The Word

To understand Christmas, let us go to John 1:1-5 which speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ as God who existed even before the world began.

In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through Him,

and nothing was created except through Him.

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,

and His life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.

So there… The baby born on Christmas Day in very humble surroundings, with very humble shepherds around Him, is God. There has to be a strong message for the Son of God to choose to be born in a dirty stable. The symbolism has to do with his mission to provide a way out for those who belong to Him from this dirty and broken world.

Christ came to this world as a human being so God can transfer the sins of the world on Him who has not sinned to make us right with God through Christ. God had to come to this world as a human so He could die as a human on Good Friday and defeat death as a human, which He did by rising again as our Savior on Easter Sunday.

The Good News of the Gospel delivered to us on Christmas is simply that God has fulfilled His promise. The birth of our Savior and His death on Good Friday means all the sins we have ever committed and will commit has been paid for. How good a deal is that! Christmas is about birth, death and a new life for all eternity.

The birth of God as a flesh and blood human on Christmas Day was foretold centuries before it actually happened. Isaiah 7:14 says “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

And in the New Testament, there is Galatians 4:4 explaining the divinity of Christ and why He came to us as a human: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

Man’s sinfulness had not been easy on God. Prophetic books of the Old Testament tell us how our Lord agonized over the rebelliousness of His chosen people.

God sent His prophets to warn His people that He is so disappointed and angered by all the disobedience and that punishment was near. The prophets were ignored and God reluctantly punished His chosen people, banishing them from the Promised Land, only to bring them back after 70 years of exile. But despite man’s sinfulness, God promised a Savior so that those who believe will not be lost.

A good part of the Old Testament talked of this promise. And God’s people anxiously waited for the promised Savior who would restore a broken creation.

Christmas is about the Good News that God kept His promise. As John 3:16 puts it: “For God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Christmas Day is about God loving the world that He came, preaching Heaven’s message and dying to pay the price for humanity’s sins.

How has humanity been saved? Take a look at Hebrews 2:14-15. “Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, He also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil – and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death.”

This Christmas, many of us may be excited, happy or sad. Or exhausted by the holiday activities… the EDSA traffic, the shopping… the parties… even the simbang gabi.

For some, the holiday season could be a time of sadness and loneliness. They don’t feel part of the festivities probably because they don’t have the money to celebrate or they don’t have family and other social ties to celebrate with. The holidays only accentuate what they don’t have.

But if we see Christmas as the shepherds did that evening, it truly is a time of joy because God is now with us. Nothing could be more joyful than that. Christmas is about accepting His gift … the grace of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah, He has paid for all our sins.

C. S. Lewis sums up why we celebrate Christmas.

“All of the world (even in Japan, even in Russia) men and women will meet on December 25th to do what is a very old-fashioned and, if you like, a very pagan thing—to sing and feast because a God has been born. We are uncertain whether it is more than a myth. Well if it is, then our last hope is gone. But is the opposite explanation not worth trying?”

Merry Christmas!

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on X or Twitter @boochanco