Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Well, it won’t be long now, soon Christmas Day will be upon us; the greatest birthday party ever! We will be celebrating the most wonderful, most amazing event in the history of mankind; the Birth of our Savior!
Gifts will be exchanged, the Christmas Story will be read, and we will all come together because of Jesus. Even families that do not know Jesus get in on it!
What a miracle Christmas is!
When we stop to consider what God has done, we come away stunned!
The Old Testament Scriptures resound with the prophetic words of Isaiah:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
The people of Isaiah’s day were desperate people, many of them walking in hopelessness and despair; seemingly meaningless lives, being lived out under the oppression of wicked rulers.
During the time of Jesus’ birth, the people were living under the thumb of Herod the Great, and were also very difficult and trying times. Taxes were too high, the demands of Rome were exceedingly harsh, and those who administered justice were often cruel, and extortionary in their tactics.
It was in this world of hopelessness and despair that God brought forth His One and Only Son!
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Times have not changed all that much, and for many people today, perhaps even you, life is a grind, a meaningless existence, a pointless journey to a place called death, and you may wonder; is there any real meaning in life?
I spoke with a man just recently and I asked him and his wife if they were ready for Christmas; his reply brought sadness to my heart. He said; “It’s just another day to me, like any other.”
The fact is; there is no other Day like it! It is an incredible Day, a Day in which the God of the universe humbled Himself and was born in a manger, surrounded by the poorest of the poor. It was the result of the Holy Spirit’s Seed, mingling with the seed of a young woman, resulting in the One and Only Son of God being born.
No, there is no other Day like it ever, and we will celebrate it!
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
God has given us the most incredible gift; the gift of Life by giving His Son.
Let’s take a few minutes together today to read that remarkable story. . .
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
I hope you will read that story again Christmas morning, before you open a present, and relive the wonder of that glorious Day when God sent His son into this world. And give thanks to God. . .
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
What about this Gift God sent? Do we really need it? Is it for you?
The Bible tells us that “sin” which is defined as; transgression of the divine law; is something that every one of us is guilty of. We do not have to look hard to realize that all of us have sinned (Broken God’s Law) at one time or another.
The Bible says;
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Sin entered mankind way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan, and they gave into temptation and sinned against God’s law!
His law to them was; “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
This problem of sin, which originated with Satan, created a serious situation, which called for drastic measures.
- First, there MUST be consequences for satan’s sin.
A just and loving God could never ignore such a thing, and by His very nature must take action against sin. So God created a place for Satan and the angles that followed him.
According to Matthew 25:41 God has: prepared an eternal fire for the devil and his angels.
This is a literal place, a real place for Satan to reside for eternity, and the angels that follow him. To sin against God is a terrible thing, and it deserves a punishment fitting of the crime! The devil and his angels will be punished accordingly!
- Secondly, there must be consequences for man’s sin
To the woman, he said, “I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
To Adam, he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil, you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust, you will return.”
Indeed, death certainly touched man because of sin. We have been struggling with sin ever since, and it has affected everything in the universe.
But God has a plan! You see; according to the Gospel of John:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This is the very reason that Jesus came into the world! He came so that we could have eternal life. That our sins (which are many) could be forgiven!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s love for us! Jesus is God’s gift to us; this is why we celebrate!
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
How does one appropriate this incredible gift of life? The Scripture on Romans blazes the way!
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Do you believe? Do you have faith to believe? God says you do, and that also is a gift from Him
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Well, there you have it!
Will you receive this great gift, and walk in ALL the Light it brings?
Like any gift, it has little value unless it is received, embraced, and taken in. Imagine taking the time and effort to purchase a special gift for one of your children.
The big day comes, and you present them with the present. They look over the gift, shake it a little, then set it down and simply tell you; “it looks good dad, but I really don’t think I will open it.”
How would you react? How does God react when we do the same thing when presented with His indescribable Gift!
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
So, a few closing thoughts. No one really likes to talk about hell; many people really don’t even believe that it exists; and if it did exist, God would never send good, kind and caring people there!
The fact is, He does not send people there; they go there of their own free will. Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels; it was never intended for humans.
God went to extraordinary lengths to redeem fallen mankind and offer forgiveness and a place in heaven with Him. One of the greatest gifts God ever gave mankind, was the ability to chose.
Unfortunately, many people chose to live a life contrary to all God has offered; renown author and pastor Max Lucado put it this way:
“Consider, then, this explanation of hell: Hell is the chosen place of the person who loves self more than God, who loves sin more than his Savior, who loves this world more than God’s world. Judgment is that moment when God looks at the rebellious and says, “Your choice will be honored.”
How about you? The gift has been given and placed at your feet . . . what are you going to do with it? The God who gave it is hoping with expectant hope, that you will open it; if you chose not to, He will honor your choice.
Chose well
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