Christ: Expression Of The Real

"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. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:1-5, 14

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."  Genesis 1:1, 3

It is always good to remind ourselves of those truths which are foundational. Truth which is immutable and which forms the basis for all rational presupposition. Christmas is just such a time. Many Americans are familiar with the Christmas account presented in the Bible (however, in this age of multicultural malaise, this can no longer be assumed for the masses of Americans, stamped out piecemeal from the statist mechanism of public education). Christmas is the celebration of Christ's first advent. We give gifts in recognition of the unfathomable gift that God gave to mankind in the person of His Son. Christ is the personification of grace and truth. He is grace in that his sacrifice was made in our stead. The penalty for our sin (sin that is inherent in us, stemming from Adam's original sin) was placed on Him. The Christ in the manger became the Christ of Golgotha; who became sin for us that God's righteous judgment might be satiated, so that God's grace might be extended to us. Christ is the personification of truth. In His person is the answer to Pilate's question, "what is truth." Christ, the very Word of God, is truth. Immutable, ultimate, and Divine. It is in Him that we come to the understanding that God's grace must be appropriated by faith alone, sola fide. That in Christ we find the way, the truth, and the life. It is the Word that teaches us the true nature of reality and is the only real enlightenment. This enlightenment is all of grace and cannot be attained by any effort of the will. The light shines in the darkness but, of ourselves, we cannot comprehend it. God's invitation is to come, let us  reason together. He extends His hand and says, whosoever will may come. The true nature of man and the nature of Christ are revealed--man as stained with original sin and Christ as spotless redeemer. We see in His perfection our vast need and in Him our only hope of redemption. So, this Christmas season, let us contemplate, meditate on the nature of Christ as it is revealed to us in the written word, the Bible. 

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

It is from the pages of Holy Scripture that we will come to understand the true nature of reality, the nature and purpose of the baby born in Bethlehem; Immanuel--God with us.