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Introduction
Today is Christmas Day! Throughout this entire month, we focused on Bethlehem.
Specifically, we considered the journey of those involved in this magnificent event.
Mary and Joseph’s journey began when God abruptly interrupted their plans for married life.
Mary’s pregnancy offered many challenges for both of them.
However, in the end, they willingly submitted to the Lord as His servants.
Thus, their journey to Bethlehem was a journey of willing obedience to Jehovah God.
As for the shepherds, we noted that their life was also abruptly interrupted by God.
Again, they were doing what shepherds do; watching sheep.
As they were doing the mundane chores of life, an angel of the Lord appeared to them.
The angel announced that the long-awaited Messiah was born in their home village.
Then, without warning, multitudes of angels appeared alongside the one angel praising God.
As we know, they immediately headed back to Bethlehem.
There they found the newborn child.
They worshipped at the feet of the Lamb of God.
Afterward, these shepherds began spreading the good news of what they had heard and who they had seen.
Their journey to Bethlehem was witnessing the entrance of the Lamb of God.
Then, last week, we examined the journey of wise men.
These men began a journey over mountains, valleys, and deserts.
It was a journey that led them to Jerusalem and encounter with wicked King Herod.
Although Herod’s intent was to destroy Christ, it opened an opportunity for all of Jerusalem to open the Scriptures once more as they thought about Micah’s prophecy.
After learning the prophesied location of the Messiah, they set out on their journey as, once again, God’s special star led them to Bethlehem.
It was there they found the babe with his mother, Mary.
Their journey to Bethlehem was worshiping before the King of Kings, the Creator of the Universe.
As they came into His presence, they fell to their knees and worshipped Him as the King of Kings.
Sacrificially they gave gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh.
We have one last person who journeyed to Bethlehem that we must consider.
In fact, this person’s journey is the most important.
Today, I want us to consider Christ’s journey to Bethlehem.
As we will see, Christ’s journey to Bethlehem was so that He might do the work of atonement.
Let’s first consider this fact.
Christ’s Arrival in Bethlehem was Planned Long Before Men Sinned
As we know from the context of John 1, these three verses speak about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Long before Bethlehem was a thing, Christ was already living.
Many would say He did not exist until He was born in the manger.
That is not so.
In fact, that is false news.
The true reality is that Christ was in the beginning.
He was with God, and He is God.
And, as verse 3 states, everything we see around us was made by him.
Without him, not one single molecule of our universe would exist.
You might recall from one of the earlier messages the prophecy of Micah.
Even within that prophecy, it is clearly stated that Christ is one whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
That is the wonderful news of Christ’s birth.
His journey to Bethlehem started long before the world was created, and men sinned.
Part of that wonderful news is that Christ already knew our condition.
God already had a plan.
God’s plan was that His Son comes to die for our sins.
He came to make atonement for us.
Throughout Christ’s ministry on earth, He testified to His preexistence.
In Colossians, we read the following.
We also see in the great book of Revelations this fact.
I share this thought with you for one primary reason.
Nothing catches God by surprise.
Our sin was not unexpected.
Instead, God anticipated it and planned for it.
His plan included Him coming as the Lord Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin in a small village called Bethlehem.
For it would be out of that small village that the Ruler of all things would come.
Christ’s Arrival in Bethlehem Set the Stage for Atonement
For this point, I take you back to the angel’s announcement to Mary.
You must understand the significance of Mary’s question.
Remember her question was, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” Scripture makes much of the fact that Christ was born of a virgin.
It is a critical element of Christ dying for our sins.
Let me explain it this way.
For God to be satisfied, a sacrifice must be made for our sins.
No ordinary man could do this since all men are born sinners.
Thus, the only way true atonement could be made was a perfect, sinless lamb’s blood had to be shed for you and me.
Christ’s birth through a virgin ensured the taint of sin would not be in Him.
Additionally, God’s only begotten Son was the proper sacrifice.
Remember John 3:16
Had Christ been born of a union between Mary and Joseph, He would have been the son of man, not God.
Therefore, Christ’s virgin birth was necessary for His future work of atonement upon the cross.
He was born of a virgin.
He born the spotless Lamb of God.
He came into this world for one purpose.
Christ himself stated that purpose during His ministry.
For this reason, we find this truth.
Here is the true reason we celebrate the Christmas season.
We celebrate that God came in the flesh so He might go to the cross to die.
He was born so that He might die so that we might live.
That is why the angels sang at His birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”
That day, Christ’s journey to Bethlehem became a reality.
On that same day, Christ also began His journey to the cross.
On that lonely hill called Golgotha, Christ willingly laid down His life for our sins.
Subsequently, He took our sin upon Himself.
He paid the penalty for our sins.
Christ’s Arrival in Bethlehem is Our Salvation
As I already stated, man’s sin did not take God by surprise.
He undoubtedly had a plan already in place.
And, as we have noted, Christ was the plan.
He came so that He might make atonement for our sins.
An action that He completed successfully with His death, burial, and resurrection.
As a result, God gave the gift of eternal life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, we stand before God already condemned.
All men are destined to spend eternity without God.
Here is a sobering thought!
God knows us, and we are already recorded in the books.
Our eternal destiny is set.
We are already under God’s condemnation.
There is a day when the books will be open along with the book of life.
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