INSIDE: As we exchange gifts and celebrate this fun holiday, let us remember the ultimate gift given to us, the gift of Jesus Christ.

“For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.  Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”    

Hebrews 2:16-17

A Man, not an angel

Christmas is all about celebrating the fact that Jesus came and took on flesh as a man.  He didn’t come here as an angel – he came as a man.  This is reflected in one of His names, Emmanuel, or “God with us” (Matt 1:23).  He was not only “with us”, physically co-located with us here on earth, but was, “with us” in that He was a very real man who was subjected to all the same discomforts and temptations that you and I face – but He was without sin (Heb 4:15).  Jesus came to earth as a man – a real man – and He came as a man for the purpose of making reconciliation for the sins of the people.  This fact has huge, celebratory implications for us, and is truly the reason Christmas is something to be celebrated. 

In his commentary on this passage in Hebrews, Matthew Henry points out that although some angels had fallen, Jesus did not take on the form of an angel to redeem angels.  No, those angels who fell away by rebelling against God are lost forever.  But man, as a direct result of Jesus coming to earth as a man, now has a “merciful and faithful high priest… to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”  Jesus was not the son of a mortal man- He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit of God (Luke 1:35).  He had no sin nature passed down to Him.  He committed no sin of His own.  He is the only man that ever lived who had no sin of His own. 

Everyone is guilty, but there is hope

We know the penalty of sin is death (Rom 6:23), so everyone who has ever sinned is guilty before God and owes a death penalty.  Since Jesus had no sin of His own for which He owed a death penalty, He was then able to give Himself up to death on the cross, to die as a substitute for me.  He died in my place, to pay MY death penalty.  Jesus died to be my substitute, and to pay the price that I could not afford to pay.  This ultimate gift of having the death penalty paid by His substitutionary death, is available to all who would believe on Him.   

That’s why cute little baby Jesus was in the manger that night – He had come “to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”  So, as we exchange gifts and celebrate this fun holiday, let us remember the ultimate gift given to us by God Himself, the gift of Jesus Christ, through whom we have reconciliation for our sin.  May you have a wonderful Christmas.  May you believe on Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin and be reconciled to God through His amazing gift to you – the gift of Jesus we remember at Christmas!