Happy Christmas!

This time of year many people flip open their Bibles to the opening chapters of Matthew and Luke. There is good reason for this because these passages beautifully recount the good news of the events of the Savior’s birth. It is unfortunate that not as many people turn to the opening chapter of John because it helps us understand much of the spiritual significance of the incarnation.

It says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (1:14) John tells us many interesting things about the Word, who is Jesus. He was in the beginning with God; in fact, he was God from the beginning. And in him is life and light.

Christmas is life coming into the world because it is through Jesus that we can experience true, eternal life, which is knowing the Father. (John 17:3) Christmas is light coming into the world because we can truly understand the truth through Christ.

These are only the beginning of the blessings Christians should celebrate at Christmas time. Through the incarnation we have beheld the Father’s glory, which is full of grace and truth. From him we have received grace upon grace. And if we receive the Word, if we believe in him, John tells us that we have the right to be called children of God. Try wrapping your mind around how awesome that is this Christmas.

Last night at Believers Fellowship’s Christmas Eve service, the prelude was a piano performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. Hearing this melody reminded me of an experience I had in Israel. Our group had the privilege of seeing Handel’s Messiah performed for the first time in Hebrew. I enjoyed the performance, but I will never forget one thing that happened at the end of the Hallelujah Chorus. The crowd had risen to sing with the choir, and as the song ended I noticed one choir member near the edge of the risers. One arm was raised to the sky, and he was looking up with tears streaming down his face. He wasn’t just singing Handel’s Messiah, he was singing about his Messiah.

We have so many blessings because the Word became flesh. Therefore, we have every reason to sing hallelujah this Christmas. We have every reason to ponder in our hearts the wonder of what God did for us by sending his Son into the world. And we have every reason to have a very, very, happy Christmas.