WHY CHRISTMAS WAS NECESSARY By Jo Gramaje Christmas reminds us that life is worth living for! We reminisce with great joy how God incarnated in human form in order to redeem mankind and give him hope of eternal life; It was just like heaven kissing earth! That is why He is called IMMANUEL, meaning IM=IN, MAN=MANKIND, EL = ELOHIM translated in a literal sense as I SAW GOD IN A DIRT BODY or in other words, GOD IS WITH US! JESUS is Gods precious gift to mankind. He gave His life as a ramson. He bled and died and on the third day, He was powerfully resurrected at His own initiative (Jo.2:19-22; 10:18) and by the power of the Holy Spirit and is now seated at the right hand of the Father as our Great High Priest interceeding for you and me! When Jesus returned to heaven, He had brought with Him His glorified body, a part of His being that wasnt there before. Because of this, you and I who have received Him as Savior and Lord have obtained salvation, by grace through faith in His person and in His finished work at calvary! His death and resurrection are the twin bedrock of our redemption! May we always be reminded that life is fragile and fleeting and unless we get in step with Jesus and His purpose for our lives, we shall miss the mark for which God has created us! Isaiah 9:6 says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. It was Jesus who made Christ legal here on earth because God cannot work out our salvation as a Spirit Being. God had to incarnate in the flesh; In one being, humanity and divinity merged. In theology, we call this hypostatic union. Jesus is the Child that was born in Bethlehem. Jesus was the humos (dirt man) that was deposited in the womb of a borrowed vessel (Mary) by the Holy Spirit. Christ or Cristos the Messiah, the Anointed One was the (Spirit man) that was given by the Father. At calvary, it was Jesus, the Lamb of God Who died and shed His precious blood. Christ did not die; God cannot die! When Jesus died, He literally expired (blew out) Christ, Who went into the portal of the underworld to announce to satan His victory over death, grave and hell (Eph.4:7-10; 1 Pet.3:18-20). More so, He unlocked that dungeon where Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses and all of the saints who died and brought them to paradise together with the other man who died on the cross beside Jesus. In the words of Paul the apostle he said He ( Christ) led captives in His train and gave gifts to men (Eph.4:8). On the the third day (a Sunday), Christ returned to the dead body of Jesus for a glorious resurrection power and this act had completed Gods eternal plan of salvation for you and me. Unless Jesus is raised back to life, you and I have no hope of eternal life. Jesus is the only Savior of the world, the only mediator between God and men (1 Tim.2:5). Our redemption is complete! Salvation is a free gift. There are no human additives to earn eternal life. We are saved by grace through faith in Him (Ephesian 2:8,9). We are not saved by doing good works, or joining a church, or just by being good. The salvation that Jesus wrought at calvary was God the Fathers way of saving us and it was only Jesus shed blood on the cross that was the only acceptable sacrifice to the Father for the remission of the sins of the world. No amount of religious piety and sacrifice can ever surpass or much less equal the redemptive work of Christ! When God looks at us, He no longer sees our wickedness, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ that was imputed upon us. We are justified by faith in Christ Jesus! The Good Book tells us, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed, behold the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ came to restore everything that we have lost to the usurper (the devil). From our salvation to our health, prosperity, authority, power, wisdom, peace, joy, love- EVERYTHING that the Lamb of God had paid for at calvary! He came to give us life and a life more abundant (John 10:10). Life is really worth living for, especially when you and I are in Christ Jesus. Very interestingly, Jesus was born in a manger, which in another version of the Gospel is called a house. Our former lives were very much descriptive of the manger, earthly house that was so unclean, foul- full of filth and guilt (Rom.3:23). But God demonstrated His great love and grace when He reached out to us on that first Christmas to restore us unto Himself and make us clean and give us a purpose for living ((Rom. 5:8,17). After all, we originated from Him. He owns us by virtue of creation and redemption. Every drop of blood that Jesus shed speaks of His great love for you and me. He truly loves us! His love is abiding, eternal and unconditional. Hallelujah! Because He lives, we shall also live with Him forevermore! A blessed Christmas to all! /jtgiii
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 00:16:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015