“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

— John 1:14

Do you remember the fairy tale about the toad that, when kissed by a princess, became a handsome prince? Well, Christmas is the story about a prince who became a toad— about the Creator of the universe who became a creature to redeem the creatures in bondage. How would you feel about becoming an animal—a donkey, an ostrich, or a toad? I submit to you that the distance between Christ, the eternal Son of God, and a human being is infinitely greater than the distance between a human and any part of the animal creation. Christ is immortal; death was alien and foreign to His nature. Yet He tasted death for us.

Through the centuries, the hymn writers, theologians, and heralds of Christ have told us that this Babe in Bethlehem is none other than God Himself—the same One who enwrapped Himself with the starry clouds of the Milky Way and flung from His fingertips the vast myriad of galaxies that light the night sky. He is none other than the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient Creator of all things. He is our God, the Almighty One, God the Son. He left Heaven so we could gain Heaven. He came into the valley of sorrows so we could have a way out of it. He became poor to give us His riches. He suffered to free us from pain and death.

Christ’s life on earth was absolutely unique. He never learned because He knew all things. He never apologized because He never did anything wrong. He never corrected His teachings; He never sought advice. Never before or since has such a Man as this lived, who invariably evoked from the hearts and minds of those who beheld Him the startled question, “What manner of man is this?” The baby asleep on Mary’s lap was Christ our King, Lord of the universe. What a privilege to know Him.

“Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity.
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.”
Charles Wesley

“And there shall be no more curse … ‘ for the former things have passed away.’”

— Revelation 22:3, 21:4

When Christ came to earth, He began reversing the effects of the Curse that resulted from Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. This restoration process, which will only be complete in Heaven, includes the development of science.

Have you ever thought of it that way? Most people don’t. After all, the tenets of science and those of Christianity often seem at odds in today’s world. But modern science has Christian origins. Not only did science arise in a Christian culture, but all of the major founders of the different branches of science were Christians, some of them very devout. Great scientists who were committed Christians include Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, Louis Pasteur, Blaise Pascal, Joseph Lister, Michael Faraday, and Lord Kelvin, to name just a few. We need to recognize the link between their Christian worldview and their pioneering discoveries. Science, said Kepler, the great astronomer, was “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.”

Science has proved to be a great blessing to all of humankind, saving the lives of millions and lengthening the life spans of virtually all it has touched. And science was born from the Christian faith. When we experience the benefits of modern science—driving to an antiseptic hospital, receiving anesthesia, and having pure, germ-free surgery—we owe all this to Christ and His devoted people of faith.

Let’s remember that science’s breakthroughs are Christ’s blessings to us. As Isaac Watts’ great Christmas carol, “Joy to the World!” declares, “He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found.” What’s one blessing from science that has further removed the Curse from your life? I encourage you to thank God for that scientific development during this Christmas season.

“There are two books laid before us to study, to
prevent our falling into error; first, the volume of the
Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the
volume of the Creatures, which express His power.”
Francis Bacon
(Father Of The Scientific Method)

“… Cursed is the ground for your sake … In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread …”

— Genesis 3:17, 19

Do you remember the last time you blew it with God? Do you remember what that did inside of you?

You’re not alone. People have experienced those feelings since the beginning of time.

What happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned? They died spiritually. Their minds were darkened. They stubbornly followed their own wills, their spirits out of tune with God. Through their sin, Adam and Eve allowed sorrow, separation, guilt, fear, and self-centeredness into Paradise—into the lives of all humankind—bringing hatred, crime, violence, war, death, and Hell in their wake.

The Curse resulting from Adam and Eve’s sin has not only spiritual implications, but also physical ones. God pronounced the Curse first upon Satan for deceiving and tempting the woman, condemning the Serpent to crawl on its belly and eat dust. Then God cursed the woman, increasing her suffering in childbirth and subjecting her to her husband. For the man, God took the delight from work, relegating the man to a life of labor and toil in the midst of thorns and thistles. All of the animals came under the Curse, and what had been kindly and loving pets became dangerous, wild, and poisonous creatures. Finally, all creatures would eventually succumb to physical death most often preceded by disease, illness, pain, and weakness.

Maybe you’d rather not dwell on such depressing issues at this time of year. And, fortunately, you don’t have to. Why? Because Christmas is all about Christ’s coming to take away the effects of this horrible curse. Christ came to earth as a baby to absorb the Curse for us. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus destroyed the Devil’s works and created a way for us to be restored, perfect in God’s sight.

God begins that work in you and me when we surrender to Him and become His children, born of the Spirit. That work continues throughout our lives in the process of sanctification. Fully and perfectly, we will be restored when we reach Heaven; Christ will have completed His work in us and eliminated the Curse. In a perfect world and in perfect bodies, we shall dwell forever with Christ.

This is the message of Christmas, the reason Jesus came to earth as a babe. As you and I anticipate Christmas this year, let’s rejoice that all curses are reversed in Jesus Christ.

“So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav’n.”
Phillips Brooks

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”

— 1 John 4:18

When was the last time you felt your heart pounding, your stomach tying itself into knots, your hands shaking like leaves in the wind? Was it last year? last month? yesterday?

Maybe you feel those things this very minute.

Fear runs deep in the human race, a legacy passed down from the very first of God’s creation. It’s the natural response of a sinful people to impending judgment. After Adam and Eve had tasted forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, what was their immediate response to hearing God’s voice? They were afraid and ran to hide themselves among the trees of the garden.

Do you remember the three angels who visited Abraham and then went to Sodom to talk to Lot? One of them was none other than God Himself appearing briefly in angelic form. But He came not as a Savior; he came to spy out the wickedness of the land. He came as a destroyer, bidding the red-hot sulfur to fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah to end the wickedness of their people.

God also came in judgment of the world during the time of Noah. In the face of the Flood that eventually wiped wickedness from the face of the earth, the people cried out in fear before they cried out no more.

Do you ever feel that fear? People truly had every reason to fear God and the supernatural, just as a criminal fears a police car’s blinking lights and wailing sirens. But the angel that announced Christ’s birth said, “Do not be afraid.” During his lifetime, Jesus repeated those words often. Jesus didn’t quote them from the angel. Jesus gave those words to the angel when He commissioned the angel to communicate His birth to the world. This message and Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, ushered in a new relationship with God: “Fear not.” “Be not afraid.” “It is I, be of good courage.” “Fear not, little flock.”

We don’t have to be afraid. Perfect love drives out fear, and God loves us—loves you— perfectly. You and I need not fear God’s punishment, for Jesus has taken it for us.

Will you accept God’s perfect love today?

Hear the angel’s words—and God’s message to you: “Be not afraid, for I bring you good tidings of great joy.”

“Now we need not fear the grave;
Jesus Christ was born to save.”
“Good Christian Men Rejoice” (Christmas Carol)

“Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”

— Isaiah 9:2

“Why are there so many lights, Daddy?” Have you ever wondered the same thing at Christmastime, when you see hundreds of houses decked with colorful, twinkling lights? The question about the Christmas lights came on a dark December night from a four-year-old girl. Her father perceptively answered, “Because Jesus is the light of the world.”

Before the Light of the World came to earth, the world was very dark. The Golden Age of Greek philosophy had passed, and an intellectual barrenness had covered the landscape of the mind. The faith in the Homeric gods had all but vanished completely, and skepticism had paled the souls of many. The moral structure of society had collapsed everywhere, and humanity had sunk deep into the mire of depravity and vice. When there was nothing but discouragement, disillusion, and despair—when everything was the bleakest and darkest and grimmest—Jesus came.

By no mere coincidence does Christmas come in December. Christmas comes after the season when the dead leaves have flown across the ground with every gust of wind. Christ did not arrive in the time of blooming flowers and balmy breezes. Christ did not arrive in the time of fields ripe for harvest. He arrived when frost lay sheeted over the earth. He came in the midst of a bleak and dark December under a glittering star. This reminds us that Christ came for those who feel frostbitten by life. He came for those who are snowed under. He came for those overwhelmed by the cold realities of life. He came to soothe and rock and cradle and kiss and lullaby a cold, hurt, crying world.

Christmas makes December beautiful and bright. Christ makes His birthday a time of joy, miracles, and light. Thank Him today for the Light He brought to the world at Christmastime and for the Light He brings daily to your life.

Before Christ came, the devil made it
“always winter and never Christmas.”
Paraphrase Of C.S. Lewis

“For there is born to you this day in the city of David [Bethlehem] a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

— Luke 2:11

Do you know the story behind one of the most beloved Christmas carols, “O Little Town of Bethlehem”? Let me tell it to you. A young Episcopalian minister arrived in Jerusalem on December 24, 1865. He made his way on horseback about six miles south, to the little town of Bethlehem. He stood at the bottom of a hill and was struck by the vision of the town. With very little light around it, the town seemed so dark. How still and silent was the sight. So unlike the flaming metropolises of America, blackness hovered over the little town of Bethlehem.

Three years later, the minister, Phillips Brooks, wrote a poem about Bethlehem. During the week before Christmas, Brooks’ music director, Lewis Redner, wrote a melody for that poem. He finished it just in time for Christmas Sunday, when it was first sung by six Sunday school teachers and thirty-six children. And every Christmas since, that song has touched our hearts, for it speaks of the deepest needs and greatest longings of the human heart and soul.

For centuries the human soul has longed for something more than death. “Is life no more than this?” people ask as they watch their loved ones descend into the tomb to return no more. “There must be more than this.” The hopes of all the world rested with that little Babe in Bethlehem.

Also, the fears of all the world were met there with Him—the fears that life has no ultimate meaning and no significant purpose, that humanity has no future, that we must go down into the pit of oblivion never to live again. But Christ’s birth gives humankind new hope to combat those fears.

Today as you anticipate Christmas, think of Bethlehem and the event that occurred in that humble little town. Allow Christ to meet all your hopes and fears, for He came to do just that.

“Yet in the dark street shineth the everlasting Light; The
hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.”
Phillips Brooks

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

— Micah 5:2

One January my wife and I listed fifty-five separate prophecies made by today’s leading seers and psychics. As that year unfolded, we watched to see which of those prophecies would come true. Not a single one came to pass! Worldly prophets rarely predict events accurately. The worldly prophet Nostradamus became famous because he made one single and obscure prophecy which some believed Hitler fulfilled, but that prophecy could have applied just as easily to a number of other people at various times in Europe’s history. Worldly prophecy leaves room for many interpretations.

While worldly prophecy is weak, we can bank our lives on Biblical prophecy. The prophecy about the Messiah in Micah 5:2 states two things about Him: (1) He would be born in Bethlehem, and (2) He would be eternal. Some may say that this prophecy is weak and unsatisfactory. And it is, just as one single thread is weak and easily snapped. But if you take 333 such threads (some of which we discussed in yesterday’s devotion) and wind them together, no one could break the cord produced. In the same way, no one can break the prophecies made about Jesus Christ. The Old Testament contains an incredible 333 prophecies that describe in detail virtually every aspect of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Nothing remotely like this exists anywhere else in all of the annals of history or all the other religious books of the world.

These Biblical prophecies show us not only that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, but that the Word of God is divinely inspired and that we can trust in what it says. The fulfillment of these prophecies demonstrates God’s existence—in no way could all these prophets have made these prophecies if God had not inspired them to know these things long before they took place. We have seen the utter failure of secular prophets. Only in the Bible and by God’s inspiration do we find prophecies fulfilled.

“God the Holy Spirit moved the prophets to write, and
put into their minds the very thoughts which they
expressed and the very words which they wrote.”
Martin Luther

“Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up …”

— Matthew 11:4-5

Do you ever wonder whether Jesus is all He claimed to be? Whether He’ll fulfill all the promises He made to us? Well, even John the Baptist, the one sent to prepare Christ’s way, had his moments of doubt. And when we wonder if Jesus is really the One, the answer He gave John should suffice for any of us. John was very familiar with the prophet Isaiah, and he knew the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah (Isaiah 29:18, 35:4-6). So when Jesus wanted to prove to John His true identity, He told John, in Isaiah’s words, how He had fulfilled prophecies. In the same way, when we have doubts, we can look to how Jesus fulfilled Biblical prophecy, proving that He is the Messiah. According to just a few of the 333 concrete prophecies in the Old Testament, the Messiah would:

And the list goes on. My friends, God has given us enormous evidence of Jesus’ identity as the Christ. We need have no question about the granite foundation upon which our faith rests. We may know that just as these prophecies of the Old Testament came to pass, so will the promises of the New Testament come to pass. We can trust in Jesus, come what may. The next time you find yourself doubting Jesus Christ, remember how He has fulfilled every promise He made. Then dwell on the truth that in the same way He’ll fulfill the promises He has made to you.

“I came to believe that Christ was the One
predicted by the prophets of my people.”
Jewish Believer In Jesus

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

— Revelation 1:8

“Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” Sometimes these are called “college questions.” But by no means are they restricted to the college campus. I cannot imagine anyone in this world who has not at some time asked these penetrating questions.

Unfortunately, most people who ask these questions never seem to find satisfactory answers. I don’t believe they ever will unless they look outside of themselves and direct these same questions to another—to the One who holds in His hands the key to all things—Jesus Christ. We can ask the same “college questions” about Jesus, and as we discover the answers, we find answers to those questions for our own lives. So let’s ask them.

Who is Jesus? He says He is the eternal One, the Almighty, the Beginning and the End. Jesus is God the Son. In believing and affirming these truths about Christ, we can realize that we’re God’s creation, placed on earth by His will and His design. We’re His children.

Why did Jesus come here? He came to reconcile us to God. In our natural state, we are separated from God. God’s holiness and purity cannot coexist with our impurity and the filth in our hearts. And we can do nothing to bridge the distance between us and God. So Jesus Christ made a way, spanning the distance by His death on the cross. Whenever we go to Jesus Christ for cleansing and forgiveness, whether we come for the first time or for the billionth time, His death sufficiently atones for all. When we know why He came, we also know why we are here—to glorify Him and spread His kingdom.

Where was Jesus going? Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am you may be also.” When we know where Christ has gone, we discover our final destination: Heaven, where we will live with Him for eternity. He’s already preparing it for us and will receive us to Himself as soon as our time on earth is done.

In Christ, we have the answers to all our questions about our purpose and our destiny. We know who we are, why we’re here, and where we’re going. Today thank Christ for providing those answers for you.

“Life is filled with meaning as soon
as Jesus Christ enters into it.”
Stephen Neill

“[Christ] committed no sin, nor was guile found in His mouth.”

— 1 Peter 2:22

A man able to walk through this life yet never sin—doesn’t that seem an impossibility? Only one human has ever accomplished this feat: Jesus Christ. In our society, we raise up many as heroes, but upon closer inspection, we find they have feet of clay. Yet Jesus could say, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46).

Holy men and women confess their sins. They keep short accounts with God. As holy people grow closer to God, they recognize their own sinfulness more and more. One of the greatest Christians in the history of the Church, the apostle Paul, called himself “the chief of sinners.” Conversely, people guilty of heinous crimes often claim innocence. (Visit a prison, and you’ll be amazed at how many prisoners claim they’ve been falsely accused.) But Jesus Christ towers above all people, sinners and saints, in the perfection of His character.

Through the centuries people have tried and failed to find any blemish in Jesus Christ’s flawless life. One time a Hindu Brahmin, alarmed at the spread of Christianity in India, set out to write a tract to expose Christ’s weaknesses. But the Brahmin abandoned this task because he could find no weak points or sins in Jesus. There aren’t any. Even skeptics have shown their respect for the Savior. Listen to what one of them, Ernest Renan of France, said about Christ: “Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus will never be surpassed.” He is the perfect one.

Today praise Jesus Christ for His sinlessness. Thank Him that because He lived a sinless life, you can live for eternity.

“Jesus, good paragon, thou crystal Christ.”
Poem