What’s God’s Christmas Plan?

Mankind has needed the Jesus of Christmas since time began. When God created us, He included a unique place in our hearts just for Him. Even so, every generation has attempted to fill that spot by worshiping gods they could see, made from wood, metal, or stone. So, What’s God’s Christmas Plan?

Give them what they want

If God’s children wanted to see, hear, and touch Him before agreeing to obey His commandments, He’d oblige. The Almighty God sent Jesus, His Son, to demonstrate the way to live an obedient life. In humility Jesus left the glory of Heaven and began His earthly sojourn the same way we all do—as a baby.

Jesus did not come to earth as the son of a king or a rich man. Most of us aren’t born into royalty or wealth. Jesus’ earthly father worked as a carpenter, and so did Jesus until the time His ministry began.

God wanted the ordinary folks and poor people to know they’d find acceptance with Jesus. The same is as true today as two thousand years ago.

As with our own lives, Father God had a unique purpose/mission in mind when He sent Jesus to live on earth. His earthly life had a specific beginning, and the finale had nothing at all to do with the number of years he lived, nor the number of years He’d been in ministry.

Jesus lived a sinless life, providing the perfect sacrifice for us all. Jesus’ fulfilled His mission and earned the title of Redeemer. He returned to reclaim His rightful place on the throne of Heaven with Father God.

The redemption phase of God’s plan began on Christmas Day. God picked out the players, rejecting popular thought and norms of the era.

God’s choice

In today’s climate of political correctness and tolerance, why should we accept Jesus and not Mohamed, Buddha or one of the millions of Hindu gods? Why aren’t other belief systems considered equally valid in the Creator’s plan?

The answer is simply… truth. Of all the created beings or things that man has ever worshiped as his god, there is only one who existed from the beginning and who is the true God: Jesus.

The Bible opens with, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” (Gen. 1:1-3 KJV)

Man had yet to be created. No wood, metal, or stone existed from which to carve out a false god.

Moving to the New Testament, John lets us know that Jesus, not Mohamed, Buddha or any Hindu deities, had a spot on the Creation Team, as he writes:

”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3 NKJV)

If man wanted to see and touch the God who made the earth and all it contained, only God’s Christmas plan fulfilled the need.

Historical belief systems

Anthropologist and archaeologists have found evidence that mankind, as far back as the Neanderthals, had a spiritual belief system—so, at least, 70,000 years ago if not longer. Following the timeline:

Then, 60,000 years or so ago, agriculture began to dot the landscape, adding more false gods for the people to worship.

Hinduism joined the scene around 4000-2500 BC.

Some suggest that Judaism was next on the scene around 2000 BC. Others believe it began even earlier.

Buddha was born into a Hindu family. He launched the belief system known as Buddhism around 560-490 BC.

Jesus’ birth marked a dramatic change in the way the world noted time. The years were now “in the year of our Lord” (AD) instead of BC, before Christ. Many Jews became Believers in Jesus, as did many Gentiles.

Mohamed was born around six hundred years later. By 622 AD, Islam had joined the world’s religions.

The myriads of idols could not be carved or chiseled out of stone had the Almighty God not spoken the raw materials into existence. Since Jesus had been there to create these elements, truly, it’s Jesus who’s worthy to be praised, not images carved out of wood or stone.

The Christmas plan

Recognizing that the people had a problem with obedience, excusing themselves because they couldn’t see the God Who set forth the commandments, God instituted His Christmas Plan. Jesus left Heaven to spend time on earth. The people saw Jesus. They touched Him. They heard Him speak of the very precepts and commandments that Father God had always held as the way for them to keep their personal relationship with the Godhead solid.

Jesus struggled with temptations of all kinds. His humanity echoed our own. Jesus got angry but didn’t sin. Jesus showed us all that crying in public doesn’t make a guy a wuss. Jesus loved kids and didn’t push them aside when the adults thought He should. In short, Jesus demonstrated the character of the Creator God throughout His mission on earth.

Then, when the fullness of time had come, the finale of the Christmas Plan began. The sin of the people had made a separation between God and man. Jesus provided the final sacrifice that made a way for every person of every generation and in every culture to be redeemed, saved from the penalty of their sin.

In reality, what may have looked like defeat to the onlookers was a mighty triumph over sin and eternal death. Jesus arose! His earthly mission completed, He returned to take His rightful place in Heaven, seated at the right-hand of the Father.

Conclusion

God’s Christmas plan opened the door that saved each one from eternal pain and darkness. Since that day long ago in Bethlehem, completed thirty—three years later on a hill outside Jerusalem, we all have a choice as to our eternal destination.

What’s God’s Christmas Plan? The same today as in the beginning—to show each person in the world that He loved them enough to leave Heaven, suffer and die for them.

Enjoy the delicious food, beautiful music, and marvelous decorations of the Christmas season. Let the celebration of Christmas be a demonstration of thanksgiving to God for the greatest gift God has ever given us—Jesus.

If you’ve never read the Christmas story, I recommend my favorite spot—Luke 1:26-56 and about the birth, 2:1-39. If you want to know God’s Christmas plan, you’ll need to keep reading! The first four books of the New Testament give an account of Jesus’ life on this planet. However, as it says in John 21:25 (NIV), “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

So, we have only a part of the story available to us this side of Heaven.