“O holy night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appeared and the soul felt it’s worth
The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees
O hear the angel voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born
O night divine
O night, O night divine”

In all honesty, the lyrics above are NOT from the Bible, although I do believe they accurately describe God’s GREATEST gift to all of us during this Christmas Season! Rather the words to “O Holy Night” are a reminder to all of us of the fulfillment of God’s Promise to us spoken throughout the Old and New Testament. We will be saved from our sins if we only accept His Gift to us.

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done , that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Matthew 1:21-23

“But as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

John 1:12

But God Created us. Why would we then need to have a Savior?

“And I (God) will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman (Mary), and between thy seed and her seed; it (Jesus) shall bruise thy (Satan) head, and thou (Satan) shalt bruise his (Jesus) heel.”

Genesis 3:15

Here, early in the Holy Bible in the Book of Genesis written in approximately 1500 B.C., we have the very first mention of the Messianic prophecy. After being warned by God to NOT eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden for which God told Adam and Eve, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” – Genesis 2:17, they sinned anyway after being tempted by Satan to go ahead and eat from the tree. As a result of their sin, not only would they now experience physical death but also eternal death for their sin. But in God’s ultimate Mercy, He proclaimed that from Eve (and eventually Mary), a child would be born that would be the enemy of Satan and would bruise Satan’s head while being bruised in his very own heel. This is the very first indication in the Bible of what we have regarding the coming Messiah who will take away the sins of the world.

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Isaiah 7:14

In order to give additional credibility to His prophecy, God tells us that the Savior will be born of a virgin, meaning the child will be born without human sin as a direct descendant of God Himself. While there is a small disagreement when this book was written, most believe it was written in approximately 800B.C., or eight hundred years BEFORE the birth of Jesus. I mention this because these books were written BEFORE Jesus was born, pinpointing who we should be looking for according to God’s Word. History has shown these books were not written AFTER the birth of Jesus in order to make them appear Jesus fulfilled God’s prophecy. These were written and in existence long before Jesus was born!

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of HIS (capitals mine) government and peace, there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

Isaiah 9:6-7

The above scripture gives us a much clearer picture of what Jesus will do FOR this world. I discussed a small part of this, the Millennium Reign of Christ in What happens AFTER Armageddon? This scripture highlights Jesus will rule forever; justly; and, the “government” will report to Him. We have the Word of God saying it His ZEAL that will perform this.

“But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that IS TO BE RULER IN ISRAEL (capitals mine); whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.”

Micah 5:2

Again, in the Book of Micah of the Old Testament recognized historically as having also been written before Jesus’s birth, we are told He will be born in Bethlehem. Did you know there were actually TWO Bethlehem’s in Israel at the time? God actually told us which one of the two He would be born in (and he was!). The statistical odds of one man being able to fulfill all of these prophecies are enormous! As a well known mathematician once said, it takes more faith to believe Jesus was NOT who the Bible says He was then to believe He was the Son of God as identified in the Bible.

So, the greatest gift of all time which God gave to a sinful world was sending His Son to die for us as a Sacrificial Lamb, so we may all escape the eternal death foretold to be the consequential result of our inbred sin. At this time of Christmas which Christians rightfully celebrate as the birth of our Savior, we all need to take great comfort in knowing we will not EARN a spot in Heaven. It is a gift! If we fully accept His gift to us, we will forever enjoy the gift of redemption God gave to a sinful world. If this comforts you, as it does me, please share this message with your friends and family so we all do as we are instructed to do and that is “…therefore comfort one another with these words.”

May God continue to Bless you and I hope you have a VERY Merry Christmas as we await Christ’s soon Return!