It Never Gets Old
Recapturing The Glory of the Gospel in the Christmas Story
(P.S. The inspiration for this article title is from a song called It Never Gets Old, a Christmas song by my friend Damara Melissa on a similar topic. Give it a listen here!)
It amazes me every year. School starts back up in August and September, fall comes around in October, Thanksgiving sneaks up in November, and before you know it it is once again the “most wonderful time of the year”: Christmas. For Christians, the Christmas season is one of particular significance. It is much more than a time to simply eat lots of food and spend a lot of money.
For Christians, Christmas is a time when we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ to save the world. It’s a time when we reflect on the time in history when the long-awaited Messiah, King, and Savior of the world took on human flesh and was born to a virgin. It’s a time when we celebrate the genesis (genesis in Greek means origin or birth) of the gospel, when Jesus came to the earth to save us from our sins.
If you’re anything like me, however, it can become all too easy to become bored with this Christmas story. If I’m not careful, I can slowly slip into apathy and disinterest in the Christmas story and can lose a sense of genuine and sincere awe at the theological truths we celebrate at Christmas.
Another important truth I’m often tempted to become bored with is the gospel. The gospel is one of the most important truths in all of Scripture. The entire Bible revolves around the story of God working out redemption through Jesus Christ. And if redemption is the gate, then the gospel is the key. To use another analogy, if the destination of the Bible story is redemption, then the path to that destination is the gospel. Its importance can hardly be overemphasized.
Today then, in response to the aforementioned predicaments, we’re going to look at four gospel truths from one of the most popular Christmas passages, Matthew 1:21. And my prayer is that in doing so the Lord will open the eyes of our hearts to behold the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Christmas story! (1 Cor 4:6).
Matthew 1:21 says, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” We’ll be honing in on the second half of that verse.
The Gospel is about a Savior
The first gospel truth this verse shows us is that the gospel is about a Savior. The word for gospel in Greek is euangelion, and it means “good news”. And at the center of this gospel, this good news, is a man named Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. At the very heart of this good news is not a doctrine, a set of rules or requirements, or another pragmatic solution, it is a person named Jesus Christ. And He came as the Savior of the world.
The Gospel accomplishes our salvation
The second gospel truth we see in this verse is that the gospel accomplishes salvation. The gospel is about a person sent to accomplish a mission: salvation. Jesus came to save. He came to rescue, restore, and redeem. All the Bible leading up to this passage in Matthew screams desperately for the need of a Savior bringing salvation. And when Jesus comes to earth, He comes as just that.
The Gospel is applied for sinners
The third gospel truth this verse shows us is that the gospel is applied for sinners. Who exactly did this Savior come to save? Jesus came to save his people. He came as a Savior with salvation for sinners. The Bible couldn’t be more clear. “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23). The final verdict in the divine courtroom is an irreversible sentence of eternal death. The wage, what the sinners is owed and entitled to based on what he did, is eternal death.
Who is a sinner? A sinner is anyone who has violated God’s law. Have you lied before? Have you stolen? Have you lusted? Have you been angry? Have you cheated? Then you are a sinner, and according to divine law are deserving of eternal death.
Do you see now why this gospel message is so important? The good news of the gospel loses its glory when we forget about the terrible wages of sin. However, because of the gospel, we don’t have to be doomed to damnation. Because of this Savior who brings salvation to us sinners, we can have hope. Because this good news is for sinners.
The Gospel abolishes slaves
Which leads to the last and final gospel truth our verse reveals. The gospel abolishes slaves. This is just a different way of saying the gospel brings freedom. One of the many miserable effects of sin is that it not only damns us later, but enslaves us now. Sin wreaks death and destruction both in the life to come and in the life we now live. It distorts divine design and poisons and pollutes every sphere of the human experience. Like the people of Israel in Egypt, sin results in cruel slavery.
Yet, the glory and beauty of the gospel is that it abolishes this terrible slavery. The gospel breaks the chains of sin and enables us to walk in newness of life. The gospel is the good news about a Savior who brings salvation to sinners and freedom to slaves.
The Glory of The Good News
What makes this good news so glorious? The gospel message isn’t just an arbitrary and intellectually correct proposition. The glory of the gospel is that it saved this sinner and this slave. Jesus Christ died for my sins and brought about my freedom. And oh, how there is great beauty, magnificence, and glory in that reality! In a world filled with sinners and slaves, the gospel offers salvation and a Savior. It doesn’t just offer the road to redemption, it offers our road to redemption. The gospel is the good news about a Savior who accomplishes salvation for sinners and abolishes slavery for slaves! This is the glory of the gospel!
Pray for New Sights of Gospel Glory
This Christmas season, I pray that we would all have eyes to see behold the beauty and glory of the gospel. This Christmas season, my prayer is that we would see God’s plan of salvation woven all throughout the Christmas story. My prayer is that no matter how many times we hear the Christmas story and reflect on the gospel message it will never get old. This Christmas, let us pray for new sights of gospel glory! For truly the message of Christmas and the gospel is one that brings peace on earth and good will towards men. The gospel is the good news that a Savior came to bring salvation for sinners and slaves like you me. And that’s a message I call glorious.