By Dr Edward Tamale -Sali
The greatest gift or provision of God to the world, is Jesus Christ. This is an incompressible mystery to us today because God, who created everything seen and unseen, decided to visit us on Earth by sending His Son.
The birth of Jesus
It is now 2021 years ago when Jesus was born, and we are celebrating His birth on the dedicated day of December 25.
The whole world of over eight billion people, (inclusive of believers and non-believers) will consciously be celebrating. The greatest person was born.
The uniqueness of the birth of Christ was that, after the fall of man in the Garden of Aden, God promised to reconcile him to Himself, Genesis: 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This is indicative of Jesus who would come and bruise Satan’s head through His ministry in order to bring man back to God.
Isaiah’s prophesy
The birth of Christ was prophesied 700 years by Prophet Isaiah, before the actual event happened.
Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and shall call His name Immanuel.” The continuation in Isaiah 53:5-6 says:
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.”
The above prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus was born, and later died for our sin. No one had ever made such predictions.
My story
I have been an obstetrician for over 40 years, and have personally delivered more than 2,000 babies.
I have met the parents of these babies one-on-one, immediately after giving birth, and all these parents are overjoyed about the birth of their offspring.
But none of them told me about any prior knowledge of their child, before they were either conceived and also what their future would be.
They are just amazed and very happy about their babies. In a few cases unfortunately, their smiles are taken away because the baby is abnormal or something is wrong or the baby dies.
But all these things are unpredictable to human beings.
In Jesus, we see word by word, what was said of Him before He was born. The same Bible continues to tell us also about His return to the Earth.
God, through His wisdom told us everything about His Son Jesus; His birth, life on Earth, mission, death and His return back to the Earth.
The GPS Wise Men
Matthew 2: “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise Men from the east to Jerusalem.
“Saying, where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and come to worship Him.”
As a scientist I am very excited and intrigued about this event that took place at the time of Jesus’ birth.
This is the first time we see a GPS system in action, the star.
The GPS (Global Positioning System) is now a common feature in our daily lives.
Its science is based on satellites (man-made stars) that go around the Earth, and first came into commercial use about 40 years ago.
We now use it in our mobile phones, cars, bicycles and motor bikes or maps, as we travel locating our paths and in space science.
This is the science these Wise Men (scientists) used to locate the birthplace / address where Jesus was born.
They did not go around house to house asking people where Jesus was, but God revealed this science to them, to make Jesus’ birth unique.
The announcement
The Shepherds first came to know the news of Jesus’ birth through an Angel.
This had never happened to any human being, and indicates the importance and the significance of the birth of Jesus.
Luke 2:9-11: “And, lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
“And the Angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
My personal testimony
On April 12, 1964, while at Lubiri Secondary School, Kampala, I was led to the Lord by my late sister, Pastor Dorothy Namuddu, while attending service at Full Gospel Church, Makerere.
Jesus gave me a new life and I have never been the same ever since. I praise God for this.
Apostle Paul narrates in Galatians 2:20-21: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
Dear friend, if you have never put your trust in Christ before, I challenge you to do it this Christmas. Contact us and we shall help you.
A merry Christmas to you!
Dr Edward Tamale-Sali is director and founder, Women’s Hospital International
and Fertility Centre, Bukoto, Kampala.
