What If Christmas Had Never Happened? (A Christmas Devotional)
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
What if the birth of Jesus had never happened? Let's just think about that for a minute. What if today, in 2019, we were still waiting on the arrival of the Messiah? What if there had been no fulfillment of prophecy, no Mary, no Joseph, no Angels, no Shepherds, no Wise Men?
Then let's bring it a little closer and ask ourselves the question, what would my life be like if Jesus hadn't arrived on that first Christmas? As I've reflected on that this Christmas season, a very dark and sad picture came to mind as I knew I'd be missing out on so many things that Jesus brings to my life. A short list of those things are found in Isaiah 9 where Isaiah is prophesying about Jesus, it says:
"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called; Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6
These titles are more than literal names of the Messiah, they are attributes of His character. Attributes you and I know firsthand because His birth led to His death which led to the forgiveness of our sins and the doors being opened to a relationship with Him. And it's in that relationship we experience the four traits described in this verse. Let's take a look at the four characteristics of Jesus and how we see that fulfilled in the New Testament, specifically John chapter 10.
Wonderful Counselor
In Jesus we have a Wonderful Counselor, a trusted guide who does not leave us alone to navigate our lives, but rather takes the lead and leads us every step of the way. Jesus described it in John 10 where Jesus said: "The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice." (John 10:3-4)
Because Jesus was born we don't go alone, rather we follow Jesus who knows the way.
Mighty God
In Jesus we come face with Mighty God. Jesus isn't a good teacher who had some nice thoughts about life, no He is the Mighty God who out of His love for us, choose to be confined to a human body. As Jesus said later on in John 10: "The Father and I are one." (John 10:30)
Jesus wasn't powerless when He was on the earth and He certainly wasn't powerless when He was on the cross. As the old hymn said "He could have called 10,000 angels." At any point Jesus in His power could have hit the pause button on the plan of redemption or counted the cost to Himself as too high. But He was a willing participant who chose to die for you and me. And now that He has died and we've chosen to follow Him, that same Mighty God ensures that nothing we go through on this earth can separate us from Him. Again in John 10 Jesus said: "No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand." (John 10:28-29)
Because Jesus was born, we will never be separated from God, no matter what we go through.
Everlasting Father
In Jesus we are introduced to the Everlasting Father. Had Jesus not been born, even though I'm 1/16th Jewish, I know pretty much for certain I wouldn't be following the law. And even if I tried, there is no way I would go through a lifetime without breaking one commandment. I probably wouldn't have made it even a few days without intentionally breaking one or forgetting one. But because Jesus became the sacrifice for our sins, you or I don't need to try to keep the law in order to have a guarantee of eternal life with the Everlasting Father. Flipping back to John 10, verse 28: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish." (John 10:28)
Because Jesus was born, we come to know the author of all eternity and are given the assurance that even when we breathe our last breath here on this earth, eternity awaits us in heaven.
Prince of Peace
In Jesus we encounter the Prince of Peace. Not only does he give us peace with God because "we have been made right in God's sight by faith" (Romans 5:1), but Jesus fills us with peace internally that carries us through all the trouble and turmoil of this life. Last year I shared the story with you of how after undergoing sinus surgery I had a major bleed, as in a scary, gushing bleed that wouldn't stop and resulted in me being rushed into surgery. While this might not sound like a peaceful moment in my life, I will share this story time and time again because it was in that moment that for the first time in my 35 years I finally understood what Paul was talking about when he called Jesus' peace one that "surpasses all human understanding." (Philippians 4) While in the middle of what looked like a scene on a medical TV drama, I should have been feeling terror, fear, panic and horror, but instead all I could feel was peace. Peace that was so strong despite my circumstances that more than one person on the medical team asked me why I was so calm because in that moment it didn't make sense.
As I was wheeled into surgery, preparing to be given anesthetic, it felt like my soul had been supernaturally saturated in Christ's peace, so much so that these words pale in comparison to capturing that moment. And in the year and a bit since then that peace hasn't left.
Because Jesus was born, we can experience peace that not only allows us to survive trying times, but even thrive through them. Going back to John 10 where Jesus said: "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." (John 10:10)
What We Celebrate
Had Jesus not come to our earth on the first Christmas, over 2000 years ago, my life and yours would look so much differently. The hope of heaven and the hope of our lives arrived on that first Christmas and changed absolutely everything. And that's what we celebrate this Christmas.
Closing with a quote from Frederick Buechner:
"It is impossible to conceive how different things would have turned out if that birth had not happened whenever, wherever, however it did … for millions of people who have lived since, the birth of Jesus made possible not just a new way of understanding life but a new way of living it. It is a truth that, for twenty centuries, there have been untold numbers of men and women who, in untold numbers of ways, have been so grasped by the child who was born, so caught up in the message he taught and the life he lived, that they have found themselves profoundly changed by their relationship with him." -Frederick Buechner
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