IMAGINE (part three of three)

            Imagine you are Remiel.

            You may not know who Remiel is by name. But while Gabriel had the task of being the archangel informing the key participants of their roles in the births of Jesus and John, Remiel was the archangel given the task of protecting and announcing the birth of Christ.

            And Remiel is slightly confused.

            “O God Almighty, I do not understand.”

            Tell Me what troubles you, Remiel. All is as it should be.

          “But why must He be born in such squalor? This cavernous stable is not fit for a peasant’s birth, much less the King of Kings!”

         His birth cannot be in a place owned or created by man, or else man might claim credit for His arrival. The 'stable' itself is a cave, carved by no human hands, so that no man may boast. No, Remiel, the glory of His birth belongs solely to God, not man. Mary and Joseph are more than capable of their part in this, and you are there to cleanse the Child and mother, to comfort their pain, and to protect them against harm.

            And so Remiel set about his task, providing the Lord Jesus with a safe and healthy birth, protecting his mother from harm, aiding the holy step-father Joseph supernaturally as necessary, and keeping the livestock safely at bay. Then when he felt it safe to do so, he proceeded to the nearby fields, and in the same place where King David once tended sheep as a lad, Remiel announced to the most recent Bethlehem shepherds:

      “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 

        And as Remiel was joined by a host of brethren to sing “Glory to God in the highest”, a wave of satisfaction and joy rushed through the archangel for a job well done.

            The Lord had been born.

†

Imagine you’re Simeon.

The Lord God has shared a secret with you! (And why not? You are as devout as they come! Praying at the synagogue for the consolation of your beloved Israel!) God has told you that you shall not die until you have seen the Lord’s Christ.

Would you want to see Him, or not?

Think about it for a second. You’ve lived a long and generally happy life. Things are great. You know you won’t die in an accident, or of food poisoning, or from a water-born illness. God has told you so! You shall not die until you have seen the Lord’s Christ!

You may well be immortal!

And then, one fine day, the Holy Spirit leads you to the Temple, as He often does…and there He is! The Spirit leads you to Him.

You have awaited this day for years! To gaze upon the literal Son of God!

And yet… And yet…

Is Jesus’ birth a death sentence for you?

You take the young Jesus into your arms, and bless the child as well as The Lord: “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen Your Salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a Light for revelation to the Gentiles and for Glory to Your people Israel.”

Your own time is now coming to a close, so the Holy Spirit shares something curious with you: the Messiah will not do what many think He is supposed to do. As you hand the Child back to His mother, you decide to share what the Spirit shared with you…

“Behold, this child is appointed for the fall AND rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Why tell Mary that her heart and soul will be pierced as well? That just seems cruel!

Maybe you’re just feeling a little cruel right now. You were waiting for the Son of God to appear – and at that moment of glory, you learn that He will not be the salvation of the nation of Israel after all?

Bitter, perhaps?

†

Imagine you’re Anna, the prophetess.

            You have led a life of solitude from your twenties, when your husband of seven years died, until the age of eighty-four, and in those sixty or so years your life has been spent in prayer within the confines of the Holy Temple. An early model of what a nun of later Christian orders would look like, in fact – your days spent in prayer and frequent fasting, your life promised to your sole living ‘husband’, the Lord Jehovah.

            And as you are nearing the end of your ‘engagement’ period, preparing to meet your God after the death which will probably come soon, a young couple and their child enter the Temple to bless the child’s birth.

            You approach the family, and if you were in a Star Wars movie, you’d hear Obi-wan saying how “the Force is strong with this one”. The sheer energy emanating from the child is unbelievable, and the Holy Spirit makes clear the reason why. This is the Messiah – the literal Son of God!

            What would your reaction BE? Can you even imagine how you’d feel?

            Anna’s reaction was to come up to the couple and immediately give thanks to God and to speak of all who were waiting for Him to redeem Jerusalem and all of Israel. Her own life was almost over, and she would undoubtedly miss this seminal event in the history of the world, but she understood the overriding importance of what God had done. The Messiah had come. And great things would soon come to pass.

†

     The lives of the individuals surrounding the seminal event were unimportant in comparison to what was to take place over the course of the life of Jesus Christ, Immanuel, the Son of God. Time itself would forever be measured from this event, the birth of Christ – B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno dominae, the ‘year of our Lord’). In the end, Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, the innkeeper, Herod, Simeon, and Anna are all just “bit players” in the Gospel, mere props in the overriding story of salvation.

            It is the story of the human race itself, conceived by God when Adam and Eve fell from grace in the Garden, and awaiting its conclusion with the Second Coming and the events of Revelation, that is the point of importance in Christ's story. 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.' The implication is that without the birth of Christ on earth, no one would have eternal life. And through these individuals, and many many others, God arranged for Jesus Christ to be the savior of mankind and change the eternal destiny of every man, woman, or child who accepted His gift of salvation.