Christmas is our most important holiday, and its literature is correspondingly rich. Yet until now no adequate bundle of Christmas treasures in poetry and prose has found its way onto the Internet for Winter, Christmas, the birth of Christ, Santa Claus, and so much more..The Kingdom of God Never Comes by Watching for it
Let us turn our attention to Christmas in the Past.
We have no difficulty in accepting Christmas in the past tense. The story of the Incarnation is a touching story, and the New Testament is a thrilling account of the things that Jesus taught and did while here upon earth in the flesh.
Jesus was the teacher of teachers. His teaching was profound but simple. The common people heard him gladly because he loved to teach using word pictures:
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he found the single pearl of great value, he goes and sells all his possessions and buys it. — Matthew 13 :45,46. Phillips
He structured his preaching and teaching in such optimistic phrases that his disciples could not help but act:
The Kingdom of God never comes by watching for it… for the Kingdom of God is inside you.– Luke 17: 21. Phillips
Happy are the humble-minded, for the Kingdom of heaven is theirs! — Matthew 3:3. Phillips
Happy are the utterly sincere, for they will see God.– Matthews 3 :8. Phillips
Happy are those who make peace, for they will be known as the sons of God. — Matthew 3: 9. Phillips
Jesus did not just teach with his lips, but with his actions also. He healed the leper; he caused the lame to walk; he gave sight to the physically and spiritually blind; he brought wholeness and new life to Mary, Zaccheus, Matthew and countless others.
His ethic was couched in love. Love was the key to life.
If a man could love enough, then to him was given the Key to God and to the neighbor.
Jesus was the leader, leading men in the pathways which led to God and to peace. Jesus was forever introducing men to their heavenly Father. He was always building bridges for men to go to God, and to go from one to another.
At the age of thirty-three, Jesus was crucified on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. The crucifixion reminded men of the lengths to which God’s love would go to redeem them from their lost and broken state.
When driving a car, it is imperative that the driver make a habit of glancing in the rear-view mirror. Many a tragedy has been averted simply because the driver kept an eye on the traffic behind him. However the driver must not attempt to guide his moves only by looking behind, or he is certain of encountering tragedy. As we celebrate Christmas each year we look, in a real sense, into the rear-view mirror. We must look back on the earthshaking event in history which divided history into the old and the new era - B.C. and A.D.
During the Advent season each year we must go back through the centuries and try to re-discover what God did for man in Bethlehem. Christmas does have a past tense, and we are the poorer if we ignore it.
