Did a strange thing occur?

[Ebn Barbara]

It is the Lord’s Jesus Christ Birthday remembrance..
Usually Christians sing this song in this occasion:
Shepherds tell us.. did a strange thing occur?
Messengers tell us.. proclaim the wonderful secret.

The lord put on my heart this expression:
Did a strange thing occur?

So let us see together.. did a strange thing occur?

The Old Testament tells us about a king from God’s people enemies, who brought a magician called Balaam, to curse the people during their journey to the promise land, and the magician spoke these words:
" Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth, And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city " (Numbers 24 : 15 – 19).

A strange thing !!!
A magician hired from God’s people enemies, to curse the people, and we see him blessing them and cursing the ones who hired him, even more he prophecies that in the latter days, a “Star” will come out of this people to destroy all the enemies of God’s people..

Who is this Star?
Mathew recorded these verses:
" Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying: Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him… Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared, (and he demanded of them where the child Jesus would be born, but the word tells us that they had a vision in their dream telling them not to go back to Herod, so they went to their country in a different way).
(Matthew 2 : 1 – 12)

Another strange thing..
The wise men !!!
They saw the star of the born king of the Jews, and they came to worship Him..
No matter how many are the interpretations, they still are not from the people of God, they might be like Balaam or the tellers or the astronomers..
And astronomers and magicians should be used by Satan, they should obey Herod and tell him about Jesus place so he can kill him, but they obeyed what God revealed to them, and they went back to their country after they worshiped the king !!!

Balaam prophesied about a star that will come out of God’s people..
And the prophecy came true.. and the star showed up.. and the wise men saw him and came to worship him..

Another strange thing also !!!
Mathew recorded in the first chapter of his gospel, the lineage of the Lord Jesus, and this passage is read on Christmas day, in all churches, and I used to hear it as a little kid, and I with all the rest didn’t enjoy it, because we use to consider the names as bizarre, and we never understood its deep meaning, but today I want to say, that I have never meditated on a passage that has such deep meanings as this one, it is not by coincidence that the Holy Spirit wrote us, the lineage of Jesus in such details, mentioning a good number of men’s names, introducing among them the names of four women only, so why didn’t he continue in naming men’s names by order, without mentioning the names of these four women? Let’s look together:
- Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar
- Salmon begat Boaz of Rachab
- Boaz begat Obed of Ruth
- David begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias

Mathew could have said: Judas begat Phares and Zara, Salmon begat Boaz, Boaz begat Obed, and David begat Solomon, as we read in the rest of the same passage, but Mathew wrote the gospel inspired by the Holy Spirit, maybe he didn’t know the reasons why he wrote so, but thank be to God that we know these reasons today.
Who is “Thamar” and “Rachab” and “Ruth” and “the wife of Urias”?
- “ Thamar ” is Judas son’s wife, who after her husband’s death, committed adultery with his father meaning her father in law, and begat “ Phares and Zara ” from him whose names are mentioned in Jesus lineage, she was an adulteress !!! (Genesis 38).
- “ Rachab ” was named the prostitute in many passages in the Bible !!!
(Joshua 2, Hebrews 11 : 31, James 2 : 25).
- “ the wife of Urias ” is “ Bethsheba ” she is the one whom David the King brought to his palace and sinned with her, and ordered her husband to be killed, then begat Solomon from her, she is too an adulteress !!! (2 Samuel 11).
- As for “ Ruth ” she wasn’t an adulteress, and this made me ask the Holy Spirit, why did He mention her name with the other three women? Until I looked in the book of “ Ruth ” and I knew that she was a “ Moabite ” woman, and who are the Moabites? They are the offspring of “ adultery ”, they came to this world, when Lot’s daughter made her father drunk, and then slept with him, and begat a son from him, whom she named “ Moab ” and from him comes the lineage of the Moabites from which came “ Ruth ”, a lineage of the ugliest kind of adultery !!!

More than that also, if we read in Deuteronomy 23 : 2 - 3, when God commanded His people, saying to them:
" One of illegitimate birth shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord, An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever ".
A strange thing indeed..
What does the Holy Spirit want to teach us?

The angel said to Joseph that Marry:
" And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us " (Matthew 1 : 21 – 23).

A savior from our sins is born.. “ Immanuel ” God is with us is born.. God is with us means, not only that He is in our midst, but that He is with us, not against us, He stands with us against our enemies also..
A Lamp and a Lion is born unto us in the same time..

The Holy Spirit mentioned to us in the lineage of Jesus the names of four adulteress women, to tell us that He came to this world for them, He came for the sinners and the rejected ones, He came to reconcile us with God, after that our sins departed us from Him, He came to demolishes the punishment, He came to tear down the wall that separates us from God, He came to tear down what Satan has done, He came to make us wear the garment of Joy instead of the one of sadness and weary and wonder, He came to heal us, He came to set the captives free and comfort the brokenhearted, He became poor to make us rich, He endured rejection from the first day he was born, in order for us to be accepted, He was born in a major among animals, for us the sinners, the adulterers, and the ones prevented from becoming of God’s people to be born in a king of kings and the Lord of Lords’ palace, and to be named “ a chosen offspring, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people bought by God ”.

And today he reminds each one of us, whatever your situation is, that you are accepted in Christ, your name is accepted in the lineage of the Lord, in the lineage of the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, don’t stay away, don’t give way to the rejection’s feeling that you have by what you’ve done or do, to deprive you from this acceptance, and from joining this lineage, come to the Lord now, open your heart to him share with him all your suffering, let him heal your wounds, and accept you and make you of his own lineage..

And if you are living in defeat, remember today in this occasion, that the Star who came out from the people of God according to the flesh, Has defeated all your enemies, and deprived them from every authority and power, and gave you the authority to smash them..

Yes.. a strange thing has occurred.. even strange things have occurred..
And the Holy Spirit recorded it for us.. But the important question today is, do you want these strange things to take place in your personal life, in your ministry, in your church and in your country?
In an another meaning, are you taking advantage from these strange things that the Lord has made on all levels?

Beloveds: the Lord has made these strange things, not as it was expected, not according to circumstances and what is familiar, to say to you:
- Nothing is impossible to Me.. (Job 42 : 2).

- My hand is stretched for salvation who can stop it.. (Isaiah 14 : 27).

- No wisdom or understanding or counseling works against my will..
(Proverbs 21 : 30)

- If your ways pleased me I will force your enemies to make peace with you.. (Proverbs 16 : 7).
- I turn curse into a blessing in your life.. (Deuteronomy 23 : 5).

- Satan means evil for you but I turn it into good.. (Genesis 50 : 20).

Just believe in this day, to see God doing strange things in your life..
Things to change your life, above the familiar and the expected..

When Herod heard about the birth of the Lord.. he was troubled..
And today when Satan hears and sees your faith that the Lord will do strange things in your life, he will be troubled guaranteed..

Does deliverance from the hard situation you are going through seem strange?
Does deliverance from the sins and the bondage you’re suffering from seem strange?
Does finding your life partner after all this time seem strange to you?
Does solving your financial problems seem strange to you?
Does opening the doors for the gospel and the fulfilling of the revival seem strange to you?
Does the salvation of your country, especially in these hard situation, seem strange to you?

That’s ok.. the Lord Jesus say to you today, like He said to the father of the boy who was struck down by Satan:
" If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes ".
(Mark 9 : 23).

He also says to you:
" The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God ".
(Luke 18 : 27).



He is the God of the impossible.. the God of solution for the infeasible things.. the God who has an exit for death..
A petition in this day, in this occasion, and in everyday..
Do not ask God to solve easy and simple things for you..
But ask Him to solve complicated hard and impossible things..
And you shall witness strange things that the Lord will do for you.. for your church.. and for your country.

[بنت معلم الاجيال]

Thank you

very beautiful