The secular celebration of Christmas begins many days before December 25, but the world’s preparations all appear to be financially motivated. The Christian Christmas celebration is another matter entirely. Let us give consideration to the events surrounding the birth of Christ: the real reason for Christmas.
In Galatians 4:4-5, the Scripture tells us of the power and wisdom of God in sending His Son into the world at exactly the right time. Read the first 7 verses of Galatians chapter 4 and discover more of the glory of the great God and what He desires to accomplish in our lives. Give your attention to the expression in Galatians 4:4, “the fulness of the time.” Everything God had intended was accomplished, and at that exact moment, He sent forth His Son.
In that God-ordained moment, nothing needed to be added. Every nation had made their contribution to travel, language, communication, and protection. Armies had been moved to the exact location where they could be most greatly influenced by the things of God. All these occurrences came at God’s bidding at the exact moment that the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth. It was “the fulness of the time.” The God who is able to do that is all powerful and knows all things. When we are going through a crisis, wondering about the future, allowing ourselves to become anxious about things that we anticipate might happen to us, we must remind ourselves that God is in control. He has already been there and knows all things.
In this expression, “the fulness of time”, we find one of the most pointed references to the connection between time and eternity. You and I can make the most of our lives by living on this earth with eternity’s values in view. This present life is not all there is. We must think about eternity. Galatians 4:4 states, “But when the fulness 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.” God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus. Those who come to Him by faith and trust Him as their personal Saviour are then adopted as His sons and daughters through the marvelous work accomplished by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
The Bible says, Christ was “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” God connects the virgin birth of Christ with the sacrificial death of Christ for our sins. We make a grave error when we celebrate the birth of Christ without making that connection. I rarely meet a Christian who is not complaining about the fact that Christ has been forgotten in this Christmas season, but we have contributed to this! If we only celebrate the birth of a baby, the world will not long stand in awe. That little innocent One born in a manger and held in His mother’s arms is the Son of God robed in flesh. God became a man without ceasing to be God.
Christmas is not about viewing a picture of a manger, singing Christmas hymns, and celebrating the birth of a baby. It is about the eternal Father, the eternal Son, and the eternal Holy Spirit bringing about in us this miraculous transformation that can only be explained by the work of God Himself in our hearts. God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, comes to live in you so that Christ can be formed in you.
We must stop looking for Christ to do a great work out yonder somewhere. The great work that God desires to do is in our lives, transforming us into the image of His Son. Dear one, your life is a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes away. Let Christ be formed in you! That is the only way your little flicker of a life can connect to eternity.
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