Christmas is the celebration of the birth of the Savior of mankind: Jesus the Christ, or Jesus the Messiah. Here is how His birth came about, and here is what His birth meant to mankind:
His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins..."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)
The name Jesus means: THE LORD SAVES. It was the Spirit of God who put the seed of a baby within the womb of a young virgin girl; the seed did not come from man. So that, born in the flesh to share in the pain and suffering of mortal man, and to save mortal man from his sins by the power of the Lord God, came a male child, born of God and of woman, worshipped in the manger by three wise men who could read the heavens and the stars, signs put in place by our Creator God Himself, and were looking there for the star (most likely a comet) that would signal the Messiah's coming:
Jesus grew from the babe in the manger and became a man perfectly obedient to God in every way, even to the cross, where He became the perfect atonement for the sins of mankind; sins being anything that went against the way the Creator designed His creation (mankind) to live, beginning with loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength, for we were created for a relationship with Him first and foremost. Because man rebelled and love himself more than God, choosing his own way over God's way, man became separated from that relationship with God (sin separates us from God). But the Creator loved man enough to rectify that relationship through His own Son, Jesus, sending Jesus to save man from sin's destruction and to become the divine bridge that reconnected mankind back to God
For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosever would believe in Him, would not perish, but have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
Jesus humbled himself all the way to the cross for your sake and for mine. He gave His life for YOU and for ME as perfect atonement (reconciliation) for the sins that separate us from God.
Jesus is the message of Christmas: a message which was delivered first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles, so that all the people of the world could receive this gift of God that would save them from their sins.
It is not about how good you are. It is not about how bad you are. God says that we have all sinned, for our measuring stick for righteousness is not between one another, but between us and our Creator who is without sin. By God's measuring stick there is no one who is perfectly good, not one! We are all equal in our imperfection which shows in our lack of neglect towards our Creator God. We are all equal in our need to be saved from sin. "A God deserving of worship cannot issue an arbitrary amnesty for humanitarians or pantheists who persist in worshiping and serving themselves more than their personal Creator Himself." -Chuck Missler
So God provided His own Son, Jesus, being both God and man, yet being perfect in his obedience to the Father, showing us that with God all things are possible, including obedience to God, so that forgiveness of sin, and the right to know our Creator God as "Father," is provided to us through the Son, Jesus Christ, sent to us by God Himself.
The message of Christmas is simply about trusting by faith in the saving grace that the Father provided to each of us through His Son Jesus; grace that releases us from the bondage of sin, and sets us free the guilt of sin, and its condemnation, restoring us back to a right relationship with the Father: GOD. It is not a gift that you can purchase, or earn. It cannot be received through force or might. It must be received as freely as it is freely given.
The message of Christmas is: receive the gift of God, your Creator, now at Christmas, and with it receive the promise of the eternal God and Father: life everlasting beyond the grave through....
...YESHUA HAMASHIACH TO THE JEWS, JESUS CHRIST THE MESSIAH TO THE GENTILES, OUR SAVING LORD.
All that is needed is that you believe that God sent His Son, Jesus, for your sake. that God raised Jesus from death after His crucifixion for our sin, and that Jesus is the first of many who...having faith to believe God is true and faithful to His Word...will live after death eternally in the presence of their loving Father God. Simply believe and put your eternal life back under God's saving protection where it was meant to be from the very beginning of Creation itself.
THIS IS THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS.
His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name of Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins..."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)
The name Jesus means: THE LORD SAVES. It was the Spirit of God who put the seed of a baby within the womb of a young virgin girl; the seed did not come from man. So that, born in the flesh to share in the pain and suffering of mortal man, and to save mortal man from his sins by the power of the Lord God, came a male child, born of God and of woman, worshipped in the manger by three wise men who could read the heavens and the stars, signs put in place by our Creator God Himself, and were looking there for the star (most likely a comet) that would signal the Messiah's coming:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.... the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. (Matthew 2:1-9)
Jesus grew from the babe in the manger and became a man perfectly obedient to God in every way, even to the cross, where He became the perfect atonement for the sins of mankind; sins being anything that went against the way the Creator designed His creation (mankind) to live, beginning with loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind and strength, for we were created for a relationship with Him first and foremost. Because man rebelled and love himself more than God, choosing his own way over God's way, man became separated from that relationship with God (sin separates us from God). But the Creator loved man enough to rectify that relationship through His own Son, Jesus, sending Jesus to save man from sin's destruction and to become the divine bridge that reconnected mankind back to God
For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosever would believe in Him, would not perish, but have life everlasting. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
Jesus humbled himself all the way to the cross for your sake and for mine. He gave His life for YOU and for ME as perfect atonement (reconciliation) for the sins that separate us from God.
Jesus is the message of Christmas: a message which was delivered first to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles, so that all the people of the world could receive this gift of God that would save them from their sins.
It is not about how good you are. It is not about how bad you are. God says that we have all sinned, for our measuring stick for righteousness is not between one another, but between us and our Creator who is without sin. By God's measuring stick there is no one who is perfectly good, not one! We are all equal in our imperfection which shows in our lack of neglect towards our Creator God. We are all equal in our need to be saved from sin. "A God deserving of worship cannot issue an arbitrary amnesty for humanitarians or pantheists who persist in worshiping and serving themselves more than their personal Creator Himself." -Chuck Missler
So God provided His own Son, Jesus, being both God and man, yet being perfect in his obedience to the Father, showing us that with God all things are possible, including obedience to God, so that forgiveness of sin, and the right to know our Creator God as "Father," is provided to us through the Son, Jesus Christ, sent to us by God Himself.
The message of Christmas is simply about trusting by faith in the saving grace that the Father provided to each of us through His Son Jesus; grace that releases us from the bondage of sin, and sets us free the guilt of sin, and its condemnation, restoring us back to a right relationship with the Father: GOD. It is not a gift that you can purchase, or earn. It cannot be received through force or might. It must be received as freely as it is freely given.
The message of Christmas is: receive the gift of God, your Creator, now at Christmas, and with it receive the promise of the eternal God and Father: life everlasting beyond the grave through....
...YESHUA HAMASHIACH TO THE JEWS, JESUS CHRIST THE MESSIAH TO THE GENTILES, OUR SAVING LORD.
All that is needed is that you believe that God sent His Son, Jesus, for your sake. that God raised Jesus from death after His crucifixion for our sin, and that Jesus is the first of many who...having faith to believe God is true and faithful to His Word...will live after death eternally in the presence of their loving Father God. Simply believe and put your eternal life back under God's saving protection where it was meant to be from the very beginning of Creation itself.
THIS IS THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS.
3 comments:
And they all said "AMEN"! Thank you for reminding all of us that Christmas is more than what we received from this person or that person. It is about the most precious gift of all. God's gift to mankind. A gift, as you stated above, that cannot be purchased or earned, but must be freely accepted from our Creator - God. That gift is His Son, Christ Jesus, The Messiah. For without Christ, we are nothing. Thank you too for another year's worth of knowledge and words of encouragement. May we all have a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year! GW
Thank you for your continued encouragement...it helps more than you realize! Merry Christmas and a very blessed New Year to you and yours!
A missionary friend of mine wrote to me from Mexico yesterday with his thoughts that are both simple and insightful. So I thought I would share:
"So my thought for the season is this: the angels came to the shepherds and said "Do not be afraid" which is a cool thing. I have always thought of that as "Don't be afraid of us angels, we did not come to smite you." But if you continue on with what they did say: "I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord." To paraphrase (Dwight version): "Don't be afraid because today your Savior is born."
The "Don't be afraid" is linked to a Savior who saves us...so the fear would be of what the Savior saved us from.
Anyway, a pretty basic (and I am sure not new) insight, but it feels cool to me."
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