Giftwrapped

Around this time of year, we start hustling and bustling and stressing out over the holiday season.  We start racking up huge debt to "make this Christmas better than the last one."  We flood our children with toys that they won't play with past the first week of January, and spend unnecessary dollars trying to get them to smile on Christmas morning!  We spend so much time trying to fall in line with the commercialized worldly view of Christmas, we sometimes forget what this season is all about.  While we wrap gifts, we should consider the true gift!

Luke 2:12 ""This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

 

 

Here, the angel spoke/prophesied to the shepherds that were in the field and told them that there was a baby in Bethlehem that they needed to see.  This was not just any baby though, this was the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, Zecheriah's branch, the branch from the root of Jesse...this was God in the flesh and as a sign, they would find this baby in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.  How ironic, the God of the universe lying in a place for animals.  How fitting that the coming of the Good Shepherd be revealed to shepherds. 

 

Here, God has condescended and come to earth as a man in order to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.  All of the burnt offerings, sin offerings, festivals, pomp and circumstance was not enough to deal with the problem of sin and the broken fellowship between man and God.  The bible says that in Christ, God was reconciling man to Himself (2 Cor 5:19) and not counting men's sins against them.  That's good news for all and the gift was wrapped up in a manger in Bethlehem.

 

 

The story didn't start in Bethlehem, it started in eternity.  Genesis 3:15, God tells Satan the serpent that there would be enmity between he and the Seed of the woman that he caused to sin and that the Seed of the woman would bruise his head!  This is the same Seed that God spoke to Abraham and said that his Seed would be a blessing to all nations.  1 Peter 1:10-12 says this: "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look."  Jesus said it plainly in John 8:58, "Before Abraham and Jacob...I AM."  Colossians 1:26 Ephesians 3:9  refer to the coming of Christ and the plan of God through Christ as a mystery that was revealed at the proper time.  So God wrapped the gift up in eternity, sat Him down in time and all who would come in faith to open the gift would be saved!  How awesome is that?

 

As we shop and overindulge, let us remember the true reason for this time of year.  It is not all about the gifts but about the Gift, Jesus Christ.  As long as we keep Him as our focus, there will be no doubt, anxiety or stress as we enter into the most commercialized season known to man.  We will understand that it's not about how much money we spend but the riches of God's grace that were poured out for us when Christ was sent to die at Calvary for our sins.  The people of His time actually got to see that progression as He grew in wisdom and in stature- and as He eventually carried His own cross through the streets of Jerusalem and up the hill to the place called Golgotha.  Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice and for the gift, salvation, that keeps on giving.