Good News of Christmas

The good news of Christmas is not only that a Savior has been born, who will rescue us from our sins and sorrows, but that the Savior is the LORD.

The angel proclaims, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

The Savior is the Lord!

YHWH (often translated in all caps in the Old Testament as the “LORD”) has come to earth in Jesus. As one commentary states: “The astonishing announcement, probably not fully grasped by the shepherds, is that this Messiah who has been born as a baby is also the Lord God himself” (ESB).

Indeed, Jesus is called “Immanuel,” which in Hebrew means “God with us.” Jesus is God with us.

The Apostle John starts his account of Jesus like this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1, 14a). So, according to John, Jesus is the Word, and he is God, and he took on a human body and lived among us. God has come to earth in Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews says, “[Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…” (Hebrews 1:3a).

The Apostle Paul says, “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15a).

God has not sent a messenger, an angel, an ambassador, an emissary, a representative, or a proxy. The Lord God himself has come to save us.

The miracle we marvel at most at Christmas is that Jesus is the Son of God, God himself now in flesh. This is the good news of Christmas.

And the Lord hasn’t just shown up for a brief cameo or photo opp. The Lord has come to help, and he has come to help by suffering and dying in our place. God comes here to be with us and to take up our sins and sorrows. God himself. Isaiah 53 describes Jesus and his ministry in this way: “[4] Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. [5] But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. [6] All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6). And at Christmas another mystery is revealed: The LORD would be the suffering servant! This is what the Lord himself came to do, to carry our sorrows and to carry our sins. The Lord himself has done this! What wondrous love is this, O my soul! 

One of the great gaffes of any leader is when they fail to be present in a key moment. Of course, no leader is perfect, and so they do miss key moments. But everyone knows if you really care, if you really love someone, you’ll be there when it matters most. There’s an infamous picture of a recent president, looking out the airplane window of Air Force One, surveying a hurricane-struck area. Rightly or wrongly, that image would come to haunt that president. Why? Because in a time of crisis, the feeling was that he should’ve been on the ground with those suffering.

The good news of Christmas is that we have a God who’s not up in the sky, looking down at a distance, at our tragedy. No. Our God parachutes into Bethlehem. He jumps into the flood waters with us. He wades through our sorrows. And he embraces us in our sorrows. He reaches out to the untouchable lepers and touches them. He touches the eyes of the blind man, and he sees. And he lets desperate, sinful people draw near to him and be with him. This is the good news, that the child born at Christmas is not only a Savior but a Savior who is the Lord himself with us.

I heard a Christian philosopher recently say this was a major reason why he was a Christian, because of the “solidarity” of God with his creation. That is what so stirred him. And I’ve thought a lot lately about that word “solidarity” in connection with Christmas lately. It is at Christmas that we remember most that the Lord isn’t just for us but stands with us, in solidarity.

This is the good news of Christmas: “[10] …Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is…the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11).

The arrival of the Lord in the child Jesus is amazing good news, and it’s for you. I hope you will receive it with joy this year.

Merry Christmas!