<div id="attachment_981" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-981" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-981" src="https://theweakandthefew.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/nativity.jpg" alt="nativity" width="1000" height="528" /><p id="caption-attachment-981" class="wp-caption-text">&#8220;Nativity&#8221; provided by &#8220;JohnsonFamily2003&#8221; &#8211; flickr</p></div>
<p>What in the world is Christmas all about? A friend of mine sometimes joyously refers to it as, &#8220;The Incarnation Celebration&#8221;. What &#8211; you may ask &#8211; is the Incarnation? The word incarnation defined means: <em>a person who embodies in the flesh a deity, spirit, or abstract quality</em>. In other words, GOD TOOK ON FLESH! HE BECAME A MAN! WOW! How humbly he came though, not with huge celebration or a video premier, but chose to begin his humanity in the womb of a young virgin named Mary.</p>
<p>His young cries were first raised from a stable below the stars. Angels visited shepherds and proclaimed his coming. Wealthy kings travelled and brought gifts from afar, all to behold &#8211; God in the flesh. He was no longer free to wander across the universe but chose for a season to make earth his home. From Bethlehem where he was born, to Calvary where he died was less than 10 miles. Why would he come and live such a confined life on such a big planet?</p>
<p>He came because of his love, because he was sent on a rescue mission &#8211; sent by his father. John 3:16 paints the clearest picture for us:</p>
<h5 style="text-align: center;"><em><span class="woc">“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,<br />
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.&#8221;</span></em></h5>
<p>God created us to live eternally with him but through our disobedience, we became sinful; and as a result, death &#8211; spiritual and physical &#8211; came into the world. That&#8217;s what &#8220;perishing&#8221; means.</p>
<p>He came with a two-fold purpose:</p>
<ol>
<li>To live a sinless life and satisfy the precepts of the law
<ul>
<li><em>John 8:<span id="v43008028-1" class="verse-num">28 </span>So Jesus said to them, <span class="woc">“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.</span> <span id="v43008029-1" class="verse-num woc">29 </span><span class="woc">And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”</span> </em></li>
<li>Pastor Steve Cassarino put it like this: &#8220;<span style="font-weight: 400;">He got 100% on the exam of righteousness&#8221;</span></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>To die a sacrificial death and fulfill the penalty of the law
<ul>
<li><em>2 Corinthians 5:<span id="v47005021-1" class="verse-num">21 </span>For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.</em></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Jesus became our substitute to live a life we could not live and to die a death we deserved. When we place our trust in Jesus &#8211; God in the flesh &#8211; we receive his righteous life as our own, and his payment of sin on our behalf and that is what &#8220;Joy to the World&#8221; is all about.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Joy to the world, the Lord is come!</em><br />
<em>Let earth receive her King;</em><br />
<em>Let every heart prepare Him room,</em><br />
<em>And heav’n and nature sing,</em><br />
<em>And heav’n and nature sing,</em><br />
<em>And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!</em><br />
<em>Let men their songs employ;</em><br />
<em>While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains</em><br />
<em>Repeat the sounding joy,</em><br />
<em>Repeat the sounding joy,</em><br />
<em>Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>No more let sins and sorrows grow,</em><br />
<em>Nor thorns infest the ground;</em><br />
<em>He comes to make His blessings flow</em><br />
<em>Far as the curse is found,</em><br />
<em>Far as the curse is found,</em><br />
<em>Far as, far as, the curse is found.</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>He rules the world with truth and grace,</em><br />
<em>And makes the nations prove</em><br />
<em>The glories of His righteousness,</em><br />
<em>And wonders of His love,</em><br />
<em>And wonders of His love,</em><br />
<em>And wonders, wonders, of His love.</em></p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a little instrumental version you can sing along with&#8230;</p>
<p>Merry Christmas from the weak &; the few</p>
<p>: )~</p>
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