Merry Christmas!
My friend in Christ, why do we celebrate Christmas? Why did Jesus Christ even come in the first place? Was it really necessary for Jesus to die on the cross?
These are honest questions that I receive and so I will answer them to the best of my ability. First I will show you an Old Testament quote from the prophet Isaiah who foretells of the coming of the Messiah centuries before the birth of Jesus the son of the Virgin Mary and the Son of Almighty God. Here is the quote from the prophet Isaiah;
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.
So we see that the Word of God or God's word does things according to the will of God; it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. Where else have we seen God's word in action or doing something? Look at the beginning of the Book of Genesis; Genesis 1:3; And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
God's word is action, it is not idle, it does not simply rest on the ears of the hearer but it does things just as Almighty God has said it will. So why is the word of God so important to Christmas? Let's jump ahead to the New Testament, after the birth of Jesus to find what is said regarding the Word of God;
Gospel of John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
We can see that the first five verses tell us the same thing that we learn in the Old Testament; that the word of God was of course with him because it is his word and that it does things, in the word of God there was life and the life was the light of men and that all things were made by the Word of God as stated God said; let there be light. All of creation to include the life of man is because of and directly related to the word of God. God also said in the Old Testament that his word would go forth from his mouth and do all things as he commanded it and it would not return unto him void. It was going to be sent out and do something good as commanded and then return to him. What does the New testament say about this?
Gospel of John 1:10-14 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
God sent his Word to be born of a woman and dwell among us and to teach us all truth because man had distorted the truth and would not live in communion with his creator. God, whose love for his creation is undying, placed his word in the flesh to walk the earth and be among us, man refused to come to God to God came to man. Christ came to be our Savior, sin and death had to be conquered, it was man who subjected himself to Satan and allows sin to run rampant through the world and so it must also be through man that sin is destroyed in a sense because man alone cannot accomplish this, Almighty God can accomplish this but not in the manner of stamping it out, this would only serve the purpose of having mankind without choice, we were given free will, God does not want robot worshipers, but only those who by choice have determined to live an eternity in his light. This is how you know true love; when it is given freely.
What does Jesus say regarding the doing of the will of the Father? Remember; God sent his word out to do his will, the word was made flesh to do what the father had sent it to do, and Jesus says this; Gospel of John 5:30; I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
In order to
give us some hope death and sin had to be conquered in the flesh, this was the job of Jesus, he had to defeat sin and death in the flesh in order to conquer it and therefore he had to die literally and descend into hell bodily, the enemy must be met fully and destroyed fully, there is no other way. The man Jesus physically died, the flesh died and by descending into hell and rising again death was defeated, this of course could not be accomplished without living a sinless life here before hand.So the Word of God came in the flesh, the flesh walked with us, ate and drank with us and taught us by word and example how we are to live, he then willingly gave up his life in the flesh in a most horrible death, descended into hell and rose again, conquering sin and death in the flesh. He rose bodily and sits on the right hand of the Father. Flesh has now conquered sin and death and now resides with the Father. Because of this immense accomplishment through love and sacrifice freely given, man may now reside with God in the flesh through Jesus the Christ We must simply cling to Jesus and live as he commanded us and showed us by example and that is only through love.
What does Jesus say about being from God the Father? Matthew 11:27; All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and [he] to whomsoever the Son will reveal [him].
John 14:10; Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
John 10:30; I and [my] Father are one.
The Father, Almighty God, by way of His Word, is in the flesh. God in the flesh, talking to us, living the plan of redemption so that everyone of his creation who freely chooses may live an eternity in the light.
This is why we celebrate the birth of Jesus, it does not matter that we do not know the date, we do not need to, it is not important. We know that he will come again, we do not know when this is going to happen but rest assured, even before he comes again in the flesh he will come again in spirit to many of us upon our own fleshly death. This is also why we celebrate the birth, it is holy and of God. The first or early Christians did not celebrate Christmas, they were busy trying to stay alive during the persecutions, it was only after the Christian church was free to walk about did it begin to celebrate things like Christmas.
Contact me with questions or comments; Monk Michael
In Christ,
Monk Michael
