ADVENT SEASON 2016 - By James Tharp

Throughout the month of December the Christian world is observing the coming of Jesus Christ’s first advent into the world.

We read in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 2, verses 8-14: “Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord

stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’” (NKJV)

We have so many portraits of Jesus throughout the galleries of the world. As a result, there is much confusion, not only about what He looked like, but also about who He really was and is.

God the Father intended for a lost world to know for sure exactly who His Son is and why He came to earth. I fear that all too many over the world hold conflicting images of the Christ; all too often they are pressed forward by those who would have Jesus squeezed into that of a philosopher or a politician. God is not pleased with those who misrepresent who Jesus is. We read the true answer about the real Jesus in Matthew 1:18-21 where the angel Gabriel appears to Joseph, a godly man engaged to be married to the virgin Mary, reassuring him that he should proceed with the marriage, despite Mary’s pregnancy: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (NKJV)