GIG281 Christmas, Celebrating the Son of Man

Growing In God Podcast

Program Number: GIG #281

Title: Christmas, Celebrating the Son of Man

 

Web Description: The symbolism that most often defines Christmas is the Nativity scene. And the Nativity scene is about the reality that Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the King of kings, was born and lived as a human being. At Christmas we are not celebrating His divinity. We are celebrating His humanity. We are celebrating the fact that He came to earth as a man who went through everything we go through and is thus able to lead us and help us through everything.

 

Show Notes: At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Yeshua (Jesus). When we do that, we are celebrating the birth of a human baby. Yet in our Christian faith, we think of Christ as a divine figure who always moved in a divine way. But the Christmas story is the opposite of that. The Christmas story tells us that He was a vulnerable baby who had to be cared for and protected. He had to be raised and taught like any human child.

 

As Christians we tend to put Christ so far above us that He is unattainable in today’s life. We think, “He was perfect, but I am caught in my flesh, and I can’t get out of it.” That viewpoint is unscriptural. The Scriptures teach us that the Messiah is a human being. Yeshua was not born perfect. He learned obedience through the things that he suffered. He was made perfect by what He went through, just as we are being made perfect because of what we go through.

 

Yeshua could not be the Messiah without living in the flesh. He had to share in flesh and blood. He had to partake in the same things we partake in. He had to feel what we feel. He had to experience what we experience because He is our help. He is the aid to those who are tempted because He faced it all. He overcame the circumstances, the stress, the oppression, the futility of living in this earth where satan surrounded all that He did, seeking to kill Him every day. Therefore, He is able to help us through all those things in our daily lives.

 

Key Verses:

 

•       Read Luke 2:1–52.

•       2 Corinthians 5:16. “We have known Christ according to the flesh.”

•       Matthew 6:10. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

•       Acts 1:6. “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

•       Hebrews 2:14–18. “Since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same.”

•       Hebrews 5:7–11. “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

•       Hebrews 4:14–16. “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.”

•       Hebrews 7:24–25. “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him.”

•       Romans 8:27–39. “Those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”

 

Quotes:

 

•       “If we are going to truly celebrate the concept that is called Christmas, it is about Him being born. It is about Him living in a human life.”

•       “I know we will live in the days of glory. I know that we will live with Him in His Kingdom. But right now in the days of our flesh, we need help.”

•       “He lived in the flesh. And in the flesh, He was successful in being a human who related to God, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, who was enabled to move and enact and bring the will of God into the earth.”

 

Takeaways:

 

1.    Let us celebrate Christmas this year by identifying with our Messiah as a human being—a son of man.[SP1] 

2.    Let us celebrate that Yeshua did not exercise His divinity during His days on earth, but He was tempted in all things and felt our every human suffering. There is nothing we go through in our lives that He cannot relate to.

3.    Let us celebrate that Yeshua lives to intercede for us every day and ministers to us in our times of crisis and need. He is our Messiah. Our lives are meant to be lived in Him and through Him.

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