Blog #500

Last updated on: December 14, 2023 at 12:17 pm by Richard E. Simmons III

Blog #500 2023-12-14T12:17:31-06:00 Richard E. Simmons III

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Ten years ago, I was persuaded by a few people to write a weekly blog. At the time I did not know what a blog was, but I decided to give it a shot. Here we are, ten years later and today’s Christmas blog is number 500.

Next Monday is Christmas Day and there will be no blog. The following Monday is New Year’s Day and I am going to post my favorite blog about entering a new year. Starting January 8th, I will post my favorite blog from 2014. Then on consecutive Mondays, I will post my favorite blog from each of the ten years I have been writing. I hope this will be meaningful to you.

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Now for my Christmas blog. I think my favorite Bible verse that relates to Christmas is found in the Old Testament. It was a statement made about the coming Messiah, though it was written 700 years before Jesus’s birth. The verse I am referring to was written by the prophet Isaiah, the ninth chapter, the sixth verse:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

What an incredible statement. A child will be born into this world and we will call Him “Mighty God.” This is why Christmas is such a big deal unless we do not view it from this perspective.

R.C. Sproul said that Jesus was a King and that when Isaiah says “the government will rest upon His shoulders” he is referring to the government of Israel, which he will carry on His shoulders.

Sproul goes on to say, “But Jesus is not simply the king of Israel. He is the “King of kings” and “Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). This particular word structure means more than that Jesus has a position of authority by which he rules over lesser kings. It also indicates the supremacy of Jesus in his monarchical majesty. He is King in the highest possible sense of kingship—and his realm is all creation.

What I find so interesting is the manner in which He came. Though He is referred to four times in the New Testament as the “King of Kings,” yet he did not come into the world with the power and glory of a king. He was not raised in royalty. He came humbly into the world in incredible obscurity, never seeking to draw people to Himself by power and glory, but instead by humility and love.

The great Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard gave great insight into the incarnation through a parable. It is the parable of a young king, who was single and desired a queen. His palace overlooks the marketplace, and one day he sees a young peasant girl come out to do her shopping. He’s quite taken by her beauty and her easy smile. He notices how kind she is to everyone and how they light up when she says hello. She walks to a food stall, buys some food, and, then, she disappears. The king is quite taken by her, yet, she has no idea that the king of this country has any idea who she is.

The next day, he looks for her and again he sees her. Before long, he looks for her every day at the same time out in the marketplace. One day he realizes that he is hopelessly in love with this peasant girl, who has no idea he has been watching her. Now he realizes that as king, as the sovereign of this country, he could force her to marry him and be his wife and queen. Yet, he also realizes that forcing her won’t make her love him, and, he would never know if she truly loved him. And so he decides to take off his crown, take off his royal clothes, dress as a peasant, and enter her world.

God chose to send His Son, from His throne of glory, into the world as a child, to serve as God’s special revelation, and to demonstrate the incredible love of God.

We celebrate at Christmas the incarnation, because it is the foundation of our faith. And on that first Christmas morning, the Eternal stepped into time, and we beheld His glory.

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author.

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