As the Christmas season closes, we will soon forget the baby Jesus. His small frame, innocent demeanor, and humble beginning will escape our thoughts as we press on with the ins and outs of daily life.
The quirky saying, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” doesn’t do Christ’s birth justice. Jesus is the reason for our salvation, freedom from the penalty of sin, and restored relationship with God. His birth ushered 33 years that changed the world forever.
Matthew 20:28 says, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (LSB)
Ransom is a shocking word. We relate it to a cash payment made on behalf of someone kidnapped by evil people and given an option for survival based on the sacrifice made by another. Even so, Jesus made no cash payment. Instead of exchanging money to rescue us, He exchanged His life for ours. Transferring persons became the necessary payment to satisfy the demand – from God.
In his book Everyone’s a Theologian, Dr. R.C. Sproul gives this example:
Picture a small boy entering an ice cream shop. Instead of ordering a cone, he waits until the waitress goes to the back of the shop, at which time he runs behind the counter, scoops ice cream into a cone, and attempts to dash out of the store. You watch as the store owner catches him and calls the police. You feel bad for the boy, so tell the policeman, ‘Wait a minute, officer. Let’s forget about this. I’ll pay for the boy’s cone.’ Then you hand the owner two dollars. The policeman looks at the store owner to agree to accept payment because, in this case, more than a financial transaction is involved. The law is broken, and a moral debt incurred. The proprietor is, therefore, free to accept or refuse payment.
It is not the bystander’s choice as to whether a substitute should pay the price; instead, it is the owner’s decision. It was God the Father who sent His Son into the world to pay the price for our moral guilt. The Father said to Jesus, ‘I will accept your payment on behalf of these guilty people who cannot pay their debt.’ (Paraphrased)
Years later, that is what baby Jesus did for us.
Many people will say, “I’m not that bad,” or “I’ve done my penance!” but that is not enough. In a matter of time, you will fail again. Sin is bondage. The more pleasurable the sin, the harder it is to give up cold turkey. That unrighteousness is horrifying to a just and Holy God.
“But God is love,” you say. “Certainly, He can overlook a little indiscretion.” Well, no, He can’t. God is Holy, and nothing unholy can enter His presence. Romans 3:23-26 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness because, in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (ESV)
Jesus agreed to come to Earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus rescued us. He took on the penalty of death, then allowed men to spit on Him, beat Him, whip Him, and force Him to carry a heavy wooden cross to the place where He would lay down and allow men to hammer nails into his wrists and feet. Worse yet, Jesus, who had never experienced sin, took on all our offenses. The guilt, the shame, the dirt poured on Him. What a surprise that must’ve been for Jesus.
He may have come to Earth with a tiny baby’s heart, but He died as a man filled with love and compassion for all those who seek repentance and turn their life over to Him.
So, this year, make an effort to remember that baby Jesus was born to settle our debt to God and praise His birth throughout the year.
A Tree Firmly Planted 