For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Christmas is central to God’s plan. This is literal since Christmas came in between God’s creation and God’s kingdom to come.
This Christmas day, do we think about Christmas as part of God’s wonderful plan for us? In Ephesians 1:3-10, Paul wrote this fitting message of understanding God’s plan for you and me: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace,which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
Do we then understand God’s plan for us?
First, God desires for us to live a blameless and holy life (1 Thessalonians 3:13). A holy life is a life of Christlikeness. We do not only live our lives on our own but on behalf of Christ Himself. Such life reflects not the human weaknesses and fleshly will, but the mind, the heart, and the representation of Jesus Christ.
God’s wants to include us in His family through Jesus Christ (John 1:12). God wants us to enjoy the fellowship of a family in Heaven, with Jesus Christ as both our Savior King, and co-heir of the kingdom of God.
God wills that we all be redeemed through the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 9:22). The holiness of God does not agree with the unrighteousness, wickedness and disobedience of humankind. There has to be a payment of debt. The blood of the lamb is the payment of sin for ancient Israel. But for all the world, the blood of the Lamb of God, His own choosing, His own Son Jesus Christ, is the only payment enough for a one time remission.
He plans that we know His will in everything that we do (Matthew 7:21). God wants to direct our lives into the path of righteousness and Christlikeness. He wants us to follow His will in our lives. That obedience to receive Christ and to follow the Father’s will is a doorstep to eternal life.
He plans that we belong to Him in all eternity (1 Corinthians 15:53). God wants to build His eternal family, that is why He created Heaven as His abode (Matthew 5:16) and Jesus Christ prepared the mansions in Heaven (John 14:2).
In Jeremiah 29:11, God expressed His perfect plan for us when he sent this message through the weeping prophet, “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
God’s plan is for our good. How then do we achieve God’s plan for a blameless and holy life? His plan for adoption and redemption? I came across a card many years ago that says “God my Father does not intend me to be rich or famous, He only intends me to be His child.”
God’s original and perfect plan was to create a world, a paradise where His will reigns in the hearts of humankind. But because God gave humans their own will, the will to obey and the will to serve Him, humans chose their own to disobey and to serve themselves rather than God. Humans have ever since wanted themselves to be the gods of this world. Because of this human will, sin entered the world. Because of disobedience, humans are totally lost.
But God has in mind, as part of His plan, a redemptive move for humans who He loves. Christmas.
Christmas is a celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth. Its word origin is derived from the Latin “Christus” and Greek “Christos”, which refers to the Messiah (John 14:6), and the Old English suffix “maesse”, which means festival, feast day or a mass. Christmas, even when a lot of people believe that it does not have a biblical history, is for us a celebration of Christ.
Jesus is the promised Messiah (John 4:25-26; Mark 14:60-62). He has to be born in human form in order to fulfill God’s plan of redemption (Hebrews 10:4). He was born a human from a human parent through the divine act of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). He has to be human in order to serve the ultimate sacrifice for the payment of sin (John 15:13).
While living on earth, Jesus Christ showed us God the Father (John 14:8), and exercised the model of compassion (Matthew 9:36), love (Luke 6:27-36), sacrifice (John 15:13), forgiveness (Luke 23:33-35) and tolerance (2 Corinthians 5:19). Ultimately, he showed to us picture of total obedience to the will of God, the Father (Luke 22:42).
We celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ with the same fervor as we also celebrate Holy Friday as His death and sacrifice on the Cross. We celebrate Christmas during this season but we also connect the celebration to Easter Sunday when we celebrate His resurrection from death. Central to the plan of God between His creation and His coming Kingdom is the birth, the life, and the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In order to fulfil God’s ultimate plan for humankind, Jesus Christ has to be born in human flesh. He is in fact, never an apparition or a ghost to everyone who believes and will believe in Him. He is God in human form.
Christmas has to happen in order to bridge that loss during the creation when sin entered. With the birth of Jesus Christ, humans earned the hope of salvation, of redemption, and of eternal life in heaven. With the birth of Jesus Christ in human form, we now have a Savior, a Redeemer, and King. Christmas reminds us that Jesus Christ alone can bridge us back to the Father, back to His original plan, and back to His great plan of life in Heaven.
So when we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate Jesus Christ who is God’s perfect gift for eternity. Our Christmas is not measured by the presents we received, or a lavish feast that we prepare. Our Christmas is measured on how we give love, spread the good news of salvation, and how we seek to obey God’s will in our lives. Our Christmas is measured on how well we define our lives according to the plan of God.
