Have you ever considered that Christmas did not begin with the birth of Jesus? I understand that sounds a little strange coming from someone who has always celebrated Christmas as the start of Jesus’ incarnation and His dwelling among us. And those things still hold true.
But the promise of Christmas, of Immanuel, God with us, began in the Garden of Eden with the death of a lamb. If you will imagine with me for a moment the beauty of what God created when He proclaimed His creation “good.” His masterpiece and artistry that we call earth and sky still hold immense beauty to our less-than-perfect view today. But we also know, deep in our hearts, that all creation, that we, groan for something better. We know we were not made to die. Our purpose was broken in that garden when sin entered the world.
And if you know the story of Adam and Eve, you know that once they had disobeyed God, the relationship with Him was also broken. Their eyes were opened, and not in a good way. The beauty that was once declared “good” was good no longer. And so they hid, desperately trying to camouflage their nakedness. I can’t imagine how they sewed leaves together, but somehow they managed.
But plants are not alive in the sense that humans are, or are even on par with animals. Blood does not flow through a plant’s veins. Not blood that could spill if you plucked a leaf and broke in into pieces. And the trouble with sin, the thing the serpent did not tell them, is that blood is the only thing that can atone for sin. It’s like needing a transfusion because we are dying from a mortal wound. That wound, in God’s economy, is called sin.
So when God came to walk with them that fateful day, and proclaimed judgment on their disobedience, He knew that only He could fix the mess they had caused, a mess that they would now genealogically pass down to every human being yet to come. I suppose God could have sent the Messiah right then, but that is not the way God writes stories.
He did, however, take a perfect lamb and spilled its blood so that the lamb’s skin could cover the skin of the humans. And in that moment, the lamb’s blood also covered their deeper need for forgiveness. Even today, the Jewish people celebrate Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which in ancient times included the death of a lamb to take the place of the people who needed forgiveness–to act as a covering for their sins so that God could fellowship with them again.
You see, God cannot commune with us, dwell with us, in our broken state without the shedding of blood.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness or remission of sins.”
So from the time of the garden, God began to proclaim grace for those who had fallen into sin, by covering them with the lamb’s skin and by covering their now darkened hearts with the lamb’s blood.
Years later, through His prophets, God promised that Immanuel would come. God would walk among humans once again. This time God’s Lamb would take on human skin. Whereas sin caused us to try to be like God…the incarnation showed us God coming to earth to be like us.
His cousin, John the Baptist, pointed to Jesus and said,
“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
He was born human, but His purpose was to act as a metaphorical lamb, so He could finally set us truly free from the need for constant sacrifices and the continual spilling of innocent blood, which could only give us temporary restoration.
Jesus’ birth was the beginning of the culmination of the promise made to Adam and Eve.
But then, the cool part? Jesus’ birth was announced to Temple shepherds, those who kept the sheep that were meant for the Day of Atonement, for the covering of sins of the people of Israel and for any who called on God’s name.
The promise began with the death of an animal, a lamb, and was finished with the death and resurrection of a person, the God-Man, Jesus Messiah, the perfect Lamb of God.
The thing that strikes me as fascinating, is that God is such an amazing story-teller, and I don’t mean in a fictional sense. The fact that the Bible was written over many centuries by so many different authors, and yet, the story of grace is woven through it so well, makes me wonder how any of us could miss it. Could it be we are not looking or do not want to see what is clearly right in front of us?
Grace comes in so many forms in Scripture and is fairly shouted through the ancient texts as if to say, “See?” Can you not find the gift I’m giving to you, right here? Right now?
We have all fallen short of God’s grace and glory. We missed the mark. We are a broken people in a broken world and we desperately need Jesus, the only Lamb of God. The only One who could restore us to a place of of communion with our Creator. As it was always meant to be. As it will be in true completion when we see Him face to face.
But we can’t see Him if we miss Christmas Grace. If we miss the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sin of the world. May this Christmas bring you those good tidings of great joy, which will be for all people. For unto us a child is born…and His name shall be called, Immanuel, God with us.
He is the grace that is Christmas.
#christmasgrace #thelambofgod #shepherdswatch
