Jesus Came To Save His People!

     It's that time again - Christmas!  Christians around the world celebrate
the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, on this day.

    
     But why did he have to come as he did, born in a lowly manger
in Bethlehem? 

     Theologian Robert Peterson wrote, "In order to turn aside the wrath
of God against guilty sinners, he had to become one with them and die as
a substitute for them."

     "If the Son had not become a human being, he could not have lived a
sinless human life, died and risen again to deliver his people.  To perform
his saving work, he had to become to one of us."


     "Bethlehem (The cradle) led to Calvary (The cross), where the purpose
of Christ's coming was achieved.  Then the resurrection."


     Jesus accomplished his mission, saving his people, who were dead in their
sins, and sat down at the right hand of God, signifying that his work of redemp-
tion was complete and that he is actively ruling with God the Father as Lord
over all.


     "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his
being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.  After he had provided puri-
fication for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven"
Hebrews 1:3.

     Jesus is God himself, the absolute authentic representation of God's being.
     "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For
by himself all things were created:  things in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers, or rulers or authorities:  all things were
created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold
together" Colossians 1:15-17.

     John MacArthur wrote, "The word 'firstborn' does not mean Jesus was a
created being.  The word describes Jesus' rank, not his origin."

     "The firstborn in a Hebrew family was the heir, the ranking one, the one
who had all the rights of inheritance.  In a royal family, the right to rule.
Christ is the one who inherits all creation, and has the right to rule over it.
He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords."


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     When I was a child, I thought Jesus came to be at Bethlehem.  I didn't
understand that he had existed for all time with the Father, and was in fact
the Creator of everything.

     "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him
all things were made;  without him nothing was made that has been made"
John 1:1-3.



     Jesus came to heal the spiritually sick, call sinners, and seek and save
the lost.  "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost"
Luke 19:10.

     Jesus is the only way to salvation;  the only way to be reconciled to God.
Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the
Father except through me" John 14:6.


     "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved" Acts 4:12.

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     Jesus came to give us a fuller life here on earth and in heaven ("I have
come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly" John 10:10), but ultimately
he came to save his people.


     "An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Joseph,
son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because
what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit."
     "She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins" Matthew 1:20-21.

     The name 'Jesus' means 'Savior,' and another name he is known by
is 'Immanuel,' which means 'God with us.'  Jesus came to live with his
people, and redeem them and save them from the Father's wrath and hell.


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     In his letter to the Philippians, Paul told his fellow Christians how they
should live and who Jesus is.

     "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:  Who being
in nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness."

     "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death - even death on a cross!"
     "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"  Philippians 2:5-11.

     One day everyone will acknowledge Jesus as Lord!

     Wouldn't it be a better world if every Christian's "attitude [was] the same as
that of Christ Jesus?"

     Then we would have the "Christmas Spirit" everyday!


      Merry Christmas!!!!