it be? Peace, God's great purpose of peace. He is the Prince of Peace."
There can be no greater kingdom than a kingdom where there is
perpetual peace. This will be the
ultimate goal of the Messiah. Even now
this is the goal for the inner life for the believer Paul writes in II Thess. 3:16, "Now may the Lord of peace
Himself give you peace at all times and in every way." This is a prayer for peace to the Prince of
Peace because even in this battle scared world the goal is to have peace and live
peaceably with all men.
Jesus had such a complex name that it would be terrible if He
had to sign His name as we often do today.
An Indian petitioned a judge of an Arizona court to give him a shorter
name. His name was Chief Switching
Train Whistle. What do you wish to
change you name to? The judge
asked. The Indian folded his arms and
said, "Toot." This reveals
that a short name can convey what is involved in a long one.
Jesus is the simple name that conveys all that is involved in
His many other names. Frans Delitzsch,
the Old Testament scholar wrote, "The name Jesus is the combination of all
the Old Testament titles used to designate the coming one according to His
nature and His works." It is not
only the goal of Christmas but the very goal of life to know God by His first
name-JESUS.
2. WAITING FOR CHRISTMAS
based on Haggai 2:1-9
In 563 BC, a son was born to a ruler in India. The local astrologers predicted he would
either be a great ruler or a world renowned
ascetic. His father wanted to
prevent that, so he sheltered his child from all contact with suffering of any kind. The little prince was to never see life's
sorrows. But as he grew up he defied
his father and slipped out of the palace to see life on the outside. What he saw was a shock. People were poor and sick and old and there
was hardship and suffering everywhere.
He began to search for why this was and the conclusion he came to has
influence millions. This prince was
Buddha the founder of Buddhism.
He concluded that the whole problem with human beings was
there desire. They set their hearts on
to many things and expect the future to fulfill their hopes. This leads to inevitable disappointment and
misery. The solution if quite simple, just
eliminate desire. If you aim for
nothing that is likely what you will get.
But you won't be disappointed because that is just what you
expected-nothing.
Buddhism is a negative religion where the goal is Nirvana,
which means extinction. It is the
elimination of all desire, hope and anticipation. The closer you can come to this in life, the greater saint you
are. To be detached from all things and
people so that you no longer care if they are destroyed or die, the better
off you are. You can't be disappointed if you
desire nothing. This sounds
awful and depressing to us maybe, but we have to face this reality, there is a
measure of truth in it. Desire to be
like God led Adam and Eve to fall and much of the sin and folly in the Bible is
due to illegitimate desires.
Ruel Howe in his book, The Creative Years, tells of the bright
outgoing young woman who collapsed on the eve of her wedding day. She got more and more depressed and tried to
take her own life. She had to be put in
a mental hospital where she continued to deteriorate. She sat in a corner and refused to respond in any way. This went on for weeks and months and all
she did was sit crumpled in a corner, a symbol of living death.
And artist working on a portrait of the superintendent heard
about her and asked to see her. He took
a piece of moist clay and began to work with it in front of her. He did this for weeks and finally one day
she reached out for the clay. Some
weeks later she began to try to mold it.
She became frustrated that she could not do it and in anger hurled the
clay against the wall. She then looked
in terror at the artist to see his reaction.
He just picked it up and brought it back to her and said, "It's all
right, I still like you." Then she
spoke her first words in many months-"You still like me!" That was the turning point, and from then on
she made rapid progress in her recovery.
They were finally able to figure out what had gone wrong. It was a simple case of excessive
expectation. She was bright and
talented and her parents wanted her to be popular and to succeed in every
endeavor. She worked her heart out and
became cheerleader, homecoming queen and valedictorian. When she faced the expectations of marriage
and the added demands of a husband, it was an overload on her spirit. She broke and retreat into sickness in order
to escape.
Buddha was right, all of this misery was due to hopes and
desires. By expecting less everyone
involved in this true story could have experienced more joy and less
sorrow. Those who expect to much and
who desire perfection are doomed to disappointment in a fallen world. Buddha had a point but he took it to
far. To anticipate an expect nothing
would have been to waste the gifts of this girl and rob her of the potential of
being what she could be. Somewhere
between expect everything and expect nothing there is a place for expect
something.
About the same time that Buddha was teaching his desire
nothing philosophy, there was a prophet called of God to take a message to his
people. Haggai was his name and
encouragement was his game. The people
had come back from Babylon to rebuild the temple with high expectations. But their enthusiasm was soon
shattered. The Samaritans so hindered
the work that the project was abandoned.
The cities were in ruins and the land was a mess and their neighbors
were hostile. They came back with high
hopes of peace and prosperity, and this is what they find. Maybe Buddha was right. Their misery was because they expected too
much.
Then Haggai came on the scene and he urges then to get back to
their dreams and rebuild the temple.
God never promised you a rose garden.
Sure it is hard and there are obstacles to overcome, but let me tell you
a little about the future. The best is
yet to be. God's glory to going to fill
this temple and there will be a peace come upon you as never before. The Desired of all the nations is going to
come to this temple that God wants you to build. Haggai is saying we haven't seen anything yet. The best that God has for this world is
still ahead-the desire of all the nations.
Haggai is saying that desire is good. It is a God given emotion and it is
universal. All nations have it. You can try and follow Buddha and suppress
it but that is not God's way. He wants
you to desire His best. The Old
Testament rejects the Buddhist idea of eliminating desire. Instead, it builds up hope, expands
expectation, and delights in desire.
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give
you the desires of your heart."
There are dozens of texts that make desire a desirable thing. In the New Testament we are urged to desire
the sincere milk of the word and to desire the best gifts. Desire is good and the best desire of all is
the desired one that God promised to send for all the world.
People of every nation have always desired a deliverer. Someone who can come and show away to
overcome the sinful nature and all of the negative consequences of sin. Haggai says this is not just the desire of
God's people but all the peoples of the world have such a desire. That is why one of the names of the Messiah
is Desire Of All Nations.
The wise men from the East were waiting for the birth of a
deliverer. Virgil, the Latin poet, who
lived in Rome a few years before the birth of Christ, wrote of his hope of a
celestial seed who would come and bring peace.
Plato wrote,"We must wait patiently until someone, either a God or
an inspired man, teach us our religious duties and remove the darkness from our
eyes." The Roman historian,
Suetonius, wrote that it was an age old belief that a world ruler would come
out of Judea.
Men of every nation have desired a God they could see. Most all of the mythology of the ancients
was about just such a theme. It was the
fantasy of all peoples that God would come into the world and be like them.
This fantasy of all the world became a reality on the first Christmas. God became incarnated in flesh, visible to
the eyes of humanity. What men had waited for from the beginning of
time, had come. The desire of all
nations had been fulfilled and that is why Christmas is the greatest
celebration of the year.
Before Christmas God was wholly other than man. He was the infinite, exalted inaccessible
and invisible God. At Christmas all of this changed for God
came down to man's level, all the way to an infant. He came to a level of the visible and could be touched. He entered into a world where he had to grow
and learn and where he could feel pain and sorrow and all the affects of a
fallen world-even death. This is
just what men of every nation had always wanted, a God who would show He really
cared by coming to share their life in this fallen world. God satisfied the
universal longing of the human heart that first Christmas. The world did not
even know it but they got just what they were waiting for on that day. The
desire of all nations had come.
It is always hard to believe when the Christmas season is here
again and sometimes we complain that the merchants start so early just to make
more money. This is no doubt true, but the fact is you cannot anticipate this
event too early. Christmas was waited for, for many centuries. Now that it is
an historical reality, we should be ever ready to anticipate the celebration of
this wondrous good news.
Plants and animals cannot do what we can do by looking into
the future and anticipating a coming event. We can multiply our enjoyment of a
coming event by our ability to anticipate it. We can begin to enjoy it long
before it is here. Much of the enjoyment of Christmas comes before Christmas.
The day itself may be very ordinary. It is not wise to put all your eggs in the
one basket of Christmas day. The day is not sacred but the event it celebrates
is what is precious and this can be enjoyed anytime and all the time. Christmas
is more than a day, it is a season and that season can be as long as you choose
to make it. By spreading your celebration out over a 4 to 6 week period you can
be sure you will have pleasure in waiting and seeing desires fulfilled.
Everybody is waiting for something at Christmas. Some are just waiting for it to be over so
they can stop waiting for it. Some are
waiting for special gifts. Some are
waiting for special events. Some are
waiting for special foods or special relationships they only renew once a
year. People have different values that
make waiting a pain and another kind a pleasure. S.Omar Barker wrote,