We listen to sermons and carols and hymns during Christmastime but do we really hear their message? God sent His Son, Jesus, as a baby long ago to be our Savior. But how many people really believe this? Is it just a good story to tell at church or in your home? Is it just a tradition that has been passed down in your family? Does it mean more to you than just a manger scene on the mantel or on a bookshelf?
God’s word is the truth and in it, we read that He sent His Son to be the Savior of us all. His birth was foretold many hundreds of years before He came. The prophets told of the virgin who would bear the Messiah, Immanuel, God with us. They also foretold of the city He would be born in and that He would lie in a manger. Jesus had to come because God had foretold this way back in Genesis that “the Seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent”. He is our Savior and our King.
The angels told the shepherds on the night that He came. Later, the wise men from the East would come bearing gifts for the “King of Kings”. This is the real reason that we celebrate His birth at Christmas, even if He wasn’t born in December. Why do I say that? Because the shepherds were in the field with the sheep and in December it is much too cold for them to be out in the open all night. Jesus was likely born during the Feast of Tabernacles between September and October.
Why would He come during this time? To “tabernacle” with His people as God with us, Immanuel. He had a job to do when He grew up but He had to come and be “with us” to experience being part of humanity and to know our weaknesses even though He didn’t have our nature, our propensity to sin. He came at the time that was prophesied that He would come and in the way that the Messiah was supposed to come into the world.
Jesus or Yeshua (Joshua) means this: Etymologically, the name “Jesus” or “Joshua” derives from Hebrew roots meaning “the Lord is salvation.
He fulfilled so many prophecies that referred to His birth and His coming so that there would be no question about Who He was and yet He was not recognized by the Jewish leaders of the day. Why? Was it because of their “self-righteous” attitude? Possibly. They knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David, but since He was raised in Nazareth near Gallilee and they seemed to be prejudiced toward people in that region. “How could the Messiah be from that town?”.
Much of their attitude toward the Messiah was because they were expecting a warrior-King to save Israel from the Roman empire. That is not the reason He came at that time.
God sent Jesus to take the sins of mankind on Himself and pay the price for all of them. We have to accept this atonement that was performed for us to be saved. Saved from what? Eternal death. If I’m dead, it won’t matter. No, all of us have an immortal soul that lives on into eternity and we have a body that can feel pain and suffering. If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Savior, you will be cast away from God’s Presence forever. You will be cast into the lake of fire just as the demons and Satan will be. Because you rejected the gift of God through Jesus that gives you an eternity with Him. The very Author of Life itself offers each of us eternity in heaven if we will believe in Jesus for our salvation. Please, don’t turn this gift down. You don’t have to do anything except repent and believe in Jesus for it. Don’t wait because you may not have another chance to do this.
Jesus is the Messiah and the only way you can be saved from an eternity in hell. If you don’t believe this, please read the gospel of John and the book of Romans.
God loves the whole world and the people in it but He doesn’t like the sinful lives that most of us lead. I was a sinner and I still am but I’m a sinner that has been forgiven. When you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you of your need for a Savior then you need to seek Him out to be your Savior. God knows who will accept this calling and who will not but it is up to you to answer His call on your life. Some of us answer it the first time it happens and some of us put it off until a later time. The point of His call on your life is that you will answer it one day.
It is not a call that you can turn completely away from. Some people claim to have pushed Him away and some claim that they have accepted Him as their Savior. But their claim of pushing Him away or accepting Him is proven by their life and the spiritual fruit or the lack of it in their life. When you have truly accepted Jesus as your Savior and your heart is changed by the Holy Spirit, you cannot keep it to yourself. At some point after accepting Him, your life will prove it with a radical change in your character and with the fruit of the Spirit that is dwelling in you.
What about those people who “think” they are saved? They believe that they have accepted Him as their Savior…but their life doesn’t show it. It’s like saying you are a millionaire but your bank account doesn’t show it…it’s just wishful thinking. You can borrow enough money to convince people that you have it but sooner or later the bill will come due! Salvation may be like that to you but when the bill does come due in eternity your wishful thinking about accepting Jesus when you didn’t won’t matter. God knows your heart. He can see beyond your shell and He knows.
Don’t make that mistake in this life because it is only in this life that you can make the choice of choosing Jesus as your Savior. There is no second chance after you die! Even the thief on the cross next to Jesus knew that He had to get it right before his last breath and he did.
Jesus Christ came so long ago but He came to make a way for us to be adopted into God’s family. God chose humanity to be His creation and to be made in His image so why do many people today choose not to believe in Him or the salvation He offers to us through belief in Jesus Christ? The world outside the church doesn’t understand God’s grace toward us or toward them. They see and read what is offered but they also look at the Bible as a book of rules and restrictions. In some ways it is but we live our lives as Christians not because of rules but out of gratitude for His grace toward us. A grace that none of us deserve yet it is given through our belief in Jesus for our salvation.
Life for those chosen from the beginning of creation is assured when they accept the offer of grace from our Lord. Don’t turn away from the offer when you feel it or when you hear it from your Lord and Savior.
The Living Message of Christ 