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“I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”
Jesus in Luke 4:43
If Jesus was at your church or on the street corner to deliver a Christmas message, His message would be about the kingdom!
Now that’s an interesting Christmas message. Jesus’s purpose is to preach the kingdom of God to one city after another. And it’s not the cities but the people in the cities. And its not the people but individuals. So, Jesus’s Christmas message for each one of us has to do with the kingdom of God.
There is no Christmas without the Kingdom and no Kingdom without Christmas.
Fascinating.
Or maybe not so much. Maybe the kingdom message has been hiding “in plain sight,” buried under trees, mistletoe, presents, and a manger scene. In Luke 1:26ff, Gabriel appears to Mary and reveals to her that she will be with child. Read what he says from verses 30-33,
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus.
Jesus was born to be the King.
King Jesus’s Kingdom has no end.
If we believe and allow ourselves to feel accordingly, we should feel hope, power, and camaraderie among other things. We should feel hope because this world is a crazy, broken, what-happened-now kind of place. And the wheels of Crazy Town seem to be falling off daily. BUT, because we are in the eternal Kingdom of God, we are subject to the wiles of the world. We have strong, confident, bold hope knowing that Jesus’s Kingdom cannot be overcome by the world.
We can feel empowered. You are a part of an undefeatable team. No one. No group. No organized anything can stop God our Father’s work to advance His Kingdom through Jesus. Not even the crucifixion of our King can stop the advancing of His Kingdom! If you believe these things, and allow yourself to feel them, you live empowered.
And you should feel the brotherhood/sisterhood. We who are in Christ, who engage in Kingdom living, are not alone. We love together. We build together. We fight together. We weep and celebrate together. Kingdom living binds us together in a mutual hunger to accomplish our Father’s will in a way that He is seen and glorified.
Because Christmas is Jesus, it is the Kingdom. Because Christmas is the Kingdom it is hope, empowerment, and brotherhood.
Gabriel says our Father will give Jesus the throne of David. David ruled over God’s kingdom in Israel from approximately 1000-960BC. He built geo-political Israel into a force on the global stage. Unfortunately, because of the sexual sin in his family line, his son, Solomon, and grandson, Rehoboam, would lose Israel’s might and global position. However, in 2 Samuel 7:16, our Father, YHWH, promised King David, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”
God our Father’s plan was to have a King reigning on the throne of His people eternally.
In fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7:16, through Gabriel’s Luke 1 proclamation, Jesus came to be that King.
This Christmas will you pause and consider a few things…
- From way before 2 Samuel to way after Luke 1 our Father has been moving creation forward according to His perfect plan. Take a big, deep breath and relax back into His providential will for your life. He knows what He is doing.
- The Kingdom of God is very active. If you want confirmation that God is at work in the world just look at His frontlines. Look in the lives of people. Learn to listen to what the Spirit is doing to advance His name. Once you can learn to see His activity, you will never be able to unsee it.
- Jesus is brilliant far above all others. His teachings. His life. His ways. His emotions. His purpose. The Apostle Paul says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Jesus. Embracing Jesus should alleviate you from any fear that your way of life is wrong or will be outdated. Let Jesus become your new dictionary about life, about you, and the world.
Spend time in silent reflection with each of these points. Journal how the Holy Spirit stirs you. Allow yourself to be affected. And enjoy what comes out.
LIFE in the Overflow happens as we allow ourselves to continually be opened to the vast magnitude of the Kingdom.
