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Nativity - LL&L News Dec 2007
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Benjamin Devey
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Dec 20, 2007 15:00 PST
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Learning Love and Life
Monthly Relationships Newsletter
No. 163, December 2007
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The Nativity Story
A Movie With Heart
What makes The Nativity Story different from other films is that it’s
about a subdued event that just so happens to be the turning point of
world events. It plays out quietly in seemingly ordinary events, with
internal, personal turning points…
See the full review here:
http://snipurl.com/nativitystory
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The Most Important Event of All Time.
Copyright 2008 by Benjamin Devey
The story of the Nativity began before the creation of earth when Jesus
was foreordained to save mankind through the atonement. No wonder then
that angels heralded the birth of the baby in the most humble of
circumstances: uprooted from his family’s homeland, no place to set
roots before fleeing the wrath of temporal kings and despots.
The story of Christmas is but a prelude to Easter. The baby was born in
a manger. Imagine, Jesus, the Savior, the Only-Begotten Son of God,
anointed Christ, the Messiah to redeem man from the fall. Emanuel--God
Saves, creator of worlds--condescended to live life in a mortal body, so
he would have the power to lay down His life and take it up again to
raise men so they could return to God.
The angels brought the news to shepherds lying in the field, keeping
watch over their sleeping flocks. Why the shepherds and not the
religious leaders? Could it have been a message that the leaders were
slumbering, not attending to God’s true business of guarding their
flocks from the dark night of apostasy, while the humble herdsmen
attended to the business of keeping watch?
Ezekiel prophesied some 600 years before this time, “Thus saith the Lord
God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the Shepherds of Israel that do feed
themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?” He cites a string
of abuses of the clergy who didn’t attend to the needs of the church,
but satiated their own ambitions. “My sheep wandered through all the
mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, my flock was scattered upon
all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” The
Lord God promises to rectify the wrongs of those pretending to speak for
Him.
Then the Lord promised He would come as the Good Shepherd, “For thus
saith the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and
seek them out, As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is
among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep and will
deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the
cloudy and dark day.” Please read the entire chapter of Ezekiel 34 to
see how meaningfully it ties into the prophecies of the nativity story.
He promises, “Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with
them.”
Who were these first witnesses of the Savior’s arrival? Were the
shepherds waiting for the advent of the coming of the Good Shepherd who
knows each of his sheep and calls them by name? Is it possible that
prior to retiring for the night, the shepherds talked of the
long-awaited event and prayed, “O come, Emanuel,” hoping the Lord would
hasten the anticipated day?
We read in the account, “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore
afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not; for, behold, I bring
unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord.’”
A multitude of heavenly host of angels attended, praising God, “Glory to
God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
After the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
“Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to
pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.” Note, they didn’t
deliberate, but came with haste and found Mary, Joseph, and the babe
lying in a manger. They were probably familiar with Ezekiel’s prophecies
of the shepherds of Israel--and the even sterner warnings Ezekiel gave
to watchmen on the towers--and recognized the responsibility of
witnessing what they saw. And when they had seen it, they made known
abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all
they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the
shepherds. And the shepherds returned to their flocks, glorifying and
praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told
unto them.
I wish you a blessed Christmas. May you have joy and peace this season
and always
Benjamin
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Copyright (c) 2007 by Benjamin Devey. All rights reserved. Permission is
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