December 25
Christians and even non-Christians around the world celebrate Christmas, marking the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, who was born in Bethlehem. His was the most significant, most important, and only perfect life that ever was. It all happened in a glorious moment.
Christmas is a time of excitement and connection, but above all, it celebrates the birth of Jesus. In our busy lives, it's easy to forget the true meaning of Christmas. Let us remember always: Jesus is the reason for the season.
At the time of the First Coming or Advent, the eternal Son of God took to himself full humanity. This means that he became a man without ceasing to be God. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The eternal Son of God became a human being. The Son is uniquely the God-man and the very heart of Christmas.
This is the climax of the biblical storyline. Adam and Eve disobeyed God; God promised a descendant who would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Jesus is that descendant.
Matthew opens his Gospel by boldly declaring Jesus is the Messiah (Matthew 1:1). Paul writes, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:4–5).
Christ took “the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness” (Phil 2:7). He was called Immanuel or “God with us” (Matt 1:23). God himself, in the Christ-child, condescended and entered into our hopelessness to rescue people from their sins.
Unlike the sacrifices of the Old Testament, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is once for all. Just before Christ dies, he cries, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The book of Hebrews specifically teaches that there is no more sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:26). Hebrews 9 shows Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of the great Day of Atonement passages. Jesus Christ is the virgin-born Savior of the world, and his birth is the most important event in the history of the world. God has provided a rescue plan through Jesus’s death for our sins and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-4):
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Make this a special Christmas day by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness.
Christmas means hope for you and me, despite all our unending failings. Merry Christmas to you, and all glory to Immanuel, the God who is with us and will be with us forever.
Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great:
He appeared in the flesh,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.
1 Timothy 3:16
Merry Christmas!