The secularization of our society over the last twenty five years is nothing short of amazing.\u00a0 I remember vividly traveling to Russia during Christmas of 1991 with my father-in-law and brother-in-law.\u00a0 The old Soviet Union had fallen and that country was trying to pull itself out of a communist economy that had failed miserably.\u00a0 The biggest change was the legalization of religion back into government, schools, and the public place.\u00a0 We were invited to come into the government schools and present the Christmas message.\u00a0 The churches could again worship openly with freedom.\u00a0 To them it was truly a merry Christmas.<\/p>\n
At the same time America was outlawing nativity scenes on public or government property.\u00a0 Schools were banning anything having to do with religion, at least the Christian religion.\u00a0 The display of the ten commandments was beginning to be an issue though no one was yet pulling down statues or monuments.\u00a0 It was the first gulf war that infused some patriotism back into America and with it a little reprieve from atheistic activism.<\/p>\n
In those days traveling back and forth between Russia and America showed an ironic contrast between freedom and oppression.\u00a0 Perhaps it takes seventy years of oppression for a people to realize how precious religious freedom is.\u00a0 Yet now, in America, we take for granted the secularization of Christmas.\u00a0 We hear Christmas songs but they are not religious songs or songs about the birth of God\u2019s Son.\u00a0 We see decorations but they are Santa Clauses and reindeer and Christmas trees.\u00a0 The biggest moment in the season becomes the lighting of the tree and drinking eggnog.<\/p>\n
Christians don\u2019t mind the \u201cextra-curricular\u201d things.\u00a0 We could have or not have the trees, the lights, the presents, or even the silliness of Santa Claus.\u00a0 What Christians can\u2019t do without is the truth of what happened two thousand years ago in Mary\u2019s womb and in Bethlehem\u2019s manger.\u00a0 We also enjoy other holidays related to our country: its independence, its presidents, its war heroes, or Labor Day or Thanksgiving.\u00a0 But what history has labeled \u201cChristmas\u201d and \u201cEaster\u201d represent two religious facts that Christians will never give up regardless of how their particular country allows them to be remembered.<\/p>\n
The fall of the former Soviet Union showed that a nation cannot survive without a recognition of God.\u00a0 When secularization of a nation devolves into chaos and selfishness, only a belief in man\u2019s Creator will pull it back up.\u00a0 But in this area of truth, Christianity alone puts all the pieces of the puzzle together.\u00a0 \u201cAll have sinned and come short of the glory of God\u201d (Rom. 3:23).\u00a0 This is why all human societies must have some rule of law.\u00a0 But it is not just that humans have some flaws that need correcting, humans have sinned before a holy God and stand in jeopardy of eternal punishment unless that sin is forgiven by God.\u00a0 Why do we say that and how do we know it?\u00a0 God has graciously told us so in His Word, the Bible.\u00a0 It has proven itself to be the one infallible book from God.<\/p>\n
So what did God do about this situation?\u00a0 \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life\u201d (John 3:16).\u00a0 This is the most well-beloved verse in the Bible because it tells us that God loved us enough to let His Son die for us and to invite us to believe in Christ for eternal life.\u00a0 But that same chapter in John also tells us, \u201cAnd this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil\u201d (vs. 19).\u00a0 Yet John 1:12 has said, \u201cBut as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.\u201d\u00a0 The greatest Christmas gift was the gift of His own Son so that we might escape eternal judgment for our sins.<\/p>\n
We must dig a little deeper into our understanding of the Bible in order to set the Christmas message straight.\u00a0 Jesus wasn\u2019t merely a good man who set a good example of giving and sacrifice so that we would be able to go out and do the same.\u00a0 The secularists call a \u201cChristmas miracle\u201d something that takes place because people do good things or give nice gifts or help helpless people.\u00a0 These are right things for people to do for each other but they are not the miracle of Christmas.\u00a0 No, a substitution had to take place.\u00a0 Someone would have to do what mankind could not.<\/p>\n
The Bible teaches that man does not have the ability within him to do anything good enough to merit God\u2019s forgiving grace.\u00a0 \u201cFor by grace are ye saved though faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any many should boast\u201d (Eph. 2:8-9).\u00a0 Since this is true, there is not a person born of human parents who can save himself much less save others.\u00a0 There was only one way left for humans to have forgiveness of their sin, that is, for God to become a man Himself and take the sinner\u2019s place.\u00a0 This is what happened at that first Christmas.<\/p>\n
It is often in the later verses of Christmas carols where the real truth of Christmas is explained.\u00a0 Charles Wesley penned this miracle so well when he wrote,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It was by becoming a man, or incarnation, that God could Himself take our place as a worthy Substitute and live and die for us.\u00a0 The reason the angels sang and the heavens rang was because this miracle took place.\u00a0 But the irony is that the miracle had to be done in a natural manner.\u00a0 That is, Jesus had to really become a man yet remain really God.\u00a0 Sin had to be atoned for by a perfect man, but the only perfect man would also have to be God in flesh.\u00a0 \u201cHail the incarnate Deity!\u201d\u00a0 This was the only hope for humans left, the only way for us to be rescued from a sinner\u2019s hell.\u00a0 No celebration of any religious fervor can equal the joy brought to the world at that glorious moment.<\/p>\n
Consider carefully how God accomplished this miracle.\u00a0 \u201cBehold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son\u201d (Isa. 7:14).\u00a0 \u201cBut when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law\u201d (Gal. 4:4).\u00a0 Gabriel said to Mary, \u201cThe Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God\u201d (Luke 2:35).\u00a0 God became a man at the moment of Mary\u2019s virginal conception.\u00a0 That was divine incarnation, something that had never happened before and will never happen again.\u00a0 The birth which happened nine months later in Bethlehem was part of the natural process that humans go through.\u00a0 The conception in Mary\u2019s womb was the miracle, not the birth in Bethlehem\u2019s manger.<\/p>\n
The Christmas story is the most simple, plain, touching drama in all of literature.\u00a0 From this point on the God-man Jesus would live every natural experience that humans live and He would do it without sin.\u00a0 \u201cWho did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth\u201d (1 Pet. 2:22).\u00a0 Joseph and Mary would suffer through one of the most difficult birth circumstances, escape the wrath of a jealous king, travel back home to take up a simple carpenter\u2019s trade, and raise a unique son as well as give birth to other natural born sons and daughters (Matt. 13:55).<\/p>\n
This natural life that Jesus the God-man lived would be both natural and miraculous.\u00a0 He suffered, cried, hungered, felt sorrow and joy, popularity and opposition, love and hatred.\u00a0 He showed that He was completely human and yet displayed miraculous power showing that He was completely divine.\u00a0 These miracles proved to the Jews that He was their Messiah and that their time of refreshing had come.\u00a0 But they did not believe Him.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most unique thing about Jesus\u2019 life was the claim that He often made that He was God\u2019s Son, the Messiah, the Incarnation of God in the flesh.\u00a0 \u201cHe that hath seen me hath seen the Father\u201d (John 14:9).\u00a0 \u201cI and my Father are one\u201d (John 10:30).\u00a0 As many have noted, no one talks like this unless one of two things is true.\u00a0 Either He was delusional or He was truly God.\u00a0 You can\u2019t have it both ways.\u00a0 This is what all humans have had to decide.\u00a0 Is He the One Who came from heaven to take my place and carry my\u00a0 sins to the cross, to die for me and resurrect so that I may also live forever, or is He a fraud and a deceiver.<\/p>\n
C.S. Lewis famously wrote, \u201cYou must make your choice.\u00a0 Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.\u00a0 You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.\u00a0 But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher.\u00a0 He has not left that open to us.\u00a0 He did not intend to.\u201d1<\/sup>\u00a0 Alister McGrath added, \u201cIn the [Apostle\u2019s] creed, stating that Jesus is the \u2018Son of God\u2019 amounts to saying that Jesus is God. . . . If Jesus were just another human being, a creature like the rest of us, the New Testament writers would be guilty of worshiping a creature!\u201d2<\/sup><\/p>\n
Then came the death.\u00a0 \u201cHe came unto his own and his own received him not\u201d (John 1:12).\u00a0 \u201cCrucify him . . . We have no king but Caesar\u201d (John 19:15).\u00a0 How sad was the Jewish unbelief when their own Scriptures declare, \u201cBut he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed\u201d (Isa. 53:5).\u00a0 Yes, Jesus bore the sins of the whole world upon Himself.\u00a0 \u201cWho his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed\u201d (1 Pet. 2:24).\u00a0 Faith is accepting Him as your substitute in His death.<\/p>\n
Jesus died but He rose again, bodily from the grave, and ascended back into heaven and is seated at the Father\u2019s right hand.\u00a0 Death had no power over a righteous Man, and His resurrection showed that God had accepted His sacrifice on the cross for our sins.\u00a0 What is the gospel, the \u201cgood news\u201d?\u00a0 \u201cHow that Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures\u201d (1 Cor. 15:3-4).\u00a0 Because of Christmas, the way is opened for us to escape eternal judgment and to live forever in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Oh, here is the greatest gift of all, the gift of God\u2019s Son.\u00a0 \u201cThanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift\u201d (2 Cor. 9:15).\u00a0 You may receive Him now as your Savior if you believe Who He is and what He has done for you.\u00a0 Christmas, in its most basic truth, is not a time of giving but a time of receiving.\u00a0 It all started two thousand years ago when God broke into our natural world by miraculous birth and became one of us.\u00a0 So it is true,\u00a0 \u201cAs many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name\u201d (John 1:12).<\/p>\n
O holy Child of Bethlehem!<\/p>\n
Descend to us, we pray;<\/p>\n
Cast out our sin, and enter in,<\/p>\n
Be born in us today!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We hear the Christmas angels<\/p>\n
The great glad tidings tell;<\/p>\n
O come to us, abide with us,<\/p>\n
Our Lord Emmanuel!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
Notes:<\/p>\n
\n
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity<\/i> (New York: MacMillan, 1960) 56.<\/li>\n
- Alister McGrath, I Believe: Exploring the Apostle\u2019s Creed<\/i> (Downer\u2019s Grove, IVP, 1997) 41.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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Merry Christmas 2018 - Aletheia Baptist Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Merry Christmas 2018 - Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The secularization of our society over the last twenty five years is nothing short of amazing.\u00a0 I remember vividly traveling to Russia during Christmas of 1991 with my father-in-law and brother-in-law.\u00a0 The old Soviet Union had fallen and that country was trying to pull itself out of a communist economy that had failed miserably.\u00a0 The […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aletheia Baptist Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AletheiaBaptist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-12-06T18:01:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/14b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"369\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"553\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rick Shrader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rick Shrader\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rick Shrader\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#\/schema\/person\/588b75c574dc86d40cf5fb13774181b2\"},\"headline\":\"Merry Christmas 2018\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-12-06T18:01:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/\"},\"wordCount\":2029,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/14b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Incarnation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/aletheiabaptistministries.org\/Blog\/merry-christmas-2018\/\",\"name\":\"Merry Christmas 2018 - 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