Christmas is a beautiful time of the year!

                             

Note: All numbers in parenthesis represent scripture references that are listed at the end.

Christmas is a beautiful time of the year as we remember that Jesus left a place more perfect than we can ever imagine to live in a sinful, primitive, violent world.  While you sing worshipful songs and hear the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth to a virgin (1), please remember the story does not stop there.

Jesus was born for the sole purpose of giving up His life thirty-three years later.  Jesus gave up His throne surrounded by angels (2) for a life where His authority was rarely recognized.  He came to this cruel and heartless world in the form of pure innocence and humility (3).  He knew He would never fully be accepted by His peers (4), and that even those who claimed to love Him would desert Him in the end (5).  He knew not just the emotional sorrows He would face, but the physical as well.  He would willingly endure excruciating torture (6).  (The word excruciating exists because of the severe pain suffered during crucifixion.)  Yes, He also knew He would be raised from the dead three days after His death (7), but He did not endure long hours of agony just to glorify Himself.  He allowed Himself to be beaten raw and pierced through to die a slow death just for you and me! (8)  His blood on the cross is the only reason you and I have the option of spending eternity with Him in paradise.  (9) He paid for our sins by hanging in humiliation on a cross with wood splinters buried into an already raw and bloodied back, a crown of literal thorns causing blood to burn his eyes as it dripped down His face (10).

It is His glorious face we must seek today (11)! Do not throw away His precious gift bought with a terror we could never endure.  Repent of your sins and seek to live a life of holiness so that you can someday see the beautiful face of Jesus and His Father who allowed His son to be ripped from His side for more than three decades (12).

This Christmas, when you see the nativity sets of the shepherds and wise men kneeling at the manager of the baby Jesus, think of how much more magnificent it will be to bow at the throne of the living God (13)! When you sing, “O, come let us adore Him,” take a moment and thank Jesus with all your heart for choosing the path of pain and sorrow just so we can have an eternal life of peace and joy (14)!

Scriptures:

1)      "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." Matthew 1:23

2)     I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and His left. II Chronicles 18:18

3)     And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.  Luke 2:16

4)     But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Luke 17:25

5)     But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples deserted him and fled. Matthew 26:56

6)     He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. Scoured, beaten, bruised.  Isiah 53:3-4

7)     "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.' " Luke 24:5-7

8)     After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:28, 30

9)      For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Matthew 26:28

10) So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. John 19:1-3

11)  For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6:2

12)  But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. REPENT therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3:18-21

13) For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Ephesians 3:14-21

14) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Revelation 21:4-5