12.26.2021   PICTURES OF JESUS

      WISE MEN came from the East looking for Jesus in Jerusalem.  They came to worship him and give him gifts.  They saw a sign in the heavens that they followed, (Matthew 2:2-3).  They had scriptural picture in their spirit that was hundreds of years old. This picture came from the family album of God the heavenly father.  We have a list of pictures from all the prophets of different generations telling us that a wonderful savior would come from heaven to be with his people and save them from their sins.  They had a picture of Jesus.

    The picture from heaven was guiding them to Jerusalem step by step.  They longed for the arrival of the Messiah and anticipated his coming.  Everything in their being was looking for a new golden age of the light of heaven coming into this dark world.   They traveled hundreds of miles to see this baby in the flesh.  They saw the first arrival and coming of Jesus the Messiah, and now you and I can see the second coming of Jesus the savior of the world. We must be like the WISE MEN.  They searched the scriptures and had the pictures of the Messiah deep in their spirit.  That is the lesson here.  Are you looking for the Messiah to arrive and rapture his bride Church at any moment?

     Are you giving gifts to Jesus like the WISE MEN?  Is there any distance that would prevent you from seeing Jesus in your spirit and learning more about this wonderful savior?  He changed the world forever through his sinless life and sacrifice for sinful man. The more pictures that you collect in your personal spiritual album the less negative painful pictures from the past you will have. 

     The WISE MEN found Jesus in the stable and had a new picture to add to their spiritual album.  This picture would last them all the days of their life.  They saw God in the flesh.  He was greater than all the holy men of God that prophesied and came before him.  He now had become the true God/man.  The God of the universe is born as a baby in a stable full of animals.  He is one of us.  He left all his powers in heaven and came to live among us not as a royal King of this world, even though he is the King of the universe, (Matt. 27:11). 

     The picture of a baby in a stable is one that the Father wants us to remember.  Put it in your spiritual album where you will never forget it.  This picture is worth a thousand words of Jesus saying, “I love you, I love you, I love you.”  This powerful positive picture of the savior of the world will replace the negative pictures of the past that are holding you captive.  Jesus came to set the captives free, (Luke 4:18).  Jesus is perfect and sinless and never would do anything to harm us.  He only wants to bless us and make us just like himself. 

     As a young child my sister and I would get into the family albums and look at pictures of our parents.  Those pictures are still imprinted upon my heart.  The vacations that we went on our still imprinted upon my heart and memory.  Then, there are the negative pictures we all have of growing up in a family and going to school that also stay imprinted on our hearts and minds, and they hold us captive to the past.  We live in regrets, anger, unforgiveness, and thoughts of vengeance.  We are not living the abundant life that Jesus promised us, (John 10:10).

     Christmas is the time of year that we celebrate the birth arrival of Jesus Christ as savior and Lord of the world.  Today the gift from Jesus is new pictures of him and his family to replace the negative pictures in your spiritual family album.  This is the time to receive love and forgiveness in the place of anger and unforgiveness.  This is how Jesus washes away all the sins of our life through repentance and forgiveness.  The picture of the wise men coming from hundreds of miles away to get a new picture of the love of God in a stable should be imprinted on our hearts and spirits forever.  What amazing grace that Jesus would leave all the glory of heaven to come to earth and live among us and be one of us to save us from our sins and give us new pictures of his love for us.


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Blessings on Your Life in Jesus,

 

Glen Howard Moore, B.A., Masters of Divinity