What is the true message of Christmas?

The world celebrates Christmas without knowing the real meaning behind it.

In the world today, Christmas has become a fake celebration, with fake Santas, Christmas trees, Christmas lights, shopping, Christmas cards, gifts, Christmas cakes, bells, social drinking, etc.

The world forgets the Christ in Christmas – ultimately, Christ should be the center of our celebration!

Let us look to the scripture to see what it says about Christmas:

Christmas gives us the message that God is faithful to fulfill His all promises to mankind.

Jesus the Messiah is the gift of God to mankind as was promised in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 3:15 - "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he (son of woman) will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Galatians 4:4 - "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law."

Christmas gives us the message that the Old Testament prophets and their prophesies about Jesus were true.

Almost three hundred prophesies we see in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah have exactly been fulfilled through Jesus.

Christmas gives us the message that God loves mankind even though they sinned against Him.

God didn’t leave mankind alone in their sinful state – he planned to save them through Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Christmas gives us the message that God always need the role of a human in his plan of Salvation.

God came to a small family - Joseph & Mary.

Without man, God WILL NOT and without God man CANNOT.

Christmas gives us the message that once, the Devil appeared before a woman to destroy mankind, but now an angel appeared to another woman to bring salvation to mankind.

Christmas gives us the message that a courageous young woman, who was ready to face any challenge to obey God has now become a blessing to many throughout the last twenty-one centuries.

Christmas gives us a message that through a young man, who was not ready to hurt or put to shame a woman publicly, we can see a picture of a model family – not hurting each other but trying to adjust in difficult circumstances with mutual understanding.

Christmas gives us the message that a Savior was born in a manger – which shows that circumstances are not what makes anyone great, but it is great people who change circumstances.

It was only because Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth that these places became famous – these places were gone unnoticed before Jesus came.

Christmas gives us the message that the shepherds were ready to leave their sheep and run to Bethlehem without any delay after they were informed by the angels.

Luke 2:13-16 - "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,

which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger."

If they delayed, they wouldn’t have seen the Savior of the world. We miss many miracles because we do things at the wrong time.

The ‘magi’ (wisemen) teach us more than one lesson:

Matthew 2:1-2 - "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,

during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Wise men always search after God

Psalm 14:2 - "The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who are wise, who want to seek (please) God."

The wise men always looked up because they were ready to follow divine direction.

Matthew 2: 9b - "And the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was."

The wise men used their own reasoning in the middle of their journey – instead of continuing to follow the star – a mistake that cost the lives of many innocent babies.

Because they were wise men, instead of worshipping all, they worshiped only the one who was worthy to be worshipped.

Verse 11a - "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him."

They worshiped Jesus by offering very costly gifts – anything less is to our King Jesus is cheap worship.

Micah 6: 6a. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?

2 Samuel 24: 24 - But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

Malachi 1: 6 – 9. “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty.

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty. “Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.

Christmas gives us the message that God gave us the best gift ever, so we need to give him the best of our lives.

The wise men acknowledged the significance of Jesus by offering gifts.

Verse11b - "Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

Myrrh shows His prophetic office.

He is greater than Jonah.

He was the prophet of God from Bethlehem to Calvary – proclaiming the good news

Frankincense shows His priesthood.

He is greater than the Temple.

He is our great High Priest – from Calvary to His second coming!

He is seated at the right hand of the Almighty and interceding for you and me.

Gold shows His kingship.

He is greater than Solomon.

He will be our King of kings and Lord of lords for ever and ever!

Christmas gives us the message that Christ should be born in our hearts to celebrate Jesus every day of our life.

Galatians 4:19 - "My dear children,

for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you"

Colossians 4:19 - "To them God has chosen to make known

among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery,

which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Christmas gives us the message that once Christ came to this world as a savior in the form of a little child, but now He is coming again as a king of kings and a Lord of lords.

Be ready to meet Him!