The Call of the Christmas King
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After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.”
So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son.
Point: Christmas is about Covenant. Jesus came to establish a new covenant of life. The church lives to share that new covenant of life. Each disciple has been “called out” to live in covenant and to share the good news covenant of Jesus.
Each Christmas, thousands of people flock to Bethlehem to remember, refresh and give respect to the Jesus. Bethlehem was the birth place of the greatest gift our world will ever know. In Bethlehem, True Life was given birth. Bethlehem represents the place of redemption. It also represents a place of great death. King Herod, outwitted by wise men from the East, gives orders to have killed all the male children in and around Bethlehem of two years of age and younger (Mt. 2:16). He has been told that the new prophetic King of Israel has been born. The stars in the sky confirm this fact. Your kingdom will be undone. To protect his throne, King Herod orders the death of the young males in and around Bethlehem.
The prophet Jeremiah speaks of this day in Jeremiah 31:15
This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping— Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.
Bethlehem is known as a place of death, not of life. Bethlehem is the place where Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, dies in child birth (Gen. 35:16-20). Rachel names the boy Benoni, “son of my sorrow”. Jacob renames the boy Benjamin, “son of my right hand”. Predictive? Jesus, born in Bethlehem, was known as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa 53:3). Jesus is also the Son of God’s right hand (Acts 5:31; Heb. 1:3).
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.
God exalted this man to His right hand as ruler and Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Bethlehem is a place where captives were taken, as Jerusalem fell to the hordes of Assyria, because of unrepentance and a refusal to follow God and His ways. Jeremiah weeps. Rachel weeps. Jesus weeps. Mt 18:12; Isa 53:6
We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.
What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the 99 on the hillside and go and search for the stray?
Jesus is born in Bethlehem, to redeem it and make it a place of life. Everyone has a Bethlehem waiting to be redeemed. Everyone is a Bethlehem waiting to be redeemed. Who are what is your Bethlehem? Because of Jesus’ coming, there would be spiritual deliverance for Israel, and the establishment of David’s throne and kingdom. God moves into the neighborhood! God gave the promise that one day Israel would be once more restored to their land (Jer 31:16-17 ). But He also gave an even greater promise that Israel would be regathered, and His kingdom established, a covenant of promise (Jer 31:31 ).
This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return from the enemy’s land. There is hope for your future — this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return to their own territory.
“Look, the days are coming”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
Bethlehem represents a place of calling and for those called. It is a place of death and a place of life. It is the place of humanity’s rebirth, new life. Hebrews 9:15 says,
Hebrews 9:15 (HCSB)
Therefore, He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Jesus was “called” by the Father to do His will, to lay down His life, to give humanity new life. Jesus was willing to be sent and “give life to the dead and call into existance things that do not exist” (Rom 4:17). Bethlehem was dead, but was brought back to life. You and I are Bethlehem, we were dead but have been brought back to life in Jesus Christ. Jesus gives life, and calls things into life, that do not exist. All of us have been called or invited from a place of death, to a place of life. The called out ones are the seperated ones. The problem is we like to blend in, we do not want to stand out from the crowd, typically. As a Christ follower we are called to stand out, to come out from the crowd. In the crowd you tend to develop group-think, or the mob-mentality. One does it, we all do it. Is it easier to be the discenting voice or the complementary voice? We all want to be liked and accepted, so we capitulate to group-think, or the mob-mentality.
Jesus never capitulated to the group-think, mob-mentality. He actually came out of egypt as God the Father brought Israel out of Egypt. Egypt is the group-think world. It is the place where everyone becomes one. It is the place where one is molded and formed to follow another kingdom, a foreign kingdom with foreign principle, ethics, values and morals opposed to God. A place of comfort, ease, safety and security. A place where one can get lost and lose their identity. The road marked with self-desires and ungodly temptations. It is the place where God called Israel out from, His Son Jesus, and us , His prodigal sons and daughters.
Yes, Jesus was called out of Egypt, and sent into Egypt. Why? So that He could fully identify with our plight. Just as Israel was sent into Egypt, and called out, Jesus did so to redeem Israel fully, to redeem us fully. Bethlehem is man’s birthplace, the place of death, born under the curse of sin and death. Jesus was born under the curse of sin and death, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Led into Egypt, the wilderness, to live with men, as a man, experiencing all that men experience and do. But then Jesus was called out of Egypt to establish the new covenant. He calls us out with Him, to find a new kingdom, established through a new covenant by Jesus’ shed blood and resurrection. 2 Tim 1:9 says,
He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
So, we have been invited to Jesus, His kingdom and His works. We have been give a holy invitation. Have we accepted it? Are we living it? Are we leaving Egypt, have we left Egypt or are we heading back? Or are we heading to Bethlehem to see the King of Christmas, of redemption, of new life? You and I have been called out of Egypt to experience new life, to share new life, the new covenant of Jesus with others, and bring them out of Egypt. Am I doing the work? Am I following Jesus’ steps (1 Peter 2:21)? To be hunted, like Jesus, by Herod, is a good thing because it means we are not living in Egypt and on our way to Bethlehem. Jesus will provide all we need to outwit the Herod’s of this world. Pastor Warren Wiersbe has said, “A person is identified not only by his friends, but also by his enemies.” -Warren Wiersbe
Who are my enemies? Who is my true friend? Come to Bethlehem and see the one who gives you life from death, this Christmas. This is the call of our Christmas King…Jesus.