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The Good News of Christmas - Jesus Came

 II Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

The Christmas season is a celebration of the coming of the Jewish Messiah. It was the fulfillment of over 300 Old Testament prophecies. Christmas should be a celebration of the birth of the Savior of all mankind.  Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”


On the first Christmas night this baby, the seed of the woman, the eternal Son of God was found by shepherds, who were keeping watch over their flock by night. He was lying in a manager and was wrapped in swaddling clothes by His mother.  


The angels had appeared to the shepherds to announce the miraculous birth of this king. Luke 2:13-14 says, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!’”  


Why did Jesus come to this earth? He came to “save His people from their sins.” Jesus left the splendor of heaven to suffer and die on a cruel cross for fallen humanity. He came to provide salvation to all who call on His name. He came to provide freedom from the bondage and slavery of sin. He came to bring joy in the midst of pain. He came to give peace in the midst of despair. This peace is defined in the Bible as a peace that passes all understanding. 


The good news of Christmas is simply Jesus came. He came to reconcile fallen humanity back to a merciful loving heavenly Father. His first coming in fulfillment of prophecy gives us hope that He will come again. The Apostle Paul writes about the second coming in I Thessalonians 4:15-17, “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”


Christmas is a celebration of His first coming and a time to pray the words of the Apostle John in Revelation 22:20, “Even so come Lord Jesus.” 


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