Merry Christmas!
A quote from 'Knowing God' by J.I. Packer:
It [the difficulty of the gospel] lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man - that the second person of the Godhead became the 'second man' (1 Cor. 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human....
And there was no illusion or deception in this; the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets.
Jesus was God. And He was human. It's as simple - or as difficult - as that.
You should read this book, but here's another quote:
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory - because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.
"Hang on a second," interrupts some part of my brain. "How is Jesus on the cross a wonderful message?"
Good question, brain.
When Jesus was on the cross, He took all my sin, and everyone else's, onto Himself. The Bible tells us that the punishment for sin is death. And so Jesus died. In my place. That means I don't have to die for my sin anymore - if I accept His forgiveness, and His payment for my sin, then I can go and have eternal life and a relationship with God. Go here to see it explained further.
There is hope for a ruined humanity.
That means there is hope for you.
And me. :-)
If I don't see you before Christmas, then enjoy it :-) Party hard! Celebrate the hope you have. Celebrate the reason for the hope you have.
The first time
That You opened Your eyes
Did You realise
That You would be my Saviour?
And the first breath
That left Your lips,
Did You know that it would change this world forever?
And I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day
Pray for You to save my life...... ~Relient K, 'Celebrate the Day'
It [the difficulty of the gospel] lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of incarnation. The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man - that the second person of the Godhead became the 'second man' (1 Cor. 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human....
And there was no illusion or deception in this; the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets.
Jesus was God. And He was human. It's as simple - or as difficult - as that.
You should read this book, but here's another quote:
The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory - because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.
"Hang on a second," interrupts some part of my brain. "How is Jesus on the cross a wonderful message?"
Good question, brain.
When Jesus was on the cross, He took all my sin, and everyone else's, onto Himself. The Bible tells us that the punishment for sin is death. And so Jesus died. In my place. That means I don't have to die for my sin anymore - if I accept His forgiveness, and His payment for my sin, then I can go and have eternal life and a relationship with God. Go here to see it explained further.
There is hope for a ruined humanity.
That means there is hope for you.
And me. :-)
If I don't see you before Christmas, then enjoy it :-) Party hard! Celebrate the hope you have. Celebrate the reason for the hope you have.
The first time
That You opened Your eyes
Did You realise
That You would be my Saviour?
And the first breath
That left Your lips,
Did You know that it would change this world forever?
And I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day
Pray for You to save my life...... ~Relient K, 'Celebrate the Day'
posted by Noof @ 12/23/2005 09:43:00 pm
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