Every year we come to December 25th, a time and a celebration we call “Christmas”. We talk about the Wise Men who came from the east to see the Baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12). Or we turn to the Book of Luke, and read how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to have the Baby Jesus in a manger (Luke 2:1-7). We talk about the Shepherds watching their flocks by night (Luke 2:8-17) who were told by the angel of the Lord:
Luke 2:10-12 (KJV) .. Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this [shall be] a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
We celebrate Jesus and His birth at Christmas. But why is His birth so very important? There is a verse in the Gospel of John that is rarely mentioned at Christmas time. That verse is:
John 1:14 (KJV) 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.
Who Is “The Word”?
The Bible tells us that “The Word” was in the beginning with God, and is, in fact, God. We read:
John 1:1-4 (KJV) In the beginning was THE WORD, and THE WORD was with God, and THE WORD was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
We are told that THE WORD is both WITH God, and WAS God. The Bible tells us that the WORD was “in the beginning with God”. The WORD was with God the Father making mankind, making the sun, the moon, and the stars.
It was the WORD that was involved in each day of creation WITH GOD.
We are told in John 1:3 that “All things were made by HIM; and without HIM was not any thing made that was made”. The WORD is a HIM. It’s not a separate thing from God. The WORD is God. It was the WORD Who made Heaven and earth. It was the WORD Who made Adam, and put him in the Garden of Eden. The WORD was with God when He told Adam:
Genesis 2:15-17 (KJV) And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
The Bible tells us that Adam heard and understood the command that God gave him. Yet Adam disobeyed. When he disobeyed, the Bible says:
Romans 5:12 (KJV) Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
“By ONE MAN sin entered the world, and DEATH by sin”. Adam’s sin brought sin and death to all of humanity. Adam should have listened to God – but he didn’t. The Bible says:
Psalm 33:6-7 (KJV) By the WORD of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.
God spoke all things into existence. When God spoke to Adam, He spoke truth, and spoke out of love. God could have destroyed creation when Adam sinned. But God knows all things. He made Adam perfect, but God knew that Adam would fail.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit created man perfect. The Trinity of God knows all things, so Adam’s failure was not a surprise.
After Adam’s fall, God made a promise to that old Serpent Satan (Revelation 12:9). He told the devil:
Genesis 3:15 (NKJV) And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.
God promised the devil Satan that the “Seed of the woman” would one day stomp on his head, but that it would bruise His heel. We know that – in creation – women do not have “seed”. Women carry the egg, and men the “seed”. So when God said “The SEED OF THE WOMAN will bruise your head, Satan”, what was God talking about?
God was telling Adam and us that He planned on coming to this earth in a unique way, a way that we had never before seen. The One Who would defeat Satan and Sin would be “The SEED OF THE WOMAN”.
As a woman doesn’t have “Seed” but the egg, God was promising something that only He could do. In the Old Testament God began to speak by the Prophets, telling how the Messiah would come to save humanity from Satan and Sin. God spoke through the Prophets, foretelling God’s coming Savior.
Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV) For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The Messiah, the Savior would be born into this world. But the Messiah would be a “Son” who would be God. When the Prophet said “the government will be upon His shoulder”, it means that He would be Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This coming Messiah would be known as “Mighty God”. When the Messiah came, when you saw Him you would see the “Everlasting Father”. And His reason for coming would be to defeat Satan and Sin, and offer humanity peace with God. This is why He is called the “Prince of Peace”.
If the “Child” was going to be born, but this Child would be “Mighty God”, then this tells us that when Savior promised in Genesis chapter 3 came, He would be GOD IN THE FLESH. God would become Man.
But if God became Man, He could not come through the same way that we all came into this world. You see, all people after Adam came into this world as SINNERS. The Bible says:
Romans 3:23 (NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
If a sinful man were to mate with a sinful woman, the offspring would be a sinner just like we all are. A sinner cannot be a Savior. But this is where that promise that God made the devil comes in. (Genesis 3:15) “I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and HER SEED; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel”. The woman doesn’t have “SEED”, so God was going to enter humanity in a unique way. The Prophet said:
Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV) Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
The Word Is Jesus, Supernaturally Born Of A Virgin
God would come into humanity through “A VIRGIN”. God would supernaturally move on the egg of an untouched woman, and cause her to have a Child, a sinless Child. The name “Immanuel” means “God with us”. The
Eternal God the Son, Jesus Christ, would enter this world through a virgin.
That’s what Christmas is. That’s what we celebrate. We celebrate God keeping His promise to offer mankind salvation. God entered humanity through two unknown and relatively poor people named Mary and Joseph. God sent the Archangel Gabriel to Mary first, and told her:
Luke 1:30-35 (NKJV) the angel {Gabriel} said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “[The] Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
The birth of Jesus Christ, eternal God become perfect Man, was a supernatural event. God entered His own creation in order to offer us salvation from Satan and Sin. When Joseph, Mary’s fiance discovered that she was pregnant (and he was not the father), he decided to “put her away” or divorce her quietly. But God sent Gabriel to Joseph while he slept, and spoke to him in his dreams, saying:
Matthew 1:20-23 (NKJV) “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is
translated, “God with us.”
Jesus Christ, God’s Eternal Son, came to this earth. He left the Throne of Heaven, and lowered Himself to be born in our midst.
Jesus Is The Greatest Gift Of All!
God gave us the greatest Gift He could give us when He gave us Jesus. Because of Adam, we are born sinners. But Jesus Christ came to die for our sins, and to rise again for our salvation. Adam made us born sinners. Through Jesus, God offers us a new birth in Him. When we receive Jesus Christ as He is, as Lord and Savior, we have the promise of God:
Matthew 1:21 … He shall save His people FROM THEIR SINS
Jesus left Heaven, lowered Himself, and came to earth. He was born into humanity through a Virgin, in a manger in Bethlehem. Immediately the devil tried to kill Him. Herod killed all the babies in Bethlehem in his attempt to kill Jesus. The Pharisees tried to kill Jesus because He told them,
John 6:46-47 (NKJV) Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
Jesus was with the Father from eternity. God the Father sent Jesus to this earth to offer whosoever salvation, eternal life.
What a Gift! Jesus Christ is “The GIFT OF GOD” (John 4:10) to us. When you believe on Him, repenting of your sin and casting your life on Him, Jesus gives us the “GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT” (Acts 2:38). The Gift of God, salvation through Jesus, cannot be earned or deserved. We cannot purchase it with money (Acts 8:20).
Many people believe Jesus is a great Teacher, a historic figure, a great Man. Jesus once asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” (Matthew16:13). The disciples said people had a lot of opinions on Who Jesus Christ is. But Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do YOU say that I am?”. The Apostle Peter spoke up, saying:
“You are THE Christ, THE Son of the living God!” (Matthew 16:16)
That’s Who Jesus is. Christmas commemorates the supernatural birth of God into His creation, for His creation. Adam gave us the gift of sin. Jesus Christ offers us the Gift of Salvation from sin and Satan.
Romans 5:15-18 (NKJV) But the free gift [is] not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift [is] not like [that which came] through the one who sinned. For the judgment [which came] from one [offense resulted] in condemnation, but the free gift [which came] from many offenses [resulted] in justification. 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense [judgment came] to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act [the free gift came] to all men, resulting in justification of life.
Romans 6:23 (NKJV) For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in
11 Christ Jesus our Lord.
Every Christmas, we give gifts to one another. Christmas is not about Santa Claus, nor is it about the temporal gifts we give one another. Christmas is about the greatest Gift humans have ever been offered.
Christmas is about Jesus.
I pray that you realize what a special time this is, and pray that you will receive the Gift that God has offered you – the Gift of eternal life. Jesus Christ came to this earth to die for our sins, and to rise again to lead us into eternity. I close with these wonderful words:
Romans 10:9-13 (NKJV) …. that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
Merry Christmas!
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