God With Us: A Christmas Message

The Christmas season has once again arrived and it appears that this year will once again be a white Christmas. As I gaze out of my office window I am able to see a large pine tree frosted with a fresh snowfall that not even the brisk wind is able to dislodge. The shingles of the church roof have as well been decorated with wisps of snow that create a card like backdrop for that beautiful tree. Ah, the perfect picture of Christmas, or is it?
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That picture may be a great reminder of December 25th, for it is but one of the captivating scenes painted by the hand of God upon our landscape during this time of year. Yes a reminder of a Midwest December, but not necessarily a reminder of Christ. It is quite unlikely that Jesus was actually born in December, let alone on the 25th. In many ways I fear that our celebration has done more to distract us from Him than to cause us to focus on Him.
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So why is it so important to focus on Jesus Christ? The reasons to focus on Him go back much farther than His birth in Bethlehem. Those same reasons show us why our focus on Him must go beyond one day, or even one season. Jesus Christ must become a day by day moment by moment part of our lives.
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To fully grasp the significance of Christ coming to earth and being born as a child in Bethlehem, we must first realize why He came. His reason for coming dates all the way back to Adam and Eve and the first sin. “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:” Romans 5:12. Since Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, prophets have been predicting that a Savior, a Messiah, would some day come to bring deliverance. The Old Testament of our Bible contains many of those prophecies, so when Jesus was born, many were already looking forward to His coming. The fulfillment of all these prophecies comes together as the angel told Joseph, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
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There is something very important that we must understand about the birth of Jesus. His birth was an incarnation. That means that the baby Jesus was a manifestation of the true God in human form. That means that He is God in the flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. “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.” John 1:14
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The Old Testament prophets clearly testified to the truth that Jesus would actually be God in human form. This was even made clear in the prophecy of the virgin birth. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14. That name, repeated in Matthew 1:23, means “God with us.” The deity (truth that He is God) of Jesus Christ is also made clear in Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Notice what Isaiah says about Him. The child is The mighty God, The everlasting Father. When Jesus claimed, “I and my Father are one,” in John 10:30, He was affirming what the prophets had already predicted.
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Some folks refer to this time of year as the advent season. The word advent means the arrival of something important. What could be more important than the arrival of God? When we consider that the birth of Jesus Christ was God’s arrival to earth in human form, we must ask the question- when did Jesus actually come into existence? Micah 5:2 has the answer to that very question: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” This prophecy written about 700 years before the birth of Christ tells us that He has always existed. Jesus Christ has always existed because He is God.
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Because He is God, Christ deserves our worship. Trusting Him and accepting Him as the long awaited Messiah who came to forgive sin is what makes the difference between heaven and hell. John 3:16-18 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” By not trusting Him, you are condemned already because since the time of Adam, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What better time to give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ than the advent season. Then you will not only be focusing on the arrival of God to earth, but the arrival of God into your life.