Just what is the real meaning of Christmas? All of our lives we have seen Christmas trees, Santa Clauses in the malls, and advertising that tells us that we will never be happy unless we buy the latest expensive toy. With all of this going on it’s very difficult to stay focused on the real importance of Christmas.
It’s easy to say that Christmas is the day Jesus was born, but that’s not the whole story and that’s what I would like to talk about today. This is a story about hope, the joy of birth, growth, compassion, suffering, and death, but most of all it’s about love.
For to us, a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Does this sound like part of the Christmas story? It’s not. It was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus by Isaiah (9:6). This was God’s promise spoken by Isaiah sometime around 745 BC. This was the hope of the Jewish nation and it is our hope today, fulfilled by the birth of Jesus Christ. God did not leave His plan a complete mystery, He spoke through the prophets to reassure one and all that the King was coming.
God knew that for us to depend upon an earthly king would be disastrous. Look at the behavior of King Saul and King David. Look at the behavior of all the kings that followed. Not one of these kings was sinless and not one of them could save the soul of a single subject in their kingdom. They could do nothing more than be political and religious leaders.
Each person was responsible for keeping a righteous heart and the letter of the Law to achieve salvation. Animal sacrifice was required for the temporary atonement of sin. The promise was known, but the Jews did not understand. They expected a divine but earthly king who would sit on the earthly throne of David.
Time passed and hope dwindled, but the promise was alive and well because it was the Word of God. Then during the reign of Caesar Augustus, a young woman’s faith in God led her to surrender to God’s will, to be the mother of Jesus Christ.
RH CLARK, Author 