The real excitement of Christmas that lasts for eternity.
Every year it seems a little bit easier to lose sight of the real reason that we celebrate the Christmas season. The reason for the celebration is lost so much that even in our country the number of people that know who Jesus is keeps growing.
The original source of excitement for the people that were a part of the first Christmas gets replaced more each year with an excitement for time spent with family and the possibility of getting a new toy.
Matthew 1:23 "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means 'God is with us.'"
Luke 1:78-79 Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace."
Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased."
The original source of excitement is that God came to be with us, but the excitement doesn’t end there, thankfully he didn’t just come to be with us for thirty three years and then go back home. His visit had much greater purpose!
The real excitement is that God came to be with us for thirty three years so that we could go be with Him for eternity!
1 John 1:1-4 We proclaim to you the One who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw Him with our own eyes and touched Him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.
This One who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen Him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that He is the One who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then He was revealed to us.
We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.
God came to be with us is the main message of the Bible story from beginning to end. Our need for God to come to us and restore our broken relationship with Him became known in the book of Genesis and throughout the rest of the Bible everything points to God meeting this need.
If you are not a Christ follower then maybe you don't know why some people are or why they insist that the season is all about Him. Could Jesus really be that big of a deal?
The men that spent almost every minute with Jesus for three years eventually became convinced that Jesus was God and that he came to restore our relationship with God. They knew the facts, they knew His teaching and His miracles, and they even heard demons testify that Jesus is God as they fled from Him.
You Need To Decide
Matthew 16:15-17 Then He asked them, "But who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because My Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being
One day Jesus gave His disciples a pop quiz to see if they had been paying attention to his teaching, his miracles and the fulfillment of prophecy that they were witnessing in Jesus. Was it all sinking in?
They had the advantage of direct access to the teacher, they could ask a question without raising their hand, they didn’t have to sit in the dark and pray to an invisible God but ultimately they were convinced and they believed it so strongly that they were willing to die because they could not deny Jesus and the work that was accomplished on the cross.
We all need to answer Jesus pop quiz. Was God really with us? Do you know Him?
