Jesus in the book of Amos – OUR GOD OF THE ANGEL ARMIES ✝️

I love the story of the birth of Jesus. I love that each December, hundreds of thousands are retelling that story of the very first Christmas through beautiful pageants, songs, and manger scenes. I love that His story is read out loud by millions of families each Christmas eve. What’s not to like? It is a story of mystery, a star, of angels, of kings and magi. And from the beginning, there was a plot to murder Him by no less than the king himself. Indeed, Jesus was unexpected, unwanted, even hated from the time of His birth by King Herod… who desired to TAKE HIS LIFE.

The prophet Amos was a lot like Yeshua Jesus. He was an unknown, from out of nobody and nowhere important. He was unwanted. Indeed, he was ordered to pick up and go home by the priest of Bethel. But he had an important message for the people. A message of that could GIVE THEM LIFE.

My friends, there are thousands, millions in fact who, like the Christ Child, are unwanted. They will never hear the story of the first Christmas. They will never hear their mother’s loving voice. They will never see their grandchildren in a Christmas pageant. THEY WILL NEVER TAKE A BREATH OF LIFE. Like Yeshua Jesus, they are unexpected, unwanted, even hated. And like the Christ Child, there is a plot to murder them by the rulers of our land.

This Christmas season, the story of the Christ Child challenges us to think about the most unwanted in our society today…. our unborn children. The story of Christmas is the story of the unwanted child. There was no room for Him in the inn. There was no room for Him in the kingdom. No room for Him in the hearts of men. He came, not as the God of Glory that He is, but as a tiny, defenseless, voiceless child. Completely vulnerable. And He felt what it is to be unwanted.

The Prophet Amos looked forward to that first Christmas, centuries later, when a star led the wise men and angels spoke to shepherds about the birth of the Savior: “Behold!”, he said,

“Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker!
He laid out the whole plot before Adam.
He brings everything out of nothing,
like dawn out of darkness.
He strides across the alpine ridges.
His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies” – Amos 4:13 msg ❤️