A World in Need of a Savior - What Christmas is Really About

16For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 ¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

“Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy New Year season of remembering the greatest Gift to mankind. It's been a pretty somber and sobering Christmas season for me. I sent out no gift list as I truly had no interest in the exchanging of gifts. (We did anyway) But a few weeks ago, I was so impacted by the reality of the First Christmas that I could think of little else. Everything seemed off and so wrong and the focus seemed so very much askew and I could not shake it. Something was different. I was different. I thought back to the First Christmas. How did they celebrate it? Well, the magi brought gifts to Jesus of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I personally believe that this is a season to bring Him our gifts instead of us seeking and expecting to receive gifts for ourselves. I had to ask myself. What do I bring Him this year? What parts of myself have I failed to submit? What about you? Have you given yourself to Him at all? All important questions to not just ponder but honestly take them to Him...then listen.”

I posted the quotation above as my Christmas and New Year’s greeting the day after Christmas but I wanted to say so much more. Most people go through life never knowing why they were put here on earth. Instead they use up all their time gathering stuff, working at jobs they were never meant to, and gathering people and relationships they were never meant to. No direction. I certainly don’t want that to be me or you for that matter. That is why I wrote the book: “Walking in Fulfillment of Prophetic Revelation: The Naturally Supernatural Life.” The whole premise of the book is to find out why we are here. In order to do that, we must seek, find, and follow the One Who put us here. Then and only then can we be truly fulfilled. Everything else is only designed to distract and derail our callings and destinies.

Many people find the notion of salvation or the fact that they need to be “saved” nonsensical, offensive, and so many other responses in between those extremes. I get it. I was there, we have all been there. Many also believe that just knowing and “believing” there is a God and being a “good” person is enough so that even if there is such a thing as eternal life, they’d be all set. I dare say that in God’s original design there was to be no need of salvation. That necessity was initiated by man himself. God put the couple in the Garden, asked them to tend it and eat from whichever tree they desired, except for the one tree, that they were not even supposed to touch. They ate from that one forbidden tree, then each proceeded to blame the other for their disobedience. It would be humorous if it weren’t so sad. And the thing is, there are many of us who would say, "if it were me, I wouldn’t disobey." Oh, yeah? Are you sure you wouldn’t?

Sin is awfully enticing. In fact, you rarely hear the word in your average Sunday morning sermon anymore. So much is acceptable that those who even bring up the subject of sin are seen as legalistic, old-fashioned, prudish, and a host of other adjectives. I suppose you would have to use the same adjectives to describe Jesus who told people to go and sin no more. In one case, he told the man, go and sin no more lest something worse happen to you. But let me get into the meat of what I have to share today.

Sin is a powerfully destructive force yet is so enticing so that the level of pleasure is no indication of the level of devastation it causes. It promises pleasure with no consequences yet, there are always consequences. Sin will destroy the very thing it is presumed to enhance. It is the only thing Satan has “authored.” Remember, he is a thief, a liar, and perhaps above all of those thing, a deceiver. He is the master of deceit and a mere human is no match for him. The Bible tells us he comes “to steal, kill, and destroy.” What does he destroy? Everything he touches that is good and which comes from God. But there is a divine Antidote. His name is Jesus, and He comes “to give life and to give it more abundantly.”

Satan cannot give or do anything that results in life. He can only bring death and destruction. Jesus gives life and more abundant life. Which one do you want? Seems like an easy choice doesn’t it? Except for the demonic power of the deceiver, it is quite easy. But the deceiver does not advertise the destruction he seeks to bring; instead, he lures people with pleasure and seemingly good things. Ever notice how some things, activities, and people just seem to pull you in? There is a godly type of attraction to things and people of light; but the darkness also mimics by drawing people to that which will destroy them...in the end.

So what is sin? In a nutshell, it is living in rejection of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. How do we reject the Son? By ignoring, actively defying, and disobeying His Word in the form of His instructions for life - the Bible. And I am not just referring to the Commandments, the Old Testament 10 or the New Testament- 2, which encompasses the OT-10. I am also referring to godly biblical counsel, a biblical prophetic word, parental guidance, etc. God has ordained our lives to be lived out in submission to His guidelines to secure our peace, our freedom from the evil one, and success in life. He never promised us that we would have no troubles, but most of our troubles are self-imposed as we live out of alignment with Him. When we live in submission to His Word, we will be in peaceful covenant with Him. In that place, and I am not speaking about our perfection, He moves heaven and earth to make sure we get to our destination, fulfilling our destiny and callings in Christ Jesus.

Not convinced yet that sin is bad? Sin breaks covenant and opens the door to lawlessness in our lives and the lives of those we influence. That is why state-sanctioned sin like abortion on demand, homosexual “coupling,” which cannot be “marriage” since by definition, marriage is between a man and a woman. What’s the big deal? Marriage is not a human construct but a divinely ordained institution that is the foundation of all society. If marriage is eroded, then society cannot be that far behind. The definition of marriage, therefore, cannot be altered by man even when done by the government. Homosexual coupling is a regressive rather than a progressive movement; anything that moves a society away from God moves it closer to non-existence. Notice that in human history, empires come and seem to be invincible, but only for a season, then they pass away and it is difficult to determine why. God will only allow evil to be in play for a season until its time is fulfilled. Such is the case with everything under the sun. Seasons.

Just as with personal lawlessness, state-sanctioned sin will lead to wider spread lawlessness, oppression, and eventually anarchy, and or subjugation to some other nation. The reason is that the law, both divine and civil, is designed to ensure that we can live together peaceably as a society. God is the very Author of peace, not the state. However, God does use the state to maintain the peace in society. Therefore, when the state rejects God, His hand of protection is withdrawn in degrees so that man can realize His absolute helplessness without God.

So when tragedy strikes and people ask, “Where was God when such and such happened?” Was God invited in to secure the peace or was He rejected so that His protection was limited. When He is involved good is guaranteed even if at first it's not apparent. And, yes, thankfully, God is sovereign, merciful, gracious, and good; but man is allowed to reject Him and His influence. We see this played out in ancient Israel during its cycles of submitting to God and rejecting God only to fall into the hands of oppressors. In addition to everything God does and is, we cannot forget that He is holy. And did you know that He also requires us to be Holy? "Be holy as I am holy". That is only possible in Christ. The sticking point is that His holiness requires a sacrifice for sin. Knowing our inability to provide a proper eternal sacrifice, God Himself had provided one even before the foundation of the world. In His omniscience, He knew the course of mankind would lead to sin and destruction, yet He created man anyway.

The thing that boggles the mind is that if God, Who has made man, gave him His instructions for living abundantly, provided the Ultimate Sacrifice when it became necessary, is all powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), everywhere all at once (omnipresent), eternal (always was, is, and always will be), cannot be trusted, then who can be? Certainly no human can be. Why does mankind, who has constantly failed at playing god, think he has a better way? It’s insane.

We are incapable of solving any problem without revelation from Him. He is responsible for every discovery: scientific, technological, spiritual or otherwise. There is no possibility of existence without Him. Why then do we insist on defying Him? And then there is the fact that He loves unconditionally eternally. One would think that would be enough. But it apparently is not. If it was, everyone would seek to serve and follow Jesus. Back to Christmas.

During Christmas, we celebrate, hopefully, His coming to earth to become our Passover Lamb. He could not have humbled Himself any more than by choosing to be born of an unmarried virgin from a working class family. In addition, He was not born in a home or a place for people, but a stable for the animals so it probably did not smell very nice. This stable was more of a cave and not one according to modern standards. His baby cradle was a feeding trough. There were no government dignitaries present. Barely the circumstances surrounding the birth of a King. Yet, every bit according to the plan of God down to the minutest detail. Consider, Jesus was the spotless Lamb that would be the sacrifice for all mankind; hence the stable where the animals were kept. He is the Bread of Life, hence the feeding trough in which He was laid.

There was not a more humble way for Him to enter into His experience as a human being. And in His coming, He knew the rejection He would face by the very people He made. He was born to die for those very people and all of mankind. He knew the death He would die was the worse death possibly, which was not only excruciatingly slow and torturous, but accursed under the law of God.

When we celebrate Christmas we dress up ourselves and our homes in fineries and glitter but it is the cold hard truth of these conditions of God’s entry into His creation in the form of the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Son of God that has captured me this Christmas of 2015. God chose the lowliest station for His birth even though there is none that is higher than He.

For me, Christmas, especially this year, has become a very humbling time. Hi have not been jolly because of this revelation that God came to die for my sin. That lovely and adorable little baby had one purpose and it was to die for you and me.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was given as a ransom for man. But the One requiring the ransom was the One providing it. This gives new meaning to God providing “seed to the sower, and bread to the eater.” Jesus Christ was that seed that died and went into the ground to redeem all life.” And why did He do it? We know that God needs nothing. He did not need man. He was complete in and of Himself before He created man as He was afterwards. He could have destroyed Adam and Eve and just scrap the whole idea of man. Instead He waited till Noah’s generation when man had become so wicked that the creation was so putrid He had to destroy it. Yet, He did not utterly destroy all life. He saved Noah and His household, 8 people altogether, and samples of all of animal life because the animals are incapable of sin. For a second time, He could have destroyed all of humanity in regret. But He did not.

He could have destroyed man when, one after the other evil empires would terrorize the world shedding innocent blood and ruling in tyranny those made in His image, But He did not. Instead, He sent a Savior in His Son Jesus Christ so that He would not have to destroy the Creation that time after time, man corrupts. Why? Because He is Love and He loves us.

So in Jesus, God provided the Ransom to settle the issue of sin once and for all to those who would accept and follow in His footsteps. He wanted to reconcile with His creation and restore right relationship for eternity. The only way He could guarantee the successful and safe “return” of His family was to do it Himself. He sacrificed One Son and gained billions of sons and daughter. He made a “risky” investment of His Best so that we could be His, too.

And that is what Christmas is about. It is a time of divine humbling and a thing to behold. Who can understand it?

 ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 ¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Consider the following quotation from "The Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyan:

"I think it makes my heart bleed to think He should bleed for me. Oh, you loving One! Oh, you blessed One! You deserve to have me, for you have bought me. You deserve to have me all, for you paid for me ten thousand times more than I am worth." [p.287, revised and updated by L Edward Hazelbaker, Bridge-Logos, Alachua, FL,1998.]