It’s that time of year again…the music, the lights, the cooler air, and everything having to do with Christmas. For many, it’s a time of busy shopping, planning vacation and travel, and watching presents get opened on Christmas day. For others, it’s also a time of remembering. A time of reflecting upon the birth of Jesus Christ. A time to consider how special and how significant it is that God sent His Son to be born into our world.
Wherever you find yourself this time of year, one thing I want to consider in this article is the necessity of Christmas. Really, why do we have Christmas in the first place?
What is so special about Christmas?
If you’re a Christian, you would say, “It’s the birth of Christ.” But why is that so significant? What does Christ being born have to do with you today? What is so important about Christ’s birth?
A common answer might be, Emmanuel, which means God with us. God became a man. But why? Why would God need to become a man? Perhaps, a more direct question might be, “What is the purpose of Christ’s humanity?” In other words, why did God need to become human?
To this the Christian would more than likely answer, “To save us from our sins or to deal with sin.” But how would Christ becoming human deal with sin?
To that we look to Paul’s letter to the Galatians…
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Galatians 4:4-5
The reason why Christ became a human was to place Himself under the law (that is to say, subject to the requirements of the law), so that He might keep the requirements of the law perfectly. In keeping the law perfectly Christ would in effect do what no man has been or will be able to do–achieve the righteousness of God. That is to say Christ’s becoming a human and subsequently keeping God’s law in a sense achieved the righteous requirements that God has required of every human in order to be in a right relationship with Him. Before Christ came, and under the law given by Moses, a priest would offer up blood from an animal to God in order for God’s people to have a right relationship with God. However, that act was an annual act that had to be repeated, and thus served as only a temporary provision for dealing with and forgiving human’s sins. The problem still remains–people still die, and death is the ultimate expression that sin is still present in the world. There had to be a death and subsequent resurrection from the dead (a conquering of death) that would ultimately provide a cure for the cancer of sin (which is seen by the presence of death). The problem is that the only death and subsequent resurrection that would be accepted by God would be a death from a human who was as righteous as God (by keeping the law of God perfectly), and who would be willing to offer his life as the perfect and ultimate sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins forever. The blood of the animal was only a temporary sacrifice for sin, and so something more must be done to end the curse of sin (death) once and for all.
Enter Emmanuel–Jesus Christ–the babe born in Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah, the seed of Abraham, the seed of woman, from the house of David, and the prophet greater than Moses. This baby–the God-man–entered our world, and kept the Law of God perfectly, and in a sense achieved what no man has or ever will achieve, the righteousness of God. As Christ breathed His last breath–dying in the place of humanity by receiving the penalty (death) of their sins–He offered His blood as the ultimate sacrifice for humanity’s sins. As He rose from the grave, He conquered the curse of sin, that is to say, death. His keeping of God’s law (achieving the righteousness of God), and conquering of sin (resurrection from the dead) provided a way for humanity to have the righteousness of God and promise of a future resurrection themselves. This righteousness achieved by Christ as the God-man would then be available to all who–by grace through faith–trust Christ’s work on their behalf. In other words, as a human recognizes that they have not met the requirements of God’s law–that they have fallen short of God’s standards for perfection–and subsequently transfer their trust from their failed attempt at keeping the law, and then place their trust in Christ’s perfect keeping of the law, they are given the righteousness that Christ’s achieved by perfectly keeping God’s law. This is the reason why we have Christmas.
Christmas is God becoming a human to deal with sin by keeping the law that showed humans of their sin, as well as rising from the dead after offering His life as a payment for sins. Christ’s kept the law of God, and Christ’s resurrection from the dead conquered sin.
And so, the glory of Christmas is that Christ became a human to live a perfect life that achieved the righteous requirements of the law, and then He offers this righteousness that He achieved to all those who believe that He did this for them. It’s the greatest gift ever considered–being made right with God through faith in Christ’s work for them. So Christmas is about the righteousness of God given to an unrighteous humanity by grace through faith.
Glory! The law that showed humans that they are separated from God has now been fulfilled in the babe born in Bethlehem. God has made a way for His righteousness to be given to an unrighteous humanity through faith. Where there was no way, God has made a way!
What if?
What if this Christmas we meditated upon the fact that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, kept the law of God perfectly and then gives to us the righteousness that He achieved through keeping the law through faith? What if we considered that this Christmas was about God’s provision for forgiving our sins and making us right with Him? What if this Christmas we thought less about our failings and more about God’s success through Christ? What if this Christmas we remembered that God emptied Himself for us, so that we would be filled with the fulness of His love and grace? What if this Christmas we remembered that He lived the life we couldn’t live, conquered sin and death through His resurrection, and as a result gives us hope that one day He will do the same (resurrect us) for those who believe in Him for salvation? What if we lived with hope this Christmas, because of the fact that God became a man to deal with our greatest need–separation from God because of our failing to keep His law?
God has made a way! Glory to God in the highest!
— December 2, 2016