Jesus, Born to the Poor

By Paul Earnhart

God simply does not think as men think. If men had been planning a home for God's son they would surely have chosen a very wealthy family to care for Him. They would have wanted Him to grow up among highly cultured and educated people. And if He was to be a king, they surely would have planned for Him to live in an imperial palace in some great world cIty.

Instead, God chose for His son a poor young mother in an obscure village. Mary, His mother, perceived the significance of this choice. In her song, recorded in Luke she said: "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; for behold, from this time on, all generatrons will count me blessed” (Lk 1:46-48). Later in the same song she said: “He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.  He has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good thIngs and sent away the rich empty-handed” (Lk 1:51-53).

The Son of God grew up, not only as the foster son of a carpenter, but also a carpenter himself. Throughout His life on earth, He lived as a common man among common people. He had good words for the poor and humbIe, and He had no special respect for anyone simply because he was rich or famous. And the scriptures say that "The common peopIe heard Him gladly.“ By contrast, as a rule, the rich and famous, even famous theologians, mistreated Him and finally crucifIed Him.

If Jesus were now on earth in physical form, I have no doubt the theologians would oppose Him and people in power would be offended by Him.  But the common people would still hear Him gladly.  Are you humble enough to be included? This does not mean that the rich and famous cannot follow Him. But, to do so they must, like Nicodemus, be born again. And, like the apostles, they must be converted and become as little children.

The Virgin Birth

By Paul Earnhart

The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin.  The prophet Isaiah foretold the virgin birth 700 years before it occurred.  He said: “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us."  (Isa 7:14, Mt 1:23)

Luke tells us that an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she would have a child.  She could not understand how that was possible since she had never had relations with a man.  However, the angel assured her that "with God nothing will be impossible" (Luke 1:37).

Matthew makes it very clear that she did not have relations with Joseph, her husband, "until she brought forth her firstborn son”.  (Mt. 1:25)

Some people today ridicule the idea that Jesus was born of a virgin.  They insist that the virgin birth is but a myth that grew up years after Jesus lived.  When Christians reject this explanation and insist on the virgin birth we are asked: "Why, what difference does it. make?  The importance of Jesus is in what He did and taught, they say, not in whether He was born of a virgin.

The doctrine of the Virgin birth is most Important to Christians.  If Jesus had no human father but was conceived by the Holy Spirit as the scriptures teach, then He was in a very special sense THE SON OF GOD. He was God in the flesh or, as Isaiah said it, "God with us”.  As the son of God, He is divine, worthy of worship and due our unreserved submission.  On the other hand, if He was not born of a virgin, then He was only human like all the rest of us.  His claim that God was His father was a lie, which resulted either from Ignorance or from an intention to deceive.  Either way, He is no example for us and no proper object of worship.

I believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God; therefore, I believe that He was virgin born, having no human father.

Jesus, A Real Man

By Paul Earnhart

Jesus was a real man.  He was not a fictitious character Iike Santa CIaus or Superman.

Jesus lived here in this world at a certain time and in a certain place. This makes Him different from fictional or mythical characters.  The stories of mythical characters usually begin with such words as, “Once upon a time in a land far away.”  The story of Jesus does not begin that way.  In Matthew's account the very location of His birthplace is revealed, and the presence of shepherds nearby is described.  Even today, you can go to Bethlehem and walk the streets of that city and see the very fields where the shepherds watched their flocks by night.

In Luke's account, the time of His birth is given--not the day or the month--not even the year, for they did not count years then as we do now.  But Luke pinpointed the period exactly by telling who the emperor of Rome was, and who was governor of Syria and describing a census which took place while he was governor.  Luke is even more specific about the time when Jesus began HIs ministry.  All of this makes it possible for students of history to know exactly when Jesus Iived as well as where he Iived.

The Bible is not a book of myths or fables. It is a book of history.  Luke tells us that he did considerable research to make certain his account of the life of Jesus was accurate (Luke 1:1-4). Since Luke was so specific, those who did not believe in Jesus could easily check out the accuracy of what he wrote.  Even today, the science of archeology has confirmed the accuracy of Luke's writings about geography, politics and ancient custom.  If he was so accurate in reporting those things, we can believe what he wrote about Jesus.

What he and the other men wrote was that Jesus was a real man, but not merely a man. Not just the son of Mary, He was the Son of God, God's messenger to the world.

ANGELS

By Larry Coffey

If you google the word “angels”, you will receive a lot of information about the Los Angles Angels baseball team. This may not have happened in the late 20th century when television shows and many books and articles were about angels. I have no research available to support it, but my impression is that angels have fallen out of favor in our present society.

One who reads the Bible will be aware of angels since the NKJV Exhaustive Concordance states the words “angel” or “angels” appears 361 times in the Bible. Like many others, as I read the Bible, I noted angels mentioned a lot but I didn’t know much about angels until I taught a class on the subject about 10 years ago. Other DH members showed a lot of interest, so I repeated the class two more times.

Who are angels and what do they do?  W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words has this to say in part:

“An angel is a messenger sent whether by God or by man or by Satan, and is also used of a guardian or representative in Rev. 1:20, Mt. 18:10, but most frequently of an order of created beings superior to man, Heb. 2:7, belonging to heaven, Mt. 24:36, and to God, Lk. 12:8, and engaged in His service, Psa. 103:20.”

Michael Hardin in his class book on angels lists the following functions they perform:

  --Angels are helpers and protectors to God’s people in need, Psa. 34:7.

  --Angels come to give God’s people guidance and direction, Gal. 3:19.

  --Angels come to call men to special missions, Ex. 3:2.

  --Angels come to rescue people from great danger, Gen. 19.

There are many more things which could be listed that angels have done.

The Preceptor Magazine, October 2003 edition had an article on thoughts and questions about angels. It listed some things angels and men have in common:

  --Both angels and men are alive. Both have the ability to move about, speak and worship God.

  --Neither is deity. Both are of a lower order than God. Men are yet a little lower than angels.

  --Both can choose to obey or disobey God. Each is held responsible for their choice. Their final state will depend on the choice they make, Rom. 6:16, Jude 6.

  --Both have feelings or emotions. The angels shouted for joy when God laid the foundation of the earth, Job 38:4-6.

  --Men marry and are given in marriage, and by procreation populate the earth and continue the race, Lk. 20:34, Gen. 1:28. Angels do not marry and procreate, Mt. 22:30, Neh. 9:6. This implied that angels are sexless beings. As a result, there are no baby angels, no cupids with bows and no teen angels.

  --Men are visible to one another while alive. Angels, as spirit beings, are invisible to men. There are occasions when the eyes of the beholder have been opened so that he has the ability to see angels, Gen. 18 and 19, Lk. 24:4.

  --Men are mortal and subject to death, Heb. 9:27. Angels are immortal, not subject to death, Lk. 20:34-38.

  --Men have a Savior, Jesus Christ. Angels that sin are kept in Tartarus in chains of darkness until their judgment, Jude 6, 2 Pet. 2:4.

To me, one of the greatest things about angels is that they are sent here to help Christians. We read in Hebrews 1:13-14: “And to which of the angels has he ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

Someone may ask, do we have a guardian angel? I don’t believe the Bible teaches we have a specific angel to help us. Why would we want one angel when we could have many? I will take the many and be thankful for God’s grace in providing angels to help and serve us.

ATTENDANCE

By Larry Coffey

Ed Byers, my father-in-law, was a charter member of the Douglass Hills church. He served as an elder of this church for 26 years. I know of no one who was more devoted and worked harder for this church than he did. Also, I have never known anyone who attributed more importance of attending our worship periods than he did.

Of course, he knew and taught there was more to being a Christian than attending the worship services. His view was like that of long-time preacher, Roy E. Cogdill, who wrote in the Expressway church bulletin in 1977 the following: “Attendance at the services of the church is the best index of interest in one’s own spiritual growth, and is a certain indication of one’s own interest in the Lord’s church.”

When encouraging members to attend our worship periods we often quote Hebrews 10:24-25 which reads: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Bobby Graham does a Q. A. column in Truth Magazine each month and in the April, 2022 edition, writes the following regarding Hebrews 10: 24-25: “In my judgment, the Holy Spirit was appealing to the Hebrew Christians to rescue them from drifting away from Christ in their disastrous return to the Law of Moses. One should get the point here: their assembling with each other, and the beneficial effects noted in verses 24 and 25, was one divine provision for their spiritual strength/stamina, so that they remain faithful to Christ. They needed such assemblies for their spiritual survival.”

Here is a story that appeared in church bulletins several years ago relating to the importance of attendance: “Paul Harvey once reported news of a 73-year-old man who was pinned beneath his farm tractor for four days and nights in rain and a terrible storm. Concerned friends went to see about him just in time. He lived after his ordeal but lost a leg. Several newspapers picked up on the story and centered upon the amazing fact that a 73-year-old man could live after being pinned beneath a tractor for four days. That is amazing, but what is more amazing is what caused his friends to go see about him. One friend said the reason was that he missed prayer meeting on Wednesday night. That’s all? He just missed one service and his friends went to check on him. This man was so faithful and regular in his church attendance that everyone knew if he was not there, something had to be seriously wrong. A question. What if you had been the one pinned under the tractor? Would your absence have been noticed? Or would you have died under the wheel?”

Brother Ed knew there were times when members could not attend services, such as sickness, disabled, etc. But he also knew people gave all kinds of excuses for not attending when they were perfectly capable of doing so. People claim they can’t come to the worship periods, but they can go lots of other places, such as restaurants, shopping, vacations, doctor check-ups, etc.

He was concerned for the souls of his brethren and did not hesitate to try to encourage them often to demonstrate their love for the Lord by attending every worship period available. He knew their spiritual health was far more important than their physical health.

I agree with my father-in-law. I love and miss you brother Ed.