Looking for Christmasنموونە

Introduction: Christmas and God’s Plan

In today’s culture, the Nativity narrative as described by Matthew and Luke, which focuses on Christ and God’s gift of salvation, has largely been replaced by the full-blown business of Christmas. There are Christmas movies and music, parties and presents, decorations and dinners, trees and trimmings, and stage shows and sweaters. Yet during the crush and chaos of the season, there is something deep in our hearts that wants to slow down and return to the joy and hope of the Nativity.

When we look at the birth of Christ, we must acknowledge God’s plan in sending the Savior. The birth of Jesus wasn’t an accident. It was a life-changing event that had lovingly been planned by God the Father.

Approximately 1,500 years before Christ was born, God revealed that this offspring would crush the head of the serpent who had caused all of mankind to fall into sin (Genesis 3:15). A Savior was coming! This offspring didn’t point to just any man but to Jesus, the only One worthy to crush the head of Satan.

Isaiah 7:14, which was written more than 700 years before Christ was born, says, “The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (NLT).

Isaiah 9:6 (NLT) says,

For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

In Micah 5:2 (NLT) is another prophecy about Christ’s birth, which was written approximately 800 years before Jesus was born:

You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel,
whose origins are in the distant past,
will come from you on my behalf.

God had already planned from before time that at a specific time, Jesus would come from eternity to Bethlehem Ephrathah. The birth of Jesus was not an afterthought or plan B, but God’s plan A from the very beginning, and it is proof that God keeps His promises to us.

This is the Christmas story. The miracle of a savior born in a manger, the son of God come down to earth. But there is so much more to the story than what we see in the nativity scenes that line store fronts and adorn mantels. As we read this story from the eyes of those who bore witness, we can see the divine hand that was laid upon each of them.

In this story, there is nothing left to chance. There is no one left unchanged.