We all like to celebrate birthdays. We acquired this proclivity as children with memories of fun parties; balloons, noisemakers, ice cream, cakes with candles, and the giving of gifts all are a part of these memories. As we grow older, these celebrations become less festive, but we still like to do something special on that day; perhaps a fun outing or a fancy dinner or night out, or a family get-together will suffice. We celebrate the birth of famous persons such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Martin Luther King. Sometimes radio and TV stations will publicize the birthday of some significant person in the news. A local PBS radio station that broadcasts classical music will often commemorate the birthday of a famous composer by dedicating a program in his or her memory. We also celebrate other birthdays such as the birth of the United States of America on July fourth every year, as do the Mexicans on Cinco de Mayo, the French on Bastille Day, and the Russians on May 1. So birthdays are special because they mark a beginning of someone or something that has a significant impact on our lives.
I'd like to talk about some other beginnings. Before the first beginning was God who is from everlasting to everlasting, the Alpha and Omega, the eternal One. Then, sometime a long time ago, God began creating. How that happened is a matter of speculation; some say it was a 'big bang,' some say it happened over a long period of time, some say came into existence in toto as a steady state, but we are guessing. We know at some time in the far distant past the universe had a birthday. On some of these worlds God created inhabitants, and they all had birthdays. The universe became so big and complex that God needed a cadre of special beings as communicators and facilitators, and so He created angels that excel in strength and speed, and these angels all have birthdays, either collectively or separately. Then God decided to create a special race of beings akin to Himself; He prepared a special place for them on a planet called earth. We celebrate the birthday of this earth and our first parents by keeping the Sabbath day holy.
We all have birthdays to commemorate our involuntary entrances onto the stage of the great drama of the ages. But we have been given the opportunity to be voluntarily reborn by the new birth into the body of Christ and, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, to partake of the divine nature through faith. By so doing, we look forward to having a part in a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Purified by fire and, out of the ashes of the old world, restored to its original pristine beauty, the New Earth will be our everlasting home. The birth of that new world will be celebrated by the redeemed with a special birthday party, the marriage supper; for it will be a really "special birthday."
