Dear Children,
If you could travel back in time two
thousand years to the very first Christmas, what would you like to know? Would
you wonder what it was like for the Christ-child to be born in a stable? Do you
wish you could know which animals were in the little barn? How about what the
stable smelled like with all those animals in there, or how much noise the
animals made as they watched these people making themselves at home?
Today we think that Christmas has a lot
to do with Christmas presents under the tree. I’m sure you can think of the
things you have asked for this year. But do you ever wonder what was the very
first Christmas gift?
This year there will be millions of
Christmas presents opened all around the world. It will be impossible to find
out which child was the very first one to open his or her present. We will
never know which toy was the first one to appear from under all that wrapping
paper.
However, we can know what was the very
first Christmas gift ever. What do you think it was?
We know that the first people to visit
the Christ-child were the shepherds who had been out in the fields watching
over the flocks during the long cold night. God had interrupted their sleepy
guard-duty by sending an angel to tell them the wonderful news that the
Christ-child had finally been born. After they got over their terrified feeling
of surprise, they rushed off to find this little baby and see what God had done
for them.
Do you think that we could say that the
shepherds were the first to give a Christmas gift to the Christ child? They
didn’t really bring any gifts, but maybe we could say that the feeling of
wonder in their hearts was like a gift to Jesus. Or, perhaps we could say that,
when they went away and told everyone what they had seen and heard, that they
were giving a gift by letting everyone know what God had done.
A little while after that first night,
some men came from a faraway country. They had seen a star appear in the night
sky that was different from any other star they had ever seen. God told them that
this unusual star was his way of announcing the birth of a great king, his one
and only Son. They traveled a long distance just to see this child who had been
born. And, they came bringing some very expensive gifts with them. When they
saw the little child who was the Christ, they bowed down and worshiped him
because they knew that, even though he was still just a little baby, he would
one day show himself to be the greatest King the world had ever known.
Now, while we might think the shepherds
and the wise men were the first ones to give gifts to the Christ-child, and
that this meant one of those gifts had to be the very first Christmas present,
there was actually one gift that came before anything else.
The first Christmas gift was not the
ones that were given to the newborn Christ-child. The very first Christmas gift
of all was the Christ-child. The newborn baby, born in a stable and lying in a
manger, was the very first Christmas present.
One day, after Jesus had grown up, he
was explaining to someone why he came, and what he was doing. During this
conversation, he said, “For God so loved
the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not
perish but have eternal life.”[1]
Jesus was explaining far more than what Christmas was about, but it included
the answer to our question about what was the very first Christmas gift. The
first Christmas gift ever given was Jesus.
On Christmas day, after all the presents
are opened, children could say something like this, “because our parents love us so much, they gave us these toys and games
so that we could have a lot of fun playing, and doing things together as a
family.” That is kind of what Jesus was explaining when he described the gift
that God had given to the world.
Jesus was telling us that both he and
his Father loved the world so much, and they cared so deeply about what the
world was going through, that they gave the world the very best gift ever. They
gave Jesus to the world as the one person who could finally save God’s people
from their sins.
In fact, did you know that, when God’s
angel was telling Jesus’ earthly father-figure why his fiancée was pregnant, he
said, “She will bear a son, and you shall
call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”[2]
Did you notice that? Joseph was told that his wife was going to have a baby
boy, and that Joseph was to give the baby the name “Jesus.” The reason Joseph was to name the baby Jesus was that
Jesus would save his people from their sins, from all the wrong things they had
done against God.
So, the first Christmas gift was not the
shepherds telling everyone about the wonderful gift of God that had been born
in a stable and laid in a manger. Neither was it the wise men bringing their
treasures to Jesus. The first Christmas gift was God giving us his Son, because
that was the only way he could save us from our sins.
What should we do with this gift? Why,
open it of course! How do you open this Christmas gift? Jesus said that, whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life.”[3]
The way to open the gift God gave us at Christmas is to believe in Jesus. When
we do believe in him, at least the way God’s book describes, he gives us the
eternal life he wants us to have, complete with the forgiveness of all the bad
things we have ever done against him.
Do you remember why God gave us this
very first Christmas gift of his Son? Jesus said it was because God so loved
the world. When people say that Christmas is about love, they are partly right.
The truth is that Christmas is about God’s love, and God’s gift. When we
receive his gift, we also come to know his love.
Have a blessed and joyful Christmas by
welcoming Jesus, the Christ who came and showed God’s love to the world.
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures
are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
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