“Christmas and Impossibilities – The Message of the Miraculous”
December 8, 2022
The 12th Day of Advent
The message of Christmas is the confession of the miraculous work of God in human life. This is not an exhaustive list but consider the following truths as our confession in the miraculous work of God irrupting into the lives of those in the Christmas story and into our world.
Through the angel Gabiel God breaks through with a special angelic message to Zacharias while he was praying in the temple.
Zacharias became dumb because of disbelief. His speech was reversed when John was circumcised on the 8th day.
Gabriel the angel appeared to Mary, and she conceived a child by the Holy Spirit.
“How will this happen since I am a virgin?” she questioned (Luke 1.34).
“For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1.37).
“The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1.35).
An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph to take Mary as his wife despite the shame he would bear because of the talk of the towns people. Christmas took place in a real world where people talked and gossiped about others.
The Scripture that Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5.2). How Caesar Augustus' decree for taxation coincided with the prophet Micah's prediction of the Messiah in Bethlehem is nothing but miraculous.
Jesus was born as the incarnate Son of God – fully God and fully human.
The angels appeared to the shepherds.
The magi followed a star from the east.
God showed the magi the hatred of Herod toward the Christ and they returned home another way.
God had revealed to Simeon that he would see the Christ-Child before he died, and he did (Luke 2.25-32).
These are each stories of the miraculous.
God wrote His story through the power of the Holy Spirit and that the words we read each Christmas are His inspired words written for us to accurately know and remember the precise account of God’s love for us.
God leads us by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8.14).
“But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on His initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you (John 16.13,14).
The story of Christmas is that God is at work through our everyday experiences. “Open our eyes, God, so that we may see You at work in our lives today.”
Happy 12th Day of Advent!