By REV. ADREN BIVINS 

Laymen Brotherhood Second Chance Outreach

As we enter into this holiday season, Dec. 25 will be a great day of celebration for most Christians. We need to understand why we are celebrating this special day called Christmas, as well as what we are celebrating.

It is all about the birth of Jesus Christ and this unique miracle birth. Jesus’s name means “Yahweh is Salvation,” and the Anointed one or the Messiah. He is sometimes called Christ or Jesus, the Man from Galilee, and Man of Sorrows. Jesus is the clearest picture of God the world has ever seen. Only Jesus was good enough to die for the entire sins of the world and that is why we celebrate the holiday known as Christmas. He came to this earth to serve mankind, and to give us another chance.

According to the gospel of Matthew, the Jews had long waited for a leader, who had been promised centuries ago by inspired prophets. They believed that this leader, the Messiah (Anointed One) would rescue them from their Roman oppressors and establish a new kingdom as their king. He would rule the world with justice.

However, many Jews overlooked prophecies that spoke of this king as a suffering servant who would be rejected and killed. It is no wonder that few recognized him. There never has, and never will be a birth like Jesus’s.

His foster father was Joseph and his mother was Mary, but his real father was and is God. There was a reason why God sent Jesus to us. Simple man needs an intercessor, man needs a redeemer, and man needs a Savior. No human was good enough for that purpose.

Adam could not do it, because sin entered the world thanks to his disobedience. Although God found favor in Noah, he could not do it. He got drunk. Abraham was called “Father of the Faithful,” but he could not do it because he told his wife to lie and say she was his sister. Moses was a strong leader and led more than two million people across the Red Sea, but he could not do it because he got too angry and killed someone.

God had provisions for mankind as Jesus being Messiah before the foundation of the world. This humble carpenter’s son from Nazareth was to be king. His kingdom will come, on earth as it is in heaven.

Why is the virgin birth important to the Christian faith? Jesus Christ, God’s Son, had to be free from the sinful nature passed on to all other human beings by Adam. Because Jesus was born of a woman, he was a human being, but as the son of God, Jesus was born without sin.

Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, because Jesus lived as a man. We know that he fully understands our experiences and struggles. When the angel came to Mary, she had never known a man sexually, but Mary agreed to her God-given task. Afterwards, the angel appeared to Joseph. He agreed they both were faced with a difficult choice, but Joseph agreed to obey the angel’s command.

This miraculous birth of Jesus was for mankind. He came as a suffering servant, because he was the perfect Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. We as Christians must pattern ourselves after the humbleness of Jesus and take his yoke upon us and learn of him, as stated in the Holy Scriptures.

It breaks God’s heart when we sin and disobey him. It also hurts him when we reject his perfect gift given to all mankind, his only begotten Son. During this holiday season, we should make a special effort to reach out to those who are hurting and in despair. For God is love and he wants his love to rule and reign in our hearts all the year through.

Prayer: “Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for this opportunity to share in this Holiday Season. Help us to share the spirit of love, joy, peace, happiness, long suffering, and patience with everyone we meet. Thank you for sending your Son, Jesus, to save us from our sins. We ask it all in Jesus’s name. Amen.”

Merry Christmas!

The Rev. Adren Bivins Sr., a clergyman, is the founder of Laymen Brotherhood Second Chance Outreach Center Inc., a non-profit Bainbridge organization. He can be reached by calling (229) 726-8946 or (229) 416-0884.