The Back-Story of Christmas
Ephesians 2:7
The Eternal God – the God with no beginning and no end. The Creator God who has always existed. The indescribable, immeasurable God who created all that has been created – Ex Nihilo (which means “out of nothing.”)
John 1:3 says about him,
John 1:3 (ESV)
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
This Eternal God created this world and the universe it sits in as the foundation for his ultimate masterpiece of creation – Mankind.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece . . .
The Greek word is POIEMA that we get the word “poem” from. We are literally God’s “work of art” – his masterpiece.
But it’s not just the complexity and wonder of mankind. It’s not just the miraculous wonder of the human body, not to mention the mystery of the human mind. But what actually makes us God’s masterpiece is in Genesis 1:27.
Genesis 1:27 (NLT)
27 God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them . . .
We have been created in God’s OWN image. HOW?
Here is the “in God’s Own Image” part.
Genesis 2:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
This Hebrew word for “the breath of life” Ne-Sha-Mah, is used only for the life of God himself and for mankind who was created IN God’s image (nothing else.) It is God’s breath of life that makes us eternal beings.
Job 33:4 (NLT)
4 For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
God has made us
Part mortal – Part immortal
Part physical – Part Spiritual
Part temporal – Part eternal
Created in his image AND given his breath of life in order to spend eternity with him.
And then God gave us free will so that we could have an eternal relationship with him based on our will to love and serve and glorify him. And God did that knowing full well that the first man, Adam, would choose to bring sin into our human nature.
And because God knew when sin became part of this indescribable mix of physical and spiritual – mortal and immortal God already had a plan. A plan that was set in motion immediately upon the fall of man.
Sin would have to be dealt with in order for the masterpiece of God’s creation to ever be able to live in his presence.
God could not arbitrarily overlook our sin because God is first and foremost – holy, just and righteous and God cannot deny his own nature. And so, God’s masterpiece had a fatal flaw and all the spiritual world watched and wondered what God would do now?
Sin had removed our ability to have the relationship with God we were created to have and there was nothing we could do about it. Sin was now engrained in our nature and our choices.
We could not work our way out of sin and we could not earn our way into the presence of God. If we were going to remain God’s masterpiece God himself was going to have to remove the sin problem.
Sin had separated us from God, like standing on opposite sides of the Grand Canyon and God himself would have to bridge that great crevasse.
And so now, God was going to do something that even the Angelic realm would not understand.
1 Peter 1:12 (NLT)
12 . . . [this Good News] is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
The Almighty, Creator God was about to come to earth, himself, in order to remove the irremovable problem of sin. God was coming – himself – because nothing else in all of creation would do. No re-work, no fix, no adjustment could overcome this sin problem. The only possible answer would be the greatest act of sacrificial love that all of creation had ever seen.
The invisible God – was about to become visible.
The Creator – was about to become the Creation.
The unlimited and omnipotent God who existed before all things, and who has the power over all things was about to become limited by a human body and a human life.
Please listen very closely to Who it was who was born on that first Christmas morning.
Colossians 1:15–17 (NLT)
15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
This GOD himself, was about to become a man, born in the lowest and most humble possible conditions solely and completely because there was no other way for God to remove the sin problem that was forever separating us from him.
God was going to do what mankind could NEVER do.
God would become a man and face every temptation that we would ever face yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
And then after living a perfect and sinless life, God himself was going to step into our place to pay the full penalty for our sin on our behalf so that we could live forever as God originally created us to live – with him and without sin and in a relationship with him for eternity.
That is the back story of Christmas – the back story that is far too often left out.
But there is even more to the full “back story.” God knew, since before time, that the ultimate crowning glory regarding his most miraculous creation would NOT be mankind in and of itself.
What would ultimately bring all of creation to its knees in worship and wonder and awe of God would be God’s indescribable grace and his unending mercy and his immeasurable sacrificial love for a fallen and hopeless mankind. That is actually God’s ultimate crowning glory.
We, in and of ourselves, are not God’s crowning glory. We in fact are the object of God’s crowning glory.
God’s ultimate crowning glory is his own indescribable and sacrificial love – FOR us. And each one of us who have received the gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ has become the object of God’s crowning glory.
WE are NOT the true gift to GOD – GOD is the true gift to US.
That is the “back story.” Here is the “more common” story.
Luke 2:1–4 (NLT)
1 At that time (not by coincidence) the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.
2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. (This is what God used to get Jesus born where he needed to be born)
4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.
The prophecies in the Old Testament were perfectly clear. The Messiah would come from the lineage of King David and he would be born in Bethlehem.
Luke 2:5-7 (NLT)
5 He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously (or very) pregnant.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.
7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger (a feeding trough), because there was no lodging available for them.
Jesus (God become man) was born in a place where animals were kept at night. That’s why there was a manger (feeding trough) there. And whether it was a cave, a stable or an animal shelter that was anchored to a house (which was common)… one thing for sure – it was cold, dark and dirty. And I read one preacher this week who said, “The truth is - Jesus is always born in a place that is COLD, DARK, and DIRTY.”
Every time Jesus comes into a new life, he is born into a heart that is cold, dark and dirty. We may think otherwise, but the Bible makes it very clear, before Jesus Christ was born into our lives we were already dead.
Ephesians 2:1 (NLT)
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
You were already dead.
But Ephesians 2:4-6 says,
Ephesians 2:4-6 (NLT)
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life (In Christ) . . .
6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ . . . because we are united with Christ Jesus.
And then, here is what I was just talking about regarding us being the object of God’s greatest crowning glory.
Ephesians 2:7 (NLT)
7 So (so that) God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
Isn’t that incredible? That is the true back story of Christmas. God came to earth to save us from our sin so that he can point to us – for all eternity – as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness and that is why we are his masterpiece as Ephesians 2:10 says.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Like, be examples to all of creation of the immeasurable riches of God’s grace and kindness and his unending love. If you make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ today, you will never mine the depth of the riches of God’s grace and his kindness and his unending love.
Alright, let’s step out of the back story again and finish the “commonly known” story.
So, Joseph and Mary had arrived in the stable (or sheep fold) and we pick it up in Luke 2:8-14.
Luke 2:8-14 (NLT)
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.
9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified,
10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
WHOA! … Shepherds?
The Armies of Heaven – (the Host of Heaven) – cracked the sky – broke the barrier – for some nobody shepherds in a nowhere place… for this indescribable God?
A shepherd was one of the lowest and most humble trades a person could ever take up (and it is still supposed to be, by the way.) And so, why the shepherds? Was it possibly because these shepherds at this time would’ve been caring for the baby lambs that would become sacrificial lambs in just three months, at Passover?
And so for them, heaven opened up and the Host of Heaven announced the birth of the final sacrificial lamb who would take away the sin of the world. And it was the most amazing thing the angelic world had ever seen (or will ever see.)
Their creator and ruler GOD had become a man – as a humble and lowly baby and he would live the life that we could never live in order to conquer the Enemy of Death that we could never conquer so that we could enter eternity in the righteousness of God that we could never deserve and live in the relationship with God forever that we were originally created for.
You see, the back story, is the full story. It’s the real story. Christmas is a search and rescue mission that would end with this baby – Jesus Christ – giving his life in our place so that we could live with him in the glory of God’s eternal creation… and be the objects of God’s true crowning glory;
His indescribable grace
His unending mercy
and His immeasurable sacrificial love
for a fallen and hopeless mankind.
For THAT, today we celebrate the birth of our Savior.
And I strongly urge you; put your faith in Jesus Christ. Commit to follow him – as your SAVIOR and your LORD and be the recipient of the greatest gift of all time – Christ in you, the HOPE of glory.
John 1:3 says about him,
John 1:3 (ESV)
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
This Eternal God created this world and the universe it sits in as the foundation for his ultimate masterpiece of creation – Mankind.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece . . .
The Greek word is POIEMA that we get the word “poem” from. We are literally God’s “work of art” – his masterpiece.
But it’s not just the complexity and wonder of mankind. It’s not just the miraculous wonder of the human body, not to mention the mystery of the human mind. But what actually makes us God’s masterpiece is in Genesis 1:27.
Genesis 1:27 (NLT)
27 God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them . . .
We have been created in God’s OWN image. HOW?
Here is the “in God’s Own Image” part.
Genesis 2:7 (NLT)
7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
This Hebrew word for “the breath of life” Ne-Sha-Mah, is used only for the life of God himself and for mankind who was created IN God’s image (nothing else.) It is God’s breath of life that makes us eternal beings.
Job 33:4 (NLT)
4 For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
God has made us
Part mortal – Part immortal
Part physical – Part Spiritual
Part temporal – Part eternal
Created in his image AND given his breath of life in order to spend eternity with him.
And then God gave us free will so that we could have an eternal relationship with him based on our will to love and serve and glorify him. And God did that knowing full well that the first man, Adam, would choose to bring sin into our human nature.
And because God knew when sin became part of this indescribable mix of physical and spiritual – mortal and immortal God already had a plan. A plan that was set in motion immediately upon the fall of man.
Sin would have to be dealt with in order for the masterpiece of God’s creation to ever be able to live in his presence.
God could not arbitrarily overlook our sin because God is first and foremost – holy, just and righteous and God cannot deny his own nature. And so, God’s masterpiece had a fatal flaw and all the spiritual world watched and wondered what God would do now?
Sin had removed our ability to have the relationship with God we were created to have and there was nothing we could do about it. Sin was now engrained in our nature and our choices.
We could not work our way out of sin and we could not earn our way into the presence of God. If we were going to remain God’s masterpiece God himself was going to have to remove the sin problem.
Sin had separated us from God, like standing on opposite sides of the Grand Canyon and God himself would have to bridge that great crevasse.
And so now, God was going to do something that even the Angelic realm would not understand.
1 Peter 1:12 (NLT)
12 . . . [this Good News] is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
The Almighty, Creator God was about to come to earth, himself, in order to remove the irremovable problem of sin. God was coming – himself – because nothing else in all of creation would do. No re-work, no fix, no adjustment could overcome this sin problem. The only possible answer would be the greatest act of sacrificial love that all of creation had ever seen.
The invisible God – was about to become visible.
The Creator – was about to become the Creation.
The unlimited and omnipotent God who existed before all things, and who has the power over all things was about to become limited by a human body and a human life.
Please listen very closely to Who it was who was born on that first Christmas morning.
Colossians 1:15–17 (NLT)
15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
This GOD himself, was about to become a man, born in the lowest and most humble possible conditions solely and completely because there was no other way for God to remove the sin problem that was forever separating us from him.
God was going to do what mankind could NEVER do.
God would become a man and face every temptation that we would ever face yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
And then after living a perfect and sinless life, God himself was going to step into our place to pay the full penalty for our sin on our behalf so that we could live forever as God originally created us to live – with him and without sin and in a relationship with him for eternity.
That is the back story of Christmas – the back story that is far too often left out.
But there is even more to the full “back story.” God knew, since before time, that the ultimate crowning glory regarding his most miraculous creation would NOT be mankind in and of itself.
What would ultimately bring all of creation to its knees in worship and wonder and awe of God would be God’s indescribable grace and his unending mercy and his immeasurable sacrificial love for a fallen and hopeless mankind. That is actually God’s ultimate crowning glory.
We, in and of ourselves, are not God’s crowning glory. We in fact are the object of God’s crowning glory.
God’s ultimate crowning glory is his own indescribable and sacrificial love – FOR us. And each one of us who have received the gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ has become the object of God’s crowning glory.
WE are NOT the true gift to GOD – GOD is the true gift to US.
That is the “back story.” Here is the “more common” story.
Luke 2:1–4 (NLT)
1 At that time (not by coincidence) the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.
2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. (This is what God used to get Jesus born where he needed to be born)
4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.
The prophecies in the Old Testament were perfectly clear. The Messiah would come from the lineage of King David and he would be born in Bethlehem.
Luke 2:5-7 (NLT)
5 He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously (or very) pregnant.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.
7 She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger (a feeding trough), because there was no lodging available for them.
Jesus (God become man) was born in a place where animals were kept at night. That’s why there was a manger (feeding trough) there. And whether it was a cave, a stable or an animal shelter that was anchored to a house (which was common)… one thing for sure – it was cold, dark and dirty. And I read one preacher this week who said, “The truth is - Jesus is always born in a place that is COLD, DARK, and DIRTY.”
Every time Jesus comes into a new life, he is born into a heart that is cold, dark and dirty. We may think otherwise, but the Bible makes it very clear, before Jesus Christ was born into our lives we were already dead.
Ephesians 2:1 (NLT)
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
You were already dead.
But Ephesians 2:4-6 says,
Ephesians 2:4-6 (NLT)
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life (In Christ) . . .
6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ . . . because we are united with Christ Jesus.
And then, here is what I was just talking about regarding us being the object of God’s greatest crowning glory.
Ephesians 2:7 (NLT)
7 So (so that) God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.
Isn’t that incredible? That is the true back story of Christmas. God came to earth to save us from our sin so that he can point to us – for all eternity – as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness and that is why we are his masterpiece as Ephesians 2:10 says.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Like, be examples to all of creation of the immeasurable riches of God’s grace and kindness and his unending love. If you make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ today, you will never mine the depth of the riches of God’s grace and his kindness and his unending love.
Alright, let’s step out of the back story again and finish the “commonly known” story.
So, Joseph and Mary had arrived in the stable (or sheep fold) and we pick it up in Luke 2:8-14.
Luke 2:8-14 (NLT)
8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.
9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified,
10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
WHOA! … Shepherds?
The Armies of Heaven – (the Host of Heaven) – cracked the sky – broke the barrier – for some nobody shepherds in a nowhere place… for this indescribable God?
A shepherd was one of the lowest and most humble trades a person could ever take up (and it is still supposed to be, by the way.) And so, why the shepherds? Was it possibly because these shepherds at this time would’ve been caring for the baby lambs that would become sacrificial lambs in just three months, at Passover?
And so for them, heaven opened up and the Host of Heaven announced the birth of the final sacrificial lamb who would take away the sin of the world. And it was the most amazing thing the angelic world had ever seen (or will ever see.)
Their creator and ruler GOD had become a man – as a humble and lowly baby and he would live the life that we could never live in order to conquer the Enemy of Death that we could never conquer so that we could enter eternity in the righteousness of God that we could never deserve and live in the relationship with God forever that we were originally created for.
You see, the back story, is the full story. It’s the real story. Christmas is a search and rescue mission that would end with this baby – Jesus Christ – giving his life in our place so that we could live with him in the glory of God’s eternal creation… and be the objects of God’s true crowning glory;
His indescribable grace
His unending mercy
and His immeasurable sacrificial love
for a fallen and hopeless mankind.
For THAT, today we celebrate the birth of our Savior.
And I strongly urge you; put your faith in Jesus Christ. Commit to follow him – as your SAVIOR and your LORD and be the recipient of the greatest gift of all time – Christ in you, the HOPE of glory.