On The Message of Christmas

By: Aladin Mariano, M.D.

Throughout the world, most of those in the Christian world celebrate December 25 as the birth of Jesus. However, some have it acknowledged as dating that momentous event sometime in September or thereabouts. “Yeshua (Jesus) was born on September 11, 3 BC and was earlier conceived on December 13, 4 BC.” This was based on the Star of Bethlehem, a rate event seen at that time./h4>

While my personal leaning is this September date as the historic and biblical events are compelling and harmonized, the emphasis by some on December 25, pales in significance the “good news” (gospel) of what this date was about.

Whatever the true date was, the message should not be lost as one celebrates Christ’s birthday. What really is the message?

Incarnation

A major teaching that can not be relegated to the dustbin of history, is that the YHVH-Creator gave up his spirit-composition and spiritual powers to come as a human (man-Jesus) on this earth, in Bethlehem. This he did to fulfill the eternal plan of the Father for him to start, by being human, the process of salvation of humanity from eternal death. His advent as a human was prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. More than 300 prophecies were recorded to tell of His coming and repeated in:

Matthew 1:21 “New International Version
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Devoid of “spirit-in-dwelling” and therefore lack of spirit-powers, this “anthropos/man/human Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5) nevertheless followed all the commandments on his own human/mortal powers , much like man/anthropos-Job who was “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil”

Summary

This is the message of Christmas that YHVH-Creator, in Genesis, incarnated to be the first human, to be the author/trailblazer towards salvation from eternal death. As “anthropos/man-Jesus”, he was mortal, yet still classified as “god”, like any human (like Job) without spirit-powers until he was given at River Jordan, tempted and overcame Satan with that power, overcame the temptation at garden of Gethsemane, crucified and died (being mortal), resurrected and subsequently attained immortality. And after resurrection,(not before) he received the promised “Advocate/Comforter” to subsequently be given to us to empower us towards salvation, so shall other humans, being “in the body of a Christ“. We will not develop, overcome and mature to be born as “sons/daughters of God” without this “empowering Holy Spirit in/dwelling in us”.

All “overcomers” will be in the future, immortal spirit-composed beings like our “elder brother” Jesus ( in a twinkling of an eye) in the “kingdom of God”, not a kingdom of man/human mortal flesh. By being human himself as a “builder/pioneer“, El SHADDAI/YHVH-Creator Lord God, showed us the only “way, truth and the life” about the process that humans can attain salvation, i.e., be “born of the flesh“, be empowered by the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit, sanctified, die as mortals, be resurrected, “born of the spirit with spirit-composed bodies” towards eternal life. Indeed, Jesus is the only human “trailblazer”, the author and finisher” for all of us to follow his lead towards salvation through faith and grace of God. No other human was blessed, destined, ordained to take us to salvation/eternal life , but Jesus Christ. Thank God for his birth. To focus on the exact date and time will be divisive and distracting from the focus we should really have, I.e., his birth on earth by Virgin Mary to save mankind.

May God bless us all !!