Question: Why did Jesus come to earth on that first Christmas Day?
Answer: In order to preach – Part 2
For as we’re told in Ephesians 2: 16-17, Christ came to preach peace to those who were far off in order that they might be reconciled to God
I know this won’t be hard for some of you to believe but, were you to catch my much better half in an uncharacteristically ungracious moment, she might just reveal to you that, on occasions at least, I can be a tad irritating to live with – by which I mean ‘utterly insufferable’. Indeed, there are times that I am guilty of crimes so heinous that they make even the flagrantly improper folding of a tea towel seem like some minor misdemeanour!
Seriously though, when I have done something that genuinely spoils the relationship I enjoy with my nearest and dearest, my desire to be forgiven is not just so I no longer have to experience any unpleasant feelings of guilt – rather what I desire most is that our relationship be restored to how it had been before my foolish act.
That is to say, I long for us to be reconciled.
And reconciliation is what Jesus came to bring about too. Because through his substitutionary death on the cross, more than merely securing our forgiveness, Jesus reconciled us to God. That’s what Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans: ‘while we were still sinners Christ died for us’ [Romans 5:8], and ‘while we were his enemies, we were reconciled to God’ [Romans 5:10]
With our sins pardoned, we are at peace with God and our warfare with him is therefore over. [Isaiah 40:2].
No longer then his enemies, God is now for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us? Furthermore, ‘he who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?’ [Romans 8:31-32]
All of which is very good news – which is exactly what Jesus came to preach when he came to earth on that first Christmas Day.
To reveal the secrets concealed behind door 11 of last year’s Christmas Countdown, click here
Some musings 