Remembering the Rest of the Christmas Story

The incarnation of Jesus Christ is essential to Christian doctrine (Jn 1:14). The eternal Son of God, a Spirit, a Person, emanating from God the Father, was enfleshed. From the eternal good pleasure and counsel of our Trinitarian Godhead came the will and purpose of God, to be carried out by this unique God/man (Eph 3:11).

Fully God and fully man, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:18, 20), in the womb of a virgin (Is 7:14). Jesus was born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal 4:4). He was not born with the original sin of Adam (Rom 5:12), nor did He ever sin against God in the flesh (Heb 4:15). This was impossible, for He was impeccable.

The Holy One of God came to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). All we like sheep had gone astray (Is 53:6), having been born into slavery to sin (Jn 8:34; Rom 6:6, 17, 20). Sin was always crouching at the door (Gen 4:7), and with every inclination of the heart, every deed was evil, all the time (Gen 6:5). Thus, there was no greater need for man than to have a legitimate Savior (Ps 106: 21; Is 43:3; 45:5; 1 Tim 1:1). God knew our need before Creation, for all of this was in His predetermined plan (Acts 2:24).

Salvation came because God’s wrath against sin was looming (Rom 1:18–32). Every man is like a sin factory that manufactures nothing but flawed products, ruined by sin. There was nothing good in man, and there was nothing good done by man, from God’s perspective (Is 64:6; Rom 3:10–12). Thus, no man is worthy, in himself, to be salvaged by God. It is God’s will to have mercy upon whom He wills (Rom 9:15–16).

The incarnation introduced the world to the Lamb of God, who would take away sins (Jn 1:29). This great high priest, Jesus Christ, offered Himself, once, as the perfect sacrifice (Heb 7:27), to make atonement for the Israel of God, His church (Gal 6:16). The infinite value of His precious blood (1 Pet 1:19), by which He made His redemptive purchase of His bride (Eph 5:25), was beyond measure.

The eternal covenant of grace (Heb 13:20), in which God promised His people, His covenant love (Jer 31:3), was cut with Jesus on the cross (Rom 5:8). His crucifixion made the way for God’s promised will to be executed with legal perfection. For example, sinners do not have right standing before a Holy God (Rom 3:10). With Jesus, as their substitute sin-bearer (Heb 9:28), those whose debt of sin He cancelled (Col 2:14), were set free from the second death in the eternal lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15). Those brought into the covenant of grace are justified (“declared righteous”) by the blood (Rom 5:9), grace (Rom 3:24; Tit 3:7), and faith afforded them (Rom 3:28; 5:1; Gal 2:16; 3:24).

Recipients of God’s grace have been adopted into God’s family (Rom 8:15, 23), as children and heirs (Rom 8:17), along with Christ. They have been given a token, a pledge for marriage. This pledge is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity (2 Cor 5:5). This is the Spirit of Christ, who is the gift of God (Rom 5:5), as Christ was an indescribable gift (2 Cor 9:15), and the Gift is our assurance of salvation, for He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5), but to raise us from the dead on the last day (Jn 5:25–29; 6:39–40, 44, 54).

At Christmas, everyone tends to enjoy and often distort the story to their preference. We must embrace Christmas, as the advent of King Jesus’ everlasting kingdom (Dan 2:44; 6:26; Lk 1:33). A child was born to us, a Son was given, whose reign was established and will never end (Is 9:6–7).

Friend, what aspect of Christmas are you celebrating this year? Are you excited about the established throne of righteousness (2 Chron 9:8; Ps 89:14; Prv 20:28; Is 9:7; Heb 1:8), which has toppled the rebel governments of men? Are you excited for the day of King Jesus’ second coming (Mt 24–25), when He will judge the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5), with perfect justice? Are you anticipating the fiery end of this world, and its purification, giving way to the new heavens and the new earth (Rev 21–22), where righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:10–13)? Who will save you from God’s wrath to come (1 Thess 1:10)?

You must know that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor 5:19). As the Lamb slain, Jesus bore the sins of His chosen people (Jn 10:11, 15), in His body on the cross (1 Pet 2:24). God accepted Jesus’ substitute sacrifice (Eph 5:25), as demonstrated by God raising Him from the dead. You must know there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12). Jesus was enfleshed at Christmas that His body would be made sin for us (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus suffered the wrath of God in a sinless body that was imputed with the sins of His redeemed people, by God.

Good Christian men rejoice because only God is good (Mt 19:17), and He has been very good to you, giving you His good Spirit that good works would manifest in and through you (Eph 2:10; Phil 2:13). This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent (Jn 6:29). Jesus was sent to save His people (Mt 1:21), and with His mission complete (Jn 19:30), He sent the Holy Spirit to gather in a people for God’s own possession (1 Pet 2:9), to live and reign with Him, forever (2 Tim 2:12).

This Christmas, let us take time and remember the rest of the story, of a God/man, who came for us and why. Unless we do so, we are left with cheap, idolatrous alternatives, posturing as a better gift than Jesus Christ, our Lord. Rejoice! There is no better gift than Him and His Spirit sent you.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

December 6, 2022