CHRIST BIRTH, ULTIMATE GIFT OF SALVATION

Salvation, the redemptive power of God to reconcile mankind back to Him, was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth—to whom the Christmas season is dedicated to. The salvation God gave the world through Jesus Christ did not come easily. Rather, it caused God dearly to bring it to mankind.
God created the world, made the first human pair perfect and blessed them all. For it was His intent for mankind to dwell in perfection in paradise the earth was initially of; alas the chief of the rebellious angels Satan tarnished this through the initiation of the first human pair into sin, and reduced humans far below the status God had in mind for them. Though God knew beforehand what would happen, by the ordinance of heaven He must allow every living thing and being He created to exercise free will and choice-making without His divine interference (a kind of democracy). Satan, having staged himself against God to become an evil force to reckon with, did according to his nature by deceiving the first human pair into sin. The first human pair also did not adhere to God’s explicit instruction (since God do not rule with an iron fist, but allows the free will of individuals to play out), they allowed themselves to be deceived into sin through the promise of wisdom Satan promised.
God was grieved; the grief was like that of a woman in agony of a child’s birth, caused by those He loved so much through their disobedience. Such sin of disobedience put God on the long road of endless years of grief over humans that sin has come to destroy. It put God on endless years of watching sin destroy humans, endless years of losing the lives of His people to the power of Hell through sin, endless years of trying to correct the world through law and punishment (but of no avail), endless years of painfully watching the world being destroyed by sin and evil practises, endless years of helping people to overcome sin through confession and repentance only for them to turn about and spit into His face. The Holy Bible testifies to this grief as it is written: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain,” Genesis 6:5-6, NIV.
God knew the sacrifice Himself must make to bring human beings salvation from the power of sin and death, but it would not be easy—so he suffered for thousands of years. He symbolised His divine grief through the childbirth’s pain of the woman, for He says: “…Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth…” (Genesis 3:16, BEV. The increase in her childbirth pain is a reminder of the pain God was feeling and continued to feel for thousands of years till salvation came.
Gloriously, God was relieved of His grief the night Jesus was born! Angels testify to this as it is written, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men “Luke 2:8-14. There was a release of exceeding joy in heaven at the birth of Jesus Christ into the world—the ultimate gift God had promised the world to save it from the power of sin and death. It took thousands of years before the world got the gift; years of which God had been in grief. So His grief was over when the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born!
The angels sang, “…on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” True, God’s goodwill towards all men was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, especially at his birth that night—of which the Christmas season was chosen to celebrate the birth. Jesus was a light that cut into the dark world Satan had kept from God’s light until then. Terror seared into the very heart of Satan at Christ’s birth, he stirred every possible agent of his he could lay his hand on to kill baby Jesus, but failed.
Jesus was born as a baby, but he is the Lord of lords, King of kings and the Saviour whose blood cleansed the world from thousands of years of bondage of sin, and gave human beings the power to resist and overcome sin and death as the Master did. He is now the only true way to Yahweh, in whose name even the worst sinners could hope to receive pardon. At this season (Christmas) every believer should reveal more of the Master in his or her life through good Christ-like virtues, impact positively into the lives of people as light of the world, take the Gospel of Christ as far and wide as possible, reach out to the poor and needy at best possible, stand up for the oppressed and the orphans, liberate slaves from the servitude of Satan and his fallen angels and hold the fort till the Master himself comes. Our Lord Jesus Christ reigns in heaven and on earth! May His strength and power be yours for eternity!

Samuel Olusegun Akinola

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