HOW WOULD WE KNOW WHO IS THE SAVIOR, THE CHRIST, THE MESSIAH?
God said He will send a forerunner; “…A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.…” –Isaiah 40:3 -31
Zacharias, a priest, and Elizabeth, his wife, were both righteous before God; honest and good people with no guilt found in them because they loved God.
The angel of the Lord, Gabriel’s visit:
The angel Gabriel visited Zacharias Temple of the Lord during the time of burning incenses and a large multitude of people praying outside of the Temple of God.
If we take it to the Spiritual, this means when people pray to God, the high priest, who is now Jesus Christ, takes our prayers our burnt or purified heart to the Father. Burnt offering describes our prayers full with sweet fragrances and sweet aroma pouring out of our pure and sincere hearts crying out to God in worship Him. That is the kind of prayers God notices, pays attention to, and moves Him on our behalf.
The angel Gabriel said to Zacharias when he appeared to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.” –Luke 1:13
If we take it to the Spiritual, after the multitude of people brought offerings to be sacrificed for their sins, the multitude of people were gathered outside the Temple praying at the same time Zacharias was burning incenses; and the prayers from their hearts went up to God and God sent His angle Gabriel to give Zacharias a message which was to answer his prayer—a deep desire in his heart—but also to answer the multitude’s prayers to send the Messiah, the Savior. This is why God send His angel Gabriel because the Savior was about to be born.
Zacharias did not believe that he and his barren wife who were both old in age become have a child. But when the angle of the Lord, Gabriel, is sent by God to tell him that he and his wife will have a child, he does not believe. –Luke 1:18
Gabriel said, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presences of God, and I have been sent to speak to you to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent (mute) and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time (or be fulfilled in their own time).” –Luke 1:19-20
If we take it to the Spiritual, when we ask God for a miracle a wonder; we are actually asking Him to surprise us and when He surprises us or is getting ready to surprise us, we need to believe that it will be possible for Him to answer or give us what we are asking Him; why would He not answer good prayers. Good prayers are: help us learn in school, or help us understand God and our parents, or help us be obedient in school, at home, and to God or gives you a mommy or daddy if you do not have one. We should always pray for His will to be done and if He thinks it is good for us, why would He not answer the prayer. Think about how many prayers have not been answered because we just did not believe in our hearts that it would be possible; we asked or do not ask because we think God will not surprise us and give us what we ask for.
After Zacharias’ priestly service was completed (ended)
He went to his house and in those days, Elizabeth conceived (became pregnant with a baby).
She did not tell anyone for five months that she was about to have a baby.
She felt blessed by God because he surprised her with a baby because in those days to have children was a big blessing (a big thing and big gift from God) and her gift was a double blessing. –Luke 1:23-25
If we take it to the Spiritual, God’s people found it to be a big blessing and a big gift from God to have children. God did not only give Zacharias and Elizabeth a baby, He gave them a baby boy, a gifted boy full of God’s Holy Spirit to announce or to tell everyone that Jesus, the Messiah, God’s Savior for the world already is here for the people to repent (say they are sorry from their heart and not do the bad things anymore).
John did grow up to be a GREAT man of God and he baptized with water, but said that Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. He also said, he was not God, he was not the Christ, he was not the Savior and that he was to be less, in other words, who he is must be less so God, Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior, our God, will be greater and greater and greater in his heart, mind, spirit and body. John taught us to love God and to allow God live in our heart, mind, spirit, body and no longer do the bad things, but do what God wants us to do and be close—best buddies, best of friends with Him.
Angel Gabriel visits Mary Luke 1:26-38
If we take it to the Spiritual when the Gabriel tells Mary the GREAT NEWS, that she was chosen by God to be the mother of His Son on earth. Mary was so surprised to be chosen by God and felt honored. I believed she was a humble and sincere young girl who loved God with all her heart and was found without sin for God to have chosen her. Mary is an example of being a person after God’s heart. Mary believed the angel of the Lord, Gabriel’s news and just believes and said, “…I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered, “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.” –Luke 1:38
You may ask, “Why did the angel leave?” The angel was a messenger from God working for God. Mary was a servant of God working for God when she said yes or ok or I will do as you say or I will be obedient and believe.
The Holy Spirit visits Mary and she is with child – pregnant supernaturally with God’s son, Jesus –Luke 1:35
The Holy Spirit is God’s Spirit who came down to earth, over shadow Mary (touched and came into contact with) and put Jesus—God, into her womb. Jesus was all Spirit and now He is a human with blood and bones and if He fell down or cut Himself, He would hurt and bleed. Before coming to earth as a person, He did not bleed if cut.
If we take it to the Spiritual this is amazing, if God can come down from heaven and go into Mary’s womb and be born as a person with bleed and bones, that means that He can do anything, anything and that He is the GREATEST. That means that He will answer your prayers and my prayers if we ask Him from our hearts. “For with God nothing will be impossible” or “nothing is impossible with God.” --Luke 1:37
Mary visits Elizabeth who was now 6 months – Luke 1:36
Mary got ready and quickly hurried to visit Elizabeth, her relative, in Judea and entered into her home. –Luke 1:39-40
If we take it to the Spiritual Mary truly believed the message from the angel Gabriel as sent from God and she quickly received it into her heart and went where it was safe and where the miracle or surprise from God was going to be understood. The angel Gabriel told her about Elizabeth and Mary immediately knew that Elizabeth was part of God’s plan and she wanted to be surrounded by people who would understand what God was doing and about to do. It is important to have friends that believe in God and that God is still surprising us.
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied when John, still in her womb, leaped (jumped) when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice greeting her and told her how blessed Mary. –Luke 1:39-45
If we take it to the Spiritual when we hangout with friends who believe God, we start singing songs to God as Mary and Elizabeth did and even prophesy because we believe all that God has said and bring it to our life. In other words, if God surprised Mary and Elizabeth, He is still doing miracles; He is still surprising His people.
Mary sang out of joy and humility—she is saying that she is not worthy to bring forth the child of God—to carry God in her womb for her salvation and all people. –Luke 1:46-56
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months –Luke 1:56
John is born and Zacharias began to speak again filled with the Holy Spirit of God and prophesied, when he named his baby boy John, “…And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God,…” -Luke 1:76-78
Mary returned home and here is the story of Jesus’ Holy Birth: -Luke 2:1-20
God is Spirit (a life-force not human being), He is the Creator of all things, the one who made us with His Holy Hands because He wanted more children (keep in mind, His Hands never done anything wrong, bad or ugly).
The Lord Jesus Christ-who is God, is God’s only Son and God wanted to help all people (including us), the people He made with His Hands because the people kept doing the wrong things; they stopped talking to Him, they stopped sleeping with Him, they stopped asking Him if it’s okay to do something they want to do, they stopped singing to Him, and they stopped saying thank you to Him and because of this, they were never going to live with Him in Heaven forever.
Now, God wanted to have many, many, many, many more children so He came down from heaven and became a person like us to help us and to show us God again. That is why you hear grownups say, God loves us so much that He decided to live with us and to live in us.
This is how it happened: The Holy Spirit came to Mary, and put Jesus—who is God (He put Himself, His Son) into Mary’s womb and she became pregnant. Jesus—who is God, grew in Mary’s womb and her belly became bigger and bigger.
When it was almost time for Jesus—who is God to be born, Caesar Augustus, the Roman ruler, king—emperor, decided to count the number of people in the world—this was the first census which first happened when Quirinius was governing in Syria. Can you imagine counting the number of people of the world? The counting of people “the census” still happens today in the United States of America every ten years.
According to the Jewish people, Jesus was a Jewish person; they considered their home town the city where their ancestors came from. So, to make the census accurate or correct, every Jewish person had to go to the city where their ancestors or relatives’ came from. Joseph and Mary were both from the house or related to King David from Bethlehem, but they were both living in Nazareth in Galilee. So, they both had to go to Bethlehem and they went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to Bethlehem to the town of King David. During their journey to be register or to add their names for the census in Bethlehem, Mary was still pregnant with Jesus—who is God and they had to walk a long way to get to Bethlehem. There were no cars, do you think they got tired of walking and afraid at night sleeping outside in the night since electricity and cars were not invented yet?
While they were in Bethlehem, Mary was about to give birth to Jesus—who is God, but there were no extra rooms at the inn or the guest house or guest room where people stayed and they were told to stay in the barn or stable or where the animals were kept indoors. Now, the barn in those days was not like the barns we see around us today similar to houses or extra large sheds; the barns in those days were made in the ground out of mud—the mud barns kept them cool in the Summer months and warm in the Winter months—similar to how an igloo is warm inside when it’s cold outside.
So, it happened, Jesus, our God who has everything and made everything and has all the power in the universe, was born in a barn made out of mud with barn animals around Him instead of being surrounded by multitude of angels as He was in heaven. Now, when he was going to be born, it was night time and an angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds living outside in the fields watching over their flock. Why do you think the angels of God visited the shepherds taking care of their flock in the fields? The angel of the Lord glowed, they sparkled, they shined so much that it was all around them, and they were terrified or frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Why did the angel say, “this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger”?
And suddenly a great company (many-a multitude) of the heavenly host (congregation, multitude) appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to god in the highest, and on earth peace to men and whom his favor rests.” Why did the angel say, “…peace to men and whom his favor rests”?
After the angels left the shepherds and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” Why did angels appear to show themselves to the shepherds to tell them about the GREAT NEWS?
So, the shepherds hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby (Jesus—who is God) lying in a manger and after seeing Him, they told everyone what was told to them about Jesus—who is God, and everyone who heard their story about what had happened was amazed. Do you think they were saying WOW?
Now, Mary cherished, she loved, she wondered and surprised on all that was told to her by the Lord’s angel, by the people who were also visited by the Lord’s angels, and by the people filled with the Holy Spirit prophesying that God sent His only Son, Jesus, to become human, to live with us, to walk next to us, and to die for us so He could walk in us forever.
NOTES:
- I have not found the Bible celebrating Christmas or Jesus's birthdate as December 25th or on any day. Follow what God has established and nothing else.
- Prophecy: God speaking and giving a message of caution (warning, rebuke, advise, concern, or of caring) to bring you back to doing the right thing with God and to tell you what would happen if the person does not come back to God–they will not have God’s protection; predicting what will happen; good or bad, it is always God related.
Holy: without sin
Spirit : life-force, strength, courage, character, strength of mind, moral fiber
Angel Gabriel
Angel: There are seraph angels, archangels, guardian angels, cherub angels and fallen angels— the demons doing the devils—Satan’s bad work. We are not to worship the angels.
Gabriel: means strong man of God or God is my warrior – so when Gabriel appears, he
appears as a strong man to fight your battles for God to bless you in the Lord's holy name--Jesus Christ.
Jesus: means Yahweh (God’s name) is salvation/has saved
Christ: means anointed one
Jesus’ Genealogy – his great, great…grand fathers:
Jesus was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph,
43 times Great Grand Father—King David
46 times Great Grand Father—Boaz
54 times Great Grand Father—Jacob
55 times Great Grand Father—Isaac
56 times Great Grand Father—Abraham
66 times Great Grand Father—Shem
67 times Great Grand Father—Noah
70 times Great Grand Father—Enoch he did not experience death, God took him to heaven
75 times Great Grand Father—Seth
76 times Great Grand Father—Adam
77 times Great Grand Father--God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Creator of all things
It took 77 generations for Jesus to be born to make things right between God and man (people) since Adam. Jesus is bringing us back to the beginning, back to God.
