Part 1 of 5 –
God’s Gift for Needy Mankind
Arthur Licursi
We live in two worlds, one outside of our being and the other inside of our soul being. The outer world is filled with conflict and turmoil, hatred and international tension, struggle and strife. Inside we must deal with hurts and disappointments, discouragements, and fear – none of us are free from these difficult inner situations. But if we receive God’s Gift of Christmas, we can have inner peace and strength to overcome suffering, negativism, and fear of the chaos.
John 16:33
(AMP) I (Jesus) have told you
these things, so that in Me (Jesus)
you may have [perfect] peace and
confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain,
undaunted]! For I have overcome the
world. [I have deprived it of
power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
We may contrast the tension, struggle, strife and fear of
non-believers with those believers who have faith and hope for today and the
future because of God’s gift of His
only begotten Son…His Son’s
life given for us at the cross, and then
also…His Son’s “Spirit of life”
given to us to be our ever-present
life-source. “God with us” means the end of loneliness…the end of
facing life’s trials alone.
God’s Christmas Gift:
The first of Christmas was such that Jesus was the only person ever born as result of what is called the immaculate conception, which means a “spotlessly clean conception,” one who was conceived free of human begetting by a human father in the lineage of fallen Adam.
The Bible says the Spirit of God came upon a young human Jewish virgin, Mary and the power of the Spirit of the Highest overshadowed her, and she gave birth to “the Son of God” (See Matthew 1:18-23, Luke 1:30-35).
Luke 1:30-35
(AMP) And the angel said to her,
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace (free, spontaneous, absolute
favor and loving-kindness) with God. 31
And listen! You will become pregnant and will give birth to a Son,
and you shall call His name Jesus.
32 He will be great (eminent) and
will be called the Son of the Most
High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His forefather
David, 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob
(Israel) throughout the ages; and of His reign there will be no end.
34 And Mary said to the angel,
How can this be, since I have no
[intimacy with any man as a] husband? 35
Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a shining
cloud]; and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born
of you
will be called the Son of God.
We know mankind has now been able to “clone” sheep, cows, and other species. Scientist believe that it is now possible to clone a human being. Have you ever consider that every clone by man is “a virgin birth,” since no apparent human “fathering” is involved. This should then make it possible to convince skeptics of the “immaculate conception” of Jesus. If man is able to do this then why is it so difficult to believe that God accomplished this about 2,000 yeas ago.
This “immaculate conception” of Jesus is the key to man’s redemption by the shed blood of Jesus, as we will see in the next installment. Being conceived of God the Father’s sinless Spirit-life there was no sin at Jesus’ core, in His Spirit, and as we shall see, neither in His blood.
Mary gave Jesus of Nazareth his human body, one that bore all the human frailties that we have. Mary was born the daughter of her father Heli, in the line of fallen Adam, by whom sin entered the world. Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, Thus, Jesus “could be touched with the feelings of our (human) infirmities" (Heb 4:15). As with all real humans, Jesus' body contained the fallen human nature we all have, and as Paul describes in Rom 7:17-23, yet - Jesus never sinned! But...it was God the Father who gave Jesus the LIFE that was in His blood. The life of all flesh is in the blood. Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood ...