“Then said I, Lo, I come (in
the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”
Hebrews 10:7.
This time of year brings great
joy to folks all over the world and from just about every walk of life.
Admittedly we’ve entered a very
festive season,
but few recognize the real reason behind all the
festivities. As strange as it may seem many folks have
no clue that
Christmas is a birthday celebration.
Christian’s especially enjoy this time of the year
because we know whose birth we’re celebrating.
2,000 years ago
God came. He entered His Creation and became a man, the
man
Jesus Christ. The Bible
declares it; that should be enough evidence for anyone
to believe it, and many do. But many disregard what the
Bible says about the birth of the
Savior of the world.
Hey it’s a holiday, that’s good enough.
God went from
being spirit to being a flesh and blood man. A perfect
God became a perfect man. “And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth.”
John 1:14. Jesus is our
Messiah, our perfect God, and our Great Savior, and
Redeemer. He’s the Creator of the entire universe. He
came to set us free.
Most have
either heard or read the account of
Jesus’
birth. Jesus began His
earthly life as an infant.
He was born in a
manger and His birth was heralded by an angel. “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 Saviour, which is Christ the
Lord.”
Luke 2:9-11.
Undoubtedly
great joy and celebration erupted in Heaven when the
little baby Jesus cried His very first cry proclaiming
the beginning of His human life. And here on earth that
very night a whole host of angels appeared before those
lowly shepherds “And suddenly there was with the angel a
multitude of the
heavenly host
praising God, and saying, Glory to God
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men.”
Luke 2:13, 14. Peace on
earth? It won’t be long now.
God came as a
propitiation for our sins. Those sins began four
thousand years before Christ’s birth and they have
continued for 2,000 years after His death, burial, and
resurrection. Even though sin abounds today there is
salvation, there is forgiveness, and there is hope for
all who have sinned. And all have sinned. I guess that
means there’s hope for some us, right? No, it means
there’s hope for everyone. The angel that appeared to
the shepherds that night told them that there would be
great joy for all people, all people. We are all invited
to accept the free gift that God gave to the world that
night. When baby Jesus grew into manhood He became the
sin offering for all of mankind, “for this He did once
for all when He offered up Himself.”
Hebrews 7:27b
Trying to
explain to the lost that God came and that He died on a
cross for the sins of the entire world can be an arduous
task. Why? Because preaching the cross and Christ
crucified is foolishness to most people. “For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power
of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:18. They
either refuse to believe in a God of the universe, or
they believe in God but refuse to believe He could die,
let alone die for the sins of man. But He did. “And you
know that Jesus came to take away our sins, for there is
no sin in him.”
1 John 3:5.
Even before
Jesus became a full grown man He knew He had an eternal
plan to accomplish. That plan was conceived between
Father and Son before the foundation of the world and
accomplished on an old wooden cross. Jesus’ death was
not a tragedy, it was an achievement. Although
God the Father
and God the Son both knew few would enter through the
narrow gate they still went ahead with their plan.
God knew from
the beginning that man would fail the test of following
His commands to the letter, and was fully aware of what
He would need to do to move His children back into a
right relationship with Himself. “But God commendeth his
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8.
The
Pharisees
of Jesus’ time believed they could obtain eternal life
because of their strict adherence to the scriptures, but
Jesus told them “Search
the scriptures; for in
them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they
which testify of me.”
John 5:39.
Sadly, many today have the same
mindset as those Pharisees of old.
Preachers have been pounding the
tops of pulpits for years trying to get the Gospel
message out to a rebellious people so they might grasp
the truth. Many have succeeded in their attempts, but
many more have not. Rebellion is a difficult thing to
counter. Moms and dads know this all too well. Children
begin to rebel almost from birth. “No” becomes their
favorite word in many cases. Whether or not you’d like
to admit it folks, that’s rebellion. That’s what God
sees in His children, but that’s what He overlooks once
we’ve heard the Gospel and believed.
Each year the unbelieving world
seek to change the name of this particular season to
“winter festival” or some other non-biblical name,
anything to take the emphases off
Christ and His birth. All those who wish to eliminate
Christmas from the season and change the name and the
meaning of the 25th
of December to “happy holidays” will soon get their
wish. Here comes Santa Claus will be the only reference
to this particular day in the not so distant future.
After the Rapture of the Church there will be no further
resistance to changing the name of the season. But there
will be nothing to ho, ho, ho about either.
Call it what
you will, God came to replace death with life. “I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly.”
John 10:10.
There’s no denying the facts for those of us whose
blinders have been removed. Believers could no more deny
Christ or the fact that He came than deny the sun shines
every day.
But for many
lost souls denying Christ is prominent, many times in
the forefront of their minds and at this time of year
the denial becomes even more extreme. Some of those who
deny Christ become abusive and lash out at any reference
to God and Jesus during the Christmas season.
But all the denial in the world
doesn’t change the facts, God came. The Bible contains
many scriptures about the Christ child and His arrival.
Go ahead deny the Bible that’s easy, but you must deny
truth at the same time. The Bible is true and complete;
all of life’s questions can be answered from the Bible.
As I’ve stated in previous commentaries the Bible was
written as a history lesson in advance. That’s how God
authenticates His word.
Reading and studying the Bible
brings comfort in the form of truth. The Bible is God
speaking to us and His words comfort our soul. This time
of year can be especially comforting as we celebrate the
birth of our Savior and King, our Messiah, Jesus.
Many people refuse to believe
that God came because of what they’ve been taught; a lie
that has been handed down from generation to generation
is still a lie. People become convinced there is no God
and then they choose to remain in their unbelief. Some
when they are presented with the truth believe, but many
more don’t. However, nothing can stop the forward
progress of God’s advancing Kingdom, whether we run into
unbelief or rebellion of any kind, God will not be
stopped. He’s proved this time and again.
Those who reject the true fact
that God came are in for a surprise of enormous
proportions. It’s not going to be a pleasant surprise of
course, but most certainly enormous. You see, all those
who continue in unbelief continue to belong to Satan and
they are condemned. God has made it plain that to reject
His truth is to stand against Him. All who reject the
truth announced throughout the scriptures of the birth,
ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah
of the world are only following their father the devil.
God came, and
Jesus is God. This biblical truth is disparaged by
various religions as well as the
Christian cults.
In their case condemnation reigns supreme. But that
condemnation can be avoided. How? “...Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved ...”
Acts 16:31a.
By believing that Jesus is who He says He is, earth’s
populace can avoid condemnation. But many just flat out
refuse to believe, thus they remain Satan’s property.
Jesus Christ is
the Messiah that came, a descendant from the
tribe of
Judah , to proclaim
salvation to the Jews. The Jews, many still in rebellion
to this day, rejected their Messiah. The Gentiles, on
the other hand, were excited about their Messiah and
embraced Him with open arms and the Church was born.
Many Jews heard the Apostles preaching and believed and
joined the body of Christ. Many more did not. And to
this day have not.
The Church is God’s creation and
He had it in His mind to send His Son to begin the
Church at a specific time. Yet many still don’t get it,
so we pray for them, family members and friends. We pray
that the scales that cover their eyes would melt away
just as they did from our own, and the truth would
become crystal clear.
All those who
believe God came, will, one day soon, accompany Him to
Heaven. All those who don’t believe will remain behind
and life will be very different here for them once the
Church is removed. Even though God came and died for all
men He’s willing to allow men their freedom and their
choice. He’s willing to refrain from interfering with
man’s decision of where to spend eternity. You see, it
really isn’t sin that sends people to Hell. No, it’s the
refusal of God’s free gift of salvation. Jesus paid the
price for the sins of the world. All we must do is
believe in the
Gospel of Christ.
Rebellion is
rebellion, some get over it but we are all born with it.
Some never get past that
childish
rebellious nature of saying “NO” so they can come to the
truth of the Gospel. If you’re reading this commentary
and you’re at a point in your life where you are
beginning to feel a tugging on your heart that something
is amiss in your life, then you might want to heed these
words. The Holy Spirit of God
is doing the tugging/drawing and if you’ll let Him He’ll
help you remove those old stubborn scales covering your
eyes and toss away that infantile rebellion you’ve been
clinging onto for all these years.
Well, that’s
it, that’s the whole shebang, the whole enchilada. It’s
really that simple. God came, showed up here on earth as
a little baby boy, grew to manhood, still fully God and
fully man. If you believe that fact, if you believe
Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God,
the
Savior of the world,
and the propitiation for our sins you will no longer be
under condemnation, “There is therefore now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1.
Christmas is so
much more than ho, ho, ho. “For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah
9:6.
A Gift Idea:
We are given a
perfect opportunity to explain the Gospel to folks who
at other times of the year may not be in the frame of
mind to hear it.
Christmas is a time
of joy and many feel the need to give and so why not
give the gift that keeps on giving. Give them this gift.
Give them the message of the Gospel of Christ.
Merry Christmas,
and God bless you all,
Ron Graham
twotug@embarqmail.com
All scripture
is from the KJV
