MIRACLE: Revealed Mysteries Surrounding the Greatest Birth in History

By Douglas Seaman

Revealing the MIRACLE of the Christmas Story.

Do you know the Christmas story? Do you know the real Christmas story?

· What redemptive significance did Bethlehem hold?

· Was Jesus really born in a stable? If not, what was the sacrificial significance of the place in which He was born?

· Why did the wi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cry Of Deliverance (Int’l Ministries), Inc.
• Release date: Dec 24, 2019
• ISBN: 9781734429114

Douglas Seaman

Pastor Douglas Seaman has served over thirty years as a Pastor of churches in the mid-Atlantic region. Pastor Doug is also the Founder and President of Cry of Deliverance, an international ministry working in Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Pakistan. Pastor Doug preaches several times a week on Deliverance Today, a weekly program on ShineStar TV. The television program reaches over seventy-five nations in Asia.

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MIRACLE

Revealed Mysteries Surrounding the Greatest Birth in History

Douglas Seaman

MIRACLE

© 2019 by Douglas Seaman

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system - except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper - without permission in writing from the author.

Cover Design and Interior Layout by Uberwriters Christian Ghostwriters

www.Uberwriters.com

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-7344291-0-7 paperback

ISBN 978-1-7344291-1-4 eBook

Dedication

This book is dedicated to our nephew, Zach, who finished his assignment at the exact time this project was completed.

Well done, young prophet. Well done.

Zachary Tellep, 1997-2019

Introduction

I’m sure most of us would agree the message of Christmas has lost spiritual significance in America. In fact, my travels say this is true the world over—despite the many astounding miracles that took place to bring about the birth of Jesus Christ. Then, several years ago, something very interesting happened; each time I began preparing a Christmas message I would see something deeper in the beloved stories we all know so well. God began revealing to me astonishingly powerful insights in each part of the Christmas story. I felt as if I was seeing the beauty, mystery, and wonder that our modern culture seemed to have lost. These revelations did not necessarily cause me to experience what the biblical characters had; rather, they gave me strong confidence that the amazing way God dealt with Mary, Elizabeth, or the Wise Men from the east is the same way He will deal with me.

My goal is to help bring you to a place where you expect that not only would God do the same for you as He did for our spiritual ancestors, but He would continue to reveal Himself to you through His Word. For example, the fact that God actively led the wise men to the birthplace of the Messiah should tell you to expect the same leading from God today. I’m naturally intrigued by the mystery, prophetic, and revelation aspects of God’s word; it’s humbling when I sense the Spirit has shown His light on something specific in the word for me. I believe it’s vitally important we expect God to reveal scripture to us. These revelations don’t necessarily have to be Earth-shattering every time, but occasionally, we are meant to experience moments of deeply powerful revelation.

Like everyone, I sometimes fail to read God’s word accurately because I think I already know it. When approaching the Bible with this preconceived mindset, we usually receive very little from our reading. When we approach the Word expecting to see something new, we will truly see wonders—wonders like the Lord’s birth and the power of God on full display. When we expect and receive these wonders, then we’re aligned with His Kingdom, becoming people of greater understanding and worship.

I personally find the mystery of the Christmas story extremely appealing, but I—like many others—was initially unable to see beyond the veil of this mystery. It is only through God’s anointing, and the help of the Holy Spirit, that my eyes were opened to the deeper mysteries surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.

These occasional moments of revelation—or wonder—are a big deal for those who experience them. Whether an ironworker, a teacher, or a homemaker, when revelation comes, we are still talking about it five years later. God spoke to me… He showed me. The same animation and conviction remains no matter how much time has passed since the revelation. The person knows God speaks—He directs His people—and they have experienced this firsthand. Each chapter of this book has a different rhythm and unique journey, but when we read each chapter as part of a greater, inclusive whole, we start to realize that God still speaks, and He still deals with us as He did our spiritual ancestors.

My focus when ministering the gospel is for people to grasp that God can speak to them in the same way He spoke to the prophets. This is my intention in writing this book; I want you to experience God in the most personal and profound way. As you read the information I present, I encourage you to explore each chapter with an open and inquiring mind. Think about how each piece of the puzzle fits into God’s broad masterplan. For example, how did the wise men know to go directly to Jerusalem before continuing on to Bethlehem? Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Who actually owned the property where Jesus was born? Believe me, the answers to these questions, and many more, reveal a far deeper story at work.

This book is written to examine the birth of Jesus Christ, and to emphasize the many absolute miracles that took place to bring it about. We’ll also explore how we should be able to see ourselves reflected in many of the various characters and situations, and that we share common enemies with even the greatest biblical characters (like Mary being told not to fear.) I believe you will come to see, without a shadow of doubt, the birth of Jesus Christ was unlike any other birth in human history.

You’ll see how truly astonishing the prophetic work is, that God fulfilled throughout scripture. The beauty of each thread in God’s Christmas story is its vital part of His ultra-creative masterplan to save mankind. The greatest takeaway is knowing God’s power is still available to us today. Your Heavenly Father is entirely willing to do the miraculous for you too, as you surrender to His plan for your life. When we start recognizing the deeper miracles and messages of Christmas, no matter what day of the year it is, we begin to comprehend how Christmas really is worth celebrating every day.

As we begin, many of these Christmas miracles will be examined, and I believe you will be surprised and greatly refreshed as you read this book.

The first step of this journey is to go way back to the book of Genesis, and see why a Savior born in such a glorious way was so desperately needed.

Chapter One

God’s Masterplan

Before we start exploring the miraculous events leading up to the birth of Jesus, it’s important to understand why God chose to send His only begotten Son to Earth. Many people don’t understand why a simple act of disobedience resulted in either such a harsh penalty, or such chaos on Earth. People ask, How can God allow all the suffering in the world? By the end of the next chapter, you will know these answers. In fact, when you realize the gravity of sin’s implications, you’ll see why only God Himself could come to Earth to forge a way out of the nightmarish consequences. God’s masterplan for our redemption will become clearer when we realize why Jesus was sent by the Father.

Many people struggle to understand how an almighty God would willingly sacrifice His Son. The short answer is, in His quest to redeem humanity, God was limited by the spiritual laws governing Heaven and Earth—laws He Himself had put into effect. (This point may be controversial to some people, and that’s ok. We’re going to tackle more than a few in this book but I’ll back everything up scripturally and then you can see if you agree.) Being a just God, He was unwilling to bend spiritual laws, even though His beloved creation—formed in His image—had fallen from grace.

The man and woman were created to have dominion over the Earth, but through terrible treachery, God’s chief enemy deceived them, causing creation to disobey a direct command given by God. Their disobedience separated them from God because they chose to believe the serpent’s lies over God’s explicit command not to eat the fruit of a specific tree in the garden of Eden.

Yet surely an all-knowing God knew in advance that Adam and Eve would ultimately disobey Him? Yes—God had foreseen their disobedience, so He planned the salvation of His fallen creation even before they fell. He set in motion His plan to redeem humanity on the very same day they ate from that one tree in the garden, choosing to ignore God’s command.

The implementation of God’s redemptive plan is where the story of Christmas actually begins—there in the garden of Eden.

God came looking for Adam and Eve but they were fearful because their eyes had been opened, and now they knew they were naked. God asked Adam how he knew he was naked, and if he had eaten the forbidden fruit. Adam admitted to it, but blamed Eve for his disobedience. Eve, in turn, blamed the serpent for deceiving her. God immediately turned to the serpent:

¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. ¹⁵ And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." Emphasis mine—Genesis 3:14-15

So, right there in the final sentence of verse 15, God announces the promised birth of humanity’s Messiah, who will crush the serpent’s head—but in the process of doing so, the serpent would also strike His heel. This is the first of many prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah, who would be the Redeemer of all generations. Adam and Eve were ordered to leave the garden, and told they would suffer as a result of their disobedience—Eve would suffer pain during childbirth, and Adam would have to strenuously work by the sweat of his brow, to harvest from the ground that had now been cursed by God. Worst of all, they would be spiritually separated from their loving Creator by the sin they had committed, and would also suffer physical death, returning to the dust from which they had been created.

So Adam and Eve left the garden, and from this point forward we can trace the arc of sin that tainted their lives forever, starting with their son, Cain, who murdered his brother, Abel. This resulted in a Pandora’s box of depravity entering the world in just a few generations. The situation became so bad God had to cleanse the Earth for a very specific reason. God instructed the only remaining righteous person on the Earth to build an ark, to escape a great Flood, sent by God to cleanse Earth’s debauchery.

There remains, however, a troubling question: if Noah was chosen to continue the human race because he was the only righteous person to be found, how did sin persist even after the Flood? Another important question is how did God determine Noah’s righteousness? Scripture tells us Noah found favor with the Lord, and that he was "a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God" (Emphasis mine—Genesis 6:8-9).

Imagine the level of depravity humanity had reached if only one person on the entire Earth stood blameless before God. It’s important to note what this scripture implies—God had mercy on Noah’s sons when he admitted them onto the ark—Shem, Ham, and Japheth were not blameless before God. Think about how sin entered the world—through one man’s disobedience in the garden. This sin led to the entire human race being defiled by sin, but there was something different about this man Noah. Through consistently walking in close fellowship with God, Noah was found to have favor. Remember, Adam was never meant to die. Only after he sinned did God pronounce that for the rest of his life he would sweat to produce food until his dying day, when he would return to the ground from which he was made (Genesis 3:19).

This was a new concept for Adam. He had not known of a dying day prior to this. Noah, however, was described by the Hebrew word chên, meaning simply grace or favor.

As followers of Jesus, we understand that this is where the presence of sin came into the human race. Paul talks about it in his letter to the Roman Church: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned (Romans 5:12).

While this image captures for us how the presence of sin has spread throughout the human race, it still leaves us wondering why sin and humanity’s tendency to slide back to depravity was not eradicated from the Earth after the Flood. I believe God speaks to us through the creation of picture images in our minds. God’s Word depicts specific scenes that create vivid visual concepts for us, so the above scripture shows us how sin came through the Flood, and why it is that we now live with the constant presence of sin on the Earth.

Now, pay close attention—we are about to get into the really interesting stuff which leads back to a reason for Christ’s birth that will fascinate you. Another very specific pre-Flood picture is presented to us in Genesis 6:4: In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.

If you’re curious like me, you would ask the Lord, How did that happen? I come away from this with two questions:

1) How is it possible that Nephilites lived on the Earth?

2) And how is it possible they appeared again after the Flood?

Firstly, it’s important to note, God does not deny this very unusual situation—His Word clearly states giant Nephilites lived on the Earth—in those days, and for some time after. In which days? The final verse of Genesis 5, followed by the first two verses of Genesis 6 puts this into context:

After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 5:32).

"Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. ² The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives" (Genesis 6:1-2—emphasis mine).

So when we see in Genesis 6:4 In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, we realize the giants existed during the time of Noah and even beyond Noah’s days. Now this doesn’t answer either of my questions, but it does point to the fact that these hybrid children with human-giant DNA continued to spread through the Earth—even after the Flood. Keep those two questions in mind, as they’ll soon be answered.

These giants, if you care to study them in any detail, will lead you to a variety of conspiracy theories, so be cautious—everything God wants us to know is in His Word. If He wanted us to have more detail on this issue, He would have given it to us. Now these sons of God, how did they end up in this world? Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that they are the angels who rebelled against God, aligning with Lucifer, according to 2 Peter 2:4-5. Regardless of how they arrived, once they were here, the Bible tells us they had sexual relationships with human women.

Incredibly, they violated the only law about marriage that even existed. The Lord was clear, stating in Genesis that …a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one (Genesis 2:24). The enemy is forever targeting marriage in his attack against mankind. Only a man was to be joined to a woman, but wherever there is the revealed will of God, there is an assault against it. So while they were prohibited from legally uniting with women, these rebels were willing to go outside the boundaries, or to even rewrite the very definition of marriage in their attempt to sabotage God’s plan.

The offspring of these giants became the worldly