MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe
wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
Luke 2:12
Dear friends! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
On behalf of the missionary families, I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! By the grace of the Lord, we mark once again the beautiful occasion of Christ’s birth. The anxieties and human suffering of our present day cannot extinguish the joy that believers feel this time of the year. This holiday season is full of bright hope, heavenly comfort same today as it was once announced by the angel’s song: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” The events of Christmas, described in the divinely-inspired words of the Gospel writers, are full of dramatic and joyful stories. And each fragment of this most beautiful story of Christmas is spiritually rich and edifying in its own way. The words of the heavenly Messenger to the shepherds are very mysterious: «And this will be the sign to you…» What was the sign? What were the shepherds supposed to pay attention to? Perhaps the last words: «in a manger» should have seriously puzzled them. The newborn Messiah, about whom the angels proclaimed, will be found in an ordinary animal feeder? That was really extraordinary! It was truly a sign! Yes, this is how the birth of the Savior took place – there was no place for Him in the hotel.
The seal of rejection by the world was this very sign that the Lamb, Jesus Christ, carried from the very moment of His birth. The Jews who came out of Egypt ate the Passover lamb with bitter herbs, and this was a great image! All those who have been honored to receive the Savior into the world and have at least been involved in it in some way have experienced this bitterness of rejection and sorrow. Joseph and Mary, with the birth of the Holy Child, together with Him experienced a lot of unrest and deprivation, for them the settled, measured way of life ended, they were forced to flee to a foreign land – to Egypt. How much sorrow was experienced by Bethlehem, where mothers lost their young sons. And the wisemen, who merely wished to pay homage to the Newborn, were probably in danger, which is why they returned to their homeland in a different way.
Only those who are ready to taste the «bitter herbs», who are ready to share with their Lord the bitterness of rejection by the world, who prove their love for the Savior by not being embarrassed by sorrows, «follow the Lamb wherever He goes» (Rev. 14:4). On this basis, there is a weeding out, many are not ready to accept hardships and endure persecution with Christ: «when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble» (Mark 4:16-17).
Yet those who truly love Christ perceive tribulations as «our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory» (2 Cor. 4:17). Our lot is not in this world, we are made for eternity! In the eternal kingdom of Christ, those who have suffered sorrow here, will experience fullness of joy and blessing in heaven! Anna, a prophetess, expressed this hope when baby Jesus was brought to the temple in Jerusalem as did the elderly Simeon in his prayer of thanksgiving.
Rejoicing with all of God’s saints, we also want to celebrate the Savior’s birth and wish you a very Merry Christmas!
In Christ,
Rev. Vladimir A. Okhotin
REM’s Founder and President
