Part 1: Heaven’s Proclamation

While the shepherds were tenderly caring for their sheep, Heaven’s messenger declared Almighty God's tender care over humanity when his angelic voice sweetly thundered:

“Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

- Luke 2:11-12

After the angel spoke of the humble arrival of the long-awaited heaven-sent Messiah, a multitude of fellow angels joined him in adoration of God's faithfulness:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”

- Luke 2:14

Part 2: God With Us

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Immanuel.” - Isaiah 7:14

Immanuel means God with us. What an inexpressibly marvelous reality! Language has no power to begin to convey the wonders of God's everlasting love!

From His presence in the Garden of Eden; to walking with Enoch; walking with Noah; being friends with Abraham and Moses; dwelling among the Israelites in the Tabernacle - in the cloud by day and the fire by night, God has always longed to dwell with His people.

The temple being filled with the glory of the Lord was God's testimony to His people: “I am with you!” God’s desire for His people has always been that they “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.”

Part 3: The Incarnation and Christmas

A little over 2,000 years ago, this longing of God's heart to be with His people was about to be expressed in the most unthinkable, vulnerable, and ingenious of ways: the second Person of the Trinity was about to take on a human nature; the Word was about to become flesh and dwell among us, that He may reconcile us to God through His sacrificial death and make a way for us to be with Him forever. 

One person: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father - one in essence with the Father and the Spirit - was about to take on human flesh. Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, truly God and truly man, was coming into the world. He is one person: Jesus Christ, with two natures: divine and human. 

He's the image of the invisible God through whom all things were created. He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. All the fullness of God dwells in Him; He is the brightness of God's glory, the express image of His person, and He upholds all things by the word of His power! He is the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God.

He came into the world. The world was made by Him, and the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become children of God, to them that believe on His name!

Hark! The herald-angels sing

"Glory to the newborn king;

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled."

Joyful all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies.

With the angelic host proclaim

"Christ is born in Bethlehem"

Hark! The herald-angels sing

"Glory to the new-born king."

To celebrate Christmas is not merely to celebrate that a baby was born in a manger 2000 years ago; to celebrate Christmas is to celebrate that Christ came! God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, the long-awaited Messiah of Israel, came to save us from the power and penalty of sin, and to freely give us eternal life, which is, in a sense, simply to be with Him:

“And this is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

- John 17:3

Part 4: He Shall Save His People From Their Sins

Our sin separated us from God, but God did not want to be separated from us! Jesus Christ “came into the world to save sinners.” He came to “seek and save that which was lost.” “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Saved from what? “He shall save his people from their sins.”

“Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”

- Matthew 1:20-21

Through the shed blood of the Incarnate God, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, God has cleansed us from every sin, and has broken the pervasive power of sin that has, for all of our lives, kept us in bondage. Our sin separated us from God, but God did not want to be separated from us! “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Because He wanted to be truly and fully with us, He saved us from our sins. Only God in the flesh could have accomplished this task; and the accomplishing of the task validates Jesus’ every divine claim.

At Jesus’ second coming, we will experience the full measure of eternal life, the full measure of fellowship with God, the fullness of our salvation! And we will see the complete fulfillment of that wonderful Christmas verse:

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.”

- Isaiah 9:6-7