In a world full of bad news we celebrate the greatest good news the world has ever heard or will hear at Christmastime. The gospel of Christmas is good news. This good news in the heart of God from eternity was revealed and announced that first Christmas Day.
The angel of the Lord declared to the shepherds that first Christmas: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).
What awesome news for each of us. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5).
‘Word of reconciliation’
In God’s Word the gospel of Christmas is clearly revealed in this verse: “That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:19).
As I reflect on the gospel of Christmas this truth rises in my heart. Christmas is a new beginning. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God to be an extension of the life of God, an expression of the character of God and an exhibit of the power of God (see Gen. 1:26). However, Adam and Eve sinned. Their sin separated them from God. So God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging their sin against them.
Jesus, the “last Adam” came to reconcile fallen, sinful man to the Holy God who created him.
I have read a lot of poems in my life but there is only one that I have never forgotten titled “The Land of Beginning Again” by Louisa Fletcher. In a real sense this is the gospel of Christmas:
I wish that there were some wonderful place
In the Land of Beginning Again.
Where all our mistakes and all our heartaches
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat at the door
and never put on again.
The gospel of Christmas is such a place. God began again when Jesus, the last Adam, came into this world to reconcile us to God so we could have a new beginning.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says it so beautifully and completely, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” In Christ there is a new beginning.
As I examine 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 there are three truths that speak the gospel of Christmas clearly.
I. The Price of Reconciliation
The penalty for sin had to be paid. The Bible teaches that sin had separated us from God. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). We were all lost in our sin and estranged from God.
The good news of Christmas is found in these words: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21a). The Father placed our sin on Jesus; Jesus is the propitiation (sin-bearer or substitute) for our sin.
The Word of God makes it clear that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross paid in full for our sin debt so we could be reconciled with and restored to God as our Father.
The promise of God concerning our sin is so clear in these words: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:10).
II. The Power of Reconciliation
The Word of God is clear that on the cross all our sin was on Jesus Christ. But God also took the righteousness of Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God, and placed His righteousness on us. God robed us in the righteousness of His Son. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21a).
The gospel of Christmas is that God no longer sees us (His children) in our sin. He sees us clothed in the righteousness of His Son.
Paul said he gave up all his righteousness and counted it as garbage that he might have the righteousness of God in Christ (see Phil. 3:7–9).
There is great news in Romans 5:17, “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one (Adam), much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
The words of the great hymn, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less,” has these words: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. … On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
The glorious good news is that in Christ we are washed in His blood and robed in His righteousness.
III. The Purpose of Reconciliation
No longer separated from God by our sin and now robed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17 becomes a reality in our life. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
Liberating words
The words in Christ are powerful words, liberating words. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. The Word of God says it so clearly in Colossians 1:27b: “Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Jesus Christ comes to live in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that Christ is our life.
The Christian life is Jesus Christ living in us and through us in resurrection power.
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 the Scripture makes clear that “you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
The gospel of Christmas is found in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
The gospel of Christmas is good news we can share with a lost world. “We are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20) proclaiming the gospel of Christmas.
I love the words of the great song, “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.”
And that is the gospel of Christmas.
Share with others: