Advent-ure Day 11: Journey to Bethlehem

Balaam was a man who was called to speak God's words, despite the attempted manipulation of Balak, the son of the king of Moab.  In one of his oracles, Balaam said this, which we find in Numbers 24:

17"I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.

This is considered to be a prophecy about Messiah, foretelling a coming King to rise from Israel.  His Kingdom would be an everlasting, spiritual kingdom, and we recognize that authority that this King would have.  In order to establish His authority on the earth, Jesus came to earth to declare the words of God and to represent His Father perfectly - through His death and resurrection, He defeated spiritual powers and is now ascended to the right hand of the throne of God.  He reigns, and we can be thankful for God orchestrating His plan and sending to us a great Lord, Savior, and King!

 

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The census and the subsequent journey strategically placed Mary and Joseph in the correct position for the Christ Child to be born.  Luke 2 tells us:

1And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.2This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.3So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.4Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,5to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
Mary and Joseph's hearts were in alignment with God's plan, and He used the census in order to bring them to Bethlehem, which the prophet Micah declared would be the birthplace of the Messiah. This series of events reminds us that we serve a sovereign God, who desires to express His will through our lives.

I am certainly not a regular connoiseur of the website, Netmums.com. In fact, I just discovered it earlier today. It's apparently a British site oriented toward mothers. There was a post there entitled, "No room at the Inn? Traditional nativity plays ditched for pop songs and punk fairies."
It relates:

As adults we have fond memories of the school nativity play. We were read the nativity story and practiced our songs and lines for weeks, whilst our parents busily cobbled costumes using tea towels and gold tinsel ready for the Christmas nativity play. New research from Netmums reveals that traditional nativity plays are being ditched in favour of pop songs and punk fairies.

Only a third of schools now hold a traditional nativity play at Christmas time. The most common school Christmas celebration (for more than half of all schools) is now an ‘updated nativity’ with modern characters including recycling bins, footballers and punk fairies.
The show is not even called the nativity anymore with many schools calling it a 'Winter Celebration' ‘Seasonal Play’ or ‘End of Year Concert’ instead.

And there are new characters in these plays, such as aliens, recycling bins, a ‘Lord Christmas’ modeled after a prominent British businessman, punk fairies, Elvis, footballers, a lobster, a napkin, carrots, sprouts, a pumpkin and a drunken spaceman.

But the survey indicates that there is overwhelming pressure from parents to continue the tradition of a Christmas Nativity play.  65% of parents whose school doesn’t hold a traditional nativity would like for it to do so, with just 22 per cent feeling the Nativity is ‘unimportant’. A further 13 per cent planned to teach their child the Christmas story at home.

And, there apparently is pressure that parents place on teachers to give their kids a starring role.  One in nine parents quizzed had witnessed other mothers pressuring teachers to give their child a main part while 26% suspected it went on at their school. And 14 per cent confessed to being "upset and disappointed" by the part allocated to their child in the school Christmas play.

Interestingly enough, just 38% of schools allow parents to take pictures of the play freely.  Just under a third ask parents to sign a form saying they will not share pics on social media.

So, what do you make of all this?  Last night, Franklin Graham was on The Kelly File on Fox News. As the Fox News Insider site reports, Graham, "discussed what he calls a growing hostility toward Christmas."
He said, “You have the secularist and humanist who are wanting to take Jesus Christ out of his birthday, and they’re wanting to deny that he ever existed. They want to take his name out of everything […] this has infiltrated now our government. And our government is attacking Christmas, it is not only attacking Christmas but the name of Christ.”

Megyn Kelly asked: What are we to make of a world of in-your-face sexuality, while a nativity scene is deemed too offensive?

Graham replied: “We are glorifying sin, and people have got to understand that God takes sin seriously."

Yes, he certainly does!  And, that takes us back to the story of Christmas and how God arranged for the arrival of His Son upon the earth.  Our Heavenly Father was so precise in His planning that for years and years, the prophecies of the Messiah were spoken, and Jesus fulfilled each and every one, hundreds of them.  He would come to earth, born as a man, born in Bethlehem, of a virgin.  The credibility of the story of the gospel is reinforced as we examine what was written prior to His birth.

But, there are those that reject Him, which was also predicted.  The traditions that many of us grew up with have been in a state of seemingly increasing decline.  In America, I have to wonder how many public schools actually have a presentation of the Nativity in some form.  In public, government-owned places, court decisions have indicated that something deemed to be "religious" has to be surrounded by secular symbols.  Perhaps you've heard of what has been called the "three-reindeer rule." 

Even though there will be those that reject it, that does not diminish the power of this story.  We can be encouraged to recapture the spirit of the season in our own hearts by allowing the Christmas season to be a time of reflection, of worship, and of reaching out to other people.  

We have to be certain of our own relationship with God, and Christmas can represent for us a time to shore up our walk with the Lord.   

We can also think more deeply about the significance of His arrival and give God the praise for what He has done, offering salvation to the world and bringing salvation to us.  

And, in this season of giving, we can be open to the Holy Spirit's direction for God to use us to communicate the message of Christmas, even prepared to defend the faith in a culture that has, unfortunately, developed a hostility toward the things of God.  But, His Word continues to be true, His principles are sure, His judgment is clear, but His mercy is great!