A thought by David Jeremiah, from his book, Why the Nativity?: 25 Compelling Reasons We Celebrate the Birth of Jesus (p. 5). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
Yes they are.
David continues, "He made a universe of unbounded dimensions, measured out in stars and galaxies. Its size was matched by its vast complexity, in the intricate dance of atom and molecule. The range of his artistry—his color, his sound, his silence—reflected the wealth of his power and love."
He says, "But God wanted more than worlds, so he created life. He turned to his special world, the earth, and filled it with plants and animals, monstrous and microscopic—a kingdom of moving and breathing and even thinking creatures, all fashioned in wild variety. There were towering, brooding redwood trees that held court for twenty centuries, decorated by mayflies whose lives began and ended within a single day.
"But God wanted more than life; he wanted friendship, so he created mankind. This would be his crowning work: a manifestation of life that would reflect his own being. Rocks and trees, stars and whales—these were wonderful, but they were not his children. Men and women, as he made them, would be the close-knit family of an infinite God, clothed though they were in flesh and blood. An outrageous idea for communion it was: the perfect, infinite Spirit who is Lord of all, and the tiny, limited creature that calls itself human.
"Yet there was love between them until the children of earth stumbled. That’s a story for another day, but the truth is that God’s children chose disobedience and fled in shame from his presence. Another name for the disobedience was sin, and it became an insurmountable barrier between the Creator and his creatures. Men and women knew God as one would regard a distant uncle who was never seen face-to-face."
He later says, "As is true for any parent, his children were his greatest joy. They had failed him time and again, each of them, every day—yet his affection for them was undiminished. He loved each child perfectly, boundlessly, as if that little one were his only child.
"So the Father yearned through the centuries and the rise and fall of civilizations, never ceasing to reach out to his prodigal family. He did this in every possible way: through the glories of his creation, through the immeasurable gifts he gave them, through the words of prophets and teachers. He dispatched his servants with countless messages that said the same thing in ten thousand ways: 'Come home, come home! You are loved now and forever.' "
He then says, "The great problem must have a solution. The first order of business was to reintroduce the children to their Father. How could impure flesh know pure Spirit? There must be a way that men and women could know what God is like and, therefore, realize what life can be. The full extent of that, of course, was greater than the capacity of their understanding. For example, they could never comprehend the nature of heaven. To do so, they would need to enter those gates—and in their tainted humanity, they could not do so.
"Yet heaven could come to them."
And that is what the Nativity is all about. Yes, yes! #continuethought
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