Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Luke 1:1-4

Luke wrote that his readers, Theophilus then and us today, would know the certainty of the things taught.  The events that are important to us for our faith have been patiently and carefully researched and recorded for us by the hand of Luke.  Luke, a Physician, was meticulous in details such as names and places, and his work stands is both divinely inspired scripture and noted as historical by historians as its facts line up with other historical markers.

The primary focus of the Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 24:14), is the Kingdom, is the faith Jesus demonstrated through His life as who He was, and the work crucifixion in working our salvation.  Without the cross, there would be no salvation for us.  Without His birth, it never would have gotten started!

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

2 Timothy 3:16

Paul, in instructing Timothy, told us both the source and the importance of scripture.  By the foresight of the Holy Spirit, this includes both the Old Testament scriptures as well as the New Testament.  No prophecy of scripture is of any private or personal interpretation, for it was written as men were moved by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:20-21).

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).  The whole point of the Gospel is to both see and to enter into His most wonderful Kingdom (John 3:3).

Faith looks at the testimony through Luke the Physician, and sees faith in action in those involved in the life of Jesus.  By Faith, Mary received her visitation from Gabriel for the announcement of the birth of the Messiah.  By Faith, Zechariah was found faithful to be the father of the messenger to prepare His way.  By faith, he named the baptist John, in accordance with the word through the messenger.

By faith, Mary and Joseph delivered the Christ child in Joseph’s patriarchal home town (Bethlehem).  By faith, shepherds heeded the announcement of the angels and came to worship the new-born king.  By faith, Anna prophesied the future destiny of the young Boy, and by faith, Mary treasured these things in her heart.  By faith, magi from the East came to pay tribute.  And, by faith, the new parents fled from Israel to Egypt by a dream.

In birth and in His childhood years, before He knew his left hand from his right, He had already fulfilled many prophesies of the Old Covenant prophets.

In today’s culture, saturated with the visual, with the senses, and with programs, we must not lose sight of the Kingdom that young boy was born the King of.

Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.

Matthew 2:2

Unbelief can be viewed on a belief more in what one can see, taste, and touch over that of the spirit, the invisible supernatural realm.  Faith, however, is that which sees the invisible, Eternal spirit, and agrees with what is.

All scripture is useful, and given for purpose, and what better thing to remember than the great events that our Father has worked on our behalf in clothing Himself with flesh.

Just as Luke retold the story for all of us to read, we too come afresh to the narrative once a year, and, for sure, this is a story that will be re-told so long as Earth remains.  But, we have only a few options when it comes to celebrating the birth of Jesus.    We really must be wise in His heart about what we portray in this season that even the world slows down and almost takes a small bit of notice.

The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a clean conscience, and faith towards God.  Yet, if our stories and our retelling, and our remembrance of God’s work becomes only a formal tradition in which we walk through “what Christmas is” without it being a blazing torch illuminating “who Christ is”, we have not only failed in our mission (Matthew 28:19), but we have actually progressed the opposite way, and taught unbelief in the name of Christianity.  This happens because people become used to the displays, the material, and the culture of the holiday, rather than the person of Christ, and the reality of His Kingdom and His Spirit in our midst.

Our remembering, teaching, retelling, and acting out of the stories surrounding the idea of the beginning of our Gospel can either point to church program, or it can point to the one who created life itself.  If all that we do is walk through an empty form, derive an emotional sense of warmth and happiness that the holiday season is somehow special, but our spirits do not catch sight of the great Apostle and High Priest of our faith, we have so blindly missed it, and no matter how well-intentioned, we have placed ourselves into what Paul called “dead works” (Hebrews 6:1).  That is, not works causing death, but works which in themselves are “dead”, and do not promote a life lived after the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), which is the Kingdom Way.

All history needs to know the story, but they need to know why it is important today.  They need to not only see a baby in a manger, but they need to see a man who, while He was on Earth, was also in heaven (John 3:13).  They need to be introduced to the one conceived of by the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35), and was God in flesh (John 1:14).

This man, born of a woman, lived for 33 1/2 years, was dead for three days and nights, and is alive today, and forever more!  May His story be proclaimed throughout all generations.

His blood still speaks a better word.