As Christmas day approaches, we are faced with the truth of what Christmas is really about. The world views Christmas as a day-off from work with pay. The retail world sees their record books finally be in the black instead of red. Many people look at Christmas as an excuse to party and make merry. To the Church, those who know, Christmas is the time when the true life of God was once again imparted to mankind.
Romans 6:23 (Amplified) says, "For the wages which sin pays is death, but the (bountiful) free gift of God is eternal life (in union with) Jesus Christ our Lord." John 1:4 (Amplified) says, "In Him was Life, and the Life was the light of men." The forgiveness of sin also paid the wages of sin, which is death. Only He could pay the price for sin and death to restore Life to those who will believe.
As we unwrap the Christ Child in the manger this season, let's look upon the free gift that He is to all who will believe in Him. The tiny baby in the manger is God's Christmas gift of Life to a world that was dead in trespass and sin. Many of us believe that we never really did anything bad and don't need a Savior. But, Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified) says, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives (All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
This is why the Holy Spirit had Isaiah write Isaiah 9:6 (Amplified) exactly like this, saying, "For unto us a Child is born to us a Son is given." He had always been the Son of God, but now Jesus is born to us as a gift of the Life of God. God's child, His only begotten Son has become His gift of life to men all over the earth. Jesus is the free gift of Life and the payment for sin in the world.
All of the Christmas decorations like trees, lights and bells are meant for celebrating life once again to mankind. We can now understand what Jesus told the people in John 10:10 (Amplified) saying, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, til it overflows)."
All of the free gifts found in Christ Jesus won't do any good for someone who is dead. We must first understand and receive Life, before anything else will benefit us. And, because we never truly understand what "death" meant, we underestimated the full glory of the free gift of Life. Even though we had life in the natural body, we were shut off from the Life of God in our spirits. It didn't matter how many good deeds we performed or how we lived our lives free of sin, the death of sin (the spirit force that entered into man from Adam) was still at work in our spirit. We could never pay off the debt that the first Adam had incurred. As a matter of fact, the "late payment" penalty was building as the earth's population increased.
The Child who was born, was "born to us." God's Son was given to us. He was God's gift to us. Before there was a night of lights, gifts and merriment, there was a Silent Night. Only God could rejoice in the first Christmas. God announced His peace covenant with man to the world through angels. They announced "Peace on earth, God's will to man is GOOD." From the birth of Jesus to His resurrection to the present, God has declared a peace covenant with the world in Jesus Who is the Prince of Peace. Although the world might seem to still be at war with God, He is at peace with them, through Jesus.
A simple teenage girl and her husband shared the animal's manger in a stable with their newly welcome baby boy. There were no doctors or family members to share this miracle. There were only sheep, cows, and simply shepherds. But, the Father was full of joy about His Christmas gift and couldn't help announcing the birth of His Son Jesus to the world. Angels, surrounded by God's glory, announced that Life had come, peace was here and sin was about to come to an end. Where else would a Lamb be born, except for in a stable?
God's gift of a new birth from death to life was wrapped in swaddling clothes that first Christmas, along with freedom from the bondage of sin and the free gift of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ. Romans 8:2 (Amplified) says, "What good is all the gifts we could, to a dead man? Without receiving, first of all, the gift of Life by the payment for sin, what good are all the other things?"
Jesus came because John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He (even) gave up His Only Begotten (Unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him, shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."
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