“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6-7). I have a huge request to make of us all. I want us to try to picture ourselves in the literal presence of the Lord. Let’s try to forget everything going on around us and focus on being in the presence of God. Now, whatever thought you have, I promise you it is better than that.
I want us to think about how heaven views Christmas and I am here to tell you it is not the way we view Christmas. The world sees Christmas as this little, cute baby who grew up to become a great teacher and He did, but, there is a lot more to Christ than His birth. Some of us, we see Him as the Son of God who died on the cross for our sins and He is the Savior of the world. And we can have an intimate relationship with Him, and all of that is true. But, there is so much more. It doesn’t matter how high, how holy the picture we have of Jesus right, He is so much more and the reason I know that is because the Scripture reveals people who had a high view of God, but when they saw Him they were shocked to be in His presence.
I love what Job says. The Bible portrays Job as the most righteous man on the earth and even when all of the tragic events took place in his life, he stilled loved and worshiped God. But listen to what Job said: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
The view of heaven goes so much further than a time of warm feelings when heaven views the birth of Christ. Even Christ had a higher view: “Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:5-7). The sacrifices of animals did not satisfy the penalty of our sin, but the body and blood of Christ did. That little baby came into human existence with a body to die for.
What is our response? What would heaven have us to do in view of what was announced to the shepherds keeping their flocks that night? “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1-3). Anything short of that and we have missed heaven’s point of the coming of Christ.
Submitted By: Lennie Reagan
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