Riff's Christian Journal

We all know the Christmas Story, about the baby in a manger, the shepherds, the wise men, angels praising God and the Star above. While this story is true, it is not the whole story of Who Jesus is or why He came.

The real problem about this story is that it has been appropriated to be a time of spending and making money, spending money by us and making money by retailers.

Look all around the stores and malls. The decorations are all about pretty lights and decorations reminding us that Christmas is coming, and we need to buy all of those gifts now, before they are all gone. There is nothing anywhere about what Christmas is all about – the birth of Jesus. You will never see that for someone might be offended.

Maybe it is time for us to read about the coming of Jesus in a completely new light, one that shows who Jesus is and why He came. There is such a story but one that is rarely told anytime of the year. It is a short story and it is taken from scripture verses written by the Apostle John, in his Gospel and from the 1st letter of John. Here they are without the verse numbers just as they may have been written in a letter

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. 

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. The light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 

This is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life. 

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Jesus is the Word of God, born of a woman, divine in nature and human in flesh. He came into this sinful world to provide forgiveness of sins and eternal life for all who would believe in Him and confess Him to be Lord.

This is the true story of the coming of Jesus; who He is and why He came. This is the story that should be added to the traditional Christmas story as this completes what is left out.

Without knowing who Jesus is and why He came, the story of the baby born in a manger is meaningless, just a good human-interest story. Jesus is the Word of God, He was with God and He is God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

These things have been written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. 

He that believes on Jesus has everlasting life: and he that believes not Jesus shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. 

Come; let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.