Isaiah Roman

For This Christ Came

What picture comes into your mind when you think of the cross, when you read the scriptures which prophesy Jesus’ coming, His birth, His ministry, His death, burial and resurrection?

At Christmas time attention is drawn to a babe in a manger in a limestone cave that passed for a barn in that part of the world in that time.

Have you ever been in a barn? If not you have not experienced the sounds, smells or the roughness of the surrounding situations. To a farmer it is usually with some sense of pride that he enters His barn. Regardless of how lowly or how grand it may seem to others whether it is a row of stalls for horses, a milking barn, or simply a place where he brings his animals to feed them he doesn’t regard the sounds or smells. He only feels a closeness to God’s creation. It is where life and sometimes death comes to the animals he has come to have a sort of affection for.

For a child who is raised on a farm it is a part of his life and he comes to have a fondness for it. Having been raised on a very small farm I was not even aware of any of the things mentioned above. Until I went out into the world I thought only of the familiarity of them and a sense of peace in knowing they were there and were a means for livelihood. Many children raised on a farm come to despise it; to me it was an excellent place to live and learn about life. The hours were long and the work hard; but, what does not kill all adds to growth.

Animals do not live a long life compared to a humans. A farm is a place where life, death and the struggles to stay alive are brought down to a microcosm of creation. It is also a place where tending for the animals teaches one a great deal about respect for human life.

Familiarity breeds contempt at times but it also brings a feeling of peace and security. On a farm life and death are always present but in their proper place. Dying is a part of life. It is possible to learn about one’s own death and how to accept death as a part of life in every day activities on a farm.

The Lord did not have the luxury of such a life; but, in his father’s carpenter shop with Joseph, Mary and his brothers and sisters he did learn about His heavenly Father. When he told his mother, “I must be about my Father’s business” he knew what his end would be. He never lost sight of his mission in life and the ministry he would enter to “fulfill the law and the prophets.”1 Mary no doubt told him about the words of Simeon and Anna in the temple when he was first born. He had also the fullness of the Holy Spirit to guide and teach Him.
The Christian’s vocation is to identify with Jesus’ death.2 It is his salvation and the way to eternal life. Is the death of Jesus important? We know about his birth and life; but, his death burial and resurrection save and justify. His birth was important, God sent His angels to announce it. Christmas is one thing but the death, burial and resurrection (Easter) is more important.

Christ died for your sins; all others came in to the world to live He came to die that you might live. For this reason and this reason alone Christ came into the world.

Jesus said of his life, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:18).

He also said, “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and you know the way” (John 14: 1-4). “Jesus said…, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

1. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;(Luke 2:34).
2. “For…if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8:13).