NEWSLETTER | ISSUE NO. 02 | DEC 2022
A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
REV. ALFRED HORSFORD
I wish to take this opportunity to extend to the ECWI family sincerest greetings as well celebrate the birth of our Saviour and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of man. May the fact of his incarnation be to us a source of much joy and ever-deepening commitment to him. Some people tend to question the need to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ.
They express the view that Jesus was not born on December 25. Rather, that was the birthdate of Nimrod, described in the Bible as the hunter of the souls of men who was also the husband the Semiramis, both of whom were the founders of idolatry. While the date may have been an issue, it was the decision of the later church to provide functional substitutes or replacements for pagan worship. They offered Jesus as the one whose birth should be celebrated, rather than Nimrod.
The actual date of the birth of Christ is also held up to question. Some suggested March, others September, and still others on Passover in March/April. When all is said and done, the crucial factor is that Christ was born, and this is an event worth celebrating. While no biblical command is given for doing so, biblical examples and encouragement do exist. In the Christmas hymn, Angels from the realms of glory, the celebrants of Christmas are clearly set forth: Angels (seraphs) from the realms of glory……; Shepherds in the fields abiding…….; Sages leave your contemplation….; Saints before the altar bending…….; Let us take some time to consider the celebrants of Christmas and what we can learn from them.
First, let us look at the angels or seraphs. These played an active role in the Christmas drama or narrative. We find them involved in announcing the coming birth of Messiah to a teenager, Mary, whose name in Hebrew Maryam, means bitter. She was greeted with the unusual words, “Blessed art thou among women.” She was told by the angel Gabriel that she was chosen to realize the hope and aspiration of every Hebrew woman, to be the mother of Immanuel according to the prophet Isaiah (7:14). Her fear and consternation were assuaged when she was assured that the Holy Ghost would come upon her and she would conceive and bring forth the Child that was to be born, the Son who would be given, whose name would be called: Wonderful Counselor, the Might God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
When Joseph heard the news of Mary his fiancée’s pregnancy and was contemplating appropriate action an angel also came and assured him of what she already knew and encouragement him to marry her. The activity of the seraphs in the Christmas drama climaxed with the celebrating of his birth. Heavenly fireworks appeared with the manifestation of the glory of God (shekinah) as the Angel of the Lord revealed the news to shepherds in Bethlehem and praised and glorified God in the Highest. If that was not celebration, then I do not know what is. The fact that the most important of prophesies was fulfilled with the coming of the Redeemer, promised since the fall of man, is an event worth celebrating. If angels who needed no redemption celebrated the birth of the Redeemer how much more should we who need a redeemer.
The shepherds also celebrated Christmas. They were looking after their flock at night when the news of the Saviour’s birth came to them in dramatic fashion. Their fear was overwhelming as an angel appeared to them with the glorious news, the first proclamation of the evangelion, the good news of the gospel. They were a captive audience as the angels not only told them the good news but also put on a celebratory display as they glorified God in the Highest and announced peace toward men of good will. They who sang creation story now proclaimed Messiah’s birth. These were no ordinary shepherds, according to one Jewish Messianic Rabbi. They were Levitical shepherds who cared for the sheep to be used in the Passover sacrifice in the temple. They were told by the angels that they would find the babe wrapped in swaddling bands lying in a manager.
Our Rabbi friend assured us that the manger was not some trundle bed in a smelly setting but rather was in a cave. Many of these caves were around Bethlehem and were used for stalling sheep. The Passover lambs were birthed in a clean, well-kept environment. The shepherds would know the place well. In addition, they were given a sign that the babe would be wrapped in swaddling bands. Both the manger and the swaddling bands have been regarded as signs of poverty and degradation; but then the research comes to our aid: “When we think of swaddling clothes, as mentioned in the story of Luke 2, we generally think of white blankets wrapped around the infant baby Jesus. We see these simple bands of cloth as a sign of humility and poverty. However, it is probable that our image of these strips of cloth is very wrong.
First, it will be helpful to understand what we do know from the scriptures about swaddling. In Ezekiel 16:4 we learn of the practice of swaddling when the Lord compares Israel to an illegitimate child who has not been properly cared for or swaddled because they had rejected the Lord. It reads, “And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.”
From this we learn that washing, salting, and swaddling was a sign of being properly cared for.” (We can safely assume that Jesus at his birth would also have been washed and salted. In ancient Jewish culture, salt was a sign of a covenant and was used during sacrifices at the temple. Being salted at birth was a sign or symbol that Jesus was not only part of the covenant but was literally the reason for the covenant.
From other ancient traditions about swaddling, we also learn that swaddling was done with specific bands that were embroidered by the bride during the year between betrothal and the marriage feast. The cloth would have been around five to six yards long and four to five inches wide and would be embroidered with signs of the family tribe. Because Joseph was of the tribe of David through Judah, the swaddling bands of Jesus may have included depictions of the lion of Judah or of the stem of Jesse.” (Redeemer of Israel, Dec. 19, 2014).
It was clear to the shepherds that this was no ordinary baby but the Promised Redeemer, the true Passover Lamb. They worshiped him and rejoiced at the news of his birth. Then they went forth, the first evangelists to proclaim he good news to Israel: “The Redeemer has come, the Saviour is born, the true Passover Lamb is here.” Certainly, this event was well worth celebrating.
Then came the dedication of the babe in the temple. Waiting for him were two of the saints of God who had been watching long in hope and prayer. As he suddenly appeared in the temple, the first of them Simeon took him in his arms and rejoiced in celebration. At last, his hope was realized, and the promise made to him specifically that he would not die till he had seen the Lord’s Christ was fulfilled. Now he could depart in peace (Nunc Dimitis). As a prophet he declared to Mary her coming suffering through the death of her Son. Her name which means bitterness would take on its real meaning at the cross as she undergoes her second time of travail. The first was at his birth. Anna, the prophetess, would not leave the temple since the death of her husband. She became married to the Lord and anticipated the coming of the Redeemer as well. At eighty-four she had the opportunity of celebrating the realization of her hopes and dreams. Messiah had come and she also rejoiced and celebrated the event.
Finally, then came the sages, the wise men. They would not be outdone by the foregoing celebrants. They were philosophers and astronomers who were the true searchers for truth. They had learned of the coming of the Jewish Redeemer-King from the Taanach, the Old Testament Scriptures. The captives in Babylon and Persia and spread the light of his coming and they were intrigued. Maybe they themselves were Jews. Some say that they were kings. They must have studied the book of Daniel and calculated the numbers given in chapter nine and arrived at the date of the King’s appearance. Also, they must have read what Baalam said about the Star of Jacob. Their research was corroborated by the appearance of a star in one of the constellations. Its unusual appearance and brightness convinced them that a King was born, and they set out to seek him.
The sages arrived some two years after the babe was born. After causing some consternation to Herod, his court, and all Jerusalem they eventually found their way to the house in which the babe now lived with his parents. Some believe that there were more than three of wise men or magi because they brought three kinds of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, they may have been accompanied by an entourage of up to 200 people. After all they had travelled a distance of some fifteen hundred miles with precious commodities through a region festering with thieves and brigands. On arriving at the house, they bowed down in worship and celebration of the King who was born. They presented their treasures before him: gold, in recognition of his kingship, frankincense, in recognition of his priesthood, and myrrh in recognition of his sacrifice.
Are we now convinced that Christmas is worth celebrating? What more evidence can we have. Let us follow the example of these characters of Christmas and celebrate our Redeemer’s birth. But while we celebrate, we need the understand the need to proclaim it to the nations like the shepherds and the wise men did. That is our mission since we have experienced his birth in our Bethlehem, our hearts. The whole world needs to know that they need no longer live in bondage for freedom has come. The prince of this world has been crushed on Calvary and a new King is here. He was born at Christmas over two thousand years ago.
Bring out the choir, strike the harp, roll the drums, the King is born today, the Saviour of the world has come! LET US CELEBRATE!
Rev. Alfred Horsford
Superintendent
ECWI Southeast Caribbean