INTRODUCTION
Oh, how we love to show everyone what we received for Christmas! As a child we would wake up early before daylight to see what may be placed under our Christmas trees. Wrapping paper would be flying and tape being ripped open with our supernatural Christmas morning strength.
One by one, we would be amazed with each gift and would hold it up to shout for joy. One of the amazing things as a child was that the morning wasn’t finished. We were off to grandparents to see cousins and other family. BUT before we left the house… WE TOOK INVENTORY! This way, when asked, we spilled out our Christmas gifts as though it was the 80’s McDonald’s jingle of “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.”
G.I.JOE army men, train sets, micro machines and hot-wheels, bicycles, skateboards, GoBots (generic version of transformers), for the girls… easy-bake ovens, cabbage patch dolls, lite-brights and the rehearsed list would go on and on!
There are some gifts that stick out in our memory more than others, such as unexpected or undeserved ones. While some may surrender their thoughts of Christmas to an itemized list of gifts, there is ONE gift that I would like to attempt to explain today. The gift of the Christ over Christmas.
HIS
BROUGHT US
While many this time of year focus on the Nativity scene, and we most certainly should, we should try to understand the scene.
When we arrive at the manger, we find hope cradled and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Hope found through the Word of God and the promises of hundreds of prophecies concerning Him.
Isaiah 7:14 says:
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 9:6 says:
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Matthew 1:18-23 says:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
HIS
BROUGHT US
As we understand the cradle scene and the
Joseph and Mary came to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer the unto the Lord what the law required for receiving a male child. (A pair of doves or pigeons). While there, there was a man who spoke about Jesus’ reason for coming and how it would take place. Look at the strength of redemption in his words…
Luke 2:25-35 says:
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart
in peace, according to thy word:
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall
BUT IT’S WHAT THEY
HIM THAT BRINGS US
We weren’t there to see the manger, or the cross at Calvary. We weren’t there to hear the testimony of shepherds, wise men, or Simeon and Anna in the temple. We only read about these accounts.
We weren’t there to hear the crowd cry out for crucifixion or hear the Roman soldiers laugh out loud as they placed a whip across His back with all of their strength.
We weren’t there when the priests and other religious leaders scoffed and mocked Him as He was lead to the hill of suffering and death. We weren’t there when they drove nails into the hands and feet of His innocent body and watched as those same religious leaders wagged their heads at Him.
We weren’t there on that Sunday morning when the grave, who had Him sealed up, was suddenly burst at its seems and the stone removed!
We weren’t there when He appeared to the disciples and then ascended into Heaven with a promise of returning.
BUT did you READ… OR have you HEARD?
Acts 4:12 says:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
Acts 10:42-43 says:
And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that
Philippians 2:9-11 says:
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him
YOU weren’t there the night that I called upon the powerful, life-changing, promise-giving NAME OF THIS SAME JESUS.
Jesus, the mere mention of His name can calm the storm, heal the broken, raise the dead. At the name of Jesus, I’ve seen sin-hardened men melted, derelicts transformed, the lights of hope put back into the eyes of a hopeless child. At the name of Jesus, hatred and bitterness turn to love and forgiveness; arguments cease.
I’ve heard a mother softly breathe His name at the bedside of a child delirious from fever, and I’ve watched that little body grow quiet and the fevered brow cool.
I’ve sat beside a dying saint, her body racked with pain, who in those final fleeting seconds summoned her last ounce of ebbing strength to whisper earth’s sweetest name - Jesus, Jesus ….
Emperors have tried to destroy it; philosophies have tried to stamp it out. Tyrants have tried to wash it from the face of the earth with the very blood of those who claimed it. Yet still it stands!
And there shall be that final day when every voice that has ever uttered a sound, every voice of Adam’s race shall raise in one great mighty chorus to proclaim the name of Jesus for in that day “Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!”
Ah, so you see, it was not mere chance that caused the angel one night long ago to say to a virgin maiden, “His name shall be called JESUS.” Jesus Jesus Jesus. You know, there is something about that name… —Gloria Gaither
It is at the cradle of
It is at the cross of
BUT AT THE
Romans 10:13 says:
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.