For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!
Promised to Adam and Eve in the garden, the Seed of the woman would "bruise his heel" in our redemption (Gen. 3:15). Eve looked for God's promised Seed (Gen. 4:25). Isaiah would tell us the sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive (Isaiah 7:14). The Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, declares, "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me" (Isaiah 48:16).
Coming through the daughter of the troops of women since Eve (Micah 5:1), the Lord Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4). Mary had found favour with God. She, like Eve (Genesis 4:25), looked for the promised Seed. God sent the angel Gabriel to tell her, "Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord GOD shall give unto him the throne of his father David" (Luke 1:31-32).
How is it possible that a virgin conceive? "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee," says Gabriel, "and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).
God had kept his promise: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Judge of Israel was smitten with a rod upon the cheek (Micah 5:1). He poured out his soul unto dead (Isaiah 53:12). The Holy One of Israel, whose soul was made an offering for sin (Isaiah 53:10), shed his blood, the blood of the New Testament, for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28).
If Christ died for the sins of the whole world (and he did - 1 John2:2), why did the Lord say, "...for many... '? Sadly, though whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17), man must choose Christ. Repentance from dead works and faith toward God (Hebrews 6:1) has always been the narrow way. From Cain's rejection of the lamb (Genesis 4:7) to modern man's refusal to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:28), men have left the Lord with no alternative but to give them over to a reprobate mind. Why? Because, when he called, they did not answer, and when he spake, they would not hear (Isaiah 65:12). Many today deny him!
However (praise God!), if we confess him before men, he will confess us before the Father (Matthew 10:32-33). If we will believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead and confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus, we shall be saved. For, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10).
He that believeth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh abides in the doctrine of Christ: he hath both the Father and the Son (2 John 1:7-9). Receive God's gift of salvation in Jesus and have a very merry CHRISTmas!