Tag Archives: Christmas

Why Christmas? Why Hanukkah?

““Or let him rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him make peace with Me.’
In the days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the whole world with fruit.”(Isaiah 27:5-6 NASB).

Israel ישראל 2024

My friend Dwayne Russell sent me this Scripture today along with these comments: “Israel has filled the whole world with its fruit! We have been touched by this one nation more than any other. Our laws were taken from the law given to Moses! God gave the Jews the scriptures even the majority of the New Testament. In a sense we are Jews by faith in the promise given to Abraham! I believe the millennium will be God fulfilling His Promises to the Jewish nation! So we need to make sure we are staying the right side of Israel.”

I didn’t intend to start this blog with Israel, but I also included two chapters about Israel in my latest book, God Stays Near, which should be available in January or February 2025, saying: “It seems I can’t write or understand history without referencing Israel, because of the central place she plays in God’s plan for the planet and our day-to-day lives.”

You can start with Adam, or start over with Noah, when looking at God’s plan. Or start with Job, the oldest book in the Bible, written between the times of Noah and Abraham to see what the ancients knew and thought about God. But starting with Abraham about 2000 BC, the path recorded in Biblical and secular history, gets more clear. We can trace God’s steps on our planet throught the steps of one small ancient nation one-fifth the size of Arkansas and still at the center of world history, appearing in our headlines every day.

The Jews were bearing God’s image to the most ancient and powerful cilivizations like Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. It appears to have been God’s plan to use Greece to give the world a common language and then Rome, with it’s worldwide lines of communication, to prepare for the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God to make His appearance and bear God’s image further into world history and the hearts of men and women by His most Holy Spirit, to both Jews and Gentiles — those who could see Him and choose to believe. It’s a wonderous story beginning in Israel, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, as foretold by the Hebrew prophets, extending to the whole world as described in the Acts of the Apostles, and the history of civiliztion.

Why Christmas?

So why Christmas? Why Jesus Christ? Why Yeshua the Messiah or ישוע המשיח? The word messiah literally translates to “anointed one” or “chosen to rule.” Yeshua in English is Joshua and translates to “Yahweh saves.” You can meditate on that if you wish.

The arts and sciences point to His beautiful story in the stars, the Scriptures, and the records of mankind and civilizations. It’s all there for men and women who will hear and believe. One of the most beautiful tellings of the story I have enjoyed for the last few years is “The Star of Bethlehem” by Rick Larson. It’s available on DVD here, or by streaming within another movie “God of Heaven and Earth.” This telling involves astronomy, science, history, with beautiful art and music, as a lawyer puzzles out clues from Matthew (2:1-12) about the Magi. Who were they? Why did they come? How did they know when to come?

After it’s telling, one feels like worshiping! This is a season for worship and retelling the most wondrous story ever told engulfing God and mankind in a sweep of creation and history. Oddly, Christmas and Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, both occur this year on December 25th. The Jewish Jesus celebrated this “Feast of Dedication” as it is also called (John 10:22-23) in Jerusalem.

Why Christmas? Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us succinctly what the whole of Scripture tells us in many stories and an easily solved puzzle. The Jewish prophets said Yeshua would come like He did, telling us many facts about His birth and death. The Disciples and Apostles, mostly Jewish, would explain to the world what had happened, was happening, and some future events to come. And they would explain and demonstrate the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit being poured out into their lives and realms from on high. We have the incarnation so we could have the cruxification — our Father, Creator God, making a way to draw us back to Himself and dwell with us now and for eternity as Emmanuel.

I pray all of us enjoy the light of His revelation and dedicate ourselves to His person and purposes during this magical, mystical season we call Christmas or “Mass of Christ” since before 1050 AD, and celebrated on December 25 as early as 200 AD. Gloria in ecelsis Deo to the timeless One, who sent His only Son.

The most famous Jewish king, save One, who ruled, wrote, and prophesied around 1000 BC said this about God: “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness [humility, meekness, condescension] makes me great” (Psalm18:35). Walking around our lake this frozen morning, I had the Christmas thought, “What I treasure most about the Lord is His mercy and His majesty — what undoes me is His mercy.” Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and may the shalom [peace] and joy of Christmastime be poured out in our hearts. Noel. ✨

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“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, roo little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2).

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them…For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,” (Isaiah 9:2,6.7).

“Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth’ ” (Isaiah 49:6).

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).

The Star of Bethlehem website

“Why Christmas?” by John Piper

The Christ Child meets Chris Tomlin’s Noel ft. Lauren Daigle

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel Barlow Girl

One King Point of Grace

Go see “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” in theaters now

Advent 2024 Begins Today

Advent is a season observed in most Christian denominations as a time of waiting and preparation for both the celebration of Jesus’s birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, often referred to as Advent Sunday. (Wikipedia)

I pray this December is a time of waiting, preparation, and celebration of Jesus’ coming for you and your household. Today my read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year portions were from the books of Job and Revelation. That’s the oldest book in the Bible, and the last book in the Bible. It seemed fitting for pondering the advent of Jesus Christ.

From the Book of Job:

“Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power?
No, surely He would pay attention to me.”

“But He knows the way I take;
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

“But He is unique and who can turn Him?
And what His soul desires, that He does.” (Job 23:6,10,13)

From the Book of Revelation:

“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood….” (Apocalypse 1:5)

You might wonder why one might think Revelation is a good read for Advent. The first four words of the book in Greek are: “The revelation of Jesus Christ.” This could be taken as revelation from Jesus Christ or revelation about Jesus Christ. Both are true and appropriate, and that is the unified theme of the book. So what better way to celebrate and think about Advent than reading the Apocalypse or Revelation–even with its swirling timeline and mystical accounts of events in eternity past, present, and future. It celebrates the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth–Jesus Christ, our Lord.

In a parallel universe, or the same one, I sit by the fire watching my wife of forty-nine years putting the ornamants on our tree. They are almsot entirely crosses and crowns, with a simple golden crown adorning the top of the tree–a beautiful decision she made several years ago. At the same time, I am reading, His Cross and Ours by H.D. McCarty. He’s one of my main spiritual mentors, and the book just came out. He finished it at ninety-one years of age, this spring. I highly recommend it if you know H.D. or not–most of NWA does, as his mentoring fingerprints are on many in Arkansas and around the world.

Buy it for yourself or someone you love for Christmas! Here are some of H.D.’s remarks from the preface:

“I have no fear, only a relaxed urgency to fully please our dear Savior while I can!” “My hope is that my story in this book–the culmination of a long life of public ministry, personal struggle, theological reflection, and increased “yieldedness” to our Lord Jesus–may inspire, instruct, and guide you on your own journey of cross discipleship. Joyfully stay in the battle, my brothers and sisters in Christ.” — H. D. McCarty

Christmas Peace to you and yours, Dwayne.

“We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders” (Psalm 78:4 NLT).

A Final Hallelujah

Of course this isn’t to be my final Hallelujah, as far as I know; but my final thoughts after a week of reflection, study, and mediation on the poem and melody of Leonard Cohen entitled simply and profoundly, Hallelujah.

Of note to me, the song is going round and round in my head in this Christmas season 2019. I’m not sure why? But it gives me joy, peace, pause, and wonder.

I’ll share with you the best article I’ve found about the song, a 2015 Newsweek article by Zach Schonfeld. It’s insightful though written primarily about the song’s musical attributes and its popularity, from a secular point of view.

Schonfeld notes, “The album on which it appeared, the murky, mid-career Various Positions, had been rejected wholesale by Columbia Records in the U.S., and when it finally was released, “the song was still generally ignored,” as Alan Light notes in his 2012 book The Holy or The Broken.“

The Holy or the Broken? That’s an insightful title for a book about the song. It’s also telling that the album on which it first appeared was entitled “Various Positions” isn’t it? Since he’s Jewish, to begin with, and the song, albeit quite short, addresses simply and profoundly the issues of God, the Bible, human sexuality, the philosophy of life and one’s earth journey, admissions of struggle and failures, and yet seems to somehow point to God as the answer from start to finish. Purposely it would seem, and honestly, in a mysterious and understated way. And people definitely have “various positions” on these issues— he did apparently.

Light would go on to say, “John Cale and Jeff Buckley, then dozens and hundreds of others lifted the song out of obscurity” but it is “something more mysterious that cemented its status as a modern standard, appearing on American Idol and in synagogue services in equal measure. It has become ubiquitous. Tallying versions by Cohen and plenty of others, Light estimates “Hallelujah” has been listened to hundreds of millions of times on YouTube alone.”

The Newsweek article goes on to list “60 notable recordings of it that are readily available online and ranking them from worst to best.” 🙂 Feel free. For our purposes here I’m going to list and link my two favorites at the bottom, then one in Cohen’s own voice, as well as the lyrics he settled on and a few quotes that reflect on the man.

Etymology of Hallelujah

It doesn’t seem right to leave the song without a good look at the meaning of its famous title and course. It’s a Hebrew word lifted directly from that ancient language and dropped into English, simply transliterated as “praise the LORD.”

Wikipedia adds, “In the Hebrew Bible hallelujah is actually a two-word phrase, not one word. The first part, hallelu, is the second-person imperative masculine plural form of the Hebrew verb hillel. However, “hallelujah” means more than simply “praise Jah” or “praise Yah”, as the word hallel in Hebrew means a joyous praise in song, to boast in God.”

“In Psalm 148:1 the Hebrew says “הללו יה halelu yah”. It then says “halelu eth-YHWH” as if using “yah” and “YHWH” interchangeably. The word “Yah” appears by itself as a divine name in poetry about 49 times in the Hebrew Bible (including halelu yah), such as in Psalm 68:4–5 “who rides upon the skies by his name Yah” and Exodus 15:2 “Yah is my strength and song”. It also often appears at the end of Israelite theophoric names such as Isaiah “yeshayah(u), Yahweh is salvation” and Jeremiah “yirmeyah(u), Yahweh is exalted”. The word hallelujah occurring in the Psalms is therefore a request for a congregation to join in praise toward God. It can be translated as “Praise Yah” or “Praise Jah, you people”.

With Cohen’s Hebrew roots and his love for poetry, there can be no doubt the word was well understood and meaningfully used with sincere intentionality. When it’s sung and heard, it seems all creation and the Creator pause with a heart smile to take note. The best is yet to be.

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6)

Hallelujah הללויה

Hallelujah – Pentatonix
Regina Spektor
Leonard Cohen
Hallelujah Lyrics

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”

“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”

Leonard Cohen

“Hallelujah” Summary

Oddly, the summary I’m going to share is from the notes I wrote in one sitting after reading the lyrics before beginning all the meditation.

Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen is:
A hauntingly beautiful melody
Introducing
A true confession.
A humble confession.
To all mankind
From a fellow, broken pilgrim
About a hidden God.

Whose love is an
Open Secret.

Too holy and too precious to
Be passed flippantly around.
But for the hungry, humble heart
There to be found.

All of this
Given by the God of Grace
To His broken vessel.

It’s the only kind He has.
…But he who falls on this Rock
Will be broken. (Matt 21:44)

Cohen seemed to struggle by himself…
To know the Maker, Creator,
Sustainer of All.

All the verses from Cohen’s
Cutting room floor (80 or more)
Would bear this out.

A struggle largely unfulfilled
But grasped at
To find the One Who
Put eternity in our hearts.

Love is not a victory march,
Rather it’s hard fought.

Perhaps a priest at the end?
A Cohen at last?

Like Sampson fulfilling the purposes
Of God for his life,
After a mighty struggle marked with
Many failings.

His song leaves us to decide if it is a
Holy or Broken Hallelujah?
And also to ponder the difference .

With a victorious note at the end
He acknowledges the futility of
Being one’s own king.

The many heartbreaks, disillusions,
And disappointments of a life
Without faith.

Yet one senses at the end
A possible “Return of the Prodigal” (Luke 15:11)
Or at least an acknowledgment
Of a glimmer of faith
In the Father, the Name, the beautiful Light —

The Lord of Song

Hallelujah

The Star of Bethlehem by Rick Larson
Cloverton’s Christmas Hallelujah
Hallelujah – Pentatonix