Celebrating Jesus

We need to remember that Christmas is a birthday celebration—and when we celebrate a birthday, we do not concentrate on the individual’s arrival as a baby. Rather, we commemorate their entire life. In a sense, we celebrate the person.

So Christmas is more than a celebration of Jesus’ birth. We want to focus on the enormity of His person, His life, and His work.

The Apostle John began his gospel by writing about the life of Jesus before His birth as a human. Then he says of Jesus, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory. . . . (Jn. 1:14a RSV) John presented a very big picture of the baby who slept in a manger.

How big is our vision of the Baby Jesus?

Originally published December 24, 1981.

He Came as a Baby

No one denies that Jesus lived. The Roman government recorded both His birth and His death. The historian Josephus wrote about him—and He became a significant figure in world history.

But if we fail to recognize Him as God-become-man, Jesus will never be important to us personally—and we’ll never appreciate the true meaning of Christmas. He came as a baby, but He was and is the Word which was with God and was God before the beginning of time. (Jn. 1:1,2) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. (Jn. 1:14 KJV)

This God we call Jesus did not pretend to be a person by temporarily taking on human form. Instead, He relinquished His powers as God when He became one of us. It was as though He came incognito. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and his own received Him not.(Jn. 1:10,11)

On the other hand, as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. (vs. 12) And that is the wonder of Christmas.

Originally published December 20, 1985.

The Advent of God's Son

God’s glory is an expression of God’s goodness. Some define His glory as a revelation of His total goodness.

Because Jesus’ life was an expression of God’s nature, He revealed—and continues to reveal—God’s goodness. He revealed His father’s total goodness every moment of every day during His earthly life—when He entered the world as a baby, when He met the needs of individuals and multitudes, when He died on the cross, when He rose from the grave, and when He ascended into heaven.

The prophet Isaiah spoke of Jesus’ when he said, Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (Is. 60:1,2 NIV)

Today, Jesus continues to embody everything we need to know about the nature of God. The season of Advent is a time for setting our hearts to receive glimpses of God’s glory. It’s time to celebrate the advent of God’s Son.

Originally published November 29, 1991.
Picture: Karen's garden, Winona, MN, 2009. Photo by Solveig.