Christmas Message 2022 - Laetitia van Schalkwyk

 

Good day,

It is so good to share my Christmas message with you; From me to you. 

First, I want to thank you for being on this journey with me, seeing and experiencing what Yahweh is unfolding within us. Christmas is not about celebrating and receiving presents. But!!! It is all about experiencing the Presence of Yahweh. It is a day to set aside and remembering the good things that God has done for us. As a believer it is great to remember and change the culture to something that is completely different from what the world is portraying. It is amazing how Christ came to do what He did, to come and give us a LIFE here on earth that is able to change this reality forever.

I love what St. Leo the Great (c400-461) wrote:

“Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all.”

St. John Chrysostom (347-407) wrote:

“This day He Who Is, is born; and He Who is becomes what He was not”.

I am going to read this again, because this is something to meditate on:

“This day He Who is, is born; and He Who is becomes what He was not”.

In other words; Jesus became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus took upon Himself the sin of every person.

This does not mean that Jesus Himself sinned.

1 John 3:5 TPT says: “And you know without a doubt that Jesus was revealed to eradicate sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in union with him will not sin”.

1 Peter 2:22 TPT reads: “He never sinned and he never spoke deceitfully”.

Acts 3:14 TPT “Just fifty days previously, it was Peter who denied he knew Jesus three times. Now he says to his fellow Jews, “You denied the holy and righteous One!” the one who is holy and righteous, and instead begged for a murderer to be released.  You killed the Prince of Life!”

Here Jesus is called “the holy” and “righteous One” and “Prince of Life!”

If Jesus sinned, it would mean that He ceased to be God.

So, although Jesus was holy and righteous, He came to earth to take our sin on Him.  So that we can be holy and righteous.

Philippians 2:6-8 TPT “He existed in the form of God, yet … emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient… even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion!”

What this means is that Jesus traded you … your sin for His righteousness so that you can be without sin by believing in Him.

Jesus is the DOOR!

John 10:9-10 TPT “I am the Gateway. To enter through me is to experience life, freedom, and satisfaction.  (10)  A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow!”

Hebrews 13:8 TPT says: “Jesus, the Anointed One, is always the same—yesterday, today, and forever.”

John 1:1 TPT: “In the beginning the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God.”

St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397) wrote:

“Open wide your door to the one who comes. Open your soul, throw open the depths of your heart to see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the sweetness of grace. Open your heart and run to meet the Sun of eternal light that illuminates all men”.

St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) wrote:

“O Father, in your Truth (that is to say, in your Son, humbled, needy and homeless) you have humbled me. He was humbled in the womb of the Virgin, needy in the manger of the sheep, and homeless on the wood of the Cross. Nothing so humbles the proud sinner as the humility of Jesus Christ’s humanity”.

 

And this is me, Laetitia van Schalkwyk saying: “Until next time, Shalom!”

Laetitia van Schalkwyk

Glory Realm Ministries