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.
Many expect God to make everything complete and whole and without trouble when they become Christian. Why? Even Jesus told His disciples that they would have trouble in the world so we should expect it. That is not to say that everything will always go wrong for those who believe in Him but since we have moved from darkness into the Light of Christ, Satan will try to tarnish our witness if he can. That is why Jesus said that we are to take up our cross daily. What does that mean? It means putting your old life and its lusts and habits on the cross every day and then living for Jesus that day. Then do it again tomorrow and the next day until it becomes a habitual way of life for you.
Life is not easy before you become a Christian and it won’t get any easier afterward. While it is true that Satan may not have noticed you before you became a Christian, he will now. Especially if you are trying to live your life according to His teachings.
Don’t forget this Christmas season why we really celebrate at this time. The Savior, the Lamb of God who came to be our Savior and Lord.
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.
The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before that great and notable Day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Acts 2:20-21 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/act.2.20-21.KJV
For the promise is unto you, your children, and all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Acts 2:39 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/act.2.39.KJV
The title is something that you see “crazy people” in movies and other media shouting about but it gets your attention. The end of the world is not exactly what I’m referring to. Mainly because God’s Word never says anything about the world ending. There is a time of Tribulation that lasts for seven years and then there is a one-thousand-year Kingdom in which Jesus rules the world but the end of the world is not spoken of until the Great White Throne’s judgment after the one-thousand years. Even then, the heavens and the Earth will be remade as they were in the beginning.
Why am I writing this? Because our world is going through many “birth pains” right now and all of the prophecies point to this time as being the “end of days” or the “end of the age”. What does that mean? Well, the whole world has been enjoying the patience of God during the past two millennia which many scholars call the “Church Age”. This time is referred to as such because the church was started after Pentecost and the church that the apostles began at that time has spread all over the world. In many ways, the church has fulfilled its mandate to take the gospel to the whole world but there are still many who have not heard or accepted Jesus as their Savior.
The world is becoming more like the world was just before the Flood of Noah’s day. Rejecting Jesus and following their own ideas and religions or even rejecting religion entirely has become more accepted today than at any time in the past few hundred years. We are living during this time that Jesus spoke of when the world would be in a state of confusion and pestilence and wars. This time has been prophesied for many hundreds of years, actually, it is thousands, but there are few that have taken notice of it. Jesus is coming back soon to take His Bride, the church, back with Him to His Father’s house. I pray that anyone who reads this will seek Him out to be your Savior because the time is coming that the world will be in much worse shape than it is in today. Read the Bible, particularly the gospel of John, Romans, and the book of Revelation.
These three books will give you the reason for the things that are happening in today’s world. Seek Jesus as your Savior and give your heart to Him while there is time. When that day comes when the church is taken up, the problems of today will look like wonderful times in comparison to the next seven years that will come. I will keep all of you in my prayers.
The Living Message of Christ 