[All images from our Christmas Eve candle light service.]
Three decades after D-day, Gen. O.N. Bradley wrote that he returned to the beaches of Normandy many times to remember the men who fought and died there—as well as those who survived and won the day by the slimmest of margins. He said, “They should never be forgotten.”
Some historical events are like that. They’re so important we should never forget them. And that’s why we celebrate Christmas—to return once again to the familiar story of Christ’s birth. As surely as the Allied forces invaded Europe in June of 1944 during her darkest days in modern history and freed her from the darkness of Nazi oppression, God Himself invaded the darkness of planet earth long ago through Bethlehem and liberated us from the oppression of sin. The darkness did not prevail.
I invite you to return once again to Bethlehem. To remember.
Read John 1:1-18. Like John, remember that the baby in Bethlehem was so much more—He was the Word made flesh—the Creator God.
Read Matthew 1:1-17. Like Matthew, remember that the son of a humble, Jewish girl named Mary, was also the Son of King David, the Son of Father Abraham, the long-awaited, pre-announced Messiah of God.
Read Luke 1:26-38. Like Mary, remember that an angel declared that this baby was great, the Son of the Most High who will sit on the throne of His father, David, and will reign forever.
Read Matthew 1:18-25. Like Joseph, remember that the baby Mary carried was conceived by the Holy Spirit with a heaven-given name, Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins—and that He should be called “Immanuel” because He was God with us.
Read Luke 2:1-20. Like the shepherds, remember that this one whose birth was announced by a host of angels was born in a place where men kept animals.
Read Matthew 2:1-12. Like the Magi, we invite you to remember that Jesus was announced by a spectacular light in the sky and that He was a newborn King. Also, like the Magi we invite you to worship—fall on your knees! To hear the angel voices! To remember that holy night. That divine night—the night when Christ was born.
But, the fact is, this child those Magi saw demands much more than just remembrance. He demands a response. The very nature of His incarnation, life and teaching, death and resurrection demands that we make choices. One cannot be ambivalent about Jesus. One who said the things Jesus said and did the things Jesus did should either be denounced as a cruel deceiver or worshiped as Lord and Savior.
Somehow the Magi knew that this star, this light would lead them to Jesus. When they knew that or believed that, they had a choice: Follow or not. Go and see or stay and wonder what might have been. Those Magi—Gentiles—traveled hundreds of miles to see the King of the Jews. The Jews they met in Jerusalem refused to travel just six miles—from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
Will you, like the Magi, make great sacrifices, give expensive gifts and bow to worship Jesus?
Will you, like the Shepherds, believe that this child in the manger is exactly who the angels declared Him to be—Christ the Lord? Then, will you glorify and praise Him, and tell everyone who will listen?
Will you, like Mary and Joseph, believe what the angel said—that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, born of a virgin and that He saves people from their sins and that He will sit on the throne of David and rule forever; and believing, will you obey God no matter what anyone thinks of you—just like Mary and Joseph?
Will you take to heart what Matthew wrote of Jesus—that He was the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, the Messiah, who displayed great humility by being born into a family of sinful, undeserving people though He Himself was without sin?
Will you, like John, receive Him. Do you remember what John wrote in 1:12? “…To all who received Him, to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God…” John had received Jesus. He had believed that Jesus was who He claimed to be. That He had died for our sins and risen from the dead that we might have eternal life. Only then did he become a child of God. We are not children of God simply by virtue of being human. We are born into the human race. We must be born again to become children of God. John repeatedly invited his readers to “believe”—to trust Jesus Christ with their eternal destiny.
How will you respond to Jesus Christ as we celebrate His birth? Seek Him. Trust Him. Worship Him.
