Have you ever considered why the only Son of God would leave the inexpressible grandeur of heaven to come to Earth as an innocent baby to be born in the stark environment of an old barn?
There’s an old hymn, “Ivory Palaces,” written by Henry Barraclough (1891-1983), that reads:
Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.
Jesus, the completion of the Old Testament promise that the Messiah would come, arrived as a virgin-born baby in this sin-sick world without the fanfare He warranted as the King of Kings. Instead, He came as humbly as any child ever entered this world – from the ivory palaces of heaven into a lowly animal shed.
From the onset of his earthly existence we see the humility of Jesus.
Philippians 2:7-8 tells us that Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
And that brings me to the headline of this column: Why, in fact, did He come?
To answer that question, let us return to the time of Jesus’ ministry on Earth. In John chapter 8 we see Jesus, now grown, defending His birthright as the God-Man amid the Pharisees, who were denying Him.
And Jesus said in verse 12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” The very nature of God is to be Light.
That is why He came, my friends. He came to be the avenue of salvation – the Light of the world – for you and for me. When you picture Him in the manger, know that He was there for you and me.
You see, without Jesus as our mediator, there is no compensation for the sinful lives we lead. Sin casts us into darkness and separates us from the sinless God. There is no hope for escape but through Jesus. Through His birth and death and glorious resurrection, Jesus served as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sin of every man and every woman.
That is why He came.
Two thousand years after His birth, many reject the Light, just as they have through the ages. We are told that these days that it is selfish of Jesus to claim to be the only way to heaven and that those who believe in Him are naïve because we refuse to follow the fashionable tenets of a modern and “inclusive” society. Further, we see a lot of lampooning and ridiculing of Jesus in the “mainstream” these days.
And while the Light is ignored and discounted, He remains wondrously alive and offering salvation that is available to all. Hebrews 5:9 tells us that Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation for all who believe.”
This Christmas, I pray that you who are reading this column know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been or what you’ve done. God loves you and wants to save you. He forfeited all for you.
How can you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Romans 10:9 tells us that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That is the promise of the manger and the promise of the cross and the promise of the empty tomb.
If you want to know more about Jesus, I encourage you to visit the Thomas Road Baptist Church website and click on “Who is Christ?” If you do not know Him, this can be the greatest Christmas ever if you will place your trust in Him and receive the greatest gift that man can ever know.
Merry Christmas to all!
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