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We hear it so often around this time of year: “Happy Holiday!” “Season’s Greetings!” Everyone seems to be in the mood for some kind of festive celebration. Exactly what is the holiday that we are celebrating? Are we allowed to say it? Is it a forbidden word? Are we afraid to say it? Will people be offended if we actually tell them what the holiday is?

What ever happened to Christmas? What ever happened to the Christ of Christmas? Long ago there was no room in the inn. Is there any room for Him in today’s celebration? What ever happened to the birth of the Savior? Has it been a giant mistake that all of our calendars mark His birth as the starting point, and that His birth divides all of this world’s history into B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno Domini, in the year of the Lord)?

Should we give up Christmas and abandon it as a holy day? After all, no one wants to mention it anymore, and it seems to have evolved into a meaningless, festive, gift-giving occasion apart from any spiritual significance. If the God of the entire universe, the Maker of heaven and earth, decided to pay a visit to this earth, that is highly significant and worthy of at least a yearly remembrance and thankful celebration! “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14).

Here is the Christmas story according to John, a man who knew Jesus Christ very well: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-3,14).

John also makes very clear the reason God came to earth as Man. He came on a saving mission: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16,17).

Why did God have to become a man? In order to save sinful men, someone holy would have to die for them. But there is no one holy except God, and God cannot die. Therefore God would have to become a man in order to be able to save mankind. This was made possible through the miracle of the virgin birth. Although God could not die, the God-man (the Lord Jesus Christ) could die and did die for our sins: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him [the Messiah] the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

On that first Christmas night, the angel announced the good news which summarizes the true meaning of Christmas: “Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord’” (Luke 2:10,11).

The Savior has been born! Do you know Him as your personal Savior? He died as the sinner’s Substitute and He rose again to provide eternal life for all who trust in Him. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). Have you realized your condition as a needy sinner and come to Him, the only Savior? Jesus said, “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). —George Zeller

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