Bethlehem

This past Sundays sermon by P.James summed it up perfectly: The crude and unwelcome poverty of the birth of Jesus Christ shows us the (1) the depravity of our sins, (2) the humanity of Jesus Christ and (3) it shows us his humility. That describes the circumstance of his birth. And it was that the King of kings was to be born this way. This stable was in a city called Bethlehem. Bethlehem is called the city of David. And it was part of the fulfillment of prophecy that Jesus would be born here. The emperor Augustus was an instrument of God's plan to take Joseph and Mary there as part of an edict, to register for the census. Now, I don't know if any of you ever heard your parents talk about going to visit their "go-yang" (birth place/home town). My father always talked about it on Mother's Day, dreaming of the one day when he would be reunited with her and the rest of his family in his go-yang. It's usually a place that tells us about who we are. Kris and I took Jason and Wes and visited Korea about 10 years ago and visited a beautiful countryside that was the Whang family go-yang. There we can find the registry that keeps records of the Whang family back many generations... they have their roots there in that place. Micah 5:2 says: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days." It was known that Jesus would be born here. Jesus, the son of David... how logical! The humanity of Christ has it's roots here back to the first Adam. But Jesus is the only begotten son of the Most High God. He was not a created being but is from of old, from ancient of days! Our identity as Christians is not bound up in a family registry but through our rebirth, we are called sons and daughters of the King and we have an inheritance in heaven, our spiritual go-yang!

Posted by Helen Whang