For many, this time of year is only a magnification of the hopelessness and despair that they feel inside. Whether this hopelessness comes from a loss of a loved one or a commercialized view of Christmas, the Scripture has the truth about this matter. God sent hope to rescue and reconcile us to himself.
Every year at this time when we celebrate the birth of baby Jesus to the virgin Mary we are really celebrating the incarnation. God became man. And through virginal conception, the man Jesus did not cease to be God. He came not just to serve but “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Philippians 2:8 tells us that “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
God himself came to die and live again. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The great extent of his people’s rebellion was met and surpassed by the sufficiency of his substitutionary death.
The meaning of Christmas is not just that God himself came from heaven as man. The meaning is that he came down to rescue us. Such was the promise of God’s messenger from the time of his announcement: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). He came down to rescue us from sin and reconcile sinners “to himself” (Colossians 1:20). He “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
This Christmas let’s marvel at the wonder of the incarnation of the Son and his death and resurrection. Is it time for you to transfer your faith to Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection for your sins? He came down to rescue us from sin and reconcile us to himself. Trust him! Christmas comes each year always with the message of hope that is found in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!