Mat 1:23 "A virgin will become pregnant and have
a son, and he will be called Immanuel" (which means, "God is with
us").
It
is Christmas time again.
“The greatest and most momentous fact
which the history of the world records is the fact of Christ’s birth.” ~Charles H. Spurgeon
How
will you experience Christmas time 2016? Now it all depends who you are. We are
lot of people here. But although we are under one roof it does not mean that we
all will have the same opinion about Christmas. I am not going to elaborate on
all possibilities. Let us just look at a few experiences of Christmas. May be some
of you may feel excited, because Jesus Christ has come as our Saviour, and the
older you become, the more you realize that nothing on earth matters more. The
incarnation of the Son of God, his wonderful message of God’s mercy, his crucifixion
and ascension to heaven have given eternal life to those who put all their
trust in Him.
It
may be that you cannot wait to go on a shopping spree: that giving and
receiving special gifts in Christmas time is actually what occupies your mind.
Or,
maybe you are a loner, and Christmas time suits you very well, because in some
way you can isolate yourself from everything and every-one.
But now we listen to the Word of God.
Mat 1:23 "A virgin will become pregnant and have
a son, and he will be called Immanuel" (which means, "God is with
us").
That means that the birth of Jesus
Christ, Immanuel, was an act of God. It was a virgin that would be become
pregnant, which, in the pre-scientific age, was absolutely impossible.
But listen to the word of God in Luk 18:27: “Jesus answered, "What is
humanly impossible is possible for God."
God performed a Divine miracle with the
birth of Jesus Christ. His messenger, an angle confirmed to it with the
following words:
Mat 1:20: “While he was thinking about this, an angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of
David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy
Spirit that she has conceived.”
The Bible says that Mary’s pregnancy was
a Divine act. And the reason for this Divine act, this unheard of miracle, was
God’s intention to make salvation possible.
Let us look at the meaning of the term salvation.
Broadly speaking, one might say that
salvation is the overriding theme of the entire Bible.
The Old Testament Hebrew word for
salvation is yasa [[;v"y]. This
word means: to save, to help in distress or deep trouble, to rescue, to set
free from who-ever or what-ever is binding you and keeping you enslaved.
The advent name "Immanuel, "
"God with us, " signifies momentous progress in the history of
salvation. In Matthew's Gospel the angel tells Joseph that Mary's child is
conceived of the Holy Spirit, and that he is "to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins" ( 1:21-23 ).
Mat 1:21:
“She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus---because he will save his
people from their sins."The
name "Jesus" (derived from the Hebrew Joshua [;[Wv/hy])
itself means salvation. The purpose for the Son of Man's coming is to seek out
and save the lost ( Luke 19:10 ).
The coming of Jesus, the Saviour, is the
reason for our Christmas celebrations, our joy and our hope.
Some of us call Christmas the
celebration of Christ’s birth, his birthday. But, oh, how much more we have to
think about!
The celebration of Christ’s birth is different
from the celebration of any other birth on earth. No ordinary birthday party,
no earthly festivity can ever be compared to it.
Christmas is not about the commemoration
of the birth of a human being. It is God who became flesh. In Christmas time we are confronted with a
Divine act, with grace, mystery, God’s love and God’s infinite wisdom. We are
confronted with the possibility and means of salvation, the only means of
salvation provided by God.
John 3:16 that says: “For God loved the world
so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not
die but have eternal life.”
It means that if we are willing to
receive his love through faith we will have eternal life.
There is no other way, no other Name by
which sinners can be saved.
Act 4:11 Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says,
'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important
of all.'
Act 4:12 Salvation is to be found through him alone;
in all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us."
So all who have not rejected Jesus
Christ, all who have put their trust in Him alone, are His. Those who believe
in Jesus Christ, are saved. They are the righteous. They are the elect. They are the sheep of his fold. They are the household of God.
To the household of God, those in union
with Christ, the Christmas season will
never be the so-called silly season with
X-mas bargains and X-mas madness. To
those in union with Christ, their Saviour, this time of the year is a time of
praise, worship, spiritual joy and glorifying the Name of the Lord.
Of course we are still on our way to a
glorious destination with God. We are in an intermezzo stage. This intermezzo
stage is not inferior to our ultimate eternal stage. Our intermezzo stage is of
utmost importance. The Bible says: Jas 3:13: “Are there any of you who are wise and
understanding? You are to prove it by your good life, by your good deeds
performed with humility and wisdom.”
Let us make a different kind of Christmas
music this year.
Let our gift to our brothers and sisters
in the Lord and to our relatives and spouses be the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Let us remember Gal 3:26: “It is through faith that all of you
are God's children in union with Christ Jesus.”
In doing so, we shall see everybody in
this church, every member of our congregation in a new and wonderful way.
When faith in Jesus Christ becomes the
reason for celebration, everything changes. Christmas becomes completely
different.
We ourselves are changed.
The Difference, the Beauty and the Joy
of Christmas is a Person.
Joh 1:14-18: The Word became a human being and, full of
grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received
as the Father's only Son.
John
spoke about him. He cried out, "This is the one I was talking about when I
said, 'He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed
before I was born.' "
Out
of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing
after another.
God
gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is
the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
“You can never truly enjoy Christmas until
you can look up into the Father’s face and tell him you have received his
Christmas gift.” ~John R. Rice
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