or most of us, Christmas is a great time to enjoy a few days with the people we care about. We share good food, bad cracker jokes and plenty of presents! But for some, the Christmas holidays can just be stressful, disappointing and lonely. It hurts pretty bad when we can’t share Christmas with anyone special. Believe it or not, Christians think family is super important at Christmas. While Christians also have good or bad Christmases depending on the people they spend it with, they realise Christmas is a celebration because God wants each of us in His family. Even though we often reject God (or at best, hardly ever think about Him), He sent His Son, Jesus, to bring us into an exciting, new relationship with Him—it’s unlike anything else we’ve ever or will ever know. During Jesus’ time on earth, God made contact with lots of specific people. Their stories are in the Bible, and they make it clear how much God wants us to have a close, family relationship with Him. They also make it clear how far He’s willing to go to make us part of His family . . .
The angel told her . . . “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus . . . his Kingdom will never end!” Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” Luke 1:30-34 od told Mary that she, a virgin, would have a baby! Are virgin births possible? Everybody knows you can’t be a virgin and be pregnant. Yet Mary, the virgin, gave birth to a Son. As the angel told Mary, what God says “will never fail” (v.37). Christians believe in the virgin birth because they believe in a God who can work outside of the physical laws He created. God alone can bring a child into the world through a virgin. Does it even matter? A baby was born. So what? Actually it matters a lot. Jesus is God (another name for Jesus is Immanuel, meaning God with us—Matthew 1:23) and He became human. The virgin birth shows Jesus came directly from God and was still fully God on earth, while also being a man. As He is God, Jesus can offer us a kingdom (in other words, a home and family to belong to) that “will never end”—we can live in Jesus’ family forever!
The angel reassured [the shepherds] . . . “The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem . . . Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:10-14 ho normally hears about world-changing events first? Presidents, world leaders, governments—how about shepherds? God didn’t announce the arrival of His Son behind closed doors to the ‘important’ people. He told ordinary ‘nobodies’. The shepherds were out in the fields, away from everyone else and probably smelling of sheep. Why did God tell them first? Because He wants everyone to be able to join His family. This family isn’t just for those who feel good or important; it’s for those who feel left out, lonely or forgotten. The message was “peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased”. We hardly ever think about God or how He wants us to live, hurting Him and those around us by the often self-involved way we do things. We should only expect His anger for this, but instead He offers us peace and a fresh start through Jesus. That is why Jesus came to earth, to do what was necessary to make us people who please God and can enjoy His peace forever.
[The wise men] entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11 isitors on Christmas day—love them or hate them, at least they always bring presents! Gold wouldn’t be so bad. How about frankincense or myrrh? Frankincense is a scented resin or balm that can be used to make perfumes. Back in the days of the Christmas story, it was also burned with sacrifices as an offering to God. All in all, it’s an odd ‘new baby’ present. You won’t find much frankincense in the maternity ward today. The same goes for myrrh. This was used mainly to preserve dead bodies to stop them going ‘icky’ before burial. These are strange Christmas presents. Perhaps these wise men weren’t so smart after all! In fact, these gifts actually help explain the reason Jesus was born. He is a king (hence the gold) who would die for us (hence the myrrh) in our place as a sacrifice (hence the frankincense).
[Jesus said], “There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” John 14:2-3 s an adult Jesus promised a place in God’s house (and so His family) to everyone who trusts Him. That means we can live with God forever! After we die, Jesus will “come and get [us]”. He is the only one who can give us a new life with God. How? Jesus said the words above just before He was illegally arrested and executed. But Jesus’ death on the cross was God’s plan all along. Jesus died for us, in our place, willingly paying for our selfishness, wrongs and rejection of God. He took on God’s judgement towards how we have tried to live without Him so that we never have to face it. This is how far God will go to free us from the guilt of everything we’re ashamed of so that we can be part of His family again forever. He gave up His Son Jesus to change us from people who deserve His judgement to people who are His own, loved children.
Then [one of the criminals] said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42-43 hen Jesus was executed on the cross, there were criminals also being crucified next to Him. One of them, knowing he was helpless and about to die, cried out to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” The criminal knew Jesus was the King of an unending, unbreakable kingdom (God’s family home). He also knew he had no way of getting there on his own. Jesus told the criminal he would be with Him in God’s home that day, as soon as he had breathed his last. If you think you are too bad to be accepted by God, or you’ve left it too late to trust Jesus with your life, then think again! If even this criminal, who was being executed for his crimes, could be saved by Jesus, then so can you. When he cried out to Jesus for help, he received new life—and a whole new family. This is God’s promise to us: when we trust Jesus, we belong to a new family—God’s family—in His kingdom. So after he died, the criminal joined Jesus in this “paradise”.
Thomas was not with the others when Jesus came . . . He replied, “I won’t believe unless I see [Jesus]” . . . Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said . . . “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. John 20:24-28 ow do we know Jesus’ death pays for our rejection of God? Just as His time on earth started with something impossible (the virgin birth), so too it ended with something just as impossible: Jesus came back from the dead! He beat death itself. This is the proof that Jesus has paid for everything in full and can offer us a new, forgiven, unending life with God. Thomas, one of Jesus’ friends, couldn’t believe Jesus was alive. But then, when he saw Him, Thomas called Jesus “My Lord and my God!” God wanted Thomas in His family. He understood Thomas’ doubts and questions, and went to great lengths to show him he could trust Jesus. Jesus appeared to hundreds of others after He came back from the dead. These witnesses were convinced in their trust of Jesus, even when they were threatened and killed for it, knowing that being in God’s family was more important than anything else.
[Jesus said] “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter [God’s home] . . . But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me.’ ” Matthew 7:21-23 ou’re home chilling in front of some Christmas telly. There’s a knock on the door. So you get up and open it. On your doorstep is some guy you’ve never seen before in your life. He looks at you like he’s waiting for something. You think, What’s going on? After a long, weird pause he asks, “Well, are you going to let me in or what?” And you say . . . You probably say, “Get lost!” because you don’t just let strangers into your home. Here’s the thing: God’s home works in the same way! As you can see from God’s meetings with the people in Jesus’ story, family is also the most important thing for God at Christmas. He wants to make us His family again! But we must trust Jesus for ourselves. Then as His family, we’ll belong to Him now and forever, being certain of a friendly welcome at heaven’s door! That is really worth celebrating this Christmas. The decision to trust Jesus and become part of God’s family is up to you. If you want to think more about what Jesus has done for you and what it means to give your life to Him, then Our Daily Bread Ministries is here to help! Why not go through the Christmas story in a bit more detail by reading What is the reality of Christmas? Request your copy at ourdailybread.org/christmas
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. © 2019 by Our Daily Bread Ministries. All rights reserved. Printed in the United Kingdom
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