|
If Yeshua was born during the festival of Sukkot (i.e., "Tabernacles"), then his miraculous conception (i.e., incarnation) would have occurred nine months earlier, sometime around Chanukah. Put the other way, if Yeshua were conceived in late Kislev (Nov/Dec), he would have been born 40 weeks later during Sukkot. For more information about this subject, please see the article, "Christmas: Was Jesus really born on December 25th?" (Note: Some people try to "blend" Christmas and Chanukah into "Christnukkah" or "Messiahmas," but strictly speaking the birth of the Messiah and the Zionist holiday of Chanukah are two different things.)
Regardless of your particular custom surrounding the birth of Yeshua, the crucial point is that He was born to die (Heb. 10:5-7). The story of his birth is only significant in relation to His sacrificial death (Mark 8:27-33). The "manger" scene leads directly to the Cross at Moriah. That's the miracle of the Gospel story itself: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). This is of "first importance": Yeshua was born to die for our sins, to make us right with God, and was raised from the dead to vindicate the righteousness of God (1 Cor. 15:3-5). His birth (or rather His incarnation) was the "first step" toward His sacrifice for our deliverance (Heb. 2:9-18).
Yeshua came to earth and emptied himself (κένωσις) of His regal glory and power in order to be our High Priest of the New Covenant. The life he lived in complete surrender to the Father was meant to demonstrate that He alone is the efficacious Healer and High Priest (Mediator) of us all: "But [He] made himself nothing (εκενωσεν), taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men; and being found in human form, he brought himself low by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:7-8). "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1-4).
Though Christmas is customarily the time that many people observe the birth of the Messiah and Savior, it is surely appropriate to celebrate Yeshua's glory as our risen King and Lord every day of our lives.... Therefore I sincerely wish each and every one of you a wonderful Christmas Season. May we all take time to reflect upon the profound gift of the One who was so great that He emptied Himself (κένωσις) of all His regal glory and power to be clothed in human flesh in order to die as our sin offering before the Father.
יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְברָךְ - "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."
|
