Christmas- It’s a Story of Remembrance

Surely by now you have pulled out your nativity set and placed cute, adorable, little baby Jesus in his manger.  Those of you who keep Revelation 12 in mind during Christmas time then added in a dragon to your nativity. (Bible college professors especially!)  You deck out your house in lights, shop to feed your relatives, and blast Christmas carols like there is no tomorrow.  As you finish the last shift of work before holiday vacation and scramble to buy those last minute Christmas presents, did it ever strike you that Jesus is not the first time God used a special baby to save His people?  Did you ever think to yourself, “I think I have heard this story before, God!”?  Well, you are right.  You almost did.  

 

Nearly 1500 years before Jesus came to earth God used an extraordinary baby to deliver His people.  Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had a problem on his hands.  The Hebrew people were becoming too numerous and he feared they would rebel against him, so he ordered that all the newborn boys be killed.  A Hebrew woman hid her son until one day she could no longer keep him safe.  She went down to the Nile, placed her son in a papyrus basket, and floated him down the Nile.  Pharaoh’s daughter, of all people, found the baby and took him as her own son. 

You might be thinking, “Ya, that sounds a lot like Jesus.”  King Herod ordered for newborn babies to be slaughtered much like Pharaoh and Jesus escaped by being taken by his parents to EGYPT.  They were also born after several hundred years of silence and enslavement.  There are a few other similarities between Moses and Jesus too.  Moses spent 40 years in the desert before he started his ministry of deliverance and Jesus spent 40 days in the desert before his ministry.  God performed miracles through Moses and God was Jesus who performed miracles.  Both Moses and Jesus brought the Law of God to His people and are responsible for delivering God’s people from slavery.  Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and Jesus led Christians out of slavery to sin.  In the study of theology we call this, “typology.”  It is the study of the connections between an earlier biblical character with a later one.  Moses is a type of Christ.  You could study the typology of these two much deeper than I have done here, but you want to know what the biggest connection is for me? 

Who sent Moses?  I AM!  When Moses asked God at the burning bush who he should say sent him God tells him, “Say that I AM sent you.”  I AM, the name of God implies a sense of presence.  God says, “I AM who I AM.”  Now, switch gears to Jesus.  What is one of the names for Jesus?  Emmanuel.  Translation: “God with us.”  Who sent Moses?  I AM!  Who sent Jesus?  I AM!  Who was Jesus?  I AM!  God was with Moses when he led the Israelites from Egypt and God was with us when he led us from our sins.  

I AM sent 10 plagues on Egypt to free His people.  I AM led the Israelites with a pillar of cloud and fire.  I AM parted the Red Sea.  I AM destroyed the Egyptian army in that sea.  I AM gave the Israelites the Promise Land.  I AM sent “God is with us.”  I AM had to watch as “God is with us” died on the cross, but I AM raised “God is with us” on the third day!  I AM lives inside of us.  I AM is coming back one day.  We will live with I AM!

Christmas is about remembering.  It’s a reminder that God remembered us.  After hundreds of years of silence God guided baby Moses down the Nile into the hands of Pharaoh.  Moses was educated by Pharaoh’s choice of mentors.  He was safe until it was time for God to teach Moses about shepherding in the desert.  

 The Jews cried out again to God, only this time they were slaves to Rome.  Then one day I AM came to town!  He went down to Egypt to escape Herod, grew up learning to be a carpenter from Joseph, and was tempted by Satan in the desert before he began to proclaim the kingdom of God.  God never forgets his people.  I AM has been with us, is with us, and will continue to be with us

That means we need to reflect God’s nature of remembrance.  We need to remember that God remembers.  He knows our pains and struggles.  Even now when the world seems such an evil and tumultuous place we cannot forget that God remembers.  The world has always appeared full of evil to the people of God yet He proved time and time again that he always remembers his people.  

This does not mean only to remember that God remembers, but to remember others.  

 Remember that Facebook post about a persecuted people group last week that broke your heart?  You prayed for them, maybe even shared the post with others but then you let it get buried at the bottom of your news feed.  Well drag it back up.  Print it out and post it on your wall.  That homeless guy you pass by on your way to work every day, what about him?  Will you remember him?  Will you stop and talk to him?  Maybe invite him over for dinner?  Your relative that you have not spoken to in a while, will you remember him?  Will you talk to him?  Will you try to have peace come between you two?  God did not forget the Israelites, the Jews, or you.  Why should you forget them?  Jesus said, “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18b-19).  God promised that He is coming back for us one day.  

“Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst.  The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:16-17).

As the pain of this world strikes us down it cannot overcome us.  As we hold on to I AM, I AM holds on to us.  As they hold on to I AM, I AM holds on to them.  Christmas is a time to remember, do you remember?

(I leave with Crowder’s new song called, “I AM.”  It describes the nature of the name God told us to call Him.  The song uses I AM and I am.)

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Justin Dewell 

is currently a student at Ozark Christian College studying New Testament Theology.  He works as an assistant in the preaching department. In his free time you can find him running, playing video games, or reading something by Andy Stanley.