Christmas 2023

The word Christmas comes from the latin Crīstesmæsse or Cristes-messe is Christ Communion (Eucharist). To remember, celebrate Christ. As a day to celebrate His birth, Dec 25 is as good a day as any. And no, its not pagan.

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Christmas is the day that holds all time together.

William Smith

We, as followers of Christ, celebrate Christmas, because we know that Easter came. That inherit reality of the resurrection grounded every other thought about Jesus coming into our world. We celebrate the Child, because the man, our Christ (messiah) died for our sins and rose from the dead.

For us, Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than knowing Jesus' exact birth date, is considered to be the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas.

John 1:14 (NKJV)

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Incarnate is a latin word that means into-flesh. The word is not Jesus possessing a body, or transforming to a human. It was God being himself but then humbling Himself to cloth himself as us, to pay as a human what we couldn’t.

Turn with me to Micah 5 Jesus took this flesh when His mother conceived Matthew simply says, Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” notice, she had a child, not a clump of cells

But we celebrate His birth in Bethlehem of Israel, to fulfill the prophecy in

Micah 5:2 NKJV

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

Micah 5:3–5a (NKJV)

3 Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. 4 And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; 5 And this One shall be peace.

We see this reflected in the announcement by the Angels turn with me to

Luke 2:8–14 NKJV

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

The reason we sing, is because our God came into this reality, into time, to us, for us, to bring us peace with Him. So we could receive the truth and blessing of who He is.

That we might receive the greatest gift, His salvation and when you celebrate using Gifts today and tomorrow, remember who gave the greatest one ever. Receive Him now, not as a babe in the manger but your Lord and Savior who when we see Him, we see the Father. Jesus coming into the world and dying for us, living again, affected everything. Even sin and death we could only pay one thing, death which jesus paid for us all. Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” have you received the Gift?