When we look back at Christmas over the years, treasured memories flood our minds. But in the glitter and busyness of the season, let’s not lose sight of something deeper than our memories. Let’s look to the hope found in the meaning of Christmas. Over two thousand years ago, a young Jewish girl gave birth to a son. But this was no ordinary child. He was the unique Son of God. Matthew writes “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).
Hope comes from the eternal Son of God who took to himself full humanity. The Son became a man without ceasing to be God. John 1:14 explains and clarifies what this means, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Son of God did not fake it. He became a human being. The Son is uniquely the God-man. Moving the Biblical story along to Easter, Paul clarifies what the meaning of the cross is and why hope is found in Jesus Christ, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
Hope is precisely bound up with the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. The unique Son of God is the heart and the hope of Christmas for every person. Forgiveness is received by everyone who responds in faith. No one who responds in faith will be stranded in their sins. He rescues every single believer. No one will be left alone, no one will be undefended, no one will be forgotten, and no one left hopeless. No one!