The Impossibility of Christmas

December 13, 2020
Randy Hageman

We can’t really control what happens at Christmas, but we can focus on what Christmas is really about and work to

its true meaning and purpose.

At its most basic level Christmas celebrates the

of Christ, but, at another level, Christmas marks the beginning of Jesus’ mission here on earth to

Reveal Answer

all humanity.

Jesus: ‘For the Son of Man came to seek & save those who are lost.’ —Luke 19:10 (NLT)

The true Christmas story seems impossible – and it began long before Christmas; in fact, it began

the beginning!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. —John 1:1-3 (ESV)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. —Genesis 1:1 (ESV)

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. —John 1:1-3 (NLT)

“The Word” is eternal with God, and, in fact, John tells us “the Word

God.”

John tells us Jesus Christ was there “in the beginning,” when time began; He, “the Word,” “

existed.” (italics added)

Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity, the Triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and God created everything through

.

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who has always existed as the Son, through whom God created everything there is, and He became

.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. —John 1:14 (ESV)

The One who made the world, now, on Christmas, entered the world,

.

…who, though [Christ Jesus] was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. —Philippians 2:6-11 (ESV)

The baby is God, who came for everyone who’s ever lived, because, as Jesus himself tells us, He

each one of us.

Jesus: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’” —John 3:16-17 (ESV)

God wants to reach and save every person on this planet, and He’s demonstrated His commitment to this mission by becoming like us, being in the flesh!

The Greek word John used here for “

” is logos.

John’s goal here in the beginning of his Gospel is to reach as wide a swath of humanity as possible, and many words only had meaning for the

.

Genesis one tells us that God

Creation into existence.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. —Psalms 33:6 (ESV)
[The LORD] sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. —Psalms 107:20 (ESV)
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. —Isaiah 40:8 (ESV)
…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth [declares the LORD]; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. —Isaiah 55:11 (ESV)

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah —Isaiah 38:4 (ESV)
Now the word of the LORD came to me… —Jeremiah 1:4 (ESV)
…the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest…. —Ezekiel 1:3 (ESV)

‘The LORD brought me [wisdom] forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. —Proverbs 8:22-23 (NIV)

The term logos also spoke to

, for whom logos was the “shaping, ordering and directing principle of the universe.”

John’s use of the term logos, “the Word,” made his message more effective, for it reached

people – Jews and Greeks – by beginning with a concept that they understood, at least in part.

When Caesar Augustus thought he ruled the world, the One who spoke all the galaxies and their stars into whirling space lay speechless in a cattle trough. When Quirinius was the governor of Syria, the Starmaker himself entrusted himself to a teenager girl. When Herod the Great was strutting his power across the scene, God the logos needed a mother to feed him and change his diapers. Unbelievable. —Pastor Darrell Johnson

IF THE INCARNATION IS CHRISTMAS, THEN CERTAIN THINGS ARE TRUE:

1. Human beings have been bestowed by God with incredible

.

2. God really, really

us!

3. We have great

in our suffering.

4. We have real

for the future.

5. We can

what Jesus says.

6. It really was right for those shepherds to

Jesus.

7. We have Good News to

with everyone!

Next Week: The Impossibility of Christmas