In the quiet of a Bethlehem stable, witnessed by lowly shepherds from a Judean hillside, God brought redemption into the world. How appropriate that it should begin this way - demanding faith to believe, and hope to remain steadfast. His love for His creation was manifest in the manger, the promise of redemption revealed, based on the acceptance of each individual to the will of God. Is it any wonder that many of the Jews rejected Jesus? They were expecting a warrior king who would reinstate the Jewish nation. But the manger revealed God’s plan to extend His promise to all creation. From the moment in the garden when Adam and Eve turned from the Creator, God provided an answer for Man’s defection. Channeled through a chosen tribe, He would bring redemption.
By definition, redemption demands exchange - one for another. In the redemption of mankind, the Son became our payment, the price for our salvation. It could only be the Christ Who was fully God and fully man. Beginning at the manger and triumphing at the empty grave, our atonement was bought at so great a price because of so great a love.
Through Jesus, God offers complete reconciliation available to all in heaven and earth. And we receive not only absolution from sin but a share in the Kingdom of Light, rescued from the dominion of darkness to reign with the Son. (Col. 1:12-14, 19-20)
“For God so loved the world,” Jesus reminds us. (John 3:16) In other words, God loved us in such a way. His is a love beyond our comprehension - “in such a way” that He provided a path of redemption for the undeserving through His Son. And even more, His love is constant. Paul explains in His letter to the church at Rome - “What can separate us from the love of God…neither death nor life, what happens today or what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
Christmas is the celebration of the Light Who came into the world, God’s light, Love personified, on-going and eternal. It is through faith in Him that our relationship with God changes, our hope for resurrection is bolstered. But it is only in love’s greatest sacrifice that we are redeemed, sharing eternity with Him.