Luke 2:8-14
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
2 Corinthians 5:21 CSB
“He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
From the opening syllables of Genesis to the closing chapters of Revelation, we are introduced and confronted with a most problematic reality: The problem of sin. We first hear of it in the garden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Where there was once paradise and perfection, such was then cast into dark horror and chaos. When we stop and behold the Christmas story, we have an opportunity to behold our God and exactly how other-worldly wonderful and merciful He is. In that vein, in order to have a proper view of the ancient assassin we know as sin, we must have a proper view of God.
How magnificent a God we worship, who in His holiness cannot tolerate sin, but looked upon our bleak situation after the fall and essentially said, “I will have mercy on them.” Further, the Christmas story shows us that we could not and cannot save ourselves, and that we needed a perfect Savior to save us from certain eternal death, from the just wrath of a most Holy God. You see, mankind is no stranger to sadness, depravity, desperation and hopelessness, which is the exact situation God came into as the holy infant, our Lord Jesus. When the divine infant was born, salvation, hope and joy pierced the dark fog of estrangement between God and His people. The sinless savior had come, and therefore making a way for us to not die in our sins. The baby in the manger was the fulfillment of the long-standing promise of God that He would deliver His people from their spiritual bondage and captivity. The first cries of that baby were the opening notes to sin and death’s demise. For sin, the ancient contagion, is no match for Jesus, our ultimate sovereign.
Further, our spiritual condition was darker than the deepest depths of the sea, blacker than the furthest reaches of space, so much so that only that which was most pure could satisfy the cosmic debt you and I owed. The Christmas story shows us that we are beneficiaries of a most divine and perplexing exchange between God and humans. He took on our sin upon Himself and we received His righteousness as our own. Where we were once dead in our trespasses, He makes us alive. In exchange, He died the death we should have. Where we were once criminals, having dishonored God, He made a way for us to be His children. He freed us from being slaves to sin and to now be slaves to righteousness.
Sin is the disease and Christ is the cure.
If any of us today find ourselves overwhelmed by sin or have willingly participated in it and know that there is distance between themselves and God, I beg you to not go another day longer in the bondage of the enemy for it will destroy you because Satan is the destroyer. May you allow yourself to fall into the arms of your Redeemer Christ who is also The Supreme Victor over sin and death.
May we all keep our eyes fixed on Him and in all seasons.
