NativityBy Rev. E. Loewy
Feliz Navidad is the seasonal greeting of our Spanish friends, Blessed Nativity! In Italian it is
Buon Natale, a Good Nativity! Israeli believers follow the same trend:
Chag Hammoled Sameach, A Happy Nativity Feast! All of these are in keeping with what we are actually celebrating soon, a Birth.
In the greater part of the English speaking world we wish each other a Merry Christmas. Whatever that may have conveyed in years long ago, in our minds today we are envisaging festive family reunions, decorated trees and piles of presents under their branches. Have the tinsel and trappings taken away from the central event, The Birth? Whose Birth?
For the answer we have to turn to the dawn of human history, to the Garden of Eden. Despite being created in the image and likeness of God, our first parents disobeyed their Maker and sinned against Him although they found themselves in a perfect setting. (There goes the theory of environment!) Their breach of God's law had to be punished and the sentence was passed. "The L
ORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed... And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed, It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:14,15).
Apart from the general trend set forth, i.e. Satan's endeavours to destroy mankind eternally, there is this significant word, "her Seed " Descendents are mentioned throughout the Old Testament record, but it is always
his seed, or
their seed; masculine singular or plural. Here we have the only exception to the rule. Thus the promised Deliverer was to be specifically the progeny of the woman, not of a man!
The same truth is brought out in the prophecy of Isaiah who also foretold the coming of a Redeemer. At a time of national crisis during the reign of the weak and wicked king Ahaz, he made the following announcement: "Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself shalt give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:13,14).
Praise God, the woman's Seed came in "the fullness of the time" (Gal. 4:4). Indeed, Immanuel, "God with us," was born in fulfillment of the Lord's special sign to Israel (Matt. 1:22,23). Let us then share the good news with our Jewish friends so that they too may experience A Happy Nativity Feast!
©2002 - Ernst Loewy
