Read Luke 2:1-20.
Dr. Luke recorded the words of the angel to the shepherds that night: "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (v.11)
Truly, that verse is the foundation of all we need to know both here and for eternity.
1. Who came.
The word Christ means Messiah. Jesus was the long promised One who would come. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14) Immanuel, literally "God with us."
2. Why did He come.
Jesus came this first time as the Savior. "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). We owed a debt we could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe.
3. Where He came.
He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, sometimes called the city of David. Why there? It was because the human lineage of Messiah came from Abraham through David to Joseph. See Matthew 1. God used the Roman taxation to move Joseph and Mary to the very place Micah predicted hundreds of years before. See Micah 5:2.
4. To Whom He came.
He came for every individual who ever lived. Since sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, all the believers in the Old Testament looked forward to a day when their sin would not merely be covered for a time but would one day be taken away. Since the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, all believers look back and rejoice in the forgiveness and cleansing God has provided. But do not miss the personal pronoun: "unto you." Yes, Jesus paid for the sin of the world, but it is only effective when an individual comes to the Savior and by faith accepts God's unspeakable gift of salvation.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) It is the best Christmas gift ever.
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