Celebrating Salvation!

"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him..."

Colossians 1:21,22


We must remember that the birth of Christ is but one chapter in the story of redemption. It is a single frame in the panorama of scripture. Jesus came in "his body of flesh" so that we, as sinners, could be reconciled to God. The promise concerning a Savior initially appears in Genesis 3, some 4000 years prior to the birth of Christ. Specific details are revealed around 700 B.C. by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14 reads, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Concerning the birth of Jesus, Matthew writes in 1:22, "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet." But the birth of Christ did not come to pass to bring us a Norman Rockwell moment to be captured on a Christmas card. Jesus came in the flesh because "he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become the merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:17). As we celebrate Christmas, let us remember that we are not rejoicing over a single moment of biblical history. We rejoice in the entire story of God's love, grace, and mercy! As we often sing in December:

Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born,
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.