1Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was pregnant. 6While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” – Luke 2:1-7 (NASB)
As we prepared for Christmas this year and all its festivities, we were looking forward to sharing a family favorite with friends, the gram cracker nativity scene. We had a date set and people confirmed to come. Yet, as the date drew closer, we realized things were going to need to be obviously shifted for one simple fact; we had just learned that our PCR tests confirmed that we were covid positive. Not a problem! We invited all to join us online and we would keep everything the same for the date selected.
The morning of the gram cracker Zoom nativity party had arrived, but our eyes were not on the frosting, the plastic wrapped gram crackers, or even the colorful sprinkles which would soon be unwrapped for the fun digital event. No, our eyes were on our pastures outside where a new baby lamb had finally been born. In our bundled-up state, we all ran out to the pasture behind the old, red barn to find the baby trying to nurse with its mother. It wasn’t long before we realized the mama didn’t want to nurse the baby. And with tempers around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, we needed to get the only hours old, shivering lamb inside to warm up by the fire or it would surely die.
Well, it was now about fifteen minutes before the zoom time had been set for the gram cracker nativity party, and nothing had been set up! I prayed for the Lord to intervene in this and make sense of it all amidst the hay, a dog kennel for a sleeping area for the lamb, and other preparations going into full swing for this helpless little lamb at that very moment. And then, it hit me. JESUS IS THE REAL CHRISTMAS LAMB! The time came for people to join and we introduced them to our surprise guest that morning, the Christmas lamb. We began by reading Isaiah 53. The lamb ended up being a wonderful visual for us regarding what Jesus Christ had done for us, spoken of in detail in verses four through six on the zoom call.
“4However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
5But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
6All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.” – Isaiah 53:4-6 (NASB)
The One who came at Christmas, the best gift humanity could ever receive, was GOD’S CHRISTMAS LAMB.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”- Romans 6:23 (NASB)
The Old Testament addressed the need of death to cover for sin (Exodus 12, Leviticus 4, Leviticus 5, and Numbers 9). What is sin? Sin is unintentionally or willfully disobeying God. The first example of death covering sin in the Bible goes all the way back to the first book in the Bible, Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve chose to willfully disobey what the Lord God had told them and listened instead to a talking serpent. They desired to be like God, but as a natural consequence, disobedience took them further from God. Yet, in God’s mercy and unmerited favor, He gave the first people, Adam and Eve, the first glimpse the hope to come one future Christmas in Genesis 3:15 as He promised the coming of the Messiah.
“And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.” – Genesis 3:15 (NASB)
God assured the serpent, the devil, as well as Adam and Eve that He Himself would make this right. Humanity had proven how selfish, easily manipulated, and ultimately helpless we are. And, praise God, God Himself was going to step down into His own creation (John 1:1-5) clothed in human flesh to pay the price for each of our grievances against God.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”- Romans 5:8 (NASB)
Ladies, no one else could have paid the price of death for each of our unintentional and willful disobedience against God. Only Jesus Christ was without sin. Jesus Christ was fully God as well as fully man. He is the only mediator humanity has between God and mankind. What a joyous gift God gave us at Christmas!
“He made Him who knew no sin to be [a]sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
3This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.” – 1 Timothy 2:3-6 (NASB)
Ladies, as Christmas is just a few days away, may each one reading allow your heart to pause and reflect. Do you think you are a good person? Good enough to merit eternal life in heaven? As you can see from Scripture, there is not one worthy to merit heaven apart from Jesus Christ, that means not me or you either (Romans 3:23). I currently have COVID and praise God that I know where I will go, when my final breath is taken on this earth. My question for you today is, do you know where you will go for all eternity? It’s not enough to merely “think so” or even to “hope so” —Jesus Christ wants you to know so.
“Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” – John 14:6 (NASB)
“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. 13These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” – 1 John 5:11-13 (NASB)
As we close this brief message on our need for Jesus Christ to take away our sins, I would like to offer you a moment – right now – to come to accept Jesus Christ as your rescuer, your Messiah, your Savior to take the punishment for the sins you have committed in your life and be able to be forgiven by God through the finished work of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for you, for me, and for anyone who will believe it.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I don’t have any excuses. I am not perfect. And I am aware that I cannot make it to heaven on my own. I don’t want to spend eternity being punished for my sins. Please forgive me. Please be the Lord, the boss, and the leader of my life from now on. Cleanse me from all the filth I have done. I believe you died on the cross for my sins, never sinning Yourself, and that on the third day you rose from the grave. Help me to live for You now. Help me to find a good Bible preaching church. And please help me to tell someone I have decided to follow You now. I love you, Jesus. Thank You for saving me. It’s in the name of my Savior Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
Blooming Beauty 