The Almighty Child in Bethlehem: Is He In Your Nativity Display or In Your Heart?

This time of the year fills us Christians with great joy and love.  But for the Christian it should be at all times, but here it is, the season of Christmas, and I am joyful in the Lord.  Though trails, tribulations, afflictions and the torments of Satan come, it does not counter the love and joy of knowing the true Christ of the Bible in Reformed theology.  Yes, wicked, reprobate men come, but who can withstand the Almighty Child who is the Incarnate Lion of Judah and the Almighty Caption of the Lord of hosts?  Who can dare look at Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire with eyes of sinful rebellion?

But we come to a time of the year that is special to Christian people.  But we live in a time that even unbelievers celebrate the birth of Christ without knowing Him.  They may be engaged in some of the most heinous sins, but they celebrate His birth, thinking their basically good in some way.  In reality, their standing before God is spiritually destitute and bankrupt and irrational.  They have Christ in the manger in their nativity display at home but they do not have Him in their hearts.  They lack a personal relationship with the unique, divine, all-sufficient Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who alone has divine, unified righteousness, where no human “merit” compares.  If Christ is merely in the manger display at home or at church and not in the heart, it is worthless, and they are spiritually naked without Him.  They experience the shame of their spiritual, overall depravity, and have no availing righteousness.  A life without Christ is a life of misery.  But a life with the possession of Christ is a life of joy, peace and love.  But people like the fuzzy and comfortable feelings of Christmas time without truly knowing Incarnate Deity.  But I suggest to you that these comfortable and fuzzy feelings are without foundation if Christ is not in the heart.  I celebrated Christmas without Christ for about 25 years.  But what was that worth?  The eternal value of knowing Christ is better then the fuzzy feelings of Christmas time.  People need to get back to the truth of God’s all-sufficient Word, and judge their life in accordance with it.  The Word of God is the truth of God.  It is not human insight, man’s imaginations, or foolish visions of men.  But knowing the true Almighty Christ brings true comfort, true peace and true joy in knowing He was born for you, to die for you.  He died for His elect only, and He will lose none that are His people.  He keeps His people in His grip of everlasting love.  Nothing can break His grip of unspeakable love, and He elected us unto holiness.  We should be holy, for He is holy.

The Almighty God became man as the Incarnate Second Person of the Trinity.  He was the Living God the Son who took upon Himself flesh.  He was Word Incarnate, and He spoke the Word of God as the Living Word (John 1:14).  It is a radical understanding that God the Son would condescend, and became a human being.  He is the only Person within the Godhead that became Man; God the Father and God the Holy Spirit did not become Man as God the Son did.  He entered His creation to His save creation.  He was truly man without the stain of any kind of sin.  He was the Impeccable Christ who did not have the ability to sin.  His thinking was without the corruption of sin, and therefore, it was the thinking of true heavenly holiness.  He was conceived without sin, and He was born as the sinless, spotless, pure Lamb of God.  There was no child like Him; He was the awesome God who was at one time a helpless little Child.  The God-Child was the glory-exalted Savior who would save His people from the tyranny of Satan.  Only the God of the Bible could send His Son into the world to redeem the world.  Imagine what it was like to be around the Child Jesus.  This is all about the God of pleasant things that shines with the brightest light of purity.  He must have been the greatest, loveliest, purest, holiest, divinest, sweetest Child that can be imagined.  Little children, you know that the God-Man died so you could live, but also do you not understand that we should imitate Him?  As that little Child was nursed by His mother, He would later turn the whole world upside down by His radical teachings, and works of awesome miracles, and most importantly, He lived a sinless life to die as an acceptable offering of Himself for His beloved people.  We ought to listen to His words of truth and obey the Word of God that He spoke and keep it.  What awesome contemplations! 

            Christ was the Almighty Child born to save His people from their sins.  It was not theoretical or potential but actual.  If Christ’s death was merely theoretical or potential, I can contemplate what the joys of Satan would be.  He would rejoice because it comes down to the Almighty free will of man.  That is, his decision.  It would be something uncertain, and how many among us, knowing our own total depravity and inability, believe we could have chosen Christ in and of ourselves?  I lived as an unconverted sinner, thinking I believed Christ.  But in reality, I didn’t; it was my own strength, and therefore, worthless.  But when we think of the Incarnate Child in Bethlehem we know He is indeed the Eternal King.  Many before Him were thieves and robbers, and none of them could save to the uttermost.  None of them could forgive sins with a word.  None of them could heal, cast out demons and know the hearts and minds of the sons of men.  But even in some way, unconverted sinners could agree with this much.  Yet, I submit many are like this, but their hearts are devoid of the Almighty grace of the Almighty Son.  They are aware of His teachings and actions, but they have not submitted their lives to Him.  What did the Lord Christ say?  It is truly unpopular today, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24 NKJV).  Fear and tremble!  How do the imaginations of men account for this?  O foolish ones!  You say things contrary to His Word and claim it is God’s truth, and yet, He has not directed you to speak!  They have come up eternally short because it is the strength of mere man, and not the saving, regeneration of God the Holy Spirit.  But people can even know true theology but fail to believe Incarnate Grace.  This is because men by nature are radically corrupt, and they have not been made willing, but are in fact dead and trespass and sin.  But the fault of their unbelief does not rest with God, but themselves.  All men everywhere have the responsibility to repent in dust and ashes.  Those who have intentionally pretended repentance, have spit in God’s face, and called Him the greatest fool of all.  God will surely deny them repentance and faith, but when they cry out to Him He will not hear, for “the Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming” (Psalm 37:13 NKJV).  I proclaim on the roof tops that God’s judgment is coming at God’s appointed time by God alone: W R A T H   C O M E T H.  Religious unconverted people think such theology is foolishness, but the matchless Word of God clearly shows the inability of men, and the absolute necessity of monergistic regeneration.  The Living Child in Bethlehem is the Sovereign Judge of the universe, and He will judge in this life and on the Last Day with righteousness and truth.  Men are hopefully defiled, corrupt, evil and wicked, and we cannot in any way save ourselves.  When God changes the heart of men, He does so, from the will of God the Father through His beloved Son, by His blessed Spirit. 

            But as for Christians, God has surely blessed us with the true knowledge of Himself.  We ought to come to this season of Christmas in the presence of God, adoring the Almighty Christ.  How many people are truly thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ?  Are people really thankful for the Living Jesus or are we thankful in what we can get during this season?  Tell me, are you thankful for Him always?  What if you chose today to praise, bless, thank and rejoice to Him for an hour of unceasing prayer with meaningful words of joy?  Are we worshipping the biblical Christ or a counterfeit?  Are you worshipping the Christ that is merely an example?  Do you realize an example to you is worthless if it does not mean that He is the true Savior of His chosen ones?  Do you not understand that Christ is the Sinner-Seeker who saves perfectly, sufficiently, completely without purgatory, the Mass, men’s sin-dominating works, and human achievements?  Shouldn’t Christmas be a time of praise and thanks and rejoicing and blessing for what the all-sufficient Christ has done?  Wasn’t He born to die?  But not merely to die, but to save His lost sheep by His glorious death.  He entered the world to die for His sheep.  But are we more worried about what presents to get or what we will receive?  Has Christmas been reduced to Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus and candy and food?  Or has it been reduced to Christmas movies that do not mention the name of Christ and sensational songs?  Has Christmas been reduced to these trifling and worthless things?  Its all rubbish if you do not have Christ in your heart.  Shouldn’t we be obsessed and preoccupied with the Almighty Christ Child, and what His person and work means for the Christian?  I suggest to you that it is truly biblical to be centered on who God is.  Its not what He can give us but who He is.  Isn’t it?  I mean think about it: do you love God for who He is, or what He can give you?  Yes, you should not forget all His benefits.  But more importantly, shouldn’t we be praising, thanking, rejoicing and blessing the Holy and Blessed Trinity about His character, and attributes?  For God the Father sent His sinless Son to enter a dark world to save His people out of spiritual depravity, captivity and bondage.  We should thank the God the Son for entering humanity, and taking upon Himself the sin of His people.  Do you not realize it was a perfect agreement within the fellowship of the Godhead to send Christ, and have Him be born in the little town of Bethlehem?  We might not have the gifts we want or our circumstances might be not what we like, but when we think of the Lord Jesus, we can be grateful and thankful for His blessed birth in Bethlehem.  Has His birth motivated you this day to proclaim His glorious message of the imputed righteousness of Christ alone?

            So, I ask you, where is Christ?  Is He in your heart, or is He merely in your nativity display?  Men live everyday with false hopes of assurance.  This is because their basis is: tradition, depraved imaginations or another “divine” authority.  But, I ask you, are you resting your assurance of salvation on His inerrant Word?  If you haven’t gained assurance, are you immersed in God’s Word?  Have you repented in conformity to God’s written revelation?  Have you been your own god, and rested on your own feelings?  Have you rested your soul on God’s infallible artifact of divine treasure and truth, the Holy Scriptures?  So, where is Christ?  Surely you know He resides in heaven, and He is everywhere.  He knows your thoughts, and feelings; He knows your best and worst; He knows your good and bad times; and He knows if your trust is in Him or yourself or a false God.  Christ is the saving, loving and perfect Lamb of God.  Here is the Almighty Christ, and He commands in His Word: repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15).  People see a Child meek and mild, and tender and true, but are their hearts committed to Him, or in the love of themselves, the world, the flesh and the pleasures of life?  The Child in the manger did not come to suit your subjective and sinful ways of life, but He commands everyone everywhere to repentance.  Everyone that does not obey the gospel, and dies in impenitence, will suffer the damnation of hell.  The same Savior-Child in the manger in Bethlehem is also the Incarnate Consuming-Fire who will judge sin in truth and justice.  You will not be able to say “I am good, Lord,” no, for the Judge of heaven and earth and hell “did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 2:25 NASB).  Some people think they are good, but they also know they are sinners.  Do they trust, wholly in the all-sufficient, undying Deliverer?  If they do not see themselves as thoroughly and radically corrupt, how is the unified righteousness of Christ sufficient if they have a speck of goodness?  They say, “I am undeserving, but I can do good works, having faith and attain heaven by this and God’s mercy.”  I suggest to you that person has not understood what it truly means to be undeserving.  Every so-called “good” work is tainted and soiled by the sinfulness of sin.  It cannot possibly avail before a holy, perfect and just God.  No, only perfect, heavenly righteousness avails before God through His Son.  Men do not want to comprehend the transcendent holiness of God.  They think their civil righteousness may get them to heaven, but in reality, it is a nightmare of a concoction that ends in death. 

            This year when you celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ may you consider these things, and ask, where is Christ?