Yes, the Baby was born to suffer! To die on the Cross for our sins.

1 John 4:14 trumpets: “The Father sent the Son (Bethlehem, Virgin Birth) to be the Saviour (Jerusalem, the Cross of Calvary) of the world.”

In other words, “born to suffer!”

And that brief thought leads me to a confession!

Hebrews 2:10 … “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” … is a verse I feel I have never understood, not like I should anyway.

And here’s the beauty of that situation … Hebrews 2:10 is the verse we study tonight in our “Evening Meditation.” So today, of necessity, here in a motel room in Alabama (preaching in a nearby Revival) … I will (with the aid of the Holy Spirit) come to a better understanding of this pivotal Passage of Scripture.

I invite you to join us this evening, or anytime thereafter, on Facebook or YouTube. Let’s see what the Lord gives me! Studying the Bible is like entering a gold mine! Precious treasure everywhere …

Jesus made prefect though sufferings.

I enjoyed last night’s lesson too! “But we see Jesus” We are currently taking a journey through the Book of Hebrews.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death …” Hebrews 2:9a

Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth in a human body, virgin born. Yes, made “lower” than the very angels He had created!

Why did He come, why that first “Christmas?”

To grow sinlessly into manhood and to die on the Cross for our sins!

Which He did, thereafter being raised from the Dead, from the Grave by His Father in Heaven!

But the whole Paragraph there in Hebrews (Hebrews 2:5-9) needs to be discussed, to more fully understand the plight of humanity and the Salvation Jesus offers!

So, if you’re interested … watch tonight’s “Evening Meditation.” Twenty-something minutes of Bible study on this great Truth!

Christmas is not about us … it is about Him and His love for us!

Best exhibited on an old rugged cross!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

No wonder the successful Saviour now sits at His Father’s Right Hand! How else could it be?

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I am today going to suggest you do something. Watch one of the Bible Lessons I have been broadcasting on Facebook or YouTube. (I would also put them here on the Website, the Blog, but I am told I do not have enough “bandwidth,” whatever that is!)

We are in the Book of Hebrews. And last night’s Lesson (Hebrews 2:1) is powerful. Not my delivery, the Scripture itself!

It is a warning to us Christians!

Tonight’s Video (Hebrews 2:2-4) is equally challenging. I urge you to watch these if at all possible.

We are living in challenging days.

And HEBREWS is just the Book we need.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

If you have no way to watch these … please let me know.

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Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, is our “case study” this morning. He, of all people, was quite “silent” during the time leading up to the birth of his son.

In fact, God had stuck him “dumb!” Because of his “unbelief” regarding this amazing (though not yet conceived) infant God had promised! (Luke 1:5-23, gives the whole story.)

But his enforced silence, really chastisement from the Lord, may have had some good effects too!

Here’s what I mean …

“And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he SPAKE, and praised God.” Luke 1:59-64, read it all please.

His name will be JOHN, not Zacharias Junior!

Let us figure, calculate.

That’s at least nine months of silence! A little over that, I suspect.

Soon as the silent Zacharias got home from his priestly duties in Jerusalem … “And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived.”

Now both parents here were “well stricken in years,” according to the Physician Luke in his Book of history, specifically in Luke 1:7.

Folks … there are times in our lives, especially in so-called modern society … when a little “silence” might help us all to live better for Jesus.

“Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.” Zechariah 2:13

“Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.” (Quoting Psalm 4:4, where the Hebrew verb “be still” also means “to be silent.” Four times in the King James Bible it is translated that way!)

And even Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes 3:7 that there is “a time to keep silence.” Zacharias learned that the hard way!

This Christmas, some quiet time might be good for us. Time to think about the real Meaning of the way too commercialized Holiday. That being THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR! VIRGIN BIRTH!

Ponder that Truth a bit, off in a corner somewhere.

Be sure … Zacharias did.

Oh, this too.

The now-able-to-talk Zacharias soon bursts into a Psalm of Praise to his great God!

Read it ….

“And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. And thou, child (the newborn baby, little John the Baptist), shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:67-79

Wow!

Did those months of silence, of godly meditating, yield this little Biblical Gem? I think so.

Silence, yes at times can really be “golden.”

Often indeed … “He that hath knowledge spareth his words.” Proverbs 17:27.

Maybe I have talked enough now.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Jesus and His Father, what a Relationship!

For example: “Wherefore when he (Jesus) cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, BUT A BODY THOU HAST PREPARED ME.” Hebrews 10:5

In other words, when Jesus was born, born of a virgin at that, He acknowledged to His Father … Old Testament sacrifices and offerings have been ineffective. Because of the “flesh,” the sinful and selfish tendencies of the Israelites … so God sent His Son into the world! In a Body, as a little newborn Child!

GOD THE FATHER PREAPRED (“katartizo” = to make perfect) A BODY FOR JESUS!

That’s the real Story we should be telling this time of year. (Lesson written Friday morning, December 11, 2020) God come to earth … in human flesh!

To do what the Law and Moses could not do!

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, GOD sending his own SON in the likeness of sinful FLESH, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Forgave sin, washed us Believers clean in the Blood of the very (embodied, enfleshed, incarnate) Son of God! (Romans 8:3)

That thought, that word picture, has “gripped/captivated” me this morning!

God was the Artist behind the Body of Jesus! Let me quickly add … the sinless Body of Jesus!

By the way, Paul in Hebrews 10:5 (above) is loosely quoting Psalm 40:6. There God opened Jesus’ ear … here God prepared Him a Body!

Wow!

In that sense …

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14, King James Version

Hallelujah!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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