122009
CHRISTMAS REWIND
GOD WAS IN IT
IS GOD IN “IT”?
I want to pick up on a line you heard several times in Christmas Rewind:
“God was in it.”
There’s two parts to that sentence:
- “GOD WAS IN” and
- “IT”
When you at some season in your life and say, “God was in it,” that doesn’t mean the circumstances are particularly exceptional. When we say “God WAS IN IT” about that first Christmas, you may not think this way, but the “IT” was pretty common place stuff:
- “It” refers to an out of wedlock pregnancy of a young woman in the 1st century,
- “It” refers to eastern astrologists following a star.
- “It” refers to the rage of an insane king leading to infanticide in one small village.
- “It” refers to a forced census for taxation under a Roman Emperor.
- “It” refers to humble shepherds who see a vision at night.
- “It” refers to a baby born in a barn with animals.
“IT.” Just some interesting stuff that happened.
BUT, then there’s the other part of that sentence:
The “GOD WAS IN” part.
That’s not a statement of another fact so much as an interpretation of the facts. The “GOD WAS IN” part, sees behind the facts, to larger facts related to God’s involvement in the facts.
“God was in IT.”
But how do you know God was in it?
- The shepherds
- The wisemen
- The star
- The young couple
- The babe in a manger…
The fact is, you could agree all of “IT” happened, but still not believe that God was IN it.
What does it take to see God IN IT all? Sometimes it doesn’t happen till after the fact, after all the coincidences have been tallied, and with perfect hindsight we seen the invisible Hand of God had been moving behind the scenes the whole time.
Sometimes it takes just an open mind, a seeking heart, a heart of faith to see God is in it. Take two of the key players in this Christmas drama:
- HEROD
- MAGI
o One is not looking for God to be IN IT
o The others ARE looking, and looking intently and receptive when God’s fingerprints show up.
Just look at how they both deal with the star of Bethlehem
MAGI AND THE STAR
In Matthew 2 the bible says it was AFTER Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, that Magi from the east came to Jerusalem to find Jesus. Matthew records their reason for coming:
“They saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
Have you ever read Matthew’s description of the star?:
- ONE, it was a newly appearing object in the sky.
- TWO, the star appeared and reappeared. First it led the Magi to Jerusalem for an audience with Herod. Later, the bible says, it to appeared to them, “once again”
- THREE, the star seems to move, thus giving some them kind of directions.
- FOUR, the star appears to stop over Bethlehem where Mary and Joseph live.
- FIVE, the star appears in the East
- SIX, this amazing star escaped the attention of everyone it seems, but the Magi.
That’s one amazing heavenly body!
- Because it’s so amazing, some have suggested it’s just a Myth
o But those who see how historically accurate Matthew is in other areas, are less quick to write it off as pure fiction.
- So, maybe God just manifested a Sign in the sky for the occasion.
o But God so rarely works in your face like that – and it doesn’t fit (6).
- So others suggest it might have been a Comet. A comet does move as the Star did,
o Halley’s comment did show up back then
But not within the window of Jesus birth.
o And a comet was usually a bad omen.
- So was it a Meteor?
o They’re too short lived…
o The wisemen followed the star for months, from Iraq to Palestine, about a 400 mile journey.
- Maybe a Supernovae. When stars die they explode in brightness, which explains the appearance of the star.
o But it doesn’t explain the movement of the star or the stopping.
So another suggestion has been offered based on a new finding: Planetary Conjunction. That’s when planets seem to converge on each other or on a star appearing to form one new star. Astronomers now know that a very interesting planetary conjunction happened in 3 BC, dead middle of the window for Jesus’ birth.
- In September that year, Jupiter converged with a bright star Regulus in the Leo constellation.
o This would make it appear like a new star appeared in the sky.
o Now, this kind of conjunction was unusual,
…but what happened next that year is much more rare and would have made Eastern star gazers sit up and take notice.
Over the next 6 months Jupiter, instead of continuing to drift east in the sky, stopped, and started moving backwards. (This is caused by “retrograde motion” because of our perspective on a moving platform*.) It passed over Regulus again, then stopped and reversed course again, and passed by Regulus a third time making it seem like a new star appeared three times.
King planet, over the king star, in the LION constellation (Judah – the tribe of kings, known to the wisemen through Daniel).
Finally, after this ‘coronation’ Jupiter converged with Venus forming an amazingly bright star – which would have appeared in the southern sky from Jerusalem.
FAITH: THE CHOICE TO SEE OR NOT
What’s my point in this? The star of wonder may simply have been a very exceptional natural phenomena, yet simply a part of “IT”. But the wisemen who eyes were open, whose hearts were seeking, chose to say about the conjunction of planets and prophesy:
GOD IS IN IT.
Some of the biggest miracles of Scripture, as you can see with this star, amount to natural occurrences that are arranged perfectly, coincidentally with God’s other activity. So ONLY PEOPLE with open hearts and minds are ready to see and say,
GOD WAS IN IT.
But, if your heart and mind is closed, you can of course say something different, a different interpretation of IT.
HEROD AND THE STAR
Just look at King HEROD. The Bible says:
When King Herod heard [about the star] he was disturbed… When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
Now here’s a guy NOT looking for signs of God being in IT. So he not only missed the appearance of the star, he hasn’t even been reading his bible which had much more specific clues about God’s plans for sending a Savior. Yet he was a leader of the Jews and they were people of the Book! Why wasn’t he reading it? Why wasn’t he seeking?
If he had just done the smallest amount of seeking, he would have read of God’s clues about his invasion plans for Messiah:
- Born of the tribe of Judah, (Gen 49:10)
- From the house of Jesse (Isa 11:10)
- From the line of David (Jer 30:9)
- Sent as a sacrificial lamb to carry sin (Isa 53)
- Divine origins (Mic 5:2)
These are hundreds of years old clues by the time of Herod, but is he listening? Is he paying attention? Does he see God’s hand, God’s set up, God’s providence, God’s prophetic voice in IT? Nope. Even though he goes to priests who quote a 700 year old prophecy that specifies the birthplace of Messiah:
"'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"
It’s interesting that Herod doesn’t argue with any of IT, the prophecy, the sign of King Star in the sky… He just doesn’t see God IN IT. If he did, he never would have concocted a plan to kill the infant king before he could threaten Herod’s throne. When the Magi don’t show him where the newborn king is, Herod goes on a murderous rampage to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem in a vain attempt to vanquish a potential rival.
So here’s the Magi and here’s Herod. The one is a Jewish insider, the others are Gentile outsiders. They both see the same IT.
- The both see a star.
- They both read of prophesies.
- The both see the same IT… BUT,
o While one sees only what they want to see.
o The other sees, GOD IS IN IT!
SEEING GOD IN YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
It’s like this in life too, isn’t it? I mean, two different sets of people may be in this place and they both have similar facts that define their life. A similar set of SIGNS as it were. For example,
- two people are here and both have been unbelievably blessed. Health has been good and family relationships are strong and no ill effects from the economy thus far and you seem to have the Midas touch…
o And one of you says, I’ve been real lucky and I guess I’m pretty smart too!
o And the other says, GOD WAS IN IT.
- Two people here invited to AC3 by a friend because they thought you were spiritually interested in exploring Christianity and knew that you’d get good answers to hard questions… and after loads of investigation…
o One of you says, there’s good natural explanations for all of IT
o The other says, GOD IS IN IT!
- Two people here are going through a tumultuous time of trial in your life, the bottom seems to be falling… and
o One of you says, it’s all random chaos and life is meaningless pain. All IT means is God can’t exist.
o The other says, I see the providential hand of God in my misery leading me to something better. I’m trusting that GOD IS IN IT.
SAME “IT”. Two different conclusions.
IT THUNDERED
One time in Jesus life, there were many eye witnesses when John says, a voice came from heaven saying:
"I have glorified it, and will glorify it again."
You say, now there’s an in-your-face miracle. There’s writing in the clouds! You can’t push that SIGN away, can you? But John says that’s exactly what some did:
“The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered…”
Friend, after all is said and done, you probably won’t get a lot of push back, not EVEN from the scientific and academic community that IT happened – basic facts of Christmas.
- There were specific prophesies
- There was an amazing star – we discovered what it might have been.
- There was a power hungry king named Herod
- There was a Caesar named Augustus who taxed his empire – here’s when that probably happened.
- There was an aunt named Elizabeth and a cousin named John – there’s writings that authenticate his life.
- There was a birth matching the centuries old, prophetic Messianic thumbprint…
- And then the evidence of the greatest life ever lived which followed that birth
- And then an unjust death and a resurrection attested to by appearances of a RISEN Christ and an empty tomb.
No one discounts the IT. But you can still look at all of IT, all of the SIGNS and say, cynically:
“It Thundered.”
Or, you can look at all of IT skeptically and yet still come to the conclusion,
- God was IN IT.
But all SIGNS point out that God was in it! Which is why when the tally was in, those nearest to Jesus recorded the Christmas facts BEHIND the Christmas facts. Behind IT all:
o IT WAS God himself the King, stepping off his throne.
o IT WAS God pouring out his heart for a world torn apart.
To serve our great need.
To carry our sin debt
o IT WAS God in this baby, born into straw poverty.
o I’ll let Paul tell you what IT was: Phil 2 –
The Christmas facts, behind the Christmas facts.
Question:
- will you see the events BEHIND the events of Christmas this way?
- will you see the circumstances of your own life, this way?
IS GOD THERE?
A woman writes a true story:
In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Now that their father had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.
So I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town. No luck. I wondered aloud, WHERE ARE YOU GOD? Are you with us? Where are you in these circumstances?
The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old drive-in truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel. An old lady named Granny owned the place and she paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. It wasn’t much of a job. Could God be in this place?
Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning. Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches. Where are you God?
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, I wearily opened the door of my old battered 51 Chevy.
To my surprise I saw that it was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes
I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.
Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.
As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning. Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.... God had been there all along.
CONCLUSION: GOD IS WITH YOU
Where are you this Christmas? Spiritually stuck? Maybe because you can’t see he is IN IT – with you. I believe that based on the evidence of this little baby born into exceptional circumstances. Just another baby?, or The Eternal King having stepped off his throne? One who in very nature, God, making himself nothing, to take on the role and position of servant to the human race?
If God was in it… then friend, Christmas means – Emmanuel – God is with you. It means…
There's a hand to hold
In the worst of things
He is with you when your faith is dead
And you can't even get out of bed
Or your husband doesn't kiss you anymore
He is with you when your baby's gone
And your house is still
And your hearts are stone
Crying "God what'd you do that for?"
He is with you
There's love to see you
Through all of this
He is with you in the conference room
When the world is coming down on you
And your wife and kids don't know you anymore
And He is with you in the ICU when the doctors don't know what to do
And it scares you to the core
He is with you
He is with you when your kids are grown
When there's too much space and you feel alone
And your worried if you got it right or wrong
Yes He is with you when you've given up on ever finding your true love
Someone who feels like home
He is with you
When nothing else is left
…and you take your final breath
He is with you.
BECAUSE IF God was IN CHRISTMAS, then GOD IS IN IT with YOU – you just have to be open to see the signs.
