Matthew
1:23 “Behold, the virgin
shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which
is translated, “God with us.”
Last
Sunday, our church joined every Christian church in the world with the
celebration of Christmas Eve. With the Christmas stories from the Gospels in
the Bible, and the Nativity scenes decorating the front lawns and home
interiors, one might think that the focus of Christmas is primarily on the
Christ child’s birth.
Luke
2:10-12 Then the angel said
to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in
the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will
be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths,
lying in a manger.”
They
tend to focus on verse 12, when the real focus is on verses 10 and 11. Almighty
God (who is Spirit) sent God incarnate (God with skin on) to redeem that which
was lost to sin and death. Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?” God in the
flesh was among His people. Pastor Kyle explains that confidence grows
naturally when we see and know who is with us in life, when we know that
someone is willing to help us and be with us (behind us, beside us or out in
front of us). The main message of Christmas is that God is with us. How
different would you think and live if you truly knew that?
Colossians
1:13-15 “For he (Jesus) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and
brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation.”
The
1828 Webster’s dictionary defines the word “incarnation” as: The act of assuming flesh, or of taking a
human body and the nature of man. Jesus is the incarnation of God for us.
Jesus experienced, felt and knows us, because He was one of us. That is tangible
to us because the invisible God became a touchable God and was with us. Jesus
had to come in the flesh as God’s plan of Salvation for all sinners had to be
paid. Only a sinless “lamb without blemish” (Jesus) could pay the price and
defeat death because death cannot hold the sinless. Christ came that Christmas
to be born, later die for our sins, then rise again that Believer might be raised
with Him and spend eternity not in Hell, but in the kingdom of Heaven with the
Lord.
1
Corinthians 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.”
People
do not worship a baby; they worship God incarnate and praise the name of the
Lord. Glory to God in the highest; peace on earth and good will towards man. Christmas
is powerful because Jesus’ church gathers for the glory of God in “God with us:
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. This is Christmas. The incarnation
happens in the most unlikely places, through unlikely people. The promise of
Christmas is that “Jesus is with us” and is in our born again heart. When you
feel out-of-place, know that God is your home. The reality is that God came for us and is with
you and I always. Rejoice!
In
Christ, Brian
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