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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for December 2, 2010
“Jesus Didn’t Just Show Up on Christmas Day”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
Jesus didn’t just show up on Christmas day.
Yes, He was born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger, but did you know He was around before that?
John 3:17 says that God sent His Son into the world. When someone is sent somewhere, it usually means they are sent from somewhere else, right?
In John 6:38 Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
So Jesus was sent “down from heaven.”
And it wasn’t like He came to be just before He was sent to earth. Check out this prophecy of the Messiah, foretold by the prophet Micah long before Jesus’ birth. And it also foretells the birthplace, too, so listen to Micah 5:2. It says, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
So Jesus was around before His birth, but for how long? Listen to Jesus’ words in John 8:58. He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” So Jesus was around before Abraham’s time.
Or we can rewind even further. In John 17:5 Jesus talks about being with the Father before the world began. Colossians 1:17 says it this way, “He is before all things…”
In John chapter one, Jesus is referred to as “The Word,” and listen to what it says. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
So there is Jesus, He is God, in the beginning, and everything was made through Him. And He was sharing glory with the Father, until…
Galatians four picks up the story. It says, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman...”
Philippians two says that Jesus was “in the form of God,” and “did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” So there He was, in heaven, as God, in this highly exalted state of glory – and then came the “fullness of time,” and what did He do?
Philippians two says He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.”
Back to John chapter one, where Jesus is called the Word, it says “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
And when did that happen? Jesus the Word became human flesh as described by the angel Gabriel in Luke chapter one, when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Highest overshadowed her. At that precise moment Mary went from being a virgin with nothing in her womb, to being a virgin with the tiny unborn Word in her womb. That’s when the Word became flesh, not on Christmas Day.
And it fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah seven which said, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” And what does Immanuel mean? It literally means, “God with us.” The virgin Mary conceived and at that moment, God was with us, the Word became flesh, in the likeness of a human.
Here is an interesting scene. In Luke chapter one, after Mary has conceived, she goes to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist; and listen to what Elizabeth calls Mary. In Luke 1:43 she refers to her as “the mother of my Lord.” It wasn’t that Mary became the mother of Jesus on Christmas Day. She already was the mother of Jesus. The Word was already made flesh and dwelling among us.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love Christmas as much as the next guy. I love the story in Luke chapter two of the birth of Jesus and the manger and the shepherds and the angels and all of that. Peace on earth, good will toward men – I love it.
But what we celebrate on Christmas Day was not the beginning of the story, and it wasn’t the beginning of Jesus.
For that we go back to before Abraham, even to before the creation of the world, and what do we find?
We find Jesus the Word, in heaven, as God, in a highly exalted state of glory.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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