The true meaning of Christmas is not just about a baby born in a Manager. Many associate Christmas with Jesus Christ as a baby in a manger. The birth of Christ is a significant and miraculous event, yet it isn’t the main focus. The Christmas story’s essential truth is that the Christmas Child is God, and his Greatest gift to mankind.
Away in a Manger (God in a Manger)
Christmas isn’t about Jesus’ birth; it’s about His divinity. Jesus Christ’s modest birth was never meant to hide the fact that God was being born into the earth.
The modern world’s idea of Christmas, on the other hand, accomplishes just that. As a result, Christmas has no meaningful significance for the vast majority of humanity.
I doubt anyone will ever fully comprehend what it means for God to be born in a manger. How can the Almighty stoop to the level of a little infant be explained? Our thoughts are incapable of comprehending what it took for God to become a man.
No one can explain how God could become a baby, either. Nonetheless, He did. Jesus was born into our world as a little newborn, without renouncing His divine character or reducing His deity.
He was entirely human, with all of the same needs and feelings as the rest of us. He was entirely God, all-knowing and all-powerful.
For nearly 2,000 years, there has been a heated discussion regarding who Jesus is. The world would even question the true meaning of Christmas. Various theories have been provided by cults and skeptics. They’ll say He’s a created creature, a lofty angel, an excellent teacher, a prophet, and so on. These hypotheses have one thing in common: they reduce Jesus to a lesser being. On the other hand, the biblical evidence is overwhelming that this child in the manger was God’s incarnation.
One text, written by the apostle Paul, expresses the essence of Jesus’ divine nature and highlights the realities that make Christmas really lovely.
Colossians 1:15-20 says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Jesus is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
The True Meaning of Christmas: Father and Son
Ironically, several cults that deny Jesus’ divinity try to substantiate their beliefs by quoting Colossians 1:15-20. They argue that the phrase “the image of the invisible God” (v. 15) implies that Jesus was only a created being who bore God’s image in the same way that all humanity does. However, even though we were made in God’s image, we only resemble Him. On the other hand, Jesus is God’s exact likeness.
According to Paul, a flawless reproduction, a precise copy, or a duplicate is what the Greek word “image” signifies God is completely manifest in the Person of His Son, who is none other than Jesus Christ. He is God’s exact likeness. “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” Jesus stated (John 14:9).
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 14:9
A number of crucial ideas in Hebrews 1 parallel Colossians 1:15-20. When it comes to the claim that Christ is the image of God, Hebrews 1:3 says the same thing: “He is the brightness of His glory and the precise representation of His character.” Christ is to God as the sun is to the warm brilliance of light. He transports God from the cosmos to the hearts of men and women. He is the source of light and life. He shows the very core of God. They can’t be separated because neither has ever existed without the other (John 10:30). This is the true meaning of Christmas!
God is said to be invisible several times in the Bible (John 1:18; 5:37; 1 Timothy 1:17; and Colossians 1:15). The unseen God, on the other hand, has been made apparent through Christ. In Him, God’s complete likeness is revealed. “For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;” says Colossians 1:19. He isn’t just a sketch of God; He is the entire God. “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” says Colossians 2:9. There is nothing missing. There are no attributes that are missing. He is God in the fullest sense of the word, the flawless image of God.
Is it a phantom illusion?
Paul was addressing his letter to the Christians in Colossae. The city was influenced by Gnosticism, as it became known. Its followers imagined themselves to be the only ones who knew the truth, which they believed was so intricate that ordinary people couldn’t understand it. They taught philosophical dualism, which holds that matter is evil and spirit is good, among other things. They believed that God is good because He is spirit, but He could never touch matter since it is bad.
As a result, they concluded that God couldn’t have created the physical universe because if He did, He would be responsible for evil. They also claimed that God could never become a man because He would have to live in a body composed of wicked stuff if He did. The true meaning of Christmas in The Bible teaches us differently.
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Colossians 1:16
Those pre-gnostics explained away Jesus’ incarnation by claiming that he was a good angel whose body was merely a figment of his imagination. That and other similar teachings saturated the early church, and several of the New Testament epistles specifically dispute pre-gnostic notions. In fact, when the apostle John wrote, “Know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:” he was attacking the cornerstone of gnostic teaching.
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” wrote the apostle Paul, refuting the same doctrine (1:16). He stated unequivocally that Jesus is God in the flesh, the Creator of all things.
Jesus: King and Creator
The idea that Christ is a created creature because he was “firstborn” overlooks the context of Colossians 1:15. Remember that He is clearly named as the Creator of everything in verses 16-17. Christ is not a product of creation; He is the Creator. Involved in the creation of the cosmos and all things since the beginning. John 1:3 declares, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” If He were a created being, that could not be true.
Hebrews 1:2 states, “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;” Christ is identified as the Creator. Jesus was the Son portion of the Trinity who fashioned the world and through whom it was created.
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:2
The vastness of the universe is unfathomable. Who designed all of that? Some scientists claim that there was a massive explosion that resulted in the formation of a primordial soup and that science is unable to explain it. Talk about having faith in something foolish.
Faith teaches Christians that everything was created by God. In Bethlehem, there was a baby born for which we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. He was the one who created everything.
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