I Didn't Know that God.......
"What child is this, who, laid to rest On Mary's lap, Is sleeping?"
These are familiar Lyrics to a Christmas carol, but they ask a very profound question, "Who is this Child?"
Some answer, "He was a prophet." Or "He was a great teacher." Or "He was a revolutionary." Or "He was the Son of God."
How you answer this question will have eternal implications. You see, Christ's birth overt 2000 years ago was more than an historical event. It was a Heavenly event.
Ephesians 2:8 says,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,”
And that gift was Jesus, the Son of God.
Let’s begin at the beginning. In Genesis, Chapter 3, God recounts the story of the fall of Man. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they created a chasm that separated them from God. Genesis 3:23 says, “...therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.” Since God is Holy and Man is sinful, a gap is created because God cannot associate with sinful Man.
But God’s plan for our salvation included a perfect sacrifice. The only way sinful Man could be reconciled to a Holy God is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, it says, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” Jesus has bridged the gap between God and man. His sacrifice has once again restored the relationship between man and his creator. It’s a gift that no one else can give…. Eternal life. A baby was born so He would be crucified, die, buried and then resurrected. And that sacrifice has restored our personal relationship with the Father.
You see, Christmas is about the greatest gift of all time. God sent us His Son so that we can spend eternity in Heaven. And it was very personal. It had YOUR name on it. It was addressed directly to you.
When God sent Jesus to this earth, it was as personal as it gets. You see, God is not a God of the collective, but a God of individuals. And what He did on that Christmas day over 2000 years ago was a very personal act. Often people look at the event of Christ’s birth strictly as an historical event. But it is much more than that. It was God, the Father, sending His Son to earth so that you could have a personal relationship with Him.
Although our culture has made Christmas all about gifts, the one thing that is still true is that God sent Jesus as a gift to you. So this Christmas, don’t miss it. Accept the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ, and your life will never be the same.
