“Jesus was born.” Matthew 2:1
We’ve approached a time of bustle. Shopping, baking, holiday greetings, home for Christmas. Why? Why are we celebrating Christmas?
How would the average person answer that question? Tradition? Family? Love for hearth and home?
Let’s go back to the first Christmas. A baby in a stall. And the most incredible statement ever spoken: “Jesus was born.” The “image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” who is “before all things, and by him all things consist” (see Colossians 1:15-19). HE was born. GOD was “made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
He was made flesh. All the blood of bulls and goats could not fully atone for man’s sin. The blood of Christ was the only blood sufficient. So a body was prepared for Him (Hebrews 10:5). Suddenly, God could bleed. And 33 years later, He bled on the cross, and God’s perfect justice was satisfied.
He dwelt among us. But why was He born? Why didn’t He arrive as a full-grown man the hour of the crucifixion, pay for sins, and then leave? So He could also dwell “among us.” He associated Himself with us and was tempted “in all points. . .like as we are” (Hebrews 4:15). He went through the things we go through. He was touched by every grief, every disappointment, every painful trial, and every overwhelming temptation. And yet, He never sinned.
He bled as a perfect sacrifice. He lived a perfect life.
Horatius Bonar once said:
Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die;
Another’s life, Another’s death,
I stake my whole eternity.
You and I can say that, too, because “Jesus was born.”
THAT’s why we’re celebrating Christmas.
by Bethany Hayes
Used by Permission
Further Reading
• Come Worship the King – One way to celebrate Christ’s birth as a family
• A Wonderful Christmas Morning
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