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CHRISTMAS SERIES
WELCOMING
JESUS
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According
to scholars, the time that Jesus actually came to this earth was most probably
April. Since Christmas is set aside to remember Jesus and it is a holiday, it
is a good time to remember the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to this planet
earth. I thought and prayed about it. I said, “Lord, your coming to this planet
earth was prophesied nearly four thousand years of recorded Bible history. From
the time of Genesis, right up to the time of John the Baptist the last prophet
before Jesus, many men of God have prophesied before You came to this planet
earth. An entire nation of
As
I look at who were those that welcome the Lord Jesus I felt disappointed. I
said, “Lord, this world did not give you that kind of welcome that the angels
had given you. Why were there not people welcoming you?” There is a spiritual
truth there. The same hindrances that prevent people from knowing and welcoming
His first coming will be the same hindrances that will prevent people from
welcoming His second coming. The same principles in the spirit that prepare some
people to welcome Him are the same principles that will guide us to learn to
welcome every move of God. We need to learn to welcome Jesus when it is time
for Him to come again the second time.
However, the same situation that hindered those people are going to
hinder some people from being ready for the Lord Jesus when He comes again the
second time. Therefore, we can learn from the Lord Jesus’ first coming to the
planet earth in order to prepare for His second coming.
Let
us look first at the gospel of John 1:10. John is talking about Jesus the true
Light of the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him,
and the world did not know Him. When He came the world did not know Him.
The One who made the world, the world did not know Him. Verse 11 He came to
His own, and His own did not receive Him. The very people who should be the
first to welcome Jesus were not there to welcome Him. Instead, other people
welcomed Him. What a sad fact. However, there is a lesson we have to learn from
the historical event of Jesus coming into the world. Let us look at those
people who did not welcome Jesus. Why did they did not welcome Him? What cause
them not to be ready to welcome Him? He says in verse 11 He came to His own
people the Jews and there was no welcome waiting for Him. Why was there no
welcome among the Jews the Israelites His own people? There were people to whom
the Word of prophecy has been given, to whom the law has been given, and to
whom the Lord Jesus say that I am sent to the lost sheep of
Let
us look over here at the gospel of Mathew 2. The people who was supposed to
welcome Jesus when He came were the Israelites. When it was time for Jesus to
come to this earth, they were not ready. It took some strangers from far away.
By that time, it was two years before they arrived at
However,
the surprising thing is two years has passed after Jesus has manifested and
they still did not know. They still did not know, just like some people do not
know when the Holy Spirit shows up in a service. One hour after the Holy Spirit
came, they still did not know that the Holy Spirit or the anointing is already
there. Sometimes, we are waiting for the move of God and the move of God has
started from a place that we never expected. The move of God caused fire in a
place or a group of people who were insignificant and who were not recognized
and that we never recognize it. Therefore, some times one or two years passed
by before we recognize that the move of God has come.
God
has already moved and two years later, here comes the wise men. We are not sure
whether they were three. How did they get the number three? Was it because
there were three gifts. They may have been more than that. When they came in
verse 2 Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His
star in the East and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this,
he was troubled, and all
Firstly,
they were happy as they were. They were not ready to change themselves in order
to welcome Jesus. Every thing was highly organized and highly planned. They
have organized themselves to the extent that they do not need the Holy Spirit
any more. They planned their lives in such a manner that they do not need God
to move any more. They are doing all the moving. This is also the state of many
churches, denominations, and ministries. They may be highly organized by men
and women, but little was inspired or approved by the Holy Spirit. This is
actually lawlessness since many works are done without seeking the Lord’s
counsel and approval. In such highly organized human enterprises, lawlessness
has been institutionalized and established. It is therefore not a surprise that
when there is a genuine move of God, the first to react negatively are these
human enterprises that call themselves Christian.
Secondly,
you notice here that when the wise men asked where to find the king of the
Jews, this caused Herod to do some asking himself. Matthew 2: 4-6 And when
he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he
inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. Therefore, they said to him,
“In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: However, you,
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will be shepherd My people Israel.”
The
Jews have the Word of God but they do not practice the Word of God. The Word
told them where Jesus was going to be born. If they had been sensitive to the
Word of God, they will know the time is right. First, they were comfortable in
themselves. They had every thing they need. Every thing was going nicely - they
had food on the table and shelter above them. They do not need God; they were
just comfortable as they are. They have the Word but they do not practice the
Word. They were hearers of the Word but
they were hypocrites. Jesus later in His lifetime rebuked them. You have the
Word but you do not do the Word. They were hearers of the Word but not doers.
If you hear the Word long enough but never practice it, some thing will happen
to your heart. You would be worse off than never hearing the Word. It means
that now even the mighty Word of God has no effect on you. It means that now
you will be many times as hard as you were before. Not to hear the Word is one
thing. However, to hear the Word and not be moved by the Word will cause our
hearts to harden against the Lord. When
we receive a Word or command from the Lord and we refuse to obey, we choose to
be a hearer and not a doer. We will move into this group that never welcome
Jesus when He manifests. We will not be ready when Jesus comes.
Thirdly,
here is Herod in verse 7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise
men, determined from them what time the star appeared. He did it for a
wrong motive. He did it because if he could find out where Jesus was he wants
to get rid of Jesus. Jesus was not crucified by the masses that He healed,
touched and blessed in His ministry. The crucifixion of Jesus was a plotted by
this same group of scribes, Pharisees, and the high priests. The third reason
these people did not welcome Jesus is that they have locked themselves into a
position that if God wants to do something, God has to do it their way. If God
manifests any other way, or if the voice of God comes from a carpenter and not
from one of the Pharisees, they will not accept it. In other words, they are
saying, “God, I want you to work my way. Yes, Lord we are looking forward to
welcome You but if you want us to welcome You, You come on our terms and
conditions. Please do not ask us to come on Your terms and conditions.” They
have made themselves bigger than God had. They have built their thrones higher
than God’s throne. Therefore, when God came lowly on a donkey they rejected Him
while the crowds accepted Him. The third thing why they did not welcome Jesus
is that they wanted Jesus to come on their terms. This group that did not
welcome Jesus represent hearers of the Word but not doers. They have hardened
their hearts to God’s plans and purposes. They have planned every thing so well
that they were not ready to welcome Jesus when Jesus came. In fact, His coming
was considered an intrusion into their lives and unsettled their plans and
programs.
The
wise men - who do they represent? They represent the people of the world. They
represent people who are hungry for God. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who
hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled.” These people who
were hungry for God had followed the star. They saw the star and they made a
commitment to God. Therefore, these wise men represents people whose hearts are
sincere towards God. When the light comes to them, they would gladly accept it
and be born again. They will come to accept Jesus and accept the move of God
when He comes. They have a hunger for
God. For those who are neither hungry for righteousness nor hungry for God, the
move of God can come and go and will make no difference to their lives. Those
who are hungry for God will obey their spiritual hunger and go on a spiritual
search.
I
came from a Buddhist family. When I was young, I did believe in God. In primary
school, I believed in God although no one told me about God. I looked up the
sky and knew that there must be a God. By the time I was 16, I became an
atheist and did not believe in God any more. Too much education, too much
scientific experimentations and too much materialism made me doubt the
existence of God. I thought atoms and molecules were the stuff of life.
However, when my sister got demon possessed, I heard the demons speaking
through her. I saw the demons manifesting through her. Something in my
philosophy cracked and I saw that science could not explain that unseen demonic
presence. I went on a spiritual search. I became hungry for the truth. I
yielded to that hunger and went on a spiritual search. Along the way, some
friends brought me to church and I was born again. There are people who are
hungry but will pay no attention to that spiritual hunger. Every night before
they sleep, some thing asks them where they are going in eternity. What will
happen when you die? They try to rub it out of their mind with distractions.
They will have to face that question and resolve it.
Secondly,
these wise men had obeyed the Word as soon as they had the opportunity to hear
the Word. The first time they heard the scriptures, it was from the most
unlikely people - the chief priests and the scribes. The wise men asked, “Where
is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East
and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2: 2) The chief priests and the
scribes said that the Christ would be born in
The
same scenario will be played out in these end times. Many students of prophecy
will be able to give outlines of the end times with Bible chapters and verses.
However, when the rapture were to take place now, most of them would not be
ready. There is something deceitful in the hearts of man. Like the chief
priests and the scribes, they take pride in knowing chapter and verse of
Scriptures to predict the birth of the Messiah and other coming events. But unfortunately,
like the chief priests and the scribes, they would also be unprepared for the
very events they can predict so accurately. What gives? Their intellectual and
spiritual pride have deceived them into thinking that they are smart enough to
be caught up in the rapture.
Today,
many churches are running their church life in their own flesh. Many think they
are right. However, one day after the rapture, many would realize how wrong
they had been. But it would be too late.
Thirdly,
in Matthew 2: 11, And when they had come into the house, they saw the young
Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. When they had
opened their reassures, they presented gifts to Him, gold, frankincense and
myrrh. Then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to
Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
The
third point is they were worshippers of the Lord. There is no calling higher
than being a worshipper of God. God brought them into true worship.
The
gospel of Luke 2 shows two groups of people in the world - those who are hungry
for God and those who are not hungry for God.
Luke
2:1 it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while
Quirinius was governing
Firstly,
these people had a big event taking place in their midst. The world had never
done this before. No such census has happened in the world before. This is the
first time they were having a census. It was also a time of celebration. You
can see that all the major towns and cities were filled. All the hotels in town
were booked. We all know what it is like. If your city were to host the Olympic
Games, guess what? All the hotels in town would be booked months ahead. It is
such a big event in the life of the city. It would be the talk of town. The bus
drivers would be talking about it. The taxi drivers would be talking about it.
Now here is something exciting - the whole world was having a census. Everybody
is going to the towns of their tribal origins and at the same time, they make
use of the season to visit their friends.
This
group of people who did not welcome Jesus was the worldly people. Firstly, they
never read the signs of the times. God is ordering some things in the world
today. Behind the headlines, the back lines and in the middle lines of the
newspaper is the hand of God. However, the carnal mind is not sensitive to the
times and seasons that are happening. Do you know that this whole census is for
one reason? There is only one reason for the census. The
When
Jesus actually came the sad thing Luke 2: 7 tells us is that everybody else had
a hotel room but none for the One for whom the census was planned for. The
whole purpose of the census was planned for the birth of Jesus to take place in
Secondly,
we will relegate Jesus to a time of convenience. It is not convenient for us
now to have time for Jesus. We are not ready for You. Some people worship the
God of convenience. “I will only think about eternity when I make my living.” They
are worshipping convenience. “When it is convenient for me, then I will come to
church.” “When it is convenient for me,
I will think about future things.” You do not talk about the Almighty God, the
heaven, and the earth that way. You do not talk to the boss you work for that
way. “Boss, although you employ me I will serve you when it is convenient.” You
will be fired that very day. Yet we talk to the Creator who gave us life who
gave us breath and we say we will worship You when it is convenient. We will
welcome You when it is convenient. That happened to them.
The
third thing that happened is that which is not recorded here because Jesus came
and went and they did not know it. They never experience Jesus. They never saw
Him. When you choose to draw near to God, God will draw near to you. God did
say this in the Old Testament, “If you reject Me, I will reject you.” He will
have a grace period before He does that.
However, if you constantly reject God there will come a time when we
will be like Pharaoh and He will put us in the second level of pre-destination
and say that’s it you are now set aside for the judgment. Those who love God,
God will love them. Those who hate God, He will still love them but then
judgment will come upon them because God will take His hand of protection away
from them after a season.
What
about those who welcome God? This group was the shepherds. Why did God
specially go to the shepherds? As I looked at it, I asked, “Lord, why did You
specially go to the shepherds? Why didn’t you send the angel right to the Town
Hall where the people gathered?” On that day, the King was born and laid on a
manger. Why go to the shepherds in the country when everybody was in the city?
Remember the census was on and everybody was in town. Just like on Christmas
Eve night when we were driving through town to get to church, there was a huge
traffic jam and it looked like a morning rush hour. I do not know what the
world is doing on Christmas Eve night when they do not know the Lord. It looks
like rush hour traffic. What is the world doing? It is busy. I asked, “Lord,
why do not You appear to the world?” The Lord said, “If He sent His angels to
them they would have ignore the angels because the world would not receive Him
and God knows it.” Therefore, God do not waste time. God does not waste time
sending angels to the Town Hall and the hotels. They were too busy for God’s
plans. Those three points were working against them. They are not interested in
God so God did not bother to send angels to them. However, out in the country
there was a group of people the shepherds. They were away from the world.
Firstly, they were people who were not caught up with the things of this life.
Some shepherds took off to town but this group of shepherds were not interested
in those things. There are special stall opened today for the shepherds. These
shepherds in the country said, “No, we are not interested. We just like to look
up into the sky above thinking about God.” Therefore, the first thing why these
shepherds had a special manifestation they were not tied up to the world or the
world system. They were simple folks who just love God more than things.
However, the people in the world love things more than God.
Secondly,
these shepherds were faithful. Luke 2: 8 Now there were in the same country
shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. They
knew they had a job to do and if nobody does that job, the sheep will be lost.
These people had a high measure of faithfulness. They were sacrificial and they
were faithful. They said to the other shepherds who wanted to go to town,
“Never mind, you go ahead. Somebody has to do this job. We will sacrifice and
we will look after the sheep. We will take all your jobs for you while you are
away.” They were faithful people. Luke 2:9 And behold, an angel of the Lord
stood them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly
afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you
good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you
this day in the city of
The
shepherds responded in verse 15 Therefore, it was, when the angels had gone
away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one other, “Let us go to
Now
there was a fourth group of a person who also responded correctly and that is
Simeon and Anna. How did this fourth group respond to God? Verse 25 behold,
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and
devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon
him. Firstly, this fourth group has set themselves apart. They have kept
all the conditions that the shepherds kept but they went further. The shepherds
only saw the manger but Simeon and Anna saw the Lord and they even know the
future. That is what the church should be like. Firstly, Simeon waited for the
coming of Jesus. Every day he looked forward to that. He will be like the
Christians today getting up in the morning and saying to God, “Lord, when are
you going to come back? We miss you, Lord Jesus. We know that you are delaying
because there are more people who should be saved when You come back. However,
O Lord we look forward to Your coming. We keep ourselves consecrated separated
for your coming.” That is the first thing they look forward and they prepare
for Jesus coming. Whenever God does anything new or bring a fresh move of God
or fresh revelation, they will always be the first people to move into it.
Verse
26 Therefore, he came by the Spirit into the temple. When the parents
brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,
he took Him up in his arms and blessed God.
Secondly, the Spirit leads this group of people. They learn to hear the
voice of the Holy Spirit. That day Simeon may have been praying and the Holy
Spirit said to him, “Simeon, I want you to go now to the temple because the
Messiah is being dedicated there.” When he heard the voice of the Holy Spirit
and he followed it, the Holy Spirit led him to see Jesus. It is important to be
led by the Spirit. I was just sitting with a brother in the Lord. He was a
successful man beginning to do some ministry. Then he made this statement,
which I know to be true since he is serving the Lord since January 96. He said,
“I find that not many people led by the Spirit. A lot of them walk in the
flesh. Even some ministers claim to be led by the Spirit but they do not know
the Spirit. They do not know His sweet gentle voice. They do things that are in
the flesh. The Spirit leads a small percentage.” However, bless God the day is
coming where the Spirit is leading more and more people. You are going to be led by the Spirit. You
are going to hear His voice. You are going to hear His call. They will be at
every place the
Lord leads them to go.
The
Italian mystic, Maria Valtorta, had a series of visions of the life of Jesus,
which she wrote in a five volume book called, “The Poem of the Man-God.” She
described the following scene of Simeon beholding the Babe Jesus as follows:
Simeon,
whom I always thought belonged to the sacerdotal class, and is instead a simple
believer, at least according to his garments, takes the Child and kisses Him.
Jesus smiles at him with the typical smile of sucklings. He seems to watch him
inquisitively, because the old man is crying and laughing at the same time and
his tears form a sparkling embroidery running along his wrinkles and beading
his long white beard, towards which Jesus stretches His little hands. He is
Jesus, but still a child, and whatever moves in front of Him, draws His
attention so that He wants to get hold of it to see what it is. Mary and Joseph
smile and so do all the others who praise the beauty of the Child.
I
hear the words of the holy old man and I see the astonished gaze of Joseph, the
deeply moved look of Mary as well as the glances of the little crowd, partly
surprised and moved, partly laughing at the words of the old man. Amongst the
latter there are some bearded and conceited members of the Sanhedrin, who shake
their heads giving Simeon an ironic pitying look. They must think he is a
dotard.
Jesus
says: Truth is not revealed to a priest engrossed in rites, but absent with his
spirit, it is instead revealed to a simple believer.
The
priest, always in contact with Divinity, devoted to what concerns God and to everything
which is above the flesh, should have realized at once who was the Child Who
was being offered that morning in the
The
Spirit of God can thunder if He wants, and rouse like a thunderbolt and shake
like an earthquake the dullest spirit. He can. But generally, as He is an
orderly Spirit, as God is Order in each Person and way of acting, He inspires
and speaks, not where there is sufficient merit to deserve His effusion – in
which case His effusions would be most rare and not even you would know their
light – but where He sees the “good will” to deserve such effusion.
How
is such will exerted? With a life devoted, as far as possible, entirely to God:
in faith, obedience, purity, charity, generosity, and in prayer. Not in
practices: in prayer. There is less difference between night and day than there
is between practices and prayer. The latter is communion of the spirit with
God, from which you emerge with fresh strength and a decision to belong more
and more to God. The former are common habit exerted for various purposes,
which are always selfish, and they leave you exactly as you were, nay, they
aggravate your burden with the faults of falsehood and sluggishness.
Simeon
had such good will. He had not been spared troubles and trials in his life. But
he had not lost his good will. Age and misfortunes had not impaired or shaken
his faith in the Lord and in His promises, neither did his good will to be more
and more worthy of God tire or falter. And God sent Him the ray of the Spirit
to guide him to the Temple, that he might see the Light that had come to the
world, before his eyes of a faithful servant closed to the light of the sun,
awaiting to be reopened to the Sun of God glowing in the Heavens, which I had
reopened when I ascended after my Martyrdom.
“Prompted
by the Holy Spirit” says the Gospel. Oh! If men only knew what a perfect Friend
the Holy Spirit is! What Guide, what Teacher! If they only loved and invoked
Him, this love of the Most Holy Trinity, this Light of Light, this Fire of
Fire, this Intelligence, this Wisdom! How much more they would know of what is
necessary to know!
The
third point is found in Anna’s life in verses 36 and 37, Now there was one,
Anna, prophet, the daughter of Phanuel, the tribe of Asher. She was of a great
age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and this
woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the
temple, but serve God with fastings and prayers night and day. She had all
the same conditions as the shepherds had. However, she went further. The group
of people who will be there to welcome Jesus Christ are those who give
themselves to prayers, to worship and fasting. She gave Jesus the kind of
welcome that He deserves when He came into the world. Many believers today keep
remembering the day Jesus came. We give Him the welcome that He so deserves.
However, how sad that when He actually came there were so few to welcome Him.
Although all heaven was praising God and rejoicing that night, however, on
earth only a handful were rejoicing and praising God. However, that handful
today has grown to ten thousand times ten thousand. Many believers in Jesus
really understand the spirit of Christmas. We know that Jesus may not have been
born on December 25 but today we want to say, “Lord Jesus, we missed welcoming
You when You came. However, we want You to know how grateful we are when You
came into the world. We want to welcome You. Again and again those ten
thousands times ten thousand voices welcome You today this December 25. We want
to give You that welcome that You missed. A welcome that was not accorded to
You.” We want to remain a group of people who will welcome the Lord when He
comes the second time. We want to be the group of people that welcome the Lord
and the Holy Spirit whenever He does some thing in our lives. Let us be like
the shepherds, lets be like Simeon and Anna. Let us not be like Herod and all
those scribes. Let us not be like the people of the world who are not hungry
for God. Let us be like these groups that welcomed the Lord Jesus.
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