CHRISTmas
should be a great celebration for believers. After all, we are not celebrating
the birthday of just anyone but of the greatest Someone who ever walked upon
this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. To help us have the proper
perspective about how special Jesus is, consider this sampling of what
Scripture says about Him:
He
is the eternal Divine Word of Creation (Genesis 1:3; John 1:1-3), the seed of
the woman who will defeat the serpent (Genesis 3:15), the One slain to provide
a covering for man's sins and guilt (Genesis 3:21), the ark of safety from
God's wrath (Genesis 7-8), the descendant of Abraham in whom all the families
of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3; 22:18), the Angel/Messenger of
Yahweh (Genesis 16:7-14; 18:1-33; 21:17-18; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 32:24-32;
Exodus 3:1-4:22; 23:20-33; Numbers 22:22-35; Joshua 5:13-15; Judges 6:11-26;
13:2-23; 2 Samuel 24:16; 2 Kings 19:35; 1 Chronicles 21:1-27; Isaiah 37:36;
Zechariah 1:7-21), the Promised Child of a miraculous conception who brings
laughter and rejoicing (Genesis 21:1-7), the only beloved Son sacrificed on the
altar in place of the sinner who deserves it (Genesis 22), the One whose
betrayal brings about salvation for His family (Genesis 37-50), the king from
the tribe of Judah who brings peace (Genesis 49:10), the One who delivers His
people from the bondage of sin (Exodus), the Lamb whose shed blood causes God's
wrath to "pass over" His people (Exodus 12:1-13), the tabernacle of
God's presence among us (Exodus 25-40; John 1:18), the sacrifice that atones
for the sin of God's people (Leviticus), the High Priest who serves as the
mediator between God and His people, the One lifted up who brings healing to
those who look to Him (Numbers 21:6-20), the star of Jacob (Numbers 24:17), the
Prophet like Moses from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15), the One whose
holy character is revealed in the law (Exodus 20; Leviticus, Deuteronomy), the
ultimate anointed priest, the Leader of His people into the promised land
(Joshua), the Captain of the LORD’s army (Joshua 6:15), the Judge who will
deliver His people from their oppression (Judges), the Living Kinsman Redeemer
(Ruth; Job 19), the ultimate anointed king after God's own heart (1 Samuel),
the descendant of David who will forever rule on his throne (2 Samuel 7:12-16),
the ultimate king of peace (1 King 1-11), the builder of the church (Nehemiah),
the righteous sufferer who intercedes for his friends (Job), the Eternal Son of
the Father (Psalm 2:5), the Deliverer (Psalm 14:7), the One forsaken by God
(Psalm 22:1; 69:7-8), the One despised by men and mocked (Psalm 22:6-8), the
One pierced for man's sins (Psalm 22:16; Isaiah 53:5; Zechariah 12:10), the One
whose garments would be gambled over (Psalm 22:18), the Good Shepherd of God's
people (Psalm 23; 100; John 10:11), the One who would overcome death (Psalm
16:10; Isaiah 53), the One who would be betrayed by a close friend (Psalm
41:9), the One whose zeal for God's house would consume Him (Psalm 69:9), the
One who would be given vinegar for His thirst (Psalm 69:21), the rejected
cornerstone of the Church (Psalm 118:22), the personification of wisdom
(Proverbs), the One without Whom everything else in life would be meaningless
(Ecclesiastes), the Lover of the Church (Song of Songs), the Child born of a
virgin being "Immanuel, God with us" (Isaiah 7:14), the Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), the King
of the everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel), the shoot from Jesse who will
bring peace (Isaiah 11:1-10), the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53), the First and
the Last (Isaiah 41:4), the I Am (Isaiah 43:10), the Redeemer (Isaiah 59:20),
the Branch of Righteousness (Jeremiah 33:15), the fourth man in the fire who
delivered those thrown in (Daniel 3:24-25), the Son of Man with an everlasting
rule (Daniel 7:13-14), the price paid to buy back God's adulterous bride (Hosea
3:1-5), the Son called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), the salvation accomplished
through a three day stay in the belly of the earth (Jonah), the Desire of All
Nations (Haggai 2:7), the eternal One born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the humble
king who brings salvation (Zechariah 9:9), the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi
4:2), the ultimate anointed prophet, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of
Abraham (Matthew 1:1), a Savior, Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11), the Servant who
gives His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), the obedient Son (John), the
Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Door of the
Sheep (John 10:7), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Way, the
Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), the True Vine (John 15:1), the sender of the
Spirit (John 15:26), the Holy One (Acts 3:14), the Second Adam whose obedience
brings justification and life (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 45), the
means of man’s reconciliation with God the Father (2 Corinthians 5:18), the One
who “knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21), the Head of the Church
(Ephesians 5:23), the One who “made Himself nothing, taking the form of a
servant, being born in the likeness of men . . . becoming obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross” who now has been exalted to receive the name
above all names (Philippians 2:7-11), the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15), the agent of creation (Colossians
1:16), the head of the body, the Church, the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead (Colossians 1:18), the reconciler (Colossians 1:20), the One mediator
between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), the ransom for all, the testimony given at
the proper time (1 Timothy 2:6), the great God and Savior (Titus 2:13), the
greater revelation (Hebrews 1:1-2), the radiance of the glory of God and the
exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3), the One greater than angels (Hebrews
1:4-14), the One greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6), the Apostle and High
Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1), the guarantee of a better covenant
(Hebrews 8:22), the final, true, and complete sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-18), the
Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2), the One foreknown before the
foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20), the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls
(1 Peter 2:25), the Advocate for God’s children, the Righteous One (1 John
2:1), our only Master and Lord (Jude 4), the Amen, the Faithful and True
Witness (Revelation 3:14), the Lion of Judah, the Root of David (Revelation
5:5), the slain Lamb (Revelation 5:6), the Faithful and True (Revelation
19:11), the Almighty (Revelation 19:15), the King of kings and Lord of lords
(Revelation 19:16), the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16), the One who
is coming again soon (Revelation 22:20) and so much more!
With
all of this being the case, our CHRISTmas can’t be just any ordinary
celebration but must be extraordinary. Who else deserves center stage other
than this One revealed to us from Genesis through Revelation? May you reflect
on and worship this Wonderful One this CHRISTmas season whom all the Bible
points.
Love
in Christ,
Pastor
Lee