Twas the season to be giving gifts!
Did you receive the perfect Christmas gift?
Paul reminds us that Jesus says, “It’s better to give than to receive.” If you chose carefully what you believed to be the perfect gift and watched the delight on the receivers face when they unwrapped the gift you will know that there is great delight in giving and you can see the truth of this verse. But sometimes the receiver doesn’t get what they were looking for and they are bitterly disappointed.
Now whether or not the gift was expected or a surprise the giver would have been deflated if you were disappointed or unappreciative of the gift and did not receive it with joy especially if they put a lot of work into getting the gift and presenting it. Their joy is now crushed and maybe they even regret giving you that gift.
We spent a lot of money and preparation time this Christmas to celebrate a gift that was given to us over 2000 years ago. The birth of Jesus being flesh just like us. At that first Christmas many, who were expecting the gift, were disappointed with it as they expected something else and rejected it. Others were surprised with the gift but to many who received it they see that it truly was the most precious gift ever given.
Not what I wanted….
Let’s look at those who were expecting the gift but feel it wasn’t what they asked for. The Jews were expecting Immanuel. God had promised them a gift of a Saviour and had put it on layby ever since Adam and Eve sinned and got us kicked out of paradise. They knew He had to have certain significant ancestors – it was prophesied that He would and if you look up ancestry. com.luke3 you will see that Jesus fulfilled all of this. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, …….. the son of David, the son of Jesse, ….the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham…
the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. Luke 3:23-38.
But they expected their Messiah their King to be born royally and who as their earthly leader would save them from the oppression of the Romans and lead them to some glorious freedom. Their Immanuel was to be exalted – not humiliated and tortured as a criminal and nailed to a cross! Instead they got a baby presented to them in the feeding trough of smelly animals. He wasn’t what they wanted as they believed that God could present a saviour of the world in a little better way than as a baby in a cattle-feeding trough. He probably got cow slobber all over Him. How disgusting. How unclean. He would have to be ritually cleansed and presented to a priest before he could have contact with anybody let alone save them. So they rejected Him – He was not what they wanted.
What a surprise….
To some the birth of Jesus is a wonderful surprise! Jews expected the gift but not so gentiles. The gift of Jesus is the same whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. The bible tells us that the cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. As you look into the nativity set cradle this year please do not see foolishness – see the cross looming in the background and He who hangs there carrying the burden of your sins then see beyond that to the second coming of our dear Lord Jesus Christ when we welcome Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and take our place with Him as His church. Receive your surprise with gladness!
Have you ever considered what it cost Jesus to accept the role as Immanuel God’s gift to us?
Imagine, if you can, what it would be like to be at God the Father’s side one moment, and then inside of a woman’s womb the next and then to be confined to that small space for nine months. Imagine going from being present everywhere and being all powerful and then to be struggling to sleep in a cattle trough. Imagine going from the presence of perfection and brilliance to the filth and stench of a barn, relying on someone whom you created to take care of you and keep you alive. Imagine what it would be like to go from hearing the praises of angels to having to listen to the suffering taunts of simple men. The cost to Jesus is an indication of the incredible value of what He came to give us, and of the incredible value we are to Him.
Jesus was unique.
The Jews had made a mistake they thought Jesus would be a Jewish leader who would to save them from the Romans and raise them up as a royal race but He came to save them from sin. They could not grasp the Immanuel God with us – the human and God qualities of Jesus. If Jesus had simply come as Himself, and not as one of us, the Bible makes it quite clear that we could not have borne the sight of His presence, any more than Moses could have looked directly at the face of God. Also more importantly God’s plan to save us from our sins by taking the punishment upon Himself would not have worked for Him to be just God and not a man as well. Only as a man could Jesus pay the price for the sins of mankind. Only as a man could he be the representative head of the new race of new men, born again of the spirit of God. He is the last Adam and the Second Man.
Our redemption required of Jesus to be both God and man. You see he had to be born as a baby – he had to become flesh – As confusing as the claim is, it is one of the most important within the Christian doctrine. Jesus was 100% God and 100% man.
How can this be so?
The Man: Jesus was born, with bone, skin, blood and flesh, of a mother. His body was like ours; He felt hunger and thirst, pain and fatigue. He experienced emotions and temptations, grew into adulthood, and finally died.
The God: Jesus was born of a woman, but had no human ‘father’. He was ‘begotten’ of God, as compared to ‘made’ by God. He paradoxically made fantastic claims of deity, yet submitted Himself to the authorities to be killed. And finally, He was resurrected from the dead, and finally ascended to the heavens.
The baby grew up and became our salvation.
What he did for us, he did willingly. When Jesus voluntarily went to the cross for us we were legally delivered from all the consequences of Adam’s rebellion – the sin problem. The wages of sin are death – but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. This is where a great exchange took place. Everyone must accept this salvation as a gift. You cannot earn it. He will then give you a new life and the possibility to change. To do this, you must respond to God’s Holy Spirit, who urges you to forsake your excuses and commit yourself wholeheartedly to Christ. This wholehearted commitment, this faith, this believing in Christ, brings God into your life.
Have you received this gift with delight? Why not thank Him now!