The True Significance of Jesus’ Birth

For four thousand years and more the promises of God, clothed in more or less of obscurity, had been given to mankind, intimating that ultimately the great curse of sin and death, which had come upon the world through father Adam’s disobedience, would be rolled away, and instead of a curse would come a blessing with life-giving refreshment. And then, by a miracle, came the voice of the angels when they broke forth in a heavenly strain, singing,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14

Today many celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Several Christians say they remember the birth of God, but they should come to know that God was never born. God has always existed. He had no birth and no death, Him being an eternal Spirit Being.

It could be called “strange” that so many people say they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, but do this on an other day than he was born. Him being born on October the 17th has no reason to celebrate his birth on the name day or birthday of the goddess of light.

For ages the Hebrew people had spoken about what happened in the Garden of Eden and how prophets repeated that messages of God that there would come someone to solve that problem of the curse of death. With the birth in Bethlehem, the city of King David, of that child of Mary, a king for always came unto the earth. It was God’s promise, or His Word having come in the flesh.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Joh 1:1 KJ21)

The Speaking of God brought the second Adam in this world. Jesus was a 2° Adam because he was created by God and placed in the womb of the virgin Mary. Now the world could see a special son of man, who was called Immanuel and son of God. When this man who could be seen by many, the God Who no man can see, declared Jesus to be His beloved son.

“16 And Jesus, when He had been baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon Him. 17 And lo, a voice came from Heaven, saying, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.”” (Mt 3:16-17 KJ21)

It would not stay with that one time at the river Jordan; Some months later Jesus repeated His saying, so that people would not forget who was standing there in their midst. It was also said that there would come a time that the earth will be full of the knowledge of this man, the root of Jesse, as the waters cover the sea.

“6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

10  “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand for an ensign of the people; to It shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious.” 11 And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” (Isa 11:6-11 KJ21)

“1  And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up onto a high mountain apart. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. 3 And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. 4 Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles: one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold, a voice out of the cloud, said, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. HEAR YE HIM!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were sore afraid. 7 And Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and be not afraid.” 8 And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. 9 And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, “Tell the vision to no man until the Son of Man be risen again from the dead.”” (Mt 17:1-9 KJ21)

At first, there should not have been spoken so much of that son of man, but years later that became very important and when coming closer to the end-times that would even be more important, because of God’s Word than be preached all over the world. coming closer to the end-times more people shall have to know that there is salvation in no one else than in this sent one from God. Namely, God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

“Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”” (Ac 4:12 KJ21)

It was made clear that salvation would come out of the Jews, from the root of Jesse, a king in the lineage of King David. Lots of Christians still want others to believe Jesus would have been an incarnation of God. They consider the person Jesus “The mystery” and some would say that

the profundity of the incarnation caused another layer of reflection … … this Christmas season. It is an almost unbelievable fantastical story if you really think about it: first of all, just the idea that a divine being would become a human being is crazy enough. {The Christmas Story}

At the same time they forget their fantasy story gets even more ridiculous when they would say God died at the cross for our salvation. They forget than this god would have fooled all mankind and had all people waiting for ages before really bringing salvation to them, because we all still have to suffer and many do not see an end to that suffering.

Jesus was not God who

choose to be a person who was part of a small, struggling, nomadic nation during a time of foreign occupation and oppression {The Christmas Story}

At no time ever did the Jews think their invisible God coming to perform a play, doing as if He died, and then to chatter their

pipe dreams of freedom and prosperity when a great leader would release them from oppression. {The Christmas Story}

Christmas is certainly not the day that

God modeled humility by taking on mortal flesh for our sake. The greatest one became a little one. The strongest one became one of the weakest and most vulnerable ones. He did it for love. {Humility: The Heart of Christmas}

The man born in a stable in Bethlehem was the son of a simple manual labourer and a young woman from the tribe of King David. As a devout family they educated their children in the Torah and learned them to honour only That One True God of Abraham, Who is One (and not two or three). They also learned their children always to tell the truth. From Scriptures we also learn that Jesus was without fault and did not sin. That means he did not tell lies, so when he said he could not do anything without his heavenly Father who is greater than him, he meant that and did not fool people so-called by hiding that he would be God. Jesus proclaimed God’s Truth without compromise.

“But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard from God: this did not Abraham.” (Joh 8:40 KJ21)

“44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not.” (Joh 8:44-45 KJ21)

“Pilate therefore said unto Him, “Art thou a king then?” Jesus answered, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.”” (Joh 18:37 KJ21)

“Ye have heard how I said unto you, ‘I go away and come again unto you.’ If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice because I said, ‘I go unto the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.” (Joh 14:28 KJ21)

“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, “Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” (Joh 5:19 KJ21)

God is also not Someone Who would tell lies.

“God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent. Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Nu 23:19 KJ21)

“that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we, who have fled for refuge, might have strong consolation to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” (Heb 6:18 KJ21)

Either all those saying that Jesus is God, do not believe God is an All-knowing God. Because when Jesus was asked when the end of this era would come and who would be seated next to him in his kingdom he said he could not tell because it is only to God to know such things. But when he would have been or would be God, then he would have known and would not have said the truth, and as such would have told lies. People making Jesus into God, makes not only of Jesus and God liars as well as characters who fooled mankind with their tricks.

People should know that Jesus is not God, but is really the one he claims to be and the one who his heavenly Father tells us him to be.

“ 22 and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him (Jeshua/Jesus), and a voice came from Heaven, which said, “THOU ART MY BELOVED SON; IN THEE I AM WELL PLEASED.”” (Lu 3:22 KJ21)

That son of God, born in October 4 BCE fulfilled an incredible task. He always managed to put his own will aside, to do the Will of God. In the short period of his public life, he tried to make clear Who God is and what God wants from mankind. As the chosen one from God, sent by God to show the way to God, Jesus gave his body as a Lamb of God. His sacrificial offering was not God faking His death, but was a real man of flesh and blood, dying, giving himself as a ransom for the sins of all.

+

Please come to read:

1. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
2. Foretold Messiah 2 a Voice giving The Word to His servants
3. With child and righteousness greater than the law
4. The Beginning of the life of Jesus Christ
5. Matthew 1:18-25 – Genesis of Jesus Christ
6. Matthew 2:1-6 – Astrologers and Priests in a Satanic Plot
7. Matthew 2:7-12 – Pawns of Herod, the Magi Find the ‘Child’
8. Hosea Say What?
9. Jesus son of God
10. Called Immanuel does not mean to be Jesus being God
11. Salvation (Christadelphians)
12. Salvation (Bible Students)
13. God’s salvation
14. Salvation is of the Jews
15. Why think that (2) … Jesus claimed to be something special
16. People believing they need to celebrate the birth of God
17. Which hero to celebrate in December 2020
18. The wrong hero
19. When you believe Jesus is God: who do you think is the mediator? #1 Son of man
20. Ignorance of Today’s Youth (and Adults)
21. Roman, Aztec and other rites still influencing us today
22. Thought for the Christmas time: A sense of history
23. A way to look for Christ, the Bible, Word of God

+++

Related articles

1. The Coming of Christ our Savior, 2020
2. Hear Ye Hear Ye!
3. The Signs of Christ
4. Matthew 1
5. Longing for Bethlehem
6. Bethlehem of Judaea
7. Making Room for Jesus
8. O, Glorious Night
9. Unto Us
10. The Nativity You Never Knew? An in-depth, historical look at Jesus’ birth in Luke 2:1-20
11. For Unto Us Jesus Is Born? Understanding Isaiah 9:6
12. I am Joseph
13. Mary’s Treasure
14. Why the Stories of the Virgin Birth Fit Together
15. The Promised Messiah
16. even closer
17. What Child Is This? #1
18. What Child Is This? #2
19. The Birth of Christ and the Cancel Culture
20. Advent Story Revealed part 9
21. Advent Story Revealed part 10
22. Christmas 2020 – Immanuel: God with Us
23. Far, Far Away on Judea’s Plains
24. Three Incarnation Truths
25. A Shepherd Among Shepherds, Part 1 (Luke 2:8–20)
26. Verse Of The Day – Matthew 17:5
27. Emmanuel’s Tabernacle
28. In the Humble Son, We see Father God
29. The Baptism of the Lord, Cycle A
30. Beloved son
31. “beloved son” … mentioned in The Holy Bible (KJV)
32. Transfigured on God’s Holy Mountain
33. Once more- a voice from heaven
34. No one else!
35. The Unravelling: a nativity
36. Silent lights
37. The Christmas Cheer
38. A Stream of Consciousness on Christmas Night
39. Lovingly
40. The Christmas Story
41. Humility: The Heart of Christmas
42. Merry Christmas! (2020 Edition)
43. Week 4: Friday, Christmas Day, The Nativity of the Lord
44. December 25
45. Why Christmas is Important to me
46. If but for the birth of Christ…
47. The Gift of Sympathy
48. God in a Cave
49. Merry Christmas

Bamidbar (In the Wilderness)

This Torah portion that will be read in synagogues around the world this Shabbat.

BAMIDBAR (In the Wilderness)

Numbers 1:1–4:20; Hosea 1:10– 2:20 [2:1–2:22]; Romans 15:1–7

“Adonai spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert [Bamidbar].”  (Numbers 1:1)

After the Book of Leviticus with Parasha Bechukotai, the Jews start studying the fourth of the five books of Moses, Bamidbar, which means in the desert or wilderness.  While this name is taken from the fifth Hebrew word in verse one, it reflects one of the themes of this book.

The Counting of the Army

Bamidbar is called “Numbers” in English because the first four chapters mention censuses of Israelites, the first of which number the men who are able to bear arms.  An older Hebrew name for Bamidbar — Sefer Hapikudim (Book of the Countings) — also reflects this theme of counting.

The Tabernacle that the Israelites Built (illustration from the 1897 Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In chapter one of Bamidbar, the Israelites still camp at Mount Sinai after having received the law, built the Tabernacle, and been instructed in worship.  Now before they move forward to the Promised Land, they must be prepared for the threats that lie ahead on the journey.

The Lord commands Moses to take a census of all Israelite males able to bear arms from ages twenty and up.

“And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai.”  (Numbers 1:19)

The census results reveal that the Israelites are mighty in number.  The men capable of battle are listed by tribe, totaling 603,550 men:

• Reuben: 46,500
• Simeon: 59,300
• Gad: 45,650
• Judah: 74,600
• Issachar: 54,400
• Zebulun: 57,400
• Ephraim: 40,500
• Manasseh: 32,200
• Benjamin: 35,400
• Dan: 62,700
• Asher: 41,500
• Naphtali: 53,400

The Elite Service of the Levites

“In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to Him, and His resting place will be glorious.”  (Isaiah 11:10)

The Levites are not counted in the census since they are not to be conscripted into the military.

The Levites who descend from Aaron are anointed as priests and given priestly duties (Exodus 28:1, 29:9).

Those Levites who do not descend from Aaron function in subordinate roles to the Aaronite priests as their servants.  These Levites replace the firstborn sons of Israel who were originally given this task but lost that privilege due to their worship of the Golden Calf.  The Levites, however, remained faithful during that time and earned God’s favor.  (Exodus 13:2, 13:11–13, 32:25–26; Numbers 3:12–13)

Only Levites allowed to approach the Tabernacle

As servants to the priests, the Levites are placed in charge of the furnishings and structure of the Tabernacle — taking it down, carrying it, and setting it back up as the Israelites moved through the wilderness.

This is such a holy assignment that only the Levites are allowed to approach the Tabernacle.  Any unauthorized person coming near would be punished with death.  (Numbers 1:47–51)

A depiction of the Jewish priests

The Levites are also required to set up their tents around the Tabernacle (not in one location as the other tribes).  They form a barrier to prevent the Israelites from coming too close to the Tabernacle in order to prevent the wrath of God from falling upon the Israelite camp.  (Numbers 1:53)

All Israelites are to camp at a specified distance from the Tent of Meeting — far enough away to protect the holiness of the Tabernacle and yet close enough for the Israelites to come for the meetings on foot.

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:  ‘The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each of them under their standard and holding the banners of their family.’”  (Numbers 2:1–2)

According to Divine placement, the 12 tribes of Israel camp beyond the Levite circle in four groups of three tribes each:

• Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun to the East
• Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to the South;
• Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin to the West; and
• Dan, Asher, and Naphtali to the North.

Because light comes from the East, that is where Moses, Aaron, and his sons camp, since they are great, holy men responsible for carrying the light of God to the nation.

The 12 tribes encamped around the Tabernacle

Each tribe has its own prince or leader (nasi / Numbers 2:3) and distinctive flag or banner (degel / Numbers 2:2) with its own particular tribal emblem and color.  The colors are thought to correspond to the precious stones on the breastplate of the High Priest (Cohen HaGadol).

These symbols are considered a sign of God’s great love for each tribe of Israel, as it says in the Song of Songs:  “His banner [degel] over me is love.” (v. 2:4)

Even while traveling, the Israelites kept to their particular formation around the Tabernacle.  According to Rabbinic commentary (Midrash), that formation allowed Korah (a Levite) to conspire with Datan, Abiram, and On (Reubenites) to mutiny against the leadership of Moses (Numbers 16:1).

Since they lived in close proximity on the south side of the Tabernacle, they used the opportunity to foment a rebellion.

Of course, this is a perfect illustration of the importance of carefully choosing our companions.  The Bible teaches us that bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33).

A Jerusalem mosaic with emblems of the 12 Tribes of Israel

– Messianic Bible

+++

Related articles

• Jews Deport All Foreign Wives and Children As Racism Is Elevated to a Command to All Jewish People
• The Use of The Physical to Explain The Spiritual
• Sermon: Do Not Be Anxious
• Who are the Israelites?
• If a priest died in the temple, did the temple have to be re-cleansed before another priest entered?
• Who is on the Lord’s side
• Tisha B’Av, a day of national mourning
• What does “To make an atonement with him” mean in Leviticus 16:10?