YOU need to stop thinking of Jesus as if He were historical, like a dinosaur or a Caesar. Jesus IS.
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. – Matthew 1:23 KJV
Why do YOU want to think gently of Jesus as a baby in a manger? Why do YOU want to think briefly of Jesus as YOUR Savior on the Cross? Why do YOU not see the resurrection beyond the manger?
The church once worshiped the bones of the Apostles as relics of history, but YOU will not find Jesus’ bones in a grave. The bones of the Apostles will dance alongside ours before Ezekiel and the Prophets at the Day of Christ’s coming again!
In the year of our Lord 2013 we would do well to remember the birth of Christ Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem of Judea with sight of His Name Emmanuel – God with us. Jesus IS. Jesus IS God with us now; yet in these last days we would do well to look for our Redeemer to call us unto Him in the place where He IS.
In the days before John the Baptizer called for the world to prepare the way of the LORD, God’s manifest silence was evident – no Prophet had spoken for centuries. Recalling the close of the Old Testament let us now look to the Book of Malachi, remembering that the Risen Christ Jesus IS and is to come again: God with us.
Malachi 1
English Standard Version (ESV)
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?”
Does Christ our Savior and God our Father not love us? Is the Lord not with us, as He was promised and did promise, and does promise by His Word?
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.
And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? [KJV]
… O pastors and ministers and reverends and priests who despise and neglect the Name of Christ Jesus: God with us! O you who broadcast YOUR world, recommend YOUR book and ask for the offering that is the Lord’s!
10 Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand.
Christ IS with us. Surly He looks upon us with great displeasure. He IS King of kings and Lord of lords!
14b For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.
Malachi 2
If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.
7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. 8 But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts, 9 and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”
10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Is the church which bears His Name true witness of His love poured out for us on the Cross? Why do you call yourself ‘christian’ and not love one another as Christ Jesus, who IS God with us?
13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14 But you say, “Why does he not?”
Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?
And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”
And dear liberated wife of this 21st century, is the Lord God with us? Is He not witness between you and the husband of your covenant of marriage?
Are your Godly offspring to be found in the house of the Lord?
Are you not only one in spirit the husband of your vows, but by your vows also one in spirit with Christ Jesus (whom you claim as your lord)?
The man or woman who claims Christ and divorces is witness against your covenant with the Lord. You profane the Name of Christ (now calling yourself a single one). I AM Emmanuel: God with you!
The Messenger of the Lord
17 You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.” Or by asking,“Where is the God of justice?”
(Now we come to the more familiar reference to John the Baptizer; yet remember Emmanuel and His coming on the clouds.)
Malachi 3
English Standard Version (ESV)
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.
Yes, the Lord IS come. He will return suddenly and seal His new covenant.
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I the Lord do not change…
7b Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.
The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
Malachi 4
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Great Day of the Lord
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings…
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Thus ends the Old Testament and the books of the Prophets.
Christ incarnate was born in a manger.
Christ died. Christ IS risen. Christ will come again.
Christ Jesus, Emmanuel: God with us.
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
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