In the beginning, God created man in His image and in His likeness Gen. 1; 26-27; 2:7. Man was created to be God’s, to praise and glorify Him Isa: 43:7; 21. The prince of the powers of the Air- Satan was opposed to it- (John 12:31; 14:30; Eph 2:2 (R.V).
1. Satan wanted to be God himself- The pride he was not ashamed of; God drove him down to earth. Satan would not take it lying down. He was all out to undo God’s doings. He hatched out a plan to cause the Fall of Man. This was the Eden Crisis. The first of the World’s 7 (Seven Crises) on earth. Satan was solely responsible for The Fall of Man- Genesis 3: 1-24.
God’s own people Adam and Eve were become now Satan’s. Adam and Eve are now in complete control of Satan.
God decided to introduce an Instrument of Reconciliation between man and Himself. He promised on His own Son to redeem man from Satan. He instituted The Christmas in Eden to seek and save man from the hands of The Evil one. Gen 3:15.
2. The very first thing that Satan directed against the first family on earth was to inflict on it, the fratricide, which has become an apron on The Naga Christians today! The wickedness of men had spread all over The World and God saw that the wickedness of men was great and that their thoughts were evils, therefore, He decided to wipe out the people from the face of the earth. The consequences was the Flood- The second great Crisis of the World.
3. God introduced an instrument of reconciliation to save 8 people by providing an Ark, known as The Noah’s Ark. It was provided for all who would enter The Ark with faith in God to be saved from the flood of Sins. This was the Flood Crisis.
4. After the Flood, Satan inspired the people of the new generation to build a Tower called The Babel Tower. The people of the Whole World had only one language. They settled in the plain of Babylonia called the Shinar plain. They said to one another “Let us build a city with a tower that reaches the sky and make a name for ourselves”. Gen. 11:4. The Tower to be named Babel – The gate of God. The people were one people and speak one language- This was Their Pride. God decided to mix up their language and strike at their pride. There arose great confusion and the people were made to scatter all over the earth. That was the end of the Babel Tower- Gen. 11:1-9. This was the Babel Crisis.
5. Then came the Patriarchal Valley- Abraham generation- Satan, in the meanwhile was preparing Pharaoh and his magicians. The Israelites became slaves of Egyptians. God instituted the Passover festival to save the Israelites. This was the Egyptian Crisis. Ex. 12: 1-51. The Passover Lamb was the type of the Lamb of God which was to be sacrificed to save the Israelites. His was legalized and it was a unique Passover practice of the Jews on the ALTAR throughout the Legal Valley. As time came nearer to the direct confrontation between God and Satan, the observance of the Passover and the Altar became the Central Focus.
6. Then the 5th of the 7 World’s Crisis took place on earth. The First Coming Crisis of Jesus Christ: In this event we find that both God and Satan were prepared for the open fight. Over a period of 4000 years God and Satan fought a cold war but now they are face to face.
A careful study of the Bible, we find that Satan had worked out his strategies in the most shrewed manner and ingenuity. All the religious communities were against God and the Roman Empire was in full support of the Jewish leaders. The deceitful, mischievous, liar-Satan had implanted a betrayer even among the disciples of Jesus. Satan would do his very best to destroy Christ and His ministry. Mt. 2: 16. Satan had selected the most shameful punishment to be inflicted on Christ. God had also selected the same place and the same punishment for His Son.
From Day- 1 Satan went against God and fought right up to Calvary. On the Cross of Calvary, God defeated Satan for all time to come. He gave all powers both in Heaven and Earth- Mt. 28:18 to Jesus Christ.
The World was and is under the power of the Evil one, it lies in wickedness of sin- 1 John 5:19. Ever since Adam and Eve were driven out from the presence of God, they came under the domain of the Evil one-the Satan. Ever since, a continuous war, a war of never ending conflict is being fought in the hearts of man between the Holy one and the Evil one-the Good and the Evil.
God sent His messengers to the world from time to time, to ask man to return to Him, but he would not. At last, he sent His son to the world to seek and save the lost humanity.
The Christmas, the world over is commemorated as an event, infact, the greatest event in the history of the World. As the entire world is being ravaged with violence, hatred, hunger, wars and conflicts, the Christmas gives a supreme reassurance to us.
(a). The Birth of Christ was a singular unique in history. It happened once and nothing else like it ever happened.
(b). It is unique in its anticipation. Hundreds of years before in what way Christ would be born, where He would be born, who would be His mother, what would be His name etc all of these were pre-determined and happened exactly as predicted.
(c). It is also unique in its plan. In the history of mankind never before or since has a virgin conceived and born a child.
(d). It was unique in its purpose as well. All men are born to live but Christ was born to die on the Cross. The Supreme purpose of His coming into the world was to lay down His life as a sacrifice for the sin of the World.
(e). The Cross was the Goal-the objective, the realization of God’s purpose. John the Baptist introduced to the world, pointing Jesus as the Lamp of God that takes away the Sins of the World.
That is why the Christmas is so genuine a reassurance in an inflammable world at the turn of the 21st Century. The birth, life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were in order to redeem us. They were God’s redemptive acts within history. Every sinner can start a new day, all the past being under the fabulous grace of God, covered by the precious blood of Christ. If a sinner confesses his sins and surrenders to Jesus and accepts Him as His Lord and Saviour, His sins are forgiven, saved and blessed with salvation. He received eternal life and becomes a child of God. This is the glorious, incredible and phenomenal fact of the Christmas. “Glory to God in the highest and Peace on earth among men with whom God is pleased.”
On Christmas God reached down to man on earth, He became a man and lived among men. He came to man in the person of Jesus Christ His Son. He made Himself into a Gift of Christmas in and through Jesus Christ. In the Gift parcel God included all the ingredients of His love: Jesus Christ and consisting with Him- The gift of Life, Reconciliation with God, The forgiveness on Sins, The Gift of Acceptance by God, and the right to become the child of God.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace-Christmas is Jesus-Our Peace. He who has Jesus has peace and he who has not Jesus has no peace. Naga’s greatest need is peace there is no other option. Everything else is a nullity: Christ is everything. The Christmas offers Jesus Christ, Let us accept Him.
R.C. CHITEN JAMIR
Former Deputy Chief Minister
Member, SC&S.T
Commission Govt of India
NPCC, President, AICCI, Member.
