Christmas- the best day of the year for many. A decorated tree, cookies, presents, and a man who delivers said presents on a big red sleigh. An all-around great day to spend with your family and friends, making everlasting memories. For me and so many others, this day holds so much more meaning than all of this; Christmas is the day that Jesus was sent down from Heaven onto Earth to save us.
“But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High,” (Luke 1:30-32 NIV). Christmas is much more significant than most people realize. An angel came down to Mary and told her she would be the mother of the Son of God himself, and told her not to be afraid. At the time, Mary was to marry Joseph, the son of David. An angel then came to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to marry Mary, because her child was from the Holy Spirit. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins,” (Matthew 1:21 NIV). Late into Mary’s pregnancy, she and Joseph made a long, rugged journey to the small town of Bethlehem. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. Mary and Joseph were denied a guest room at the Inn, so when she gave birth to her firstborn son, she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger. An angel appeared to a group of shepherds, and told them the great news, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger,” (Luke 2: 11-12 NIV). The shepherds went off to find what the angel had described to them, and as they found exactly that, they found the Messiah- the savior of the world.
The story of Jesus is far from done. In the beginning of the world, God had an overflowing amount of love; so much that he created humanity to have a relationship with us. Every human being created in the perfect image of God himself. There is only one problem: all of humanity sins, and in that sin we are separated from him. But like God always does, he found a perfect solution. “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him,” (John 3:16-17 NIV). Even though we are separated from God, it does not mean that he has abandoned us. The son of the Lord, Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life- a sinless life. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8 NIV). Jesus hung on the cross, taking the punishment that he in no way deserved, but taking the punishment that we deserve. This was not the end of his story. Three days after his agonizing, humiliating, awful death, Jesus defied all odds- and he rose again. “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him,” (Romans 6:9 NIV). Jesus won the war, forever defeating sin and death. Through this victory, Jesus offers us a gift that lasts eternity—our salvation. If you are to trust in the Lord with all your heart, you are made a new creation in Christ as you are saved by God’s grace, your sins being forgiven. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Romans 10:9 NIV).
Christmas displays the miraculous event of the birth of Jesus. It symbolizes the day that our Lord and Savior entered this world to offer us our salvation. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8 NIV). Because of what Jesus Christ went through on the cross, we can have a relationship with God, which is the ultimate gift.
