It is Christmas time once again. From as early as the last week of November, Christmas plays, concerts and carol services usher in the Christmas season. Folks go on carol rounds, singing about the joyful occasion. Homes are cleaned, painted and decorated. Christmas trees are beautifully illuminated. New clothes are bought for the whole family. The lady in the kitchen works her fingers away, preparing eatables to last throughout the season. Santa Claus, a nonsensical legend, comes out of hibernation.
As Christmas day approaches there is an excitement in the air. A Christmas atmosphere mellows the heart. Greetings and gifts are exchanged with one another. On that great day, the climax is reached with a church service early in the morning. The church is beautifully decorated and the people are in their best clothes. Many sincerely try to understand the meaning of Christmas as the familiar events of 2000 years ago are spoken of.
Unfortunately to many people, this is all that Christmas means. Many “celebrate” Christmas as the birthday of Jesus. But what does the birth of Jesus mean to you personally? Does it just mean religious entertainment, new clothes, good food and trying to find the meaning of Christmas? Is this all there is to the Christmas season year after year?
Now the Christian faith is based on the Bible, which is God’s textbook for man. So this season, I urge you to take the Word of God and read it for yourself to find the true meaning of the birth of Jesus. YOU MUST KNOW WHY JESUS CAME. If the birth of Jesus has not done for you what it is supposed to do, then this season is only a delusion to you.
Everybody is familiar with the physical details about the birth of Jesus. Now let us check out why Jesus was born. For this, we must go way back into the Old Testament when God first made man.
Adam and Eve the first couple on earth were perfect sinless beings who walked and talked with God.
But when Eve decided to disobey God and listened to Satan, they lost that unique relationship. As God had warned they began to die. SIN HAD ENTERED THE HUMAN RACE. The penalty for this dreadful disease of disobedience was DEATH - spiritual and physical. Adam as the head of the human race allowed Satan to become the God of this world. Since then every human being is born in sin. It is an inescapable birthright. It is a paralyzing evil that numbs the spiritual senses of man. It is a subtle veil that blinds man and prevents him from walking and talking with God. Man began to look at God across a great chasm.
But right there in the garden of Eden, God promised that one day a descendent of Eve would come and utterly conquer Satan the cause of evil and death, and make a way to restore man to his lost relationship (Gen. 3: 15).Thus this Man who was to come would be a Saviour who could save people from the consequences and penalty of sin. Now how was this great Saviour going to do this?
Let us look at Cain and Abel, the children ot Adam and Eve. Both men apparently wanted to establish a proper relationship with Almighty God. Abel killed a lamb and sacrificed it to God. God accepted that bloody sacrifice and communed with Abel. Cain on the other hand, brought some fruit as a sacrifice. It was rejected by God. From Gen 4: 7, 8, we learn that Cain had no real desire to seek real communion with God. He had no real desire to escape from sin. His sacrifice was perfunctory and thoughtless. But Abel, by faith, offered the right sacrifice which saved his soul (Heb. 11: 4).
From the experiences of these two men it is obvious that a bloody sacrifice was the only thing that God accepted. By not coming with the type of Sacrifice that God desired, Cain allowed sin to ruin him. In blind jealousy he killed his brother Abel, and fell under God’s judgement.
Why did God accept only a bloody sacrifice? The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 3: 23). God’s holiness demands that every sinner must die. Sin cannot give life. But God in His justice and mercy, provided a way of escape for man. He ordained that man could live by offering a substitute in his place. Without the shedding of blood there is no escape from sin and its deadly penalty (Heb. 9: 22). God gave this revelation to Abel who truly desired to walk and talk with his Creator. From that time God instituted the system of sacrifice.
However, the sacrificing of bulls and goats could not take away sin. It could only cover sin. The sinner had to come repeatedly with a sacrifice for his sins. He confessed his sins knowing that he would be coming again with another sacrifice for the same sins.
This system of approaching God was only a temporary one, till that Great Saviour of Gen. 3: 15 would come. The Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming of this Saviour or Messiah. Isaiah foresaw how He would be wounded, bruised and slaughtered for the sins of the people. He tells of how God would Himself send this sacrificial Lamb and how this Lamb would be the final sacrifice that would make a wholly acceptable atonement. The prophets also spoke of how this Saviour born of a virgin, would walk and talk with the people.
Many sincere Jews not only believed Gods promises given through His prophets but also eagerly awaited its fulfillment.
We are all familiar with the events preceding the birth of Jesus. But I want to especially draw your attention to Matthew 1:20-25. Here the Angel tells Joseph that the woman he is betrothed to has conceived by the power of Almighty God and that she is still a virgin. The child that would be born was going to be a unique child ! The Angel tells Joseph that the child should be called JESUS, which means SAVIOUR, for HE WAS GOING TO SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS! Verse 23 explains how this child would be Emmanuel or God with man. Prophecy was being fulfilled!
When this little child Jesus grew up into a man of about thirty years, one of Gods greatest prophets introduced Him to the people saying, "Look ! This is the Sacrifice of God which takes way the sins of the world!" Not a sacrifice that covers sin, but one that takes away sin and gives a new life! Haleleujah! The Great Saviour of Gen. 3: 15 had arrived (see also Heb. 9: 3-15).
From that time, Jesus began teaching the people about Gods ways. He said, "If you don’t believe that I am the Saviour, the Great Sacrifice, then you will die in your sins" (John 8:24). He taught of how one should be born again from above and received the eternal, holy life of God. Without beating about the bush, He said very clearly, "Except a man be born again (i.e. from above), he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
After His sacrificial death and resurrection, He commissioned His disciples to teach others how they should turn from their sins towards the Saviour and be baptized. He said, "He that puts his confidence in me and is baptized shall be saved from destruction." (Mark 16: l6).
So this season, ask yourself this question: Why did Jesus come?
Did He come so that you could have religious entertainment, good food, new clothes and a nice Christmassy feeling? Was He born in a filthy cowshed so that all you could have is a merry Christmas?
If you are a thinking person then you must ask yourself these questions Now, you can mentally agree to the virgin birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But if you do not listen to His words and act upon it you are going to die in your sins. You can be the perfect church member but if you have never been born again by the spirit of Christ from above, you have got nothing to do with Jesus (Rom. 8: 9).
Listen friend, you’ve got to be absolutely sure about these things. There can be no two ways about it. Consider the shortness and uncertainty of human life and the vastness of eternity. Your eternal destination is at stake. Examine your faith and check it out with God’s Word, You don’t need anybody to interpret the Bible for you. Just take it in your hand and search it with all your heart.
A preacher once remarked, "At Christmas time Jesus is put in a manger, Three months later He is on a cross. Three days after that He is resurrected; and eight months later He is back again in a manger." Don’t be satisfied with observing days and seasons. (Galations4:l0) Don’t be satisfied with sharing and caring at Christmas. A Christian does that at all times. Don’t let every Christmas slip by without knowing the true meaning of Christmas. Don’t spend a lifetime in ritualistic celebrations. You’ll miss God by a million miles.
That’s exactly what happened to the scribes and Pharisees, the great theologians and scholars of that day, when Jesus Christ came to this earth 2000 years ago. Now, these men were smart. They could recite the scriptures backwards. But they missed the First Coming of Christ! They were expecting the Saviour to come and establish a physical kingdom on the earth when His First Coming was establish a spiritual kingdom. Jesus told them, "You hypocrites! You think you know everything, How is it that you cannot discern the times that you are living in?"
At the First Coming they refused to understand that as Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. so Jesus had to die and be buried for three days and three nights and then rise again (see Matt. 16:3, 4 ). They rejected the First Coming because they were waiting only for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Today we are living in the shadow of the Coming Again of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every day Bible prophecy is being fulfilled. The daily newspapers read like the fulfillment of prophecy. Oh Christian! Can you not discern the time we are living in? How is it that you do not understand? When the Second Coming of Jesus is at hand are you going to spend years. trying to find the meaning of His First Coming? Are you going to miss the Second Coming of Jesus just as the scribes and Pharisees missed the First Coming?
When God made you and me He made a place in us for Himself. Unless He takes up that place, we will never feel whole or complete. We will be driven by unknown feelings of emptiness.
Jesus came into this world so that by His sacrifice and resurrection He could take up that place in us. When Jesus comes into that place in our lives, we become complete and full. Colossians 2:10 tells us that we are complete in Jesus who is the source of all power and life.
In Jesus we are in satisfying union with the Creator. All that Adam lost is regained. We become a New Creation. "If any man be in Jesus, he becomes a new creature" (2 Cor. 5:17).
Old desires, habits and customs pass away. All things become new! You are set free from the burden of the past! You become clean on the inside. New desires, aspirations and hope motivate your actions! When problems arise, you overcome them because greater is Jesus in you than satan, the god of this world (1 John 4:4).
Above all things, as eternal life courses through your veins, you can laugh at death and say, "Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?" for Jesus Christ has conquered the ultimate penalty of sin which is Death.
Physical Death, the Great Leveler, the Universal Adversary, the Monarch of Darkness holds no terror for you because you know that eternal life is in you. Just imagine how life will be without the fear of death! Your entire perspective on life and all your priorities will change. Please read Heb. 2: 14-18 carefully.
So, this Christmas season, I urge you to understand the true meaning of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before it is too late, stop and ask yourself this question: Why did Jesus come? Let me close with Jesus’ answer: "I HAVE COME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE".
Do you have this eternal, holy life in you? Do you have the absolute assurance that you will physically rise from the grave if Jesus comes back after your death? If not, won’t you cling to Jesus as the Saviour of Your life and be born again - now?
