Christ: Born To Die

Christ Born to Die

John 18:37 "Pilate therefore said unto him, Are You a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice."

John 12:27 "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour."

On that very first Christmas, earth was oblivious to all that was happening, but heaven wasn’t! The angels were waiting with eager anticipation to break forth in praise, worship and adoration at the birth of Christ. In his proclamation, the angel told Joseph that Jesus would "... save His people from their sins.? Throughout the life of Christ, this was foremost in His mind. He knew that He was born to die. The important issue of Christmas is not so much that Jesus came, but why He came. Understand there was and is no salvation in His birth. His sinless life in and of itself did not provide any redemptive force. His example, as flawless as it was, could never rescue men from their slavery to sin. Even His teachings, the greatest truths and wisdom ever revealed to man, could not save us from our sins. Romans 6:23 tells us that there was a price that needed to be paid for our sins as it declares "For the wages of sin is death..." It was only Jesus who could pay that price! Jesus came to earth to do many things. He came to reveal God to mankind. In John 14:9 Jesus said, ?...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father...? He came to teach truth - John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life...?, to fulfill the Law, to offer His kingdom, to show us how to live, to bring peace, and to reveal the depth of God’s love. But His ultimate purpose in coming to this earth was that He might die! John the Baptist cried out when he saw Jesus, ?Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!? Revelation 13:8 proclaims Christ ?...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? as an echo to the angel?s proclamation that He shall save his people from their sins."

Here is a side to the Christmas story that the world chooses to ignore. As you think about the tiny hands and feet of the babe in the manger remember they were formed with the intention that one-day nails might be driven through them affixing them to a cross on Golgotha?s hill. That warm and soft little body, wrapped in swaddling clothes, one day would have a spear thrust through its side. That gentle heart that pumped the royal blood of the Son of God would be broken to provide you and me life everlasting. Jesus Christ was born to die. In the shadow of the manager was the cross. You and I cannot truly celebrate Christmas apart from the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can not know the joys of Christmas with out a personal relationship with the Christ of Calvary.

As we come to the Lord?s Table in commemoration of and identification with the redemptive work of Christ Paul encourages self-examination by those partaking of the symbols of Christ?s body and blood. Have you established that personal relationship with Him?