Chronology of Jesus’ birth
By Pr Kungsong Wanbe
In my previous Christmas articles I had mentioned the prediction of the two Old Testament prophets Micah and Isaiah regarding the birth and the birth place of Jesus, seven hundred years before he was born. Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14.1 had also mentioned that though the month, date and the day of the birth of Jesus was not mentioned in the Bible for certain reasons, the church history mentions that Jesus was born sometime in the 4th BC.
Today, I would like to discuss about how old is Jesus. Let’s have a look.
That, in the Old Testament time Jesus had appeared at many places as a visible angelic being known as Michael, the Archangel who helped many people. On the mount of Nebo, when Moses died, Michael, the Archangel argued with the Devil - Satan about the ownership of the body of Moses.
In short Michael won against Satan and got the body of Moses. Michael resurrected Moses and caught him up to heaven. Deuteronomy 34:6; Jude 1 :9.
During the time of Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, when the three friends of Daniel - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were casted into fiery furnace for disobeying the king’s command to bow down before the golden statue of the king himself, Jesus stood beside the trio, and none of them got burned in the fire.
On seeing this, king Nebuchadnezzar was surprised and he exclaimed to his counsellors, “Was it not that they cast only three men into the fire? The counsellors answered, “Yes we casted only three.” Then king Nebuchadnezzar again said,” Now there are four men walking in the midst of fire, and the fourth man is the son of God (Jesus)”. Daniel 3:24,25.
That, Jesus himself said to the Jewish leaders that he existed before Abraham existed (John 8:58). Jesus said the following in answer to the query of his disciple, Philip when requested Jesus to show him his Father. Jesus said to Philip, “I have been with you for so long time now, how do you ask me to show you my father. Those who have seen me have seen my father. I and my father are one.” John 10:30; 14:8,9.
Apostle Paul said that at the time when Israelites were in the wilderness, they all ate the same spiritual food; they all drank the same spiritual drink. They ate and drank from that spiritual Rock which was with them, and the Rock was Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 10: 3,4. Apostle Paul also said that, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature.
For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers - all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things. Colossians 1: 15-17.
The Apostle further said that Jesus is King of kings, Lord of lords, God of gods. 1 Timothy 6:15. The same words are found in Revelation 19:16 and Daniel 2:47.
The gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything that was made. And the word was made flesh (incarnated) and dwelt among us. No man has seen God at any time.
In the light of the facts given above, Jesus Christ is the only pre-existent being, and he is God. Of course, after the fall of the first father and mother of human beings (Adam and Eve), in the context of the plan of salvation for mankind, the concept of three Godhead known as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit arose. These three constitute the Trinity or the triune God.
Out of these three, Jesus is the only visible one. As mentioned above, no man has ever seen the Father, but anyone who has seen Jesus has seen God. Holy Spirit too is unseen and invisible like the blowing wind. John 3:8.
After Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of Satan, there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. As by the blood of bulls and goats and even the angels of heaven cannot take away the sins of man permanently, Jesus was born; he died and was resurrected for us. Hebrews 6:22; 10:3-7.
May the songs and prayers of Christians during the Christmas of 2007 bring peace and tranquillity to Manipur.
-------------------------
The troublers of Israel
By Fr LM Mario
How do we feel the Universal time passing, as secular being, as religious being; and where is the meeting point of the two ? We are made of time from all eternity. In time, with time, and by time we move and have our being. At the appointed time, the eternal took the Incarnation of man - 'the word became flesh and dwelled among us.' We could call this the meeting point, the terminating point of the mortal and immortal, the Christmas for its object the drawing of men from misery to happiness. The act of God, his greatest rhetorical act, ever created master act.
Time come, time go; years roll by, without realizing how fast we have gone, then, Christmas is closing in on us again. Moreover, if we push our way past the tinsel and glittering and part time Santas somewhere we might find a crib where the child lies on straw mud. Even for a moment, we might discover that God almighty has something to say to us in the simplicity of a defenseless newborn babe. We are all brothers, he reminds us, all born in our mother's pain and dying in our own and no one is greater than this first-born, bedded down with sleepy animals in this borrowed shelter.
But 'Christmas is not for sophomores who lived under the illusion that they read all of Darwin, or for the intellingentsia... or for the self-wise who think Mark' says Archbishop Fulton Sheen. 'It is only for the very learned, the great scientists, and the profound theologians who are heirs of the wise men who discovered Wisdom. At the other end of the spectrum are the simple people who know nature better than books, which have insights deeper than the impure and vision, which sees in the night. These are the heirs of the shepherds who find their way to the shepherd of their souls'
How do prepare for Christmas:
We can prepare for Christmas in many different ways. We celebrate Christmas as something that happened in the past.
It was in the past that Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem, where they could not find a place in the inn. It was in the past that they finally found a shed and Mary gave birth to her child. It was in the past that angels started to sing and shepherds came to find the baby and his mother. It was in the past that some wise men came from the East, and that Herod got upset about the announced news. It was in the past that Jesus was circumcised in the temple, where Anne and Simeon come to greet him. It was in the past that the whole family had to flee to the safety, security, and hospitality of Africa.
We eat and drink in bar, a cafeteria, a restaurant, or even at home - as much as we can, and even as bit more, to commemorate that string of events that took place so long ago, once and for all, in the past.
We can also celebrate Christmas as something that happens in the present meditating upon the graces given to us: heaven is open again, new life is given, a saviour is born, and hope regained. Alleluia, joy to the world !
Others celebrate Christmas by not celebrating it all. They say that Christmas does not help, that it has no meaning, it never had meaning. They say nothing in the world ever changed: no new life, no salvation, nothing at all. They are- apparently - without hope, without expectation, without anything. Yet, they may be the ones who understand best what Christmas is about. They are the ones looking for an alternative, for a new beginning.
They seem to be the ones most in line with the expectations expressed we find the alternatives offered by Prophet Isaiah 2:1-5, Paul in his letter to the Romans 13:11-14, and by Jesus himself, in the Gospel of Matthew 24:37-44.
Isaiah says: "Come, let us go to the mountain of the lord, let us walk in his paths, let us come together, let us hammer out our swords into plow-shares, let us finish war."
Paul writes: "The time has come, the night is alm-ost over, and it will be daylight soon. Let us be awa-ke, so that the light is not going to find us asleep."
Jesus says: "Be prepa-red, great things are going to happen, get ready, get ready!"
Those three appeals do not ask us to sit down, eat, and drink, to celebrate on-ly the past or merely the present.
We are urged to celebrate Christmas in a way that is directed to the future, toward a change in our lives, toward a change in the world. We are told to walk to the mountain of the Lord, to grow in goodness and community, to live in peace forever. When we celebrate Christmas like that, all men and women of goodwill, forming a pilgrim people who are on the move, will join us. We should not be settled in the past of this world, or in its present, either; we should be the troublers of Israel, a community of dissenters, in view of what Jesus came for, in view of what the angels sang about at his birth: "Peace, real peace, his peace, to all of humanity, to the entire universe.
In this translation from the Irish, may I wish you:
the gladness of Christmas, which is hope;
the spirit of Christmas, which is peace
and the heart of Christmas, which is love.
http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/Others/Articles.htm
By Pr Kungsong Wanbe
In my previous Christmas articles I had mentioned the prediction of the two Old Testament prophets Micah and Isaiah regarding the birth and the birth place of Jesus, seven hundred years before he was born. Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14.1 had also mentioned that though the month, date and the day of the birth of Jesus was not mentioned in the Bible for certain reasons, the church history mentions that Jesus was born sometime in the 4th BC.
Today, I would like to discuss about how old is Jesus. Let’s have a look.
That, in the Old Testament time Jesus had appeared at many places as a visible angelic being known as Michael, the Archangel who helped many people. On the mount of Nebo, when Moses died, Michael, the Archangel argued with the Devil - Satan about the ownership of the body of Moses.
In short Michael won against Satan and got the body of Moses. Michael resurrected Moses and caught him up to heaven. Deuteronomy 34:6; Jude 1 :9.
During the time of Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, when the three friends of Daniel - Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were casted into fiery furnace for disobeying the king’s command to bow down before the golden statue of the king himself, Jesus stood beside the trio, and none of them got burned in the fire.
On seeing this, king Nebuchadnezzar was surprised and he exclaimed to his counsellors, “Was it not that they cast only three men into the fire? The counsellors answered, “Yes we casted only three.” Then king Nebuchadnezzar again said,” Now there are four men walking in the midst of fire, and the fourth man is the son of God (Jesus)”. Daniel 3:24,25.
That, Jesus himself said to the Jewish leaders that he existed before Abraham existed (John 8:58). Jesus said the following in answer to the query of his disciple, Philip when requested Jesus to show him his Father. Jesus said to Philip, “I have been with you for so long time now, how do you ask me to show you my father. Those who have seen me have seen my father. I and my father are one.” John 10:30; 14:8,9.
Apostle Paul said that at the time when Israelites were in the wilderness, they all ate the same spiritual food; they all drank the same spiritual drink. They ate and drank from that spiritual Rock which was with them, and the Rock was Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 10: 3,4. Apostle Paul also said that, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature.
For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers - all things were created by him and for him. And he is before all things. Colossians 1: 15-17.
The Apostle further said that Jesus is King of kings, Lord of lords, God of gods. 1 Timothy 6:15. The same words are found in Revelation 19:16 and Daniel 2:47.
The gospel of John says, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything that was made. And the word was made flesh (incarnated) and dwelt among us. No man has seen God at any time.
In the light of the facts given above, Jesus Christ is the only pre-existent being, and he is God. Of course, after the fall of the first father and mother of human beings (Adam and Eve), in the context of the plan of salvation for mankind, the concept of three Godhead known as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit arose. These three constitute the Trinity or the triune God.
Out of these three, Jesus is the only visible one. As mentioned above, no man has ever seen the Father, but anyone who has seen Jesus has seen God. Holy Spirit too is unseen and invisible like the blowing wind. John 3:8.
After Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of Satan, there is no remission of sin without the shedding of blood. As by the blood of bulls and goats and even the angels of heaven cannot take away the sins of man permanently, Jesus was born; he died and was resurrected for us. Hebrews 6:22; 10:3-7.
May the songs and prayers of Christians during the Christmas of 2007 bring peace and tranquillity to Manipur.
-------------------------
The troublers of Israel
By Fr LM Mario
How do we feel the Universal time passing, as secular being, as religious being; and where is the meeting point of the two ? We are made of time from all eternity. In time, with time, and by time we move and have our being. At the appointed time, the eternal took the Incarnation of man - 'the word became flesh and dwelled among us.' We could call this the meeting point, the terminating point of the mortal and immortal, the Christmas for its object the drawing of men from misery to happiness. The act of God, his greatest rhetorical act, ever created master act.
Time come, time go; years roll by, without realizing how fast we have gone, then, Christmas is closing in on us again. Moreover, if we push our way past the tinsel and glittering and part time Santas somewhere we might find a crib where the child lies on straw mud. Even for a moment, we might discover that God almighty has something to say to us in the simplicity of a defenseless newborn babe. We are all brothers, he reminds us, all born in our mother's pain and dying in our own and no one is greater than this first-born, bedded down with sleepy animals in this borrowed shelter.
But 'Christmas is not for sophomores who lived under the illusion that they read all of Darwin, or for the intellingentsia... or for the self-wise who think Mark' says Archbishop Fulton Sheen. 'It is only for the very learned, the great scientists, and the profound theologians who are heirs of the wise men who discovered Wisdom. At the other end of the spectrum are the simple people who know nature better than books, which have insights deeper than the impure and vision, which sees in the night. These are the heirs of the shepherds who find their way to the shepherd of their souls'
How do prepare for Christmas:
We can prepare for Christmas in many different ways. We celebrate Christmas as something that happened in the past.
It was in the past that Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem, where they could not find a place in the inn. It was in the past that they finally found a shed and Mary gave birth to her child. It was in the past that angels started to sing and shepherds came to find the baby and his mother. It was in the past that some wise men came from the East, and that Herod got upset about the announced news. It was in the past that Jesus was circumcised in the temple, where Anne and Simeon come to greet him. It was in the past that the whole family had to flee to the safety, security, and hospitality of Africa.
We eat and drink in bar, a cafeteria, a restaurant, or even at home - as much as we can, and even as bit more, to commemorate that string of events that took place so long ago, once and for all, in the past.
We can also celebrate Christmas as something that happens in the present meditating upon the graces given to us: heaven is open again, new life is given, a saviour is born, and hope regained. Alleluia, joy to the world !
Others celebrate Christmas by not celebrating it all. They say that Christmas does not help, that it has no meaning, it never had meaning. They say nothing in the world ever changed: no new life, no salvation, nothing at all. They are- apparently - without hope, without expectation, without anything. Yet, they may be the ones who understand best what Christmas is about. They are the ones looking for an alternative, for a new beginning.
They seem to be the ones most in line with the expectations expressed we find the alternatives offered by Prophet Isaiah 2:1-5, Paul in his letter to the Romans 13:11-14, and by Jesus himself, in the Gospel of Matthew 24:37-44.
Isaiah says: "Come, let us go to the mountain of the lord, let us walk in his paths, let us come together, let us hammer out our swords into plow-shares, let us finish war."
Paul writes: "The time has come, the night is alm-ost over, and it will be daylight soon. Let us be awa-ke, so that the light is not going to find us asleep."
Jesus says: "Be prepa-red, great things are going to happen, get ready, get ready!"
Those three appeals do not ask us to sit down, eat, and drink, to celebrate on-ly the past or merely the present.
We are urged to celebrate Christmas in a way that is directed to the future, toward a change in our lives, toward a change in the world. We are told to walk to the mountain of the Lord, to grow in goodness and community, to live in peace forever. When we celebrate Christmas like that, all men and women of goodwill, forming a pilgrim people who are on the move, will join us. We should not be settled in the past of this world, or in its present, either; we should be the troublers of Israel, a community of dissenters, in view of what Jesus came for, in view of what the angels sang about at his birth: "Peace, real peace, his peace, to all of humanity, to the entire universe.
In this translation from the Irish, may I wish you:
the gladness of Christmas, which is hope;
the spirit of Christmas, which is peace
and the heart of Christmas, which is love.
http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/Others/Articles.htm
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