"Unto you is born…"

Immediately after sin entered this world, a redeemer was promised to the "seed" of the first woman. In Genesis 3:15, we are told, in paraphrase: "I (God) will place a hatred of sin in the heart of the woman and her descendants, and this hatred of sin will find its ultimate expression in One (the Saviour) of her offspring. Satan, like a striking serpent, will try to kill Him, but as a man crushes the head of a poisonous snake with his bare heel to save his children, knowing he will die, so the Saviour will sacrifice His own life to save those who love Him, and He will utterly crush the serpent's head."

In the orderly government of the Creator God, "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die;… whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." Ecclesiastes 3: 1, 2, 14. And so Christ, the offspring of that first woman, against all conceivable imaginations, made in the likeness of sinful human flesh (Romans 8:3), the same flesh we have, wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in the feeding trough of barn animals, came. Although there was almost no room for such an one as He, nor expectation, nor longing after, nor preparation for Him, He came. "…Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God." (Read Hebrews 10:5-7)

Christ came to this world as the express image of the heart, mind, nature, character, and brightness of His Father's glory. But he laid aside His royal robe and kingly crown, and stepped down from His high command to take the place of a servant. He was rich, but for our sake, that we might have eternal riches, He became poor. He made the world, but so completely did he empty Himself that during His earthly His ministry he declared, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." Luke 9:58. Into that turbulent world of the decadent and powerful Roman Empire, from the uterus of a Jewish virgin, He was propelled out into this whirling wickedness, the same one we live in: a world of holocausts, 9-11's, Columbine killings, and, perhaps worst of all, the sin of complacency, materialism and unbelief that lie in our own bosoms. He wore contemporary clothes, had need of food, water, and sleep as we do, and, as a young Jewish man, he worked for a living at His trade of carpentry. So full of sympathy and love was His attitude that the poorest of the poor was not afraid to come to Him. With unfailing tenderness and gentleness He met every form of human woe and affliction. Not for Himself, but for others He labored. He was willing to humble Himself, to deny Himself. He was the unwearied servant of man's necessities.

On Calvary, we hear from His anguished lips, the proclamation, in a loud, triumphant voice, "It is finished." This was not the voice of a man dying of crucifixion, a slow suffocation. Of His own will, which was always His Father's also, He laid that life down. He had power to lay it down and to take it up again. God had become man, reconciling the world to Himself. Have you accepted that reconciliation, dear friend? This "holiday" season, may we take extra time to get to know Him. He has not left Himself without witness in this world. Search the scriptures. They testify of Him. John 5:39. The words He speaks to us, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63. Holy, happy and healthy holidays, to you, dear reader.