Christmas - One Glorious Day

Every year, once a year, many will take time out to celebrate Christmas. 

For many the focus will be a family get together, making sure Billy and Susie receive the toys they want, the stress about traveling to grandmas, eating until you’re ready to pop, watching football, or the loneliness of having no one to spend the day with.

The original intention of celebrating Christmas, the day we acknowledge the birth of Christ, has nothing to do with those things I mentioned. 

The few will acknowledge the birth of Christ as a glorious day, but why?

Why was Christ born?

Jesus was born to live, to die, to rise, and to come again.

Who or what is Jesus coming back for?

He is coming for The Church.

Who is The Church?

The Church is those that have acknowledged that the only way to the Father, to God, to Heaven, is through Christ.  The Church is those that have submitted their lives to Jesus, confessing that Jesus is their Savior, and have asked that Jesus become Lord of their lives.  That is The Church.

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

No Jesus = no Living Hope.

Hope, meaning to cherish with anticipation?  No.

Hope, meaning to expect with confidence.

God’s Word tells us that Jesus is the way…

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give youa sign: The virginwill conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Immanuel, Messiah, Savoir…the many names of Jesus.

The book of Isaiah was written between 701 and 681 B.C.

Matthew 2:1-2
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

King Herod reigned from 37 B.C to 4 B.C

Herod was not pleased with the birth of Jesus, the one prophesied about.

Matthew 2:3
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him

God protects his Son Jesus

Matthew 2:13-15
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”  So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Herod tried to use the Magi to find Jesus

Matthew 2:7-8
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

Historians calculate the Magi having visited Jesus in early 4 B.C. and he was a young child of 1 year or so at the time.

Matthew 2:11
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:16
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Matthew 2:19-20
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt  and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

Herod died in 4 B.C.  Historians estimate his death to be in November, a few months after the order to kill boys 2 years old and under.

Historians calculate Jesus was born in early 5 B.C.

Is Christmas a glorious day?

Oh yeah!!  In fact with Jesus there is one glorious day after another.

The day Jesus was born – a glorious day because the Savior arrived

The days Jesus lived – glorious days because everything he said, taught and did was based on his love for mankind.

The day Jesus died – a glorious day because his blood was shed to redeem us, freeing us from captivity through Jesus paying the ransom for us with his life.

The day Jesus rose – a glorious day because he proved death could not conquer him, and we were made justified (becoming righteous and worthy of salvation).

The day Jesus returns – a glorious day because he will gather The Church, those that have submitted to him as Lord, and take them to the Kingdom of God, to be with his Father.

Christmas…what a glorious day!!!

It is so sad how the real meaning of Christmas has become lost with gifts, Santa, decorations, gatherings, big meals, football, etc.

Believing in Christ, accepting him as Lord of our life is a choice.

Matthew 7:13-14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

How we celebrate Christmas is a choice.

Choosing Christ will result in criticism, persecution, being laughed at, being called names, being made fun of, separation of friends, separation of family, possibly physically beaten, possibly killed…

Still...I choose Jesus!!

Thank you God the Father for sending your Son Jesus to be born, live, die, and rise so he may come back and take me Home to be with you.

Merry Christmas to all!!