Bible Reading:
Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 to 25

The Birth of Jesus Christ

What were you like when you were newly born? How fast could you run? How much did you earn? How good were you at shopping and cooking? Perhaps you have younger brothers and sisters? What were they like in their first few days or months? They probably cried a lot and slept a lot.

We might all grow up to be strong and wise and able to deal with all that life brings to us but as babies we're helpless. And so it is with even those who grow up to be the mightiest of people in the world. All were born into the world as tiny helpless babies. So a little dolly in a crib might be a good way to show what we, or our brothers or sisters, or anyone else, were like as babies. It is in this way that we so often see The Lord Jesus Christ portrayed at Christmas. We see Him shown as a tiny baby and we might be tempted to think of Him as like any other tiny baby.

But The Lord Jesus was not like any other baby ever born.

When was it known that you would be born? Normally a few short months is the limit for knowing that a baby is expected to be born. The prophet Micah lived over 600 years before the birth of The Lord Jesus yet he foretold Jesus' birth at Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." But Jesus' birth was promised even before that. Right at the beginning when Adam and Eve fell into sin The LORD God promised that a man descended from Eve would overcome satan. About 4000 years passed before Jesus was born at Bethlehem. Yet in Genesis 3:15 we read "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The coming of The Lord Jesus, which began with His birth, is here foretold almost from the beginning of time.

What will you make your career, and when did you decide what you wanted to be? When I was young I wanted to be a lorry driver and drive a big petrol tanker. A bit older and I wanted to be in the army or a fighter pilot. But I did something else instead. All our lives are planned out in Gods purposes. Jesus' purpose was far more important than anything you or I could do in our lives. There was no doubt about what The Lord Jesus was going to do with His life.

Moses, one of the great leaders of Gods people about 14-1500 years before The Lord Jesus was born, foretold something of what The Lord Jesus would do in Deuteronomy 18:15 "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;" He was to be a teacher of the things of God who should be taken notice of. Mary, the mother of Jesus was told about Him before He was born in Matthew 1:21. Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Even before He was born the purpose of The Lord Jesus life was known. He was to be a teacher and The Saviour of His people. Whatever any of us here goes on to do with our lives we will never be able, or need, to follow the same career as The Lord Jesus. This is because The LORD Jesus is the only one who can save sinners. It is because The Lord Jesus is, in one particular way, different to everyone else born into the world.

The most important difference is that The LORD Jesus is God and man at the same time. It is because of this that there are so many other different events surrounding His birth and His life. Throughout history there were promises building up about the birth of The Lord Jesus. Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." No ordinary person could say that about themselves. He is Gods ONLY Begotten Son, there is nobody else like Him. Hebrews 1:1-4 "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they."

The Lord Jesus is God and man and He came into the world that God might give the gift of salvation from sin and hell to sinners like you and me. Don't ever think of Him as an ordinary baby in a crib. Even as a human baby He upheld the whole world, which He had created, by the word of His power. What do you want most in this life? What is at the top of your list of things that you would most like to receive in your life? Nintendo, money, games, toys, a bike, a car , a house, exotic holidays, fame? It is always nice to receive presents but nothing anyone on this earth can give us can ever make us right with God. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." God gave His Son The Lord Jesus that sinful people might be saved from their sin. Did you, when reading this, think that what you'd most like to have is the gift of Salvation from God?

Ask a drowning man what he most wants and he'll tell you he most wants a lifeboat to save him from the sea.

Ask someone who's fallen out of an aeroplane what he most wants and he'll tell you he most wants a parachute to save him from crashing into the ground.

Ask someone who's on fire what they most want and they'll tell you they most want buckets of water thrown over them to save them from being burned to death.

Ask a lost perishing sinner on the way to hell for ever under the wrath of God what he or she most wants and it'll be a computer or a Nintendo or a mountain bike or some money or a house or a car or anything else - but not to be saved from sin and Gods anger. We are all sinners. We all break Gods laws and the thing we need most of all is salvation from God by what The Lord Jesus Christ has done in His life and His death and His being raised again from the dead and His return to heaven. He came into the world to save sinners.

Ask God to show you how much you need to be saved from your sin. Then ask Him to save you - and He will.