THE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
Celebrating the Light
John 1:1-18

     A skeptic argued, "Why would God have to come to earth in the form of a man? Why should that be necessary?" John answers three important questions about the Christ of Christmas.

I. WHO IS CHRIST? (vv. 1-5).

A. Christ participated in God's creative and redemptive work flowing through history: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1).

1. "Through him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made" (v. 3).
2. "Was" (imperf.) expresses continuous, timeless existence: "In the beginning was the Word continuously, and the Word was continuously with God, and the Word continuously was God."

B. Christ is in character, quality, essence, and being GOD: "the Word was GOD" (v. 1).
C. Christ is God's light in a world without light.
D. God, in Jesus, has come to us in our human predicament - sent from heaven - and He gives us courage and hope!

II. WHY DID CHRIST COME? (vv. 9-13).

A. Jesus is the God we can see. "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
B. Faith reaches out to accept God's gift of Jesus. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (v. 12).

III. WHAT DID CHRIST DO? (vv. 14, 16-18).

A. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (v. 14).

1. Jesus humanity was just as real as his divinity.
2. "This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world" (I John 4:2-3).

B. In Christ, God literally pitched his tent (dwelt) among us.

1. Jesus Christ was the new localization of God's presence on earth.
2. Jesus was the replacement of the ancient tabernacle - the dwelling place of God.

C. Jesus brought God down to our level so that within the range of our dim, finite vision, we could see Him face-to-face.
D. In Jesus Christ, God has come to us and we He can never be a stranger to us again.