As we approach another Christmas, my thoughts go to Easter. Why? Because of the true purpose of Christmas. Here’s what the angel told Joseph about the baby who would be born to Mary.
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:20-21
The baby would be named, Jesus, which comes from the Hebrew name Jeshua (God saves). Jesus would “save” His people from their sins. How would He do that? By offering Himself to God the Father as “the” sacrifice for their sins. How could the Eternal Son of God offer Himself as a blood sacrifice (which God’s Law demanded) when His Eternal Body contained no blood? Jesus entered a body of flesh and blood through the Virgin Mary and was then able to die for the sins of His people.
The writer to Hebrews explained it this way.
“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God.’ Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them’; (which are offered according to the law), then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:1-10
On Christmas Day, Jeshua gained a body of flesh and blood. On Easter, Jeshua sacrificed His flesh and blood for us. On the third day, Jeshua came alive in a body that would live forever – even as we who trust in the miracle of Christmas and Easter will live forever with Him.
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26
Merry Christmas from Grace Martial Arts!
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
Grace Martial Arts 