A Christmas Word–Part 1???  A Word from THE WORD!!! #166

I’d like to spend some time today thinking about the only true ‘reason for the season’, and that my friends is JESUS!  No, He wasn’t born on December 25^th, but it is the date chosen to honor our Lord’s birth—the long-awaited coming of The Messiah to Redeem mankind; for all who will believe.  So let’s back up a bit and do a short review of why we need Jesus!

“For all have sinned,

and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23

“For the wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God

is eternal life

through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 6:23

Why do we need this gift, you might ask; well that’s a good question, and we’ll briefly consider the answer—it’s the reason we trust The Word of God—it gives us the ‘whole truth’.  And that begins in Eden with the first man and woman (And yes, God created them “male and female”, read the account!).  We won’t go into the whole story but just some portions of Genesis 1, 2 and 3; and yes, my friends, I believe the Bible from Genesis to Revelation; I believe that we were/are are created in “the image of God….”!  Let’s dig in.

“For God so loved the world,

that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him

should not perish,

but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

“Forasmuch as ye know that

ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,

as silver and gold,

from your vain conversation

received by tradition from your fathers;

19 But with the precious blood of Christ,

as of a lamb without blemish

and without spot:

20 Who verily was foreordained

before the foundation of the world,

but was manifest in these last times

for you,

21 Who by him do believe in God,

that raised him up from the dead,

and gave him glory;

that your faith and hope

might be in God.”  1 Peter 1:18-21

Why was/is man perishing?  It’s because of sin—it’s the disease; we all have it, we can’t cure it, only Jesus can, how did we get in this shape?  Our first parents failed the test, but in God’s love and mercy HE already had a plan in place to redeem us; He knew we would fail, and He created us anyway—a concept that is beyond my comprehension (and yes, I believe in the Genesis account of creation in six literal days).

“In the beginning

God created

the heaven and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

“And God 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 fowl of the air,

and over the cattle,

and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing

that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man

in his own image,

in the image of God created he him;

male and female

created he them.”  Genesis 1:26-27

Genesis 2 goes on to fill in some more of the details for us and sets the stage for us to understand.

“And the LORD God formed man

of the dust of the ground,

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;

and man became a living soul.

8 And the LORD God planted a garden

eastward in Eden;

and there he put the man

whom he had formed…

…16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying,

Of every tree of the garden

thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil,

thou shalt not eat of it:

for in the day that thou eatest thereof

thou shalt surely die.”   Portions of Genesis 2:7-17

The saddest part of this account to me, is that we failed to believe God, at the prompting of Satan, the great “father of lies” (see John 8:44); how sad that we’re still falling for the same old lies!  But we did eat, and we did die spiritually on the spot, and physically later, and still do! It’s why Jesus so boldly and powerfully reminds us:

“The thief cometh not,

but for to steal,

and to kill,

and to destroy:

I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly.

11 I am the good shepherd:

the good shepherd

giveth his life for the sheep.”  John 10:10-11

Jesus came to give us back the life with God that Satan stole, tricked, and deceived our first parents out of.  How much have we been tricked out of by this ‘liar of liars’? There is a price to pay, and we pay it every day, except as we walk “in the Spirit” with our Lord (See Galatians 5:16 & 25)!  But back to Genesis, He’s our Lord not only because He came, but because God promised HIS coming from before the beginning!

“And I will put enmity

between thee and the woman,

and between thy seed and her seed;

it shall bruise thy head,

and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  Genesis 3:15

Jesus IS the great restorer!  Our great and good Redeemer!  Our soon-coming KING!  This is why I celebrate HIS birth!  How about you?

“And she shall bring forth a son,

and thou shalt call his name JESUS:

for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done,

that it might be fulfilled

which was spoken of the Lord

by the prophet, saying,

23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child,

and shall bring forth a son,

and they shall call his name Emmanuel,

which being interpreted is, God with us.”   Matthew 1:21-23

Amen and Amen!!!