At this time of the year when the whole world celebrates
Christmas, I can see many discrepancies that deviate from the truth creating at
the same time traditions that with time obtain a religious position. This
becomes distressing when certain religious
groups call themselves “Christians” and even more distressing when these
discrepancies are accepted by Christians and Christian leaders, as if they were
biblical truths.
One is… so many people talking about the “baby Jesus”.
They talk about it, sing about it and instill the idea in children as a
substitute for Santa Claus. There’s
no such thing as “baby Jesus”.
My grandfather was once a baby. Should I call him “baby grandpa?” Of course not. First of all, I never met him as a baby, neither saw his picture as a baby. Secondly, I met him as who he became, who he was born to be. An adult… my grandpa – The same with Jesus. He was a baby when he was born. He had to be. But the purpose was to become an adult and as an adult he was able to be my Savior. If He would stay as a baby, He couldn’t do anything for me. Jesus wasn’t born to be known as a baby, but as a Savior. It would be like trying to make mashed potatoes with potato seeds.
Again I say… there is no such thing as a “baby Jesus”. There is a Jesus that was born among us, became like us to save us. And when someone accepts Him as their Lord and Savior, we say that… “He is born in our hearts.” That’s an expression based on the fact that from that moment on, He’s alive in that person’s heart. But in this marvelous episode of our lives, we (the ones who have accepted Him), we don’t see Him as a baby, but as a Lord that will be reigning in our lives. This is how we see Jesus in Christmas.
He came has a King. The wise man came to see Him and worship Him as a King. Herod wanted to kill Him because the scriptures mentioned Him coming as a King that would sit on the throne of His father David, forever (Luke 1:32,33). That should be our way of talking about Him, singing about Him and teaching our children about Him, even on Christmas. Notice that we say Christ-mas, not Jesus-mas. Christ means “The Anointed One”. In Jesus time, only prophets, priests and Kings were anointed. Jesus as an adult became all three. This Christmas, let’s celebrate King Jesus.
One other discrepancy, probably the one that sticks out the most, is in reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her image has been adulterated to the point of a discrepancy being formed and transformed into tradition and from tradition it is now a dogma inside some religious groups. A dogma so strong and so engraved in the minds of many, that her position (among these religious groups) has become higher than her Son Jesus.
Now… this becomes a big concern when Christians, believers, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ (not religious ones that have been labeled as Christians), get lured by these doctrines that the Apostle Paul would classify has “doctrine of demons” (I Timothy 4:1 NKJV). That’s when Christians become so vulnerable that the Devil can turn them into a yo-yo, and do whatever he wants to do with them. Then these same Christians are the ones that will question… “why did God allow this to happen in my life?”
This discrepancy was formed from the way that the Angel Gabriel approached Mary when he gave her the good news that she had been chosen to give birth to Jesus. No question she was chosen among others. But I believe that if God needed ten more virgins or twenty more, He would probably find them the same way He found Mary. But He only needed one, and Mary was the chosen one.
Without getting into too many details on how Gabriel approached Mary and the way he saluted her, I just want to focus on the subject that Gabriel nor any other celestial being, including God Himself, ever placed Mary on a superior position or empowered her more than any other believer in her time, or after. People need to understand that Mary was chosen to be the vessel. God used Mary to bring Jesus to us. He didn’t use Jesus to exalt Mary. It is like getting a ride from someone and at the end of the trip you thank the car that carried you instead of the driver that gave you the ride. So here, all exaltation goes to God the Father that gave us His only begotten Son.
If we had to give any praise to Mary, we probably would have to give more to Joseph.
First of all, Joseph could’ve stopped God’s plan but he didn’t. Because of Joseph’s love, Mary was saved from being stoned. Secondly, Gabriel spoke with Mary once, but Joseph had four divine visitations. The first one, was an angel that in a dream told Joseph to take Mary as his wife, and explained to Joseph how she got pregnant and that she was going to give birth to a child. The angel also told Joseph (this part is very interesting) that he would call His name Jesus. Legally, by God’s will, Joseph was Jesus’ father.
In Luke 1:32 and 33, we saw above that Gabriel told Mary in reference to Jesus that “the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David". As history tells us, in any kingdom, the throne was always accessed through lineage. Now take well note of this; Jesus would sit in the throne of David because of His lineage with Joseph. Shouldn’t we here give Joseph some praise and exaltation? Note that Jesus would never sit on David’s throne because Mary was His mother, but because Joseph was His father. So, why do some religious groups exalt Mary so high when she was only a vessel and Joseph gave Him the right to be King on David’s throne, which according to the scriptures it will literally take place in the millennium (thousand-year reign of Christ) and after that… forever?! Why?
The Bible really doesn’t say anything about it, but even so, we don’t need to speculate or assume that besides Mary, Joseph was also chosen by God. When I read the genealogy of Jesus which starts with Abraham and after forty-two generations it ends with Joseph, I have no doubt at all that Joseph also was chosen to be Jesus’ earthly father.
One other valid point, is how people recognized Jesus. For instance; in Matthew 13:55, we see that at a certain time when he came back to his home town and spoke with wisdom at the local synagogue, people questioned; “is this not the carpenter’s son”? In John 6:42 we find another episode when Jesus was teaching on the shore of Capernaum about Him being “The Bread of life”, and some Jews that didn’t like it, questioned; “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph”? Jesus one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man, presented himself not many times as the “Son Of God”, but a few times he did it as the “Son of Man” (Mark 10:45). But never as… the son of woman.
Going back to Mary, there is something very profound that she said, and these distorted religious groups that have the audacity to call themselves “Christians”, don’t have the courage to face the truth that is written concerning Mary’s position before God and among believers. In the gospel of Luke chapter one, we find the well known classic song of Mary. And in verse forty-seven we read the following words of Mary concerning her being chosen to give Jesus birth; “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior".
By this, we can see that Mary was a normal woman that had been chosen by God for a specific moment. But that didn’t position her in any level of authority, power nor even has deity. Mary was very clear by saying that she was (like everyone else) a sinner and for that, now through Jesus, she could be saved because the Savior (through her) had come. That’s why she was special. She gave birth to the Savior that she (and the whole world) needed. Note that she didn’t position herself saved by just giving birth to the Savior. Today Mary is in heaven among many other believers. But note that in the throne room the Bible only mentions two thrones, God the Father and His Son Jesus to whom He said "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Psalm 110:1). Later on Jesus defined our access to the Father by saying that; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me".
By Mary’s words we can say today that she went to the Father, through Jesus… THE Way. In other words, Mary isn’t “the way” but she found the way. And what we can get from her today is the lesson of humility. That whatever favor we get from God, we can only see Him when we follow Mary’s footsteps and we say like her: “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” One last thing… Mary is no longer the “virgin Mary”. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had more sons. So this stops the idea that her pregnancy while a virgin, would give her any heights or a deity position. She was special, she was favored, she was obedient, she was blessed among other women, but above all, she was honest. And that was the high part. Chosen as a special vessel, she still looked inside herself and noticed that she needed a Savior. In Luke 1:43 Mary positions herself as… “I am the mother of my Lord".
My grandfather was once a baby. Should I call him “baby grandpa?” Of course not. First of all, I never met him as a baby, neither saw his picture as a baby. Secondly, I met him as who he became, who he was born to be. An adult… my grandpa – The same with Jesus. He was a baby when he was born. He had to be. But the purpose was to become an adult and as an adult he was able to be my Savior. If He would stay as a baby, He couldn’t do anything for me. Jesus wasn’t born to be known as a baby, but as a Savior. It would be like trying to make mashed potatoes with potato seeds.
Again I say… there is no such thing as a “baby Jesus”. There is a Jesus that was born among us, became like us to save us. And when someone accepts Him as their Lord and Savior, we say that… “He is born in our hearts.” That’s an expression based on the fact that from that moment on, He’s alive in that person’s heart. But in this marvelous episode of our lives, we (the ones who have accepted Him), we don’t see Him as a baby, but as a Lord that will be reigning in our lives. This is how we see Jesus in Christmas.
He came has a King. The wise man came to see Him and worship Him as a King. Herod wanted to kill Him because the scriptures mentioned Him coming as a King that would sit on the throne of His father David, forever (Luke 1:32,33). That should be our way of talking about Him, singing about Him and teaching our children about Him, even on Christmas. Notice that we say Christ-mas, not Jesus-mas. Christ means “The Anointed One”. In Jesus time, only prophets, priests and Kings were anointed. Jesus as an adult became all three. This Christmas, let’s celebrate King Jesus.
One other discrepancy, probably the one that sticks out the most, is in reference to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Her image has been adulterated to the point of a discrepancy being formed and transformed into tradition and from tradition it is now a dogma inside some religious groups. A dogma so strong and so engraved in the minds of many, that her position (among these religious groups) has become higher than her Son Jesus.
Now… this becomes a big concern when Christians, believers, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ (not religious ones that have been labeled as Christians), get lured by these doctrines that the Apostle Paul would classify has “doctrine of demons” (I Timothy 4:1 NKJV). That’s when Christians become so vulnerable that the Devil can turn them into a yo-yo, and do whatever he wants to do with them. Then these same Christians are the ones that will question… “why did God allow this to happen in my life?”
This discrepancy was formed from the way that the Angel Gabriel approached Mary when he gave her the good news that she had been chosen to give birth to Jesus. No question she was chosen among others. But I believe that if God needed ten more virgins or twenty more, He would probably find them the same way He found Mary. But He only needed one, and Mary was the chosen one.
Without getting into too many details on how Gabriel approached Mary and the way he saluted her, I just want to focus on the subject that Gabriel nor any other celestial being, including God Himself, ever placed Mary on a superior position or empowered her more than any other believer in her time, or after. People need to understand that Mary was chosen to be the vessel. God used Mary to bring Jesus to us. He didn’t use Jesus to exalt Mary. It is like getting a ride from someone and at the end of the trip you thank the car that carried you instead of the driver that gave you the ride. So here, all exaltation goes to God the Father that gave us His only begotten Son.
If we had to give any praise to Mary, we probably would have to give more to Joseph.
First of all, Joseph could’ve stopped God’s plan but he didn’t. Because of Joseph’s love, Mary was saved from being stoned. Secondly, Gabriel spoke with Mary once, but Joseph had four divine visitations. The first one, was an angel that in a dream told Joseph to take Mary as his wife, and explained to Joseph how she got pregnant and that she was going to give birth to a child. The angel also told Joseph (this part is very interesting) that he would call His name Jesus. Legally, by God’s will, Joseph was Jesus’ father.
In Luke 1:32 and 33, we saw above that Gabriel told Mary in reference to Jesus that “the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David". As history tells us, in any kingdom, the throne was always accessed through lineage. Now take well note of this; Jesus would sit in the throne of David because of His lineage with Joseph. Shouldn’t we here give Joseph some praise and exaltation? Note that Jesus would never sit on David’s throne because Mary was His mother, but because Joseph was His father. So, why do some religious groups exalt Mary so high when she was only a vessel and Joseph gave Him the right to be King on David’s throne, which according to the scriptures it will literally take place in the millennium (thousand-year reign of Christ) and after that… forever?! Why?
The Bible really doesn’t say anything about it, but even so, we don’t need to speculate or assume that besides Mary, Joseph was also chosen by God. When I read the genealogy of Jesus which starts with Abraham and after forty-two generations it ends with Joseph, I have no doubt at all that Joseph also was chosen to be Jesus’ earthly father.
One other valid point, is how people recognized Jesus. For instance; in Matthew 13:55, we see that at a certain time when he came back to his home town and spoke with wisdom at the local synagogue, people questioned; “is this not the carpenter’s son”? In John 6:42 we find another episode when Jesus was teaching on the shore of Capernaum about Him being “The Bread of life”, and some Jews that didn’t like it, questioned; “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph”? Jesus one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man, presented himself not many times as the “Son Of God”, but a few times he did it as the “Son of Man” (Mark 10:45). But never as… the son of woman.
Going back to Mary, there is something very profound that she said, and these distorted religious groups that have the audacity to call themselves “Christians”, don’t have the courage to face the truth that is written concerning Mary’s position before God and among believers. In the gospel of Luke chapter one, we find the well known classic song of Mary. And in verse forty-seven we read the following words of Mary concerning her being chosen to give Jesus birth; “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior".
By this, we can see that Mary was a normal woman that had been chosen by God for a specific moment. But that didn’t position her in any level of authority, power nor even has deity. Mary was very clear by saying that she was (like everyone else) a sinner and for that, now through Jesus, she could be saved because the Savior (through her) had come. That’s why she was special. She gave birth to the Savior that she (and the whole world) needed. Note that she didn’t position herself saved by just giving birth to the Savior. Today Mary is in heaven among many other believers. But note that in the throne room the Bible only mentions two thrones, God the Father and His Son Jesus to whom He said "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Psalm 110:1). Later on Jesus defined our access to the Father by saying that; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me".
By Mary’s words we can say today that she went to the Father, through Jesus… THE Way. In other words, Mary isn’t “the way” but she found the way. And what we can get from her today is the lesson of humility. That whatever favor we get from God, we can only see Him when we follow Mary’s footsteps and we say like her: “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” One last thing… Mary is no longer the “virgin Mary”. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had more sons. So this stops the idea that her pregnancy while a virgin, would give her any heights or a deity position. She was special, she was favored, she was obedient, she was blessed among other women, but above all, she was honest. And that was the high part. Chosen as a special vessel, she still looked inside herself and noticed that she needed a Savior. In Luke 1:43 Mary positions herself as… “I am the mother of my Lord".
