Picture: Jesus was borne by Virgin Mary and she laid him in a manger in a stable.

Moses told the Jews that they should be God’s children and Jesus came to save people, so that they should become God’s children.

The Virgin Mary was the first to hear the Christmas gospel. 

Luke 1: 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabrielwas sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virginengaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David,and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. 30 So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! 31 Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name himJesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdomwill never end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. 

36 “And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnantwith a son in her old age—although she was called barren, she isnow in her sixth month! 37 For nothing will be impossible withGod.” 38 So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departedfrom her.

But Isaiah had prophesied about this about 700 years ago.

Isaiah.7:10 The Lord again spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a confirming sign fromthe Lord your God. You can even ask for something miraculous.” 12But Ahaz responded, “I don’t want to ask; I don’t want to put the Lord to a test.” 13 So Isaiah replied, “Pay attention, family of David.Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God? 14 For this reason the Lord himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, thisyoung woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel. 15 He will eat sour milkand honey, which will help him know how to reject evil and choosewhat is right. 16 Here is why this will be so: Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land whose twokings you fear will be desolate. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time unlike any since Ephraimdeparted from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

Even when Jesus was a little boy, he was to learn to choose the good and reject the evil. What is the difference between that and being seduced as in the fall, to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, to know good and evil, and thus to become like God? Notice that Jesus learned to choose the good and reject the evil. But if you are seeking knowledge about something, you likely imagine that it is something is like that, no matter what you may choose. 

Jesus said that man must turn to become like children, yes, born again, to see the kingdom of God and enter it. Then it is God who does His work, He gives birth to them again and creates them in His picture. But if they try to make themselves like God, then it is they themselves who are doing their work, but it is not possible.

John 3:3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemntruth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”

5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit isspirit. 7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be bornfrom above.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesusanswered, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’tunderstand these things? 11 I tell you the solemn truth, we speakabout what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you peopleabout earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heavenexcept the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Sonof Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and onlySon, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but haveeternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world tocondemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 

Notice that Jesus thought it was strange that he who was a teacher in Israel did not understand how rebirth could take place. Moses had told them that they should be God’s children! But he foresaw and considered it likely that they would rebel and be punished for it, so that they would be carried away from their land. When they were given grace to turn around and return to their country, they would be circumcised on heart. So Paul called the new covenant heart circumcision in the Holy Spirit.

But the Jewish leaders complained about Jesus, that he was trying to make himself like God, and so they condemned him to death and began persecution of Christianity. It went as the prophets said about “Mother Israel”, she was God’s wife, so her children would be God’s children. He cared for them, but she did not understand it and became a whore, by worshipping the idols instead and then killing the children that God got with her. Therefore, their land was ravaged and they were carried away to Babylonia. But then God would take her back to grace and speak to her as in the days of her youth.

Hosea 2: 14 “However, in the future I will allure her;

I will lead her back into the wilderness

and speak tenderly to her.

15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her 

and turn the ‘Valley of Trouble’ into an ‘Opportunity for Hope.’ 

There she will sing as she did when she was young,

when she came up from the land of Egypt. 

16 At that time,” declares the Lord, 

“you will call me, ‘My husband’;

you will never again call me, ‘My master.’

17 For I will remove the names of the Baal idols from your lips,

so that you will never again utter their names!

New Covenant Relationship with Repentant Israel

18 “At that time I will make a covenant for them with the wildanimals, 

the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. 

I will abolish the warrior’s bow and sword—

that is, every weapon of warfare—from the land, 

and I will allow them to live securely.

19 I will commit myself to you forever; 

I will commit myself to you in righteousness and justice, 

in steadfast love and tender compassion. 

20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness; 

then you will acknowledge the Lord.

Agricultural Fertility Restored to the Repentant Nation

21 “At that time, I will willingly respond,” declares the Lord.

“I will respond to the sky, 

and the sky will respond to the ground; 

22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; 

and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)!

23 Then I will plant her as my own in the land. 

I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). 

I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ 

And he will say, ‘You are my God!’”

The Jews who thus received God’s grace became God’s wife, and therefore the Virgin Mary became the mother of the Son of God. And it did not stop there, for to all who received him, he gave the right to become God’s children. The daughter of Zion is the bride of Jesus, he is the Lord her bridegroom and husband, so that she becomes the mother of the children of God.

God told His people that He was the only true God.

Those to whom God’s Word came to, were called gods, because they were God’s children.

God stood up in the meeting of gods and pronounced judgment, he was the only true God, so then they were all judged, but the judgment was that they judged unrighteously.

Psalm 82:1 A psalm of Asaph.

God stands in the assembly of El;

in the midst of the gods he renders judgment.

2 He says, “How long will you make unjust legal decisions

and show favoritism to the wicked? (Selah)

3 Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless.

Vindicate the oppressed and suffering. 

4 Rescue the poor and needy.

Deliver them from the power of the wicked. 

5 They neither know nor understand.

They stumble around in the dark,

while all the foundations of the earth crumble.

6 I thought, ‘You are gods;

all of you are sons of the Most High.’

7 Yet you will die like mortals;

you will fall like all the other rulers.”

8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!

For you own all the nations.

God said to his people: “I am him.”

God said to his people, “I am him.” What did he mean by that? He who spoke to them was the same as the one who created them as a people and the same one who had created all things.

Deuteronomy 32:39 “See now that I, indeed I, am he!” says the Lord,

“and there is no other god besides me.

I kill and give life,

I smash and I heal,

and none can resist my power. 

40 For I raise up my hand to heaven,

and say, ‘As surely as I live forever, 

41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,

and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment;

I will execute vengeance on my foes,

and repay those who hate me!

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, 

and my sword will devour flesh—

the blood of the slaughtered and captured,

the chief of the enemy’s leaders.’” 

43 Cry out, O nations, with his people,

for he will avenge his servants’ blood;

he will take vengeance against his enemies,

and make atonement for his land and people.

Isaiah 45:1 “This is what the Lord says to his chosen one,

to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold

in order to subdue nations before him

and disarm kings,

to open doors before him

so gates remain unclosed:

2 ‘I will go before you

and level mountains.

Bronze doors I will shatter

and iron bars I will hack through.

3 I will give you hidden treasures,

riches stashed away in secret places,

so you may recognize that I am the Lord,

the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel. 

4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,

Israel, my chosen one,

I call you by name

and give you a title of respect, even though you do not submit to me.

5 I am the Lord, I have no peer,

there is no God but me.

I arm you for battle, even though you do not recognize me.

6 I do this so people will recognize from east to west

that there is no God but me;

I am the Lord, I have no peer. 

7 I am the one who forms light

and creates darkness;

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity.

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

8 O sky, rain down from above!

Let the clouds send down showers of deliverance!

Let the earth absorb it so salvation may grow

and deliverance may sprout up along with it.

I, the Lord, create it.’”

The Lord Gives a Warning

9 One who argues with his Creator is in grave danger,

one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground!

The clay should not say to the potter,

“What in the world are you doing?

Your work lacks skill!”

10 Danger awaits one who says to his father,

“What in the world are you fathering?”

and to his mother,

“What in the world are you bringing forth?”

11 This is what the Lord says,

the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him,

concerning things to come:

“How dare you question me about my children!

How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands! 

12 I made the earth;

I created the people who live on it.

It was me—my hands stretched out the sky.

I give orders to all the heavenly lights.

13 It is me—I stir him up and commission him;

I will make all his ways level.

He will rebuild my city;

he will send my exiled people home,

but not for a price or a bribe,”

says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

………

22 Turn to me so you can be delivered,

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer. 

23 I solemnly make this oath—

what I say is true and reliable:

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm;

24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’”

All who are angry at him will cower before him.

25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him.

Isaiah 46:3 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,

all you who are left from the family of Israel,

you who have been carried from birth,

you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.

4 Even when you are old, I will take care of you,

even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.

I made you and I will support you;

I will carry you and rescue you.

5 To whom can you compare and liken me?

Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

Jesus is the Son of God, all who received him he gave the right to become God’s children.

Jesus blessed the little children and told us to let them come to him, because the kingdom of God belongs to such. We must become like children, yes, be born again of the water of life and the Spirit of God, to see the kingdom of God and enter it.

So he called God the Father, then the Jewish leaders claimed that he was trying to make himself like God, but then he responded by referring to these prophecies of Isaiah.

John 8: 24Thus I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believethat I am he, you will die in your sins.” 

25 So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus replied, “What I have told you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” 27 (They did notunderstand that he was telling them about his Father.)

28 Then Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak just what the Father taught me. 29 And the one who sent meis with me. He has not left me alone because I always do those things that please him.” 30 While he was saying these things, many people believed in him. 

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If youcontinue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples 32 andyou will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 “We aredescendants of Abraham,” they replied, “and have never beenanyone’s slaves! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesusanswered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever. 36 So if the son setsyou free, you will be really free. 

John 10: 27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternallife, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from myhand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. 30 The Fatherand I are one.”

31 The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death.32 Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a gooddeed but for blasphemy because you, a man, are claiming to be God.”

34 Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you aregods’? 35 If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you sayabout the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. 38 But ifI do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so thatyou may come to know and understand that I am in the Father andthe Father is in me.” 39 Then they attempted again to seize him, buthe escaped their clutches.

How to learn to tell the difference between good and bad?

God planted the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden but forbade the man to eat from it.

Gen. 2:15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard inEden to care for it and to maintain it. 16 Then the Lord Godcommanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

But the serpent enticed the woman by saying that if they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they would become like God.

Genesis 3:1  Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animalsthat the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really truethat God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eatfrom it your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing goodand evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was goodfor food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for makingone wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

This sin penetrated to all people and sin’s reward was death. But Jesus atoned for sin with his death on the cross for all of us, once and for all.

Rom.5:15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression.For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the oneman Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 16 And the gift is not likethe one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the onetransgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ!

18 Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came throughone transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. 19 For just as throughthe disobedience of the one man many were constituted sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be constitutedrighteous. 20 Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 21so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign throughrighteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But Jesus quickly learned to distinguish between good and bad, so what makes the difference here? It is surely possible to discuss this in a wide way, but the primary thing is to choose Christ, believe in Him and receive Him, listen to Him and stick to what He has said (Isaiah 7:10-17).

He learned to reject evil and choose good. Then it is first and foremost a good choice and for us it is a good choice to receive Him, listen to Him and learn from Him, this is how we learn to distinguish between good and bad.

Heb.5:1  For every high priest is taken from among the people andappointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts andsacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal compassionately with those who are ignorant and erring, since he also is subject to weakness, 3and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himselfas well as for the people. 4 And no one assumes this honor on his own initiative, but only when called to it by God, as in fact Aaronwas. 5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, “You aremy Son! Today I have fathered you,” 6 as also in another placeGod says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” 7 During his earthly life Christ offered both requestsand supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his devotion. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience throughthe things he suffered. 9 And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 and he was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

The Need to Move on to Maturity

11 On this topic we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing. 12 For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teachyou the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food. 13 For everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced in the message of righteousness because he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, whose perceptionsare trained by practice to discern both good and evil.

Rom.8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are inChrist Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God achieved whatthe law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerningsin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walkaccording to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according tothe Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6 Forthe outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is lifeand peace, 7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not inthe flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is deadbecause of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the deadlives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also makeyour mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

Romans 12:1  Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasingto God—which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God—what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Since the Spirit of Jesus dwells in us and makes the body alive, we can offer the body as a living, holy sacrifice for God’s pleasure. We allow ourselves to be remade so that we get a new mind, so that we can judge what God’s will is.

MARANATA Oslo Sunday, 2009.05.10. Find the way to see king Jesus in his glory.

Speech by Roar Grande.

Interpretation of speech in tongues, (by Roar Grande) Mp3 recording:

“I am able to fill every place and a every meeting room today, says the Lord, even if the enemy storms ever so much, even if my people are on the side of what I really want to bring forth, even if there are only a few who will rise up from the kingdom that has not been accepted and which is the kingdom of darkness and begin to pass over into my kingdom.  If there are only a few who find the way to see me and see me in my glory, then I can with a few do great things at any place and at any time. The great crowd that I see, the multitude that devote themselves to me, that I may come down and begin to fertilize your faith and fertilize your love from me…. When this begins to happen according to my will and my counsel and you begin to receive my wisdom and my knowledge, then you will see that I am the living one and the one who can bring all things into proper shape. I am the one who paves the way, I am the one who lets my power be revealed and paves the way for the individual who will go my way. There are many who go their own way and who limp here and limp there. But I will have a whole heart, a pure mind, and you will see again that I am the same and I am the living one today.”

I went to intercede and then there came a prophetic message that was not recorded. The Lord said that it was He who had put joy into me.  It is not of myself, it is of him, he is my Lord. He said that I should bring out this joy. He said that several times.