BEHOLD THE MESSIAH HAS COME!

The night Jesus was born, an angel of the Lord, said to the nearby shepherds,

• Luke 2:10-11 “Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the City of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!”

The angel spoke these great words of encouragement to the shepherds that day and since then, these words have blessed more people than we could count. The angel was announcing the Messiah, Christ Jesus. And even more, the angel said “a Savior” was born, and not just for the Jews, but for “all people.”

John, the apostle, recorded in 1 John 3:8b, that the Son of God came to “destroy the works of the devil.” Not only did Jesus come to be our Savior, paying the price for our sins, but He came to deliver us from the  fallen nature that came with sin.

The first Adam was created pure and to be sinless, but when he disobeyed God and sinned, we, his descendants, have no longer been naturally born in the image of God, but instead, have been born with a fallen sinful nature. But the second Adam, Jesus Christ, came to us sinless and stayed sinless. And through the Lord and His sacrifice, we can be born-again. Jesus has made the way, for us to get back to the image of God, that man was first born in. We are still, born first, from our parents with a sinful nature, but when we become Christians, we become born-again in our spirits, which no longer have a sinful nature. This was a huge part of the mission of Jesus Christ when He came! Hallelujah!

In the flesh, we have the carnal, fallen image of the devil. In the spirit, we (born-again Christians), have the image of God. As long as we are in these bodies, we will have the war. The born-again us, has to constantly rule over the carnal nature. This is why we each, have to pick up our cross and carry it daily. It is our flesh, our carnal nature, that we must keep crucified.

In the following verse, we can see that each one of us, is either a child of the devil, or a child of God. Everyone, is one of the two.

• 1 John 3:10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

We were born "children of the devil" through our  earthly parents, but through Christ, we become the children of God!

• 1 Corinthians 15:45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being;” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

This is what Jesus made possible! Not only did He acquire forgiveness for us, but He made it possible for all who will repent, believe upon and follow Him, to be able to be one with God. And when He ascended to heaven, the Father sent the Holy Spirit to indwell, comfort, strengthen and guide us! When we belong to the Lord, we are in Him and He is in us. All this is possible because Jesus came and made the way! When Jesus came, He brought life for us, and destroyed the works of the devil, for all who will receive Him!

Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.
1 John 3:1a