Friday, December 18, 2015
It can also be called the contradiction or better yet "the seeming contradictions" of the Christmas story.
A paradox can be a statement that sounds like one thing but many times it reveals the opposite and then leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.
Sometimes a paradox sounds like one thing but when explained it reveals just the opposite of what it says or seems to say.
When we deal with some of the paradoxes that go along with the Christian Holiday or "Holy Day" we will also see the principles of how opposites attract as also found in the satanic counterfeits that take place.
Sometimes in a paradox you can also say two totally opposite things but there's some truth to both of them.
"If someone says to you "I'm a compulsive liar," what do you believe about what they are saying?
In the statement I just gave you "Can someone be both a compulsive liar yet telling the truth at the same time?"
At the most basic level, a paradox is a statement that is self contradictory because it often contains two statements that are both true, but
in general, cannot both be true at the same time.
One of the most well known examples that teachers frequently use to introduce the idea of a paradox is a "jumbo shrimp."
You can save money by spending it. Or "I'm Nobody." If a nobody is a nobody then that makes him a somebody who is called nobody --- so in reality he or she is a somebody!
Another paradox is "What a pity that youth must be wasted on youth." - George Bernard Shaw A Wise fool Bittersweet "I can resist anything but temptation."-Oscar Wilde.
Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too crowded. You shouldn't go in the water until you know how to swim. If you didn't get this message, call me. If you're not here, raise your hand.
The point of a paradox is to point out a truth, even if the statements contradict each other.
I was struck with the dichotomy between Christmas for the Christian and Christmas for the world when I saw two Christmas cards that contradicted the other.
One of them has a fat man with a white beard on and a couple of little elves and it says, "Ho, ho, ho." The other had a manger with a star and a baby and it said, "Thou shalt call His name Emmanuel."
2CO 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! TLJC.
Not only is the person whose birthday it REALLY is - is ignored but also the gifts He gives are ignored as well.
EPH 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
JOH 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
We also have the gifts from the Spirit, 1Co 12; and the over 40 things that God the Father gives to every believer at the moment of their first spiritual birthday, the day that they were born again.
For some Christmas is peace toward men of good will. For the world it is mass confusion, furious rushing around, and a rising suicide rate.
Both talking about the same event but a paradox where the opposites attract in the sense that they both of them are mentioned, even though they are opposites and true statements, they do both exist at the same time.
That lovely night over 2,000 years ago when one star lit the Heavens and marked the spot where the Christ was born where God was become flesh.
2,000 years ago one star, literally a bright light in the night-time sky, lit the heavens and marked the spot where the Christ was born where God was made flesh, a member of the human race.
This great star light has been eclipsed by material lights, neon signs that lite up in the sky Merry Xmas.
In our world Christ has been replaced by Santa Clause; Angels replaced by reindeer; Mary and Joseph replaced by elves; The ugly filth of a dirty animal stable replaced by the pristine beauty of whites and snow.
The glory of God and the star of Bethlehem has been reduced to twinkling lights and cheap toys for adult girls and boys.
The holy awe of God becoming human has been pushed aside for political correctness as the miracle of miracles is rejected by a Christ-less partying spirit.
A million bring lights or neon signs mark the spot where the sale begins, or where you can throw away your money buying what isn't needed sometimes for people you don't like, and probably don't like you as well, for clothes that won't fit them anyway.
The first Christmas was a poor one, with a manger and a stable. The paradox is that Christmas today has become a dazzling display of wealth beyond belief as millions spend millions of dollars to ignore the true meaning of what Christmas should be all about.
Once wise men came to worship Jesus, and today fools have parties of wickedness, ignoring all that TLJC came to accomplish.
The babe of Bethlehem who was born a Savior to give to men all that they need has been replaced by a huckster named Santa Claus who takes what is valuable and gives tinsel in return.
There is no way that Old Testament prophets could ever have understood the fullness of the coming Messiah, just on the virtue of the apparent contradiction in their own prophecies.
Isaiah would sit down and the Holy Spirit would inspire him and he would write that there was coming a conqueror who would rule the world, who would be the Savior and deliverer of men; ISA 9:6-7.
That same prophet would sit down later and write about a Messiah who would be a man of sorrows who was lonely and rejected, ISA 53:3-7.
One prophet = a king of glory and a king of Heaven, an eternal Savior, the desire of all nations, and then a prophet would sit down and write that there was no beauty that men would desire Him, and that He was a servant ‑ bloody, suffering, crucified and dead.
Another prophet, (Jeremiah) would write that He would come in flaming fire to take vengeance on His enemies. The other prophet (Isaiah) would write that He would come preaching peace.
That the who is called the great counselor would be rejected by men.
That the ONE who is the mighty God was the same ONE crucified in weakness.
That the prince of peace must suffer Himself the Divine indignation and wrath of God.
That the one who created all things occupied an infant’s cradle.
That He who is holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners was made to be sin on behalf of all of us.
That He who was the bread of life was Himself hungry.
That He who was the giver of the super natural water of life, was Himself thirsty.
That He who was dead is alive forevermore.
In JOH 1:3 “All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Yet in JOH 1:10 “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
One of the greatest paradoxes is the fact the one, Jesus Christ, who had glory with the Father before the creation, would strip Himself of that glory to become a servant, PHI 2:7.
You were the joy set before Him that allowed Him to endure the Cross and despise the shame, HEB 12:3.
Your soul was so valuable to Jesus Christ that He did not consider the use of His Deity a treasure to be retained, but instead He added on this human nature and voluntarily restricted the independent function of His attributes of Deity during His First Advent.
If He was only a man, then you can safely forget him. If He is God, as He claimed to be, then you should do everything in your power to yield your life to Him.
The real issue is not that He came, the real issue is why He came!
There is really only one primary reason that Jesus Christ came into the world on that first Christmas for this one major reason: To suffer and to die for you!
2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
LUK 19:10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
PHI 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
PHI 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,
PHI 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
MAT 10:39 "He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it."
On the day of His birth the only blankets that Joseph and Mary could find were swaddling clothes which were towels that they would wrap the dead in before burying them.
On the day of His birth, where HEB 10:5 was fulfilled, there would also be a sign of His death where the Gospel was fulfilled, birth and death, the paradox of Christmas.
JOH 3:16 is the plan of God in miniature, “God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely-born Son, that whosoever believes in Him should never perish but have eternal life.”
The last of all the Old Testament prophets was trapped in the paradox. His name was John the Baptist.
from God; when LUK 3:2 was fulfilled and "The word of God came to John."
He was saying that the Messiah was going to be a judge, that when the Messiah came terrible things would happen.
LUK 3:7-8, He therefore began saying to the multitudes who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance"
That was all John's Message about the coming Messiah. Forbidding. Judgmental. Damning. That's the Messiah that John anticipated.
You know what He did? Mostly deeds of mercy. He healed the sick. He gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and voices to the dumb and life to the dead.
He hangs out with prostitutes and publicans and sinners, the so-called unholy crowd; MAT 9:10. He goes to the best homes to eat; LUK 14:1. He takes money from women, LUK 8:3.
He even wore a fine garment that the Roman soldiers waged bets for; JOH 19:24. Therefore, they said He must be a glutton and an alcoholic, LUK 7:34.
"You know what, you can never ever scrutinize, figure out, and appraise and judge a spiritual man!"
things of God in his heart, 1CO 2:15-16.
He would speak some of His important messages in parables so that the arrogant could not understand them, and therefore He would not cast His pearls before wine.