There is no shortage of arguments against Christmas–the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The constant charge: It is a pagan festival. However, that assertion has long been refuted. “It’s commonly thought Christians took over the pagan holiday of Sol Invictus (“Unconquered Sun”), which was on December 25. But there’s little evidence to back this up.”¹

Now, the most crucial reason for Christians to celebrate Christmas is the birth of Christ. It is an actual historical event. Jesus Christ is a real historical figure. He was announced and anticipated in the Old Testament. He arrived in the New Testament. Granted, the pagan assertions are correct (and they are not), but the celebration of Christmas is still about Jesus Christ. Despite the commercialisation and secularisation of the season, Jesus is still the centre of it. Answering critics of Christmas, Donald Macleod, in his book ‘From Glory To Golgotha’, gave us a reason to celebrate the birth of Christ and raised a complaint about Christians not taking advantage of the season:

“It would be easy to be critical. Yet, in a day of small things, the festive season so-called, has one advantage: it reminds the public of at least the name and the fact of Jesus Christ. The pity is that men seldom go beyond that and that the church itself appears content to leave the supreme mystery of its faith only vaguely hinted at in the glitter and gaiety of what it calls its greatest festival. Christmas is a lost opportunity, a time when the world invites the Church to speak and she blushes, smiles and mutters a few banalities with which the world is already perfectly familiar from its own stock of cliches and nursery rhymes.”² 

His Announcement

In our everyday life, we don’t just show up in people’s homes to visit. There is always a prior arrangement. Apart from people being unprepared, and perhaps you may not receive the hospitality due to you, you may not meet them at home, and you will have travelled in vain.

The Lord Jesus Christ didn’t just show up in the world. He was not an unannounced guest or visitor. Long before his birth, word had gone ahead of him announcing his coming into the world. In Genesis 3:15, when God pronounced judgment after Adam and Eve had disobeyed him, theologians indicate the first gospel—Protoevangelium was preached: “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15 ESV). Biblical scholarship indicates the offspring of the woman can be used in the singular to refer to an individual or collectively to the people of God (Gen12:7,22:17-18, Gal 3:16). ³ In it’s singular usage, the ‘offspring of the woman’ points to Jesus. For it is in Christ that Satan was defeated. When Paul addressed the offspring promised Abraham (Genesis 22:18), he pointed out that offspring referred to Christ: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16). In Genesis 3:15 then, we see the person and ministry of Christ announced.

The curse on the serpent in Genesis 3:14–15 sets the stage for the subsequent course of redemptive history. Obvious New Testament allusions to this passage occur in places such as Luke 10:19, Romans 16:20, and Revelation 12:17. Yet from this point in the book of Genesis, the theme of “enmity between offspring/seed” characterises the biblical narrative. This passage is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the consummate “seed of the woman” who crushes the head of the serpent.⁴

The Birth of Christ was unique. Certainly, he wasn’t the only one born on that day. But his birth was unlike theirs. His birth was miraculous (vv. 18-20). Notice how Matthew is careful to tell us of the uniqueness of Jesus’ birth: “before they came together [that is before the marriage was [consumated]  she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” This is the Christian doctrine of the virgin conception of Jesus. The second line of the Apostles Creed captures this clearly:

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.

He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary

This is a foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. We believe in Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin Mary, for the salvation of sinners. As verse 21 says, he was born, ‘to save his people from their sins’. This is the message of Christmas. That God took upon himself human flesh to deal with our sin problem, and before his birth, the Scriptures announced it. Observe how Matthew says the birth of Christ fulfilled Scripture in vv.22-23.  Matthew here quotes Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. Many centuries before his birth, he was spoken of. In the first three chapters of Matthew, we see Matthew constantly pointing to the birth of Jesus as the fulfilment of prophecy (vv. 1:23; 2:3-6;2:13-15; 2:16-18; 2:23). All these from various places in the Old Testament are all considered as referring to the birth of Christ and events surrounding it.

Christmas is the fulfillment of the promise of the son of God, who was announced to come and deal with the problem of sin.

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die;

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth

~Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Charles Wesley & George Whitefield

God is faithful to his word. Every promise of God in his word will be fulfilled. No word of God will be left unattended to. This has great encouragement for those of us who have come to faith in Christ. Our life is a part of God’s Redemptive History, and as Paul tells us in Romans 8:28, “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

His Anticipation

Serving as a bi-vocational Pastor, I have felt exhausted these past weeks. Because the year is ending, my brain is anticipating rest. I look forward to the Christmas break, when I will get some rest, hopefully. Anticipation is a part of life. We all have things we look forward to. In Genesis Chapter 4, right after the promise of an offspring of the woman who will deal a blow to the serpent, a sense of anticipation sets in for Eve. If we pay careful attention to the narrative, we will see the anticipation of the offspring of the woman, more particularly in the birth of Cain and Seth.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 4:1) And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him (Genesis 4:25)

The anticipation for the fulfilment of the promise of the offspring kicked in when Cain was born. Perhaps Eve thought this was the moment. But her hope will soon fly away. Then again, another child was born. In the same spirit of anticipation, she exclaimed. “God has appointed for me another offspring.” Anticipation for the birth of this offspring runs through the whole Scripture. The apostle Peter aptly tells us of this anticipation

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time[a] the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look (1Peter 1:10-12).

His Arrival

Jesus Christ was Announced. He was Anticipated. And he arrived on Christmas. Look at the latter part of Matthew 1:23: “which means God with us”. In Jesus’ birth, God condescended to live among his people bodily. Throughout the Old Testament, God has lived among his people in various symbols and manifested himself in different ways. We can speak about the Ark in the Tabernacle, for example. We can talk about the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. But never in the history of humanity has God come to dwell among his people bodily but in the birth of Christ.

This is the most significant event in human history: that God will take upon himself human flesh. This is what is called in theology the incarnation. God becoming flesh. But why was this necessary? It was necessary because God, in his love and mercy, provided a way by which sinful humanity would be reconciled to him. Christmas is God’s love displayed towards sinful humanity. A Gift was given on Christmas—the Gift of God’s Son. God has fulfilled his promise of salvation to reconcile his people unto himself, forgive our sins and save us from eternal destruction. We can be confident that those of us who have come to faith in Christ have joined the family of God. We have been gloriously reconciled to God through faith. And have a hope of eternal life.

And for those who haven’t believed in Jesus, God’s gift of salvation is still available in Christ. He was born so that he would die to pay for the penalty of sin. The penalty is yours to pay. Will you turn to him?

Notes

1 Michael J. Kruger, “Think You Know The Christmas Story? Here Are Five Common Misconception”, https://MichaelKruger.com/think -you-know-the-Christmas-Story-2

2 Donal Macleod, From Glory To Golgotha:Controversial Issues In The Life Of Christ (Christian Focus, 2002)

3 James Hamilton, “The Skull Crushing Seed of The Woman: Inner-Biblical Interpretation of Genesis 3:15”, accessed 3rd March 2020, https://equip.sbts.edu/publications/journals/journal-of-theology/sbjt-102-summer-2006/the-skull-crushing-seed-of-the-woman-inner-biblical-interpretation-of-genesis-315/,

4.R. Andrew Compton, “The Seed of The Woman”, https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2018/12/the-seed-of-the-woman/

The post The Birth Of Christ appeared first on TGN.

In the midst of all these preparations and excitement, the obvious question any curious observer cannot avoid asking is what is the excitement all about? In our materialistic and consumption-driven society, it is possible to see Christmas as an end of year party; a time to indulge and be merry.  It is therefore important to pause and reflect on the significance of Christmas.

Rather than taking our idea of Christmas from the “retail outlets”, “Hollywood” and “merry making”, we must as a matter of necessity turn to the Bible in search of understanding what Christmas is about. Paul, one of the prominent authors in the Bible gives us a clue on what Christmas is about. In his letter to the Galatians, he writes:

But when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5).

These two verses point us to three important truths about Christmas.

(I)  The birth of Christ 

(II) The Mission of Christ 

(III) The implications for Man.

The Birth of Christ 

Christmas is the day Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. This does not mean Jesus was born on the 25th of December. In fact, the Bible doesn’t tell us the exact date Jesus was born, however early Christians adopted this date to celebrate the birth of Christ. Regardless of whether it is the exact date or not; what matters is that Jesus was a historic figure. He was born and once lived here on earth. The birth of Jesus was a long awaited event; the entire universe was in anticipation of His coming! The phrase “when the fullness of time had come” used by Paul in v 4 alludes to this fact. Prophet after prophet had prophesied about his coming long before his arrival, seven centuries before his arrival, the prophet Isaiah had this to say:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this (Isaiah 9:2-7).

The same anticipation and longing is reflected in some of the most popular advent songs like these two:

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;

From depths of hell Thy people save,

And give them victory o’er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel

Come, Thou long-expected Jesus

Born to set Thy people free

From our fears and sins release us

Let us find our rest in Thee

Israel’s strength and consolation

Hope of all the earth Thou art

Dear Desire of every nation

Joy of every longing hear

The question is; why was the birth of Christ such an anticipated event? To be able to answer this question rightly, one must go back in time to the creation of the world. The Bible tells us that God created the entire universe with all its beauty. Then He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Gen. 1:26). With authority and dominion, also came responsibility and obedience towards God. “the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:16-17). The penalty of death spoken of wasn’t just a physical death, it was a separation from God the source of life for all eternity.

We read that the devil came to man questioning the intentions of God for instructing him not to eat from that particular tree. He rebutted, “For God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God”. The thought of becoming like God appealed to man, and sadly sided with the devil and disobeyed God’s command. That’s how sin entered the world. Sin is a rebellion against a holy God, it is treason and a rejection of God’s rightful rule. Ever since then, all of us who have descended from Adam and Eve have inherited an innate predisposition to reject God’s rightful rule over us. From the one day old baby to the 120 year old adult, we have all gone astray and chosen a position that is against God.

God’s words were very clear, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. From that time onward Adam and Eve were separated from God both physically and spiritually. Justice demanded that man be condemned. If God didn’t punish sin, he would not be God. Just as all who have descended from Adam inherited his sin, so have we all earned that condemnation from God. God put up Christ as a propitiation for our sins to reconcile humankind to Himself (1 John 2:2).

In the fullness of time, God through the Holy Spirit over-shadowed a virgin who was betrothed to be married to Joseph. When the circumstances were right, God sent his Son to be born of woman, born under the law. He took on the form of a man to identify with humanity, and was born under the same law that condemned man. He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:17)

The Mission of Christ 

The second thing we note about Christmas relates to the mission of Christ. Paul writes in Galatians 4:5, the reason Jesus was born was “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Jesus was born with a mission and that is why we can never talk about his birth without mentioning his mission. It wasn’t the case that Jesus was born and later discovered that he was the Messiah. No! Right from the beginning he was born to redeem his people from the judgement of God, which we had justly incurred upon ourselves.

Our predicament was twofold. We were supposed to live a perfect life, which we couldn’t. As a result, there was a death penalty hanging around our necks. Just like our twofold predicament, our need is also twofold. We need someone who could live our perfect life and someone who would die our death. There was no way we could make amends by ourselves. As Christians we are realistic about this; our problem rrequires an external intervention. Jesus the Son of God was able to fulfill both of these needs. He was the only one born of a woman who never sinned, and unlike Adam he obeyed the Father perfectly. And not only that, he was crucified for the punishment that he never deserved. God approved of his sacrifice by raising him from the dead on the third day and has given him a name above every other name (Philippians 2:9-11).

By these two acts, Jesus fulfilled the just demands of the Law and God has said “… if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10). Peter, echoing the same point says “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteousness, that he might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18).

The Implications for Man 

Is this the hope fueling your excitement about Christmas? If it is, then you can go on and set up your Christmas tree, buy your gifts and have yourself a merry Christmas. Get together with families and friends and recount the wonders of His love as you celebrate in excitement. If not, there is no reason to be excited because you are still in your sins and the judgement of God still hangs over your head. And just as in the fullness of time God was true to his promise in sending his only Son to come into the world, he has also appointed a time when Jesus will come back as a judge to execute judgement on all who have continued in their rebellion and not turned to Christ (Acts 17:31).

The message of Christmas is not just a story; it’s a message that demands a response! As you read about this news of great joy, what is your decision? Today is the day of salvation, repent and trust in Jesus for the redemption of your soul.

The eternal Son of God became man that we might become children of God. Merry Christmas!

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