If you ask the question in the above headline to people in our nation, you’ll get a lot of varying answers. People will talk about gift-giving, visiting family, big meals, listening to great music, feelings of good cheer, blockbuster movies, and maybe a few Bah humbugs!
However, if you are a follower of Christ, you will note that Jesus is the reason for Christmas. But let’s look a little more deeply into why He came. In Hebrews chapter 10, Jesus made an important point, saying that the sacrifices that were made under the law by the high priests could not take away man’s sin. These sacrifices were not enough, even though these sacrifices were set up by God. Jesus was saying here that there needed to be something more — a perfect sacrifice, a perfect covering.
Some might say, man, there’s nothing about Christmas in this passage on sacrifices and blood offerings. Ah, but there is. You see, Jesus states in verse 9, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” And what was God’s will? It is that we — those who have believed — will have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
That’s the point of Christmas, friends. God gave Jesus a human body to be sacrificed — a human body to be sacrificed for human sin. Sin destroys. From the very beginning, when sin entered the Garden, everything was ruined. And the second that sin entered, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened and they realized they needed a cover. From the time of creation, man has needed a covering. In Genesis we read that God used animal skins to cover Adam and Eve. But a perfect covering was needed to cover the sin that entered this world.
Jesus came to be that covering, so that we can be cleansed once and for all through His shed blood. The point of Christmas is that Jesus did everything for us that we could not do for ourselves. One act — the shedding of blood from the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s will and purpose in Christmas was that Jesus would come to earth and give to us what we are so in need of — a covering. A perfect covering.
Don’t you love Him today for what He did for you and for me!
Let’s close with a prayer: God, we thank you that you sent Jesus to be born of a virgin and to become the One person who lived on this earth never to know sin. Father, we have all sinned and we mess up things so much. The old way of animal sacrifice was not enough to redeem us. And so you sent Jesus to be born in a manger in Bethlehem to provide the cover we need to experience eternal life in You. Thank you, Lord, that Jesus’ blood is perfect. Amen.