For With God Nothing Will Be Impossible

This year I neglected to send out many Christmas cards so I wanted to share a reflection on the Wonder of Christmas.  I truly pray we all receive the truth in the mystery of the virgin birth of our Savior.  I have heard a lot of controversy in regard to the virgin birth and I believe it is important that we understand why it is so imperative to our understanding of the gospel. There are many more mysteries involved in the birth of our Lord that I wish to understand.

I love to read the different accounts in the gospels of the Christmas story and reflect and meditate on them.  You see there is a miraculous presence that can envelope one as the story is told year after year. And now as the story is unveiling about our soon coming King, we can even see more that God has for us.  A lot of people believe in the babe of Bethlehem, but do they believe in the suffering Christ of the cross, the Christ of resurrection, and the Lion of Judah who is to return again?  You see, it's easy to believe in a babe in a manger with animals and shepherds all around as kind of a fascinating story but when we think of Him as the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world it is more difficult for some to receive. 

Christmas: They call it the advent, or the coming of deity to earth.  Truly it is a wonderful story of miraculous encounters with angels, visions, dreams, and the human factor of a virgin impregnated by the Word of God conceived of Holy Spirit,  a Jewish man willing to take her as a wife knowing the child was not his, priests, prophets, shepherds, wise men, the ungodly king Herod, and we could go on and on. "And 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." John 1:14.

As I was looking at the account in Luke of the story of the birth of Jesus, I stopped at the angel Gabriel's words to Mary after he announced the plan God had for her to be the mother of our Lord.  She was questioning how it was possible for  her to conceive without the help of a man.
  

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 

Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:35-37

I have heard this verse quoted a lot in different sermons and often wondered about it "For with God nothing will be impossible".  A couple of things stood out to me this time when I read that passage.  One was the word 'with'.  Who is God with?  Are we with God?  The word 'with' is a preposition and one meaning is: two or more people or things are doing something together or involved in something.  In looking at that scripture I had always thought about God being the one doing the impossible and it didn't include others.  After all God can do anything, right?  Well not exactly.  He specifically says in the Word that He limits himself to do certain things.  For instance He will not go against human will.  He will not deviate from His Word. He will NOT break the covenant He has made with man. He chooses to work through man to accomplish His will.  It is a lot to chew on, so back to the word 'with'.  God needed a man and woman, in this case Zacharias and Elizabeth to cooperate with His plan to bring into the world John the Baptist, the precursor of Christ. Elizabeth was beyond childbearing years and so God performed the impossible by allowing Elizabeth to produce and egg and John to believe in what God was going to do and provide the seed to conceive a child.  Notice Zacharias was struck dumb until the child was born. I believe he possibly could have thwarted God's plan by speaking unbelief.  (Our words are powerful.) The angel Gabriel used this example to encourage Mary that "with God all things are possible".  It spurred her faith and she became a cooperative participant in the miraculous conception of Jesus the Messiah!   It was imperative that Jesus enter the world legally through a human being as God had chosen man to take dominion and subdue the earth. Genesis 1:26  Therefore God could not betray His Word and send Jesus down as the Deified Glorified Christ.  He came in the form of a babe in a manger born of woman.  "But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children." Galatians 4:4-5 NLT  Oh I am feeling the love right now!  Can you see what I see?

Speaking of Jesus: " Though he was God,  he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;  he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.    When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross." Philippians 2:5-8 New Living Translation

Now I want to once again point to the scripture " For with God nothing will be impossible".  We can see that God chooses to work with humans to accomplish His will.  That is the "with God' part.  I wish to bring another interpretation to the translation of that particular scripture.  Believe me I don't pretend to be a Bible scholar but I do know how to use helps that are incredible now to look at the Hebrew and Greek language the Bible was translated from and I have Holy Spirit to bring revelation to me.  I did some looking at the original Greek language and some commentaries that I have faith in to bring correct information. And.... another translation of "For with God nothing will be impossible" is  "For no Word of God shall be powerless"!  The word from God spoken to Mary, she received into her very being, allowing the Truth to manifest in her very body!  I believe they are both wonderful revelations to the scripture.  God requires us working with Him to receive, speak, and perform His Word in this earth.

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

To sum things up, we have this incredible gift given to us by God that we can receive or reject.  It is the Living Word  in the form of a baby, the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.  He was born of a virgin maiden who received the Truth in her very being.  He was surrounded by animals, lowly shepherds and angels singing. The light of a star stood overhead, wise men visited bringing their gifts, and a wicked King tried to destroy him. An earthly father looked over and protected Him. The Heavenly Father implemented His plan to bring man back to redemption.  He "watches over His Word to perform it".  Oh, such Great Love He shows us. But we have to receive that love with our own free will. 

We can receive the this Gift of God and become His child.  Jesus can be born in us. My father's favorite scripture:  "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16

We can also begin to see miraculous things happen in our lives by receiving the Word of God.  We can cooperate with our Heavenly Father and see the miraculous power of the spoken Word begin to manifest the impossible in our lives and the lives of others.  

He's coming back for His bride, the church.  He will come this time as the Lion of Judah, the ruling King.

For no Word of God shall be powerless!

"Though he was God,  he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.   Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;  he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.  When he appeared in human form,  he humbled himself in obedience to God  and died a criminal’s death on a cross.   Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,  in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,  to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:6-11 

May the Joy of Christmas be yours this year and forever.
I pray you receive this Great and Blessed Hope that God's Love has provided.

Candy Kloxin