December 19 | A Second "Christmas"
“…If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to myself…” - John 14:3
A “second Christmas” is coming! If the first Christmas was about the visitation of God of men, then it is equally acceptable too that a second Christmas is coming, albeit, with some significant caveats. But in the context of the Son of God appearing, yes, a second Christmas is coming!
First of all, in the first Christmas, the Son of God was sent to earth, his deity veiled by humanity (Hebrews 10:20). No one knew Him except for a few blessed souls. He came to his own but his own received Him not. The world that He created also failed to recognize Him as well. But in the second Christmas, legions of saints belonging to God’s true church, from all over the earth will see Jesus for who He really is! (1 John 3:2). It is going to be a glorious even like no other!
If in the first Christmas, the Son of God struggled with “no vacancy.” The lowly manger was His makeshift cradle. Yet, in the second Christmas, the Son of the Most High will be returning eager to show and share His own place – the Heavens! (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is the new heaven and the new earth where God’s righteous people will dwell for eternity (2 Peter 3:13).
The first Christmas saw Jesus took on the form of a lowly human being. He moonlighted as a carpenter in a small town called Nazareth. Often misunderstood and rejected, Jesus came to be known as a “man of sorrows” who was acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). But in the second Christmas, it is going to be a wholly different Jesus who will be revealed! He will come back in His glory, the glory that He had from the beginning of time, the glory of the One and Only, full of grace and truth! (Matthew 25:31, John 1:14).
God sent Jesus to the world in the first Christmas in order to save it. Bearing a message of reconciliation and “peace on earth to people He favors,” the Immanuel walked the earth pardoning the penitent, healing the broken and lifting up the downtrodden. Still, many questioned his legitimacy and refused to believe in His claim as the Messiah. But come the second Christmas, Jesus will come to “vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
Finally, what the first Christmas commenced, the second Christmas will consummate. The redemption plan of God of His creation that was inaugurated at the manger in Bethlehem will soon be completed at the throne in heavenly Jerusalem so that “God may all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
First of all, in the first Christmas, the Son of God was sent to earth, his deity veiled by humanity (Hebrews 10:20). No one knew Him except for a few blessed souls. He came to his own but his own received Him not. The world that He created also failed to recognize Him as well. But in the second Christmas, legions of saints belonging to God’s true church, from all over the earth will see Jesus for who He really is! (1 John 3:2). It is going to be a glorious even like no other!
If in the first Christmas, the Son of God struggled with “no vacancy.” The lowly manger was His makeshift cradle. Yet, in the second Christmas, the Son of the Most High will be returning eager to show and share His own place – the Heavens! (2 Corinthians 5:1). This is the new heaven and the new earth where God’s righteous people will dwell for eternity (2 Peter 3:13).
The first Christmas saw Jesus took on the form of a lowly human being. He moonlighted as a carpenter in a small town called Nazareth. Often misunderstood and rejected, Jesus came to be known as a “man of sorrows” who was acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). But in the second Christmas, it is going to be a wholly different Jesus who will be revealed! He will come back in His glory, the glory that He had from the beginning of time, the glory of the One and Only, full of grace and truth! (Matthew 25:31, John 1:14).
God sent Jesus to the world in the first Christmas in order to save it. Bearing a message of reconciliation and “peace on earth to people He favors,” the Immanuel walked the earth pardoning the penitent, healing the broken and lifting up the downtrodden. Still, many questioned his legitimacy and refused to believe in His claim as the Messiah. But come the second Christmas, Jesus will come to “vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).
Finally, what the first Christmas commenced, the second Christmas will consummate. The redemption plan of God of His creation that was inaugurated at the manger in Bethlehem will soon be completed at the throne in heavenly Jerusalem so that “God may all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
