The Greatest Light of the World, the Word, Who was with God from the Beginning and is the Life and Light of all men, to illumine us with Himself, has brought us salvation! He is the extension of the Father’s right hand. He put His coat of mail on and brought forth justice and righteousness not by His eyes or His hearing but with righteous judgments, the judgments of the Father that delivered mercy and grace to all that would believe! The fullness of Salvation manifested in Bethlehem as Jesus lay in a manager to be God’s gift of His precious Light so that all may behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ! Jesus came to show us the Father, as He shown the glory of God to the small town of Bethlehem. Jesus that night was the light of Bethlehem, the House of God! Bethlehem, meaning the House of Bread in Hebrew. Since Jesus is the Bread of Life come down from Heaven it represents the House of God' Jesus came as God in the Flesh, pitching up His Tent to tabernacle with man. Jesus was the firstborn among many brethren to be the First man to be the House of God; He is Son of God and Son of Man. Bethlehem therefore, is the demonstration not only on a corporate level of the greatness of Christ in the earth, but also Christ Jesus within us the Hope of Glory! We are the house of God (Bethlehem) because God does not dwell in a house made of stone now but in earthen vessels!! We are like Bethlehem, that which is tiny and so foolish to the world but to God it is great and mighty that He lifts us up out of the ash heap to sit on the throne of nobles to rest His canopy of divine love!!! We continually recognize the fact that Jesus came to us not simply at Christmas time but daily in our lives as we breathe and live out the Call of Christ Jesus, as we like Paul run our race to go after the prize of the high call and to do any less would be in vain! The very fact that we know the state in which we were in when Jesus came to us and brought the light in the midst of our darkness that we have been forever ruined and cannot ever think of another lover! The love of God has shown in our hearts through Christ Jesus and He by being Wisdom reveals the Father; He has been with the Father from the beginning and was with God, when He formed and fashioned the world; He has come to us! Wisdom has brought forth the spirit of revelation to open the eyes of our heart, to bring great understanding (faith and commitment) to simply believe that He is! Jesus is the Light! That perfect Light, the pure Light of God that came to be the Lamp (All Consuming Fire) in the temple, the house, in us! That perfect Light came to us and increases in us from day to day as we continue to behold the beauty of Who Jesus is with an unveiled face by looking at Him in the Word! By that process of beholding our Lover, Jesus, we are transformed into His image; we are one as a husband and wife are one. We have been meshed and entwined in the Divine Romance of God’s Love that floods us and fills us with Himself so that we can be a city on a hill, whose light cannot be hidden!!!! We in great darkness shine like the stars and win many to righteousness! The divine expression of Christ in us the Hope of glory allows us to be the light in such great darkness that when we arise in the midst of the circumstances that would try and cause us to be depressed and prostrate we instead choose to believe that our Light has come, Jesus has come to Bethlehem, the house of God, to be the light! That we are strong and courageous knowing that the Glory of God has risen upon us not because of us but because of only One, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Who was born in a lowly manger, leaving His throne of Glory and humbling Himself to bring many sons and daughters to glory! We are the divine mercy and grace of God made manifest to such a dark world that even in the midst of the darkness and the day of danger we choose to rise in the power of God’s might being rooted and grounded securely in the love of Christ Jesus to experience the Love of God, which is more than knowledge, it is DIVINE GRACE! Because we have received God’s grace, we are wholly flooded with His love only to spill it out on others that we become a FLOOD LIGHT OF GOD’S LOVE TO THE WORLD!!!! WE SHINE!!! WE SHINE THE LOVE OF GOD TO OTHERS SO THAT THEY WOULD BE DRAWN TO THAT GREAT LOVE, THE GREATEST LOVE STORY EVER TOLD! The Father so dearly prized and loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish! That whosoever commits to Him and believes that He exists can become as that little town of Bethlehem, the very House of God that encases and has the indwelling Light of Christ Jesus! The Lamb is the Light and God is the Light of our House! Something that others would despise and question, “why the low thing?” “Why a manager?” “Why Bethlehem?” Because only in the lowest of places can the greatest display of God’s Love and His glory where no flesh can glory but only God Almighty in what was wrought in such desolation! This Christmas season let your Light, Jesus in you the hope of glory; shine brightly so that others who sit in darkness can see the Light! Love you! Robin Kirby-Gatto 14 Justice is turned away backward, and righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God) stands far off; for truth has fallen in the street (the city’s forum), and uprightness cannot enter [the courts of justice]. 15 Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. 16 And He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor [no one to intervene on behalf of truth and right]; therefore His own arm brought Him victory, and His own righteousness [having the Spirit without measure] sustained Him. 17 For [the Lord] put on righteousness as a breastplate or coat of mail, and salvation as a helmet upon His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal [and furious divine jealousy] as a cloak. 18 According as their deeds deserve, so will He repay wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; on the foreign islands and coastlands He will make compensation. 19 So [as the result of the Messiah’s intervention] they shall [reverently] fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and put him to flight [for He will come like a rushing stream which the breath of the Lord drives]. 20 He shall come as a Redeemer to Zion and to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from transgression, says the Lord. 21 As for Me, this is My covenant or league with them, says the Lord: My Spirit, Who is upon you [and Who writes the law of God inwardly on the heart], and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your [true, spiritual] children, or out of the mouths of your children’s children, says the Lord, from henceforth and forever. Isaiah 59:14-21 8 He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with nobles and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them. 1 Samuel 2:8 Daniel 12:3; Isaiah 11:1-5; Ephesians 1:17-23; Ephesians 3:16-21; John 3:16; Isaiah 60:1-5; Philippians 3:14; Matthew 5:14 O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight For Christ is born of Mary And gathered all above While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wondering love O morning stars together Proclaim the holy birth And praises sing to God the King And Peace to men on earth How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive him still, The dear Christ enters in. O holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray Cast out our sin and enter in Be born to us today We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell O come to us, abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel