JOY TO THE WORLD

The message the angel gave the shepherds in Luke 2:7-14 when Jesus was born was good tidings of joy. The angel said, the coming of Christ has brought great joy, glad tidings and peace. These words were uncommon to them because the awesome definition of the Gospel is a message that is too good to be true.

Before the coming of Jesus Christ, there was no peace between God and man because of sin. God was always angry with the human race but still needed to relate with man, which was why He instructed Noah to build an ark for Him, to save as many as possible from the wrath that was to come. Yet, Noah’s descendants fell into sin. God was still not satisfied.

Then He called Abraham. God said He would bless Abraham and make a great nation out of him, a nation of people who would be God’s own people. Even this was not enough as the children of Israel kept going against God, grumbling often. God allowed their enemies to overrule them, and they were in exile a number of times.

Finally, God sent His son into the world to become a propriation for our sins. God sent Jesus to reconcile the world to Him. He sent His Angel to tell Mary that she would deliver a baby through the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary became pregnant supernaturally. When the Angel of the Lord spoke those words to her, a seed was released, and this seed was the word of God. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. In order words, the seed of the word became flesh. The conception of Jesus was supernatural.

In I Peter. 1:23, we are made to understand that we are born again not of the corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So, the word the Angel spoke to Mary was born of the incorruptible, because it was born of God. It was the only way to ensure that Jesus was qualified to become the atonement for our sins; the only way to ensure that our salvation would be ever sure.

However, the spoken word would not have been fruitful if not for the full cooperation of Mary. God may have spoken the word that would bring the Saviour of Mankind to life but it could only manifest when Mary submitted to the power of this word. This happened when she replied the angel saying, ‘Let it be unto me according to your word’. At that point, the intercourse that produced Jesus took place. Therefore, even though God had spoken the word, He still needed the submission of Mary to ensure that it was brought to life. In the same way, the word of God concerning our lives need our full cooperation before they can manifest.

It is also important to understand why Jesus came to this world. In the beginning, after God created Adam and Eve, He gave them dominion over all His creation. Unfortunately, the devil had been cast down and was waiting for an opportunity to be in the same class as God. So, he deceived man and took over the dominion which God had given them. Since then, he has used this same dominion to wrought evil upon the earth.

Thankfully, Jesus came and restored our access to God; He broke the wall of enmity which was between man and God. Much more than this, He restored the dominion back to man and elevated us to the same class with God. It is important that we understand what the coming of Jesus has brought to us, and one of them is righteousness. Because of Jesus, we now have dominion over sin.

Another thing this dominion has given us is longevity of life. In Isaiah 65:20, we are made to understand that in the new covenant God was making with His people, anyone who died before a hundred years shall be accursed. Therefore, untimely death is not an option for us; we are the ones who will choose when we want to leave this earth, not any other person.

All these and more are words spoken by God to us, but like we have seen in the case of Mary, these words will mean nothing to us if we do not fully cooperate and submit to the will of God according to His word. Mary was not the only virgin at that time but she was the only one found worthy in heart, not because she wasn’t with any sin, but because she had a good a heart. Mary’s heart was prepared to receive the seed.

Once you are born again, you should know that you now have dominion over sin, not only sin but also over death and sickness and you have to take responsibility of this. The seed you need for your miracle is the word and God has already given us. Thank God Jesus came, thank God He was born into this world in a manger and He became the lamb of God which was slain for us.Thank God He rose again and is alive still speaking for us. He brought joy to us, He brought peace and goodwill to us. In the same vein, we should be channels of joy, peace and goodwill to all men. You can boldly say, ‘I give joy to the world just as Jesus came and brought joy to the world’.     

Written by Brother Ifeanyi Obayi

Destiny Life Christian Centre

22 Shonola Street, Ogba Lagos Nigeria