It is an old, old story and we give it our “lip-service” more often than just at the Christmas season, but I am amazed at how little we are really are moved and influenced by it. Imagine with me the reality that God came in the frame of a man and visited this earth for thirty-three years! The ironic nature of this is revealed in this text from Isaiah:
Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Folks around the valley here still talk about the time when President Nixon came to visit. Occasionally Laura Bush comes to visit and that throws the whole north side of the valley into a form of disarray. However, God came to the mid-east country of Israel and the vast majority of the folks there didn’t even acknowledge it! How could the eternal God and Creator disguise and hide himself in the form of a man? It is like attempting to hide an earthquake or the explosion of a nuclear bomb.
The point here is not God’s ability to hide himself but rather our extreme darkness and insensitivity. The point is not that God cannot be known, but rather that man will not acknowledge him. Mankind is of such a twisted nature that he refuses to acknowledge the clear evidence that confronts him. Unbelief is not a scholastic choice but rather a choice of the will.
How else can you explain the foolish objection to things like a statue of Jesus on Whitefish Mountain or consider the many voices objecting to nativity scenes around our cities? In the very soul of these folks and organizations such as “Americans for Freedom from Religion”, is the conviction that God is real and true and they are culpable to that knowledge. Their consciences gnaw at them every hour. They attempt to hide it through activity, drink, and denial but yet they suffer its warnings continually.
And to top this all off, we are consistently reminding them that He is coming back. It is little wonder that God’s people are often excluded from society and shunned. This is the real “inconvenient truth”. The world need not fear global warming, they need to fear the next “Christmas” when Christ returns.
