It feels good to be out of that sling. I feel free. It is so with my soul. Christmas and then Easter remind me of what Jesus did and how good it is to be free.
Christmas is a time for children, young and old. It brings out the child in all of us. The lights, the music, and the atmosphere of Christmas, along with the believing, is good for grown ups. It strengthens our faith. It’s been a rough time weather-wise this Christmas, but the blessing is still there. Christmas is special to us because of the memories, and each year we make more new ones. It’s an occasion for families to get together and is better than the other occasions because this gathering makes us feel young all over again.
Galatians 4:3 “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. 7Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
The birth of Jesus Christ, the supreme family of God the Father and his only begotten son, also make it a family affair. That single child, not 5 or 6 of them, is the greatest gift the world has ever seen and it changed the course of history, whether we believe it or not. The cause, aim, goal of all history before Jesus came is known to us as B.C. or before Christ. From the birth of Jesus to now is known as Anno Domini, the year of our Lord.
There was a child for a child. You and I were children of the devil. The child Jesus came for the child—you and me. This was the mission of God that in him “we might receive the adoption of sons.” God’s desire is that none perish, and this is why there was a child—his child. Jesus had to enter as a child just like we entered. Verse 3 is a clear picture of Adam’s race. We “were in bondage.” No matter how we see ourselves, no matter what self portrait we paint, none of us are anything more than children, not good ones either. We say we have a good and bad side, but in God’s eyes there are no good children of Adam. The Bible says there is “none good, no not one.” The Law of God was a teacher, and it shows us clearly what right and wrong are; thereby we realize our failure. We’re not as good as we thought. We are the children of disobedience. Now that we know right from wrong, we still find ourselves going astray. The need for Jesus is on going. Our Adam nature is still around and it has a big imagination. We may play around with many things, but we must never play around with our soul. We need Jesus, the child of Christmas.
There are not several ways to heaven. There is one God, one Son—one Savior. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life.” A child came to deliver the other children of bondage. At our beginning we received our human Adam nature. Jesus took on the human nature of Adam, but he was the eternal son of God. He became incarnate in the virgin womb of Mary. He was born as a child. I can never be a begotten son of God, but through his redemptive work Jesus can take me by the hand and present me to the Father for adoption. Jesus came to us for us. The Ancient of Days came just at the right time, as a little baby. Christ was brought to those who were lost.
The son Jesus cried in the stable and walked every step and breathed every breath, setting his face toward Jerusalem. He came “to seek and save that which was lost.” He found me, washed me, and I immediately received the adoption and became the child of God.
The stable door is not closed. The stone is forever rolled away from the tomb. The way is open. The child of Christmas came to make you his brother by the adoption of the God the Father. Thank God for the blessing of being his son. We can look at God and cry “Abba, Father.” I see what child I am. I can look at the stable and say “what child is this who lay to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping.”
We may not have gotten much for Christmas, but we do have him. The child of Christmas makes us the children of Christmas, an “heir of God, through Christ.”
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 