{"id":2932,"date":"2019-12-19T17:03:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T23:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=2932"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:18:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:18:17","slug":"the-message-of-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2019\/12\/the-message-of-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"The Message of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p>The story of Jesus\u2019 birth has an immense progeny. Our planet fairly teems with stories and songs, paintings and drama that got their start from this story. The reproductive energies show no sign of tapering off. Writers and singers and artists, to say nothing of countless children and parents and grandparents all over the world, continue to find fresh and novel ways of keeping this story going. But even more impressive are the lives that continue to get a fresh start\u2014a new birth\u2014in the story of this birth.<br \/>\nDay after day, men and women who feel more dead than alive, in the hearing or singing or seeing of this story, rediscover the utter and unspeakable and beautiful preciousness of life. The story of Jesus\u2019 birth gets reproduced in these human lives still, over and over and over again. The birth of Jesus is a birth with a message. It takes the entire Bible to bring the complete message, but this birth is the core of it: In Jesus, God is here to give us life, real life&#8230;<\/p>\n<h4>A SAVIOR FORETOLD<\/h4>\n<p><em><strong>A Righteous Branch<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nJeremiah 23:5-6<br \/>\n\u201cTime\u2019s coming\u201d\u2014God\u2019s Decree\u2014<br \/>\n\u201cwhen I\u2019ll establish a truly righteous David-Branch,<br \/>\nA ruler who knows how to rule justly.<br \/>\nHe\u2019ll make sure of justice and keep people united.<br \/>\nIn his time Judah will be secure again and Israel will live in safety.<br \/>\nThis is the name they\u2019ll give him:<br \/>\n\u2018God-Who-Puts-Everything-Right.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>A Child Will Be Born to Us<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nIsaiah 9:2-7<br \/>\nThe people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.<br \/>\nFor those who lived in a land of deep shadows\u2014<br \/>\nlight! sunbursts of light!<br \/>\nYou repopulated the nation, you expanded its joy.<br \/>\nOh, they\u2019re so glad in your presence! Festival joy!<br \/>\nThe joy of a great celebration,<br \/>\nsharing rich gifts and warm greetings.<br \/>\nThe abuse of oppressors and cruelty<br \/>\nof tyrants\u2014 all their whips and cudgels and curses\u2014<br \/>\nIs gone, done away with, a deliverance<br \/>\nas surprising and sudden as Gideon\u2019s old\u00a0victory over Midian.<br \/>\nThe boots of all those invading troops,<br \/>\nalong with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,<br \/>\nWill be piled in a heap and burned,<br \/>\na fire that will burn for days!<br \/>\nFor a child has been born\u2014for us!<br \/>\nthe gift of a son\u2014for us!<br \/>\nHe\u2019ll take over the running of the world.<br \/>\nHis names will be: Amazing Counselor,<br \/>\nStrong God, Eternal Father, Prince of Wholeness.<br \/>\nHis ruling authority will&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><em>Keep reading <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/p\/the-message-of-christmas\/9781641586672\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\"><em>The Message of Christmas.<\/em><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/p\/the-message-of-christmas\/9781641586672\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-13861 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover-200x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover-683x1024.png 683w, https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover-768x1152.png 768w, https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover-1024x1536.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover-1365x2048.png 1365w, https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/MSG-of-Christmas-3D-cover.png 1521w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The story of Jesus\u2019 birth has an immense progeny. Our planet fairly teems with stories and songs, paintings and drama that got their start from this story. The reproductive energies show no sign of tapering off. Writers and singers and &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"The Message of Christmas\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2019\/12\/the-message-of-christmas\/#more-2932\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Message of Christmas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,188,516,521],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Message of Christmas - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2019\/12\/the-message-of-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Message of Christmas - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The story of Jesus\u2019 birth has an immense progeny. 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