eDevotions for Growing Christians

To Children, Christmas is Toys. To Students, Christmas is Vacation. To Merchants, Christmas is Money. To Mothers, Christmas is Family. To Fathers, Christmas is Bills. To many, Christmas is Rush! Christmas means many different things to different people in our society. Amidst all the hustle and bustle it's hard to sense the faint probe of conscience: "Remember the real meaning of Christmas."

What is the real meaning of Christmas, anyway? What is it really all about? Is the real meaning hidden in the "Seek to give, not to get" idea? Is the real meaning found when one discovers "Christmas is not a holiday but a holy day"? Or is the real meaning of Christmas understood simply as the birthday celebration for Jesus? Now all these ideas are good and stem from the basic truth of Christmas, but none gets to the heart of the matter. A four word phrase in John 1:14 gives us the real meaning of Christmas: "The Word became flesh." That's what it's all about!

Jesus was the Word! Words are what we use to express our thoughts to others. Words reveal our intentions. In the person of Jesus Christ the mind and heart of God was fully expressed. Throughout human history God had spoken to man in many different ways such as dreams and visions and angels. But now He has spoken to us in the Person of His Son (Hebrews 1:1 and 2). The Lord Jesus Christ is God's ultimate revelation to man. There's nothing more to say! Jesus is God's final Word.

But Christmas brings with it a lot of hard questions. How do we know that there is a God who is gracious when a fuel crisis threatens our security and happiness? How do we know that there is a God who loves man when pollution and overpopulation and The Bomb threaten our very survival? How do we know that there is a God of truth when honesty and morality have gone down the tubes? We know because God has declared Himself in Jesus! Although we can't answer all the "why's" we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God. John 1:18 tells us that even though we have never seen God, everything that we need to know about God was declared or shown forth in Jesus. The undeniable historical fact that Jesus embodied love and grace and truth reveals to us the depths of the heart of God in spite of the hard questions. When the "Word became flesh", God revealed Himself to be "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

The single verse of John 1:1 clears up any doubts we may have as to who Jesus really is. First we have His eternal existence stated: "In the beginning was the Word." Bethlehem was not the beginning! The Son of God always was. Think back to anything you want and the Word was already there. Secondly we have His true Deity stated: "The Word was God." The eternal Son of God is in no way inferior to God. He is described as the "only begotten Son." This does not mean that he was a descendant of God. It means that as the eternal Son of God He is God in His very nature. He is Deity to the core of His being. And this can be said of no other person---Jesus only. And thirdly we have His distinct personality stated: "The Word was with God." This short phrase prevents us from thinking of the Word as merely an "extension of God's mind" or "a mode of God's Being." The Word is a distinct personality in the Godhead (another word for Trinity). It was at Bethlehem that the Word, the eternal Son of God, stepped into time and became a Man of history.

"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The eternal Son of God became Man and lived here on earth. Incredible! Fantastic! Marvelous! Wondrous! Holy! TRUE! This was the incarnation. The Baby born at Bethlehem and named Jesus was both a Man of history and the eternal Word of God at the same time. He dwelt among us and out of love He went to the cross and gave His life for us. Now he lives. Jesus, the Son of God become Man, lives! The "Word became flesh" and this incarnation did not end at the resurrection. Jesus did not revert to His pre-incarnate state when He ascended to the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ is now glorified in Heaven and we will see Him some day. That God became Man forever is the real meaning of Christmas.

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