December 25: Saviour
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.”
Merry Christmas! Today we culminate our celebration of the birth of Jesus as we remember him as our Saviour. Let’s begin by seeing that great scene of the angels appearing in the fields in Luke 2:8-14:
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
If you have ever sinned against God, you need a saviour. Whether or not you truly realize it, your greatest and most tangible need right now is not money, health, a new job, a new partner, new kids, new circumstances or even a restful holiday after a big year, it’s the need to be made right with your creator. You have an almighty sin problem that threatens to destroy you. But the good news of great joy that the angels were speaking of in that field is that Jesus is your great and final solution to your sin problem.
It was his love for you that brought him to earth, and his love for you that took him to the cross. God has intervened in human history and your very life to get your attention, to shake you awake from your slumber and to show you amazing grace! Undeserved and unearned, but yours all the same. Take hold of it today! It is truly the most wonderful thing to know the present and active pleasure of God over your life. There truly is “peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
This Christmas day, let us rejoice and let us believe the good news! in the words of Frederick Buechner: “Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest thing of all. Amen, and come, Lord Jesus”.