Jesus Christ Our True Christmas
An all-creatures Bible Message

Jesus Christ Our True Christmas
 
A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church
 
20 December 2015
 
Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Isaiah 9:6-7
Jeremiah 16:5
Micah 5:2-5a
John 14:27-31

Jesus Christ our true Christmas; for any part of the celebration of Christmas that is not based upon Jesus Christ is from this corrupted world.
 
Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and, for us today, the hope of His second coming.
 
And to us, the second coming of Jesus Christ is really where we need to focus our faith along with doing everything in our power to clear the way for His return.
 
And as we talked about recently, we are not to sit idly by and wait for Jesus to return and free this earth from its present corruption; for the faithful followers of Jesus Christ are to begin the process now as a way of clearing the way.
 
With these things in mind, let’s take a look at Micah 5:2-5, and see if we can see Jesus Christ our true Christmas in the prophet’s writing.

2. "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity."

When Micah wrote these words, Israel was in dire straits and was looking for a savior to free them from the afflictions of their enemies, but at the same time they were looking for an immediate savior; the prophet is foretelling of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem some two thousand years ago, and even of His second coming, which we are waiting for today.
 
And since the Savior that Micah is referring to comes from the days of eternity, it could only be referring to God or Jesus.
 
Even the name of the place of Jesus’ birth has an interesting meaning: Bethlehem means “house of bread”, and Ephrathah, another name for Bethlehem means “fruitfulness”, which it wasn’t at the time of Micah’s writing, but became both with the first coming of Jesus Christ.
 
But even after Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem once again became a place of strife, for this verse was quoted to Herod when he sought to kill Jesus and ended up killing many other babies.
 
And since Bethlehem is still subjected to unrest to this very day, we need to recognize that the prophet’s words are yet to be completely fulfilled.

3. Therefore, He will give them up until the time
When she who is in labor has borne a child.
Then the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.

When Micah wrote these words, he knew that God wasn’t going to save Israel at that time, but would bring their Savior in the future, which was first fulfilled with the birth of Jesus Christ our true Christmas.
 
And even though many people did recognize Jesus as their Messiah, and followed Him, the majority of the people rejected Him and continued to live in the worldly ways of the people around them.
 
From these things, we should recognize the fact that this prophecy is still waiting to be fulfilled in the future, and as part of our faithful waiting we are to be living in the heavenly will of God and doing everything we can to free creation from its present corruption.

4. And He will arise and shepherd His flock
In the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God.
And they will remain,
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth.

This is all true about Jesus Christ, but most people don’t seem to want to listen to Him or follow His teachings; they would rather live in the corrupt ways of the devil.

5. And this One will be our peace.
NASB

One of the themes of Christmas is “peace on earth”, but as we can plainly see, we don’t have peace on earth, which is the first indicator that we, as a world society, are not following Him or His teaching.
 
Jesus Christ our true Christmas is only true when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior and are willing to submit to His peaceful teachings.
 
Let’s now take a look at Isaiah 9:6-7, for it confirms what we have been talking about.

6.  For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There is only One Child who can fulfill all of these roles or positions, and that is Jesus Christ our true Christmas, for as we are told next, it is a Christmas that goes on forever.

7. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
NASB

Again we see that only Jesus can fully accomplish this, and the interesting thing about these verses from Isaiah and Micah is that they are both in the Hebrew Bible.
 
These Jewish sages knew the characteristics of their Messiah, but most people didn’t want to recognize Him when He came some two thousand years ago, and we fear that only a relatively few really look forward to His second coming, for they don’t want to give up the things and ways of this world.
 
This is the problem that Jeremiah prophesied against in Jeremiah 16:5, because they had turned away from the Lord their God.

5. For thus says the LORD, "Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people," declares the LORD, "My lovingkindness and compassion.
NASB

Because the people had rejected Him, He withdrew not only His peace, but His lovingkindness and compassion as well, and let the people stew in the evil of their own making.
 
As we look around the world today, we see a lot of similar things happening.
 
For the most part we don’t live as though Jesus Christ our true Christmas is in our hearts and souls; we live like the corrupt and evil people of this world.
 
We have forgotten the Christmas gift that Jesus gave us, as we are told in John 14:27-31.

27. "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

The opposite of love is fear, and the world does not give love; it tries to give the people troubled hearts and fear, which is the way that most of the world is today.
 
Terrorism comes from the devil, and love comes from God, and we cannot have both; we must choose either the Lord or the devil.
 
The world thinks that it can give peace by destroying a perceived evil with guns and bombs, but all they are doing is substituting one evil with another.
 
The proof of this is that all through the ages, we have not had the peace that Jesus gives us, because most of the people think like the ways of the world and not in the heavenly will of God.
 
If we ever really want Jesus Christ our true Christmas, we need to repent of our worldly ways and seek to live in God’s heavenly will here on earth as it is in heaven, where there is no pain or death.

28. "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.

Again, if we don’t truly love the Lord and forsake the evil ways of this earth, we cannot have the peace that Jesus is offering us.

29. "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you may believe.
 
30. "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;

And for the most part we still allow the ruler of the world, Satan, to rule over us instead of Jesus Christ in such a way that the whole world sees our witness to the truth in love and peace.

31. but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
NASB

What are we going to do this Christmas?
 
Are we going to dine on the tortured remains of a once living animal who wanted to live just as much as we do?
 
For if we do, Jesus Christ is not our true Christmas; the devil is, because only he takes pleasure in the suffering, bloodshed, and death of a living being.
 
If we are going to deprive these animals, who are supposed to be our companions, of the peace of Jesus Christ, then our Christmas and every other day of the year is of the world and not of God.
 
To have peace on earth, we must also have Jesus Christ our true Christmas in our hearts and soul.
 
Even if most of the world doesn’t listen, at least we should, for if we do, we are on our way to ending the corruption of creation and have some peace on earth.
 
Amen.
 
Merry Christmas!

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