The Christmas Story

 

“What good is the Christmas story if it’s void of God and His glory?

What’s the worth of the words ‘peace on earth’ if it’s not rooted in the Truth of Christ’s birth?

What benefit is it for us to discuss the joy of the season unless we fix our hearts and minds on the principal reason that Christ has atoned for us?

See Christmas is more than just a story of a baby born in a manger,

More than a poor fiancé engaged to a humble virgin teenager,

More than a Magi, more than gold, frankincense and myrrh.

It’s more than a narrative of a Nativity scene, it was so much more that occurred.

It’s the coming of the Messiah, the fulfillment of all Old Testament promises,

The prophecy of the suffering Servant and all of His accomplishments,

The second Person of the Trinity commissioned to abandon His position,

And literally set aside the independent exercise of His attributes in full submission,

The Word manifested in the flesh, the fullness of God expressed,

The self-emptying Jesus poured out at the Father’s request,

The image of the invisible God, the radiance of the Father’s fame,

Holy, but retained His humanness to empathize with our pain.

He was unjustly crushed, chastised, cursed and shamed,

Mocked and adorned with a crown of thorns, disgraced but He still faced the grave,

To fulfill the Father’s will, to come and die in the place of sinful men,

And receive the fully fury of God’s judgment upon Himself instead,

The most monumental mark for mankind made in human history,

Wretched sinners being made righteous only by the wounds of the risen King,

The condescending of a holy God made in the likeness of men,

A child born to be the Savior that would save the world from their sins,

The offspring of the virgin’s womb,

The Christ, God’s own Son, fully God, yet fully man, the only theanthropic One.

This is what we celebrate, Christ the newborn King, veiled in flesh, the Godhead seen,

Hailed incarnate Deity.”

--Odd Thomas