Salvation Started at Christmas
Last week I heard a disgruntled shopper complaining to a cashier in a department store. His comment was, “Why do we have this Christmas thing anyway? Whose idea was it to have this holiday?” Well, the answer to that question is easy. The commercialized holiday was man’s idea, but the event we celebrate was God’s idea.
When it comes down to it, some people don’t have any comprehension why Jesus came to earth. Why was He born here, and why did He live a physical life of thirty-three years? What was the purpose anyway?
To give a complete answer would be impossible in one article, but I will give you a brief overview.
You will see that Christmas is not just celebrating the birth of an ordinary child but the celebration of a great God with a great plan for you and me.
First and foremost, God sent Jesus to restore His relationship with mankind and make a way for man to have everlasting life (Luke 19:10 MSG, John 3:16.) Because man sinned and had separated himself from God (with the help of the devil), God developed a plan to restore the relationship (Gen. 3).Without God, man was destined for death. God’s plan was to bring life and to destroy death and destruction forever.
According to the Bible, 1 John 3:8 says “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
Jesus did not come to condemn the world. He explains why He came in John 3:17: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Jesus was not born just to give us a holiday. Jesus was born as the first part of God’s plan to deliver man out of the bondage of sin.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we help to complete God’s plan. Jesus is not a holiday icon. God had a purpose in sending His Son to us.[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption… (Colossians 1:13–14 AMPC).Jesus is truly the Savior of the world. Celebrating His birth is a time of great love, peace, joy, and compassion. The reality is, however, that Christmas is just the symbolic time we celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. We know that Jesus was not born on December 25, but we use this date as our annual time to celebrate His birth.
As Christians, we know that Jesus is the Son of God (Mark 1:1). We know that God loved mankind so much that He sent Jesus to this earth (John 3:16). Yet many people don’t know these truths and wonder why God sent Jesus. So here are six reasons briefly describing why Jesus was born.
He was born to redeem us from the curse of the law of sin and death (Titus 2:14, Gal. 4:3–7).
He was born to restore authority to its rightful place (Matt. 28:18–20).
He was born to reconcile man to God (Eph. 2:14–18, 2 5:18–21).
He was born to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
He was born to make a way for everlasting life (1 John 5:1–13).
He was born because of love (John 3:16).
Remember, Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it ( John 3:17). And because He loves us so much, Jesus is coming again for us (John 14:1–18, 1 Thess. 4:13–18). That’s worth celebrating any time of the year!
Christmas and the New Birth
Before Joseph and Mary were married, it was discovered that Mary was pregnant. Joseph was a good man and he did not want to make a public example of Mary, so he decided to send her away secretly (Matt. 1:18–19).While he was considering this, however, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel told him that he should not be afraid to take Mary as his wife because the seed that was in her was the seed of the Holy Spirit (vv. 20–21).
As we read the Christmas story in the Bible, many times we don’t comprehend the fullness of what the angel said.
Later in life when Jesus was talking to His disciples and friends, He repeatedly referred to God as His Father. In fact, in John 17 when Jesus spent considerable time talking to the Father just before His arrest and crucifixion, He continually referred to God as His Father, and He referred to Himself as the Father’s Son.
You may wonder, how can this be? How can God be His Father when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit? The answer is both complex and simple. The Spirit of God is God (John 4:24, 1 John 5:7–8).Likewise, when we become Christians, we become children of God and we become born of the Spirit (John 3:5). First John 3:9 says that as Christians we are born of God and God’s nature, and His “divine sperm” remains permanently in us because we are born of God:
No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, for God’s nature abides in him [His principle of life, the divine sperm, remains permanently within him]; and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God (1 John 3:9 AMPC).When the angel told Joseph that Jesus was born of the Spirit, he was prophesying that we who receive Jesus would be born of the Spirit also. We actually are His body (spiritually speaking) and born of the same Spirit.
If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11).
The Christmas story is a powerful true story that changed the world forever.
It's Always the Season for the Christmas Story
The birth of Jesus, the wise men, the shepherds, the manger, and all the other events of Christmas are glorious. However, the Christmas season is not just a seasonal holiday. It is the commemoration of the birth of our Lord Jesus.
Remember, most Christians and theologians agree that Jesus was not born on the 25th of December; it is simply the day that we set aside once a year to publicly acknowledge to the world that Jesus Christ was born. Here’s the point: the date is not important. The event is. The date is only a 24-hour time period. The event changed the world and the universe for all eternity.
The birth of Jesus was the beginning of the earthly manifestation of God’s plan to reconcile man back to Himself. Several years after the resurrection of Jesus, the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, talked about how those who believed in Jesus were reconciled to God through the death of Jesus.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Romans 5:10).
Actually, the birth of Jesus is not just the Christmas story, but the beginning of the salvation story—and all of the story should be told all of the time.
Several years ago, I was talking to a fellow minister about some of the miraculous things that took place at the birth of Jesus. We got very excited in our conversation. Then he looked at me and said, “I can hardly wait until Christmas so I can teach this at church.” His statement struck a nerve inside of me. That day I realized that too many ministers and Christians only talk about the birth of Jesus one Sunday a year.
The Christmas story is a wonderful story, but Jesus should never be reduced to a holiday icon.
He is the Savior of the world who was born of a virgin, fathered by the Spirit of God, ministered on the earth, and laid down His life as the once and for all sacrifice. He did all this as He pressed toward the goal of fulfilling the Father’s plan.
Each year as we celebrate Christmas let’s keep the knowledge, understanding, and spirit of Christmas fresh every day throughout the year.
Christmas is About Jesus
Regardless of what the modern news media may tell you, Christmas is about Jesus. Of course, it is the season of love and joy. Of course, it is the season of giving. But all the love, joy, and giving is because of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Without Jesus there would be no Christmas season. Let me explain.
It may come as a shock to some people, but before Jesus was born there was no Christmas. It is a known fact that the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago is the date the Julian and Gregorian calendars use as the anchor for all dates. For example, the United States was founded in the year 1776 AD (Anno Domini) or “1776 in the Year of Our Lord.” The birth of Jesus is the basis for the AD system of dating.
However, the value and purpose of Christmas is much deeper than just a dating system of time. The birth of Jesus marks the beginning of a new phase of God’s plan for mankind. It has been said that when Jesus came to earth, it was the greatest chapter in the story of the glory. Here is what that means.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1.). He created man in His own image and likeness and placed him in a garden east of Eden (v. 26, Gen. 2:15). Man was covered with the glory of God.8 The relationship between God and man was very intimate. God gave man authority over the garden. Like today, there were things he was to do and there were some things he was not supposed to do (Gen. 2:16–17).Because man was disobedient, he lost the ability to fellowship with his Creator (Gen. 3). The glory of God was taken away and man realized he was naked. It looked like he was doomed to an eternal existence alone without the closeness of the presence of God (the glory)—but God had a plan.
God loved His creation so much that after 4,000 years He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to the earth in the form of a man.
He was a part of the wonderful plan to break down the wall that separated man from God. Jesus lived a perfect life as a man (2 Cor. 5:21). He was the Son of God, but He set all that aside and lived for thirty-three years as a sinless man. He laid down His life on the cross and became a perfect sacrifice.
After three days, Jesus came back to life. He taught His disciples for forty days and then was taken into heaven to be with His Father, God (Acts 1:1–9). And today, He is waiting to return to the earth to collect the Church (1 Thess. 4:16–17), Everyone who believes and confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, that God raised Him from the dead, and does not deny Jesus, is a part of the Church and has eternal life. Life is always better than death.
Christmas is the celebration of a birth in Bethlehem. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of a Savior who laid down His life so we could have life.
Christmas is the celebration of the Light entering the world so that we do not have to live in darkness ( John 8:12).
Christmas is the celebration of Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no reason to celebrate. We show our love for Him by loving, forgiving, and giving to others. Jesus said they (non-Christians) will know we are Christians by the way we love each other (1 John 3:16).
Dr. Larry Ollison
