Discover the Book - December 18, 2011
Christmas: God Gave The Only Gift Everyone Really Needs
At the first Christmas, God gave the only gift everyone really needs.
Each Christmas, as we open God's Word and remember the greatest event since Creation, we have an opportunity to reset our minds on the real message from God for this season in our lives.
As we open to Luke 1:78-79 pause and think about how far we have come from the First Christmas.
More and more here in America, Christmas has become all about wanted gifts; gift giving, give buying, and gift receiving make up so much of these weeks of the year. Many are looking for the most “wanted” gifts; and so much so that often these gifts are sold out and so they become even more sought after. Think about what are:
THE MOST WANTED GIFTS
Each year the world’s largest retailers send out beautiful, full color glossy flyers with their ads stating they have the “gifts everyone wants” this Christmas.
I read through the ads to see what were the items offered as “Most Wanted”: diamonds, home theaters, complete “dream vacation” packages to be with music stars backstage, and on went the list. Then one even advertised the “ultimate” gift—a million and a half dollar personal jet that seats four!
Just what we all really want—diamonds, dream vacations, and private jets, right?
Christmas in America is mostly about gifts I give and receive. Billions and billions of dollars of sales attest to the fact that for these 4-6 weeks Americans flood the retail outlets and search out the gifts that are most wanted, most sought after, most unique, most memorable and so on.
But the real Christmas was the very first one, when God confronted the world with the only gift everyone really needs. Jesus is the gift everyone needs.
God provided the only gift that everyone absolutely, critically needs—the substitutionary death of His Son, who came to meet our eternal-life-threatening need, prompted by our sins.
To help us understand Christmas from God’s perspective:
· look overthe holiday crowds that always seems to get in front of us everywhere we want to go these days;
· look beyondour house, our street, our city, our state, and even our planet—and look above and remember to see our God on His Throne.
GOD IS ON HIS THRONE
This very moment—as the six billion, plus of souls on Earth go through their routines of eating, sleeping, working and living—our God is enthroned in the Heavens; He is sitting in power and majesty, He is surrounded by countless angelic hosts bowing before Him and reverently crying out Holy, Holy, Holy.
· Before Him, the Ancient of Days—burn seven fires, reflected in the mirror-like surface of the crystal sea.
· Around Him, the King of Glory—peal endless claps of thunder and flashes of lightning as angelic hosts and saved sinners rise and fall in adoration.
· In front of Him, the Almighty God—rises the constant incense of prayers and worship songs from His redeemed creatures.
Our God sits enthroned in Heaven, as Ruler over the entire Universe. But as the Lord looks down from His throne upon this planet overspread with people—it looks pretty dark down here.
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