I bring you warm greetings and felicitation on this Christmas day as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Indeed the world, the environment, the people, the weather, and the commercial activities and everything around us tell us that there is something special happening and indeed the world is having the greatest time of holidays and celebration.
This is because celebration especially of Christmas brings joy to all people. Turn with me to Luke Chapter 2, I read from verse 10 “then the angel said to them do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the lord” Amen. Luke the evangelist presented the birth of Jesus Christ with details, historical, social and otherwise. Historically, the birth of Jesus was located during the time when Caesar Augustus was the emperor and Quirinius was the governor of Syria and the emperor ordered a census of the roman empire, this made Joseph and Mary who was pregnant with Jesus and who was due at that time to travel back to their hometown, Bethlehem in Judea to be counted.
This was the context of the birth of Jesus. As Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3 stated that the gospel which we preach is what we have received from the apostles that Jesus Christ died according to the scriptures. In the same vein, everything about Jesus Christ was prophesied in the scriptures from the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 where God promised the seed of the woman, to the call of Abraham in which God promised that in Abraham and his seed the whole earth all people, all nations shall be blessed and also when we look at God’s covenant with David, God promised David that his son will rule and have dominion and his rule and dominion shall be forever. That son was not Solomon it was a pointer, a prophecy concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ the son of David.
Jesus is this child born to us as prophesied by Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7. He is the son given for our salvation for our redemption who is both man and God. He is the prince of peace and God has said that the increase of his government shall have no end. Indeed, every detail about him was prophesied including Micah’s prophecy in chapter 5 verse 2, where the prophet Micah prophesied about Jesus that he would be born in a small town of Bethlehem Ephrathah and he shall be the one who shall rule over Israel the people of God whose goings forth or origin are from of old from everlasting. So today, we celebrate the mystery of the incarnation, the nativity of Christ or the birth of our Savior.
This is the good tidings of great joy which the heaven’s sung, the angelic host came down and the saints and the people on earth rejoiced, people of good will and we are part of that rejoicing and celebration today.
As we behold the lord and rejoice nothing shall take away our joy because the reason of our rejoicing is God Himself, is Jesus Christ. The context of this year’s celebration is very challenging. We are faced with economic hardship which was made worse by the corona virus, Covid-19 pandemic, we are faced with insecurity, banditry and terrorism. Indeed some of us have suffered personal losses, fear and uncertainty surround us. Some of our people are so discouraged that they do not know where to turn to.
Jesus said to his disciples in a time of uncertainty of their future as we see in John chapter 14 when he was about to suffer and die and the imminent return to heaven, he said to them, let not your heart be troubled you believe in God believe also in me. As we look at that, it is a word of reassurance for us especially as we celebrate Christmas in this year 2021 because what Jesus said to his disciples he is also saying to us in this time of uncertainty, when we listen closely to him it is a word of command that demands deliberate obedience because of the authority of God that backs up that command. In the face of uncertainties. Jesus tears up our faith beyond what we can see and that which is confronting us in our world and in our communities and in our personal lives.
Brothers, sisters, fathers in God, I encourage you to put your hope and trust in the Lord. Dare to trust God and hold firmly to the Lord Jesus Christ. The angel who brought the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ to the shepherd said, do not be afraid. Anxiety and fear is holding many in bondage, fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of the future, fear of loss, fear of attacks, and destruction, in the midst of all these, Jesus is our Emmanuel, God is with us. God has not abandoned us, He has not abandoned our nation or our world, instead He has loved us with the everlasting love to such that he could give his only begotten son Jesus Christ to help us and to deliver us even by His name, He is called Jesus because he will save us from our sins and from every clutches of the enemy. Instead of abandoning us, God has come to dwell with us, John chapter 1 verse 14 says the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.
The son of God chose to identify with our poverty and struggles in life, very few people may have been through the poverty and deprivation of Mary and Joseph which they passed through as at the birth of Jesus, such was the deprivational rejection that there was no room for them in the inns and nobody was willing to give a place while Mary was in labor, therefore, Jesus was born in a cattle shed and wrapped with rags in an environment that was dirty and smelly.
Jesus identified with the poorest of the poor who had no privileges, this is the extent of his condescension and self-emptying. As we see in Philippians chapter 2 verse 8 “and being found in the appearance of a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death upon the cross.” God in his incarnation went through extreme poverty, deprivation and humiliation. He humbled Himself. It is in this humble baby of Bethlehem wrapped in a manger that is the hope of humanity that is the salvation of our lives that is the future that God has given us, life eternal through faith in Him.
At this Christmas, Jesus is standing with all the kidnapped victims who may still be in the dens of their kidnappers and the families living in IDP camps and those who are made to be refugees in their own land who have been driven away by those who seem to be more powerful than they and the government seem to be helpless in tackling what is bedeviling our society and our nation. To all who are oppressed and are in fear of tomorrow and those whose wishes and aspirations of good life have eluded them or have not been materialized, to all who are broken-hearted bound in sin and fear, to as many as are not sure of what the future is bringing, to all who are in desperate anxiety and situations, there is the good news, the good news of love, the good news of peace, the good news of God’s presence, the presence of the Almighty and the awesome God is with us, Christ our Savior and Lord is born today, Hallelujah!.
Jesus comes to save us from sin, heal us from every sickness and disease, deliver us from every bondage, bind up every broken heart, he comes to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called the righteousness of the Lord, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.
Jesus comes to raise the people whose trust and hope are in the God of Jacob, that which was beaten down is being built up, is being raised, that which was destroyed is being restored, let every ruin in your life and family receive the touch and the power of the Lord God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ who is born today. God has remembered us, Christ is born to save, deliver and help and in this Christmas I pray that you will receive grace to trust God until the light of his glory shines around you and in your situation.
The light of His glory that shone in the dark night of the first Christmas shall shine upon you. Let every power of anxiety fear and terror, lose their grips over the people and over our land and nation.
Be gone all unbelief and doubt, every contention over the truth and the power of God lose their strangling hold. Let the sun of righteousness arise and let Christ our righteousness take His place in our hearts, in our families and in our nation.
This Christmas also points us to the glorious hope of the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, He who died and rose again and ascended into the heavens shall likewise come to take unto himself the saints the church without wrinkle or spot.
Jesus Christ is coming back again with His holy angels, make room for Him in your heart especially, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. In this Christmas, open up your heart and life, let Him be the Lord of your life.
Merry Christmas and as we March towards the end of the year the Lord will take us gloriously into the year 2022. The lord who has brought us thus far is our Ebenezer and he will go ahead of us. God bless you.
Let us pray! Oh Father, who has declared your love to men by the birth of the holy child at Bethlehem, help us to welcome Him with gladness and to make room for Him in our own lives so that we may live at peace with one another and in good will with all thy family. This we pray through the same thy son Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
