Most of those reading this blog already know this truth. I want to give you the teaching and a couple of the passages for your quiver today. If you didn’t realize this truth, then you are going to be given a very important doctrine which, I pray, will never be forgotten. We could go into the community and ask when Jesus first arrived and most would say, “You know, Bethlehem that first Christmas.” That would be a wrong answer. Let me share with you a few verses.
- Hebrews 10:5-7. “Wherefore when (as he was coming) he cometh (he is already in existence and talking) into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou (the Father) wouldest not, but a body (the baby Jesus) hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”
- John 8:58. “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was (existed),I AM.” Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, the Triune Godhead, which has always existed. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit never had a beginning and will never have an end. Everything in the universe, and if other universes exist, all had a beginning. But logic tells us that something never comes from nothing. Just as 2×4’s come from trees and trees come from seeds or seedlings, everything comes from something. If you travel back far enough there was a beginning for everything but something had to exist to begin it all. The bible teaches us that God was there in eternity past and will be there forever as the eternal one. That thought leads me to another passage.
- John 1:1, “In the beginning (creation) was (already here) the Word, and the Word was with God (Trinity), and the Word was God.” Jesus was already on the scene when God spoke and the world as we know it was created.
So, why did He come? Why would He leave Heaven to be born into the human race? The answer is simple. He left all the splendor of glory to die doing the will of God. Look back at our Hebrews 10 passage at the top of the blog. “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not…In burnt offerings and sacrifices thou hast no pleasure.” The body of Jesus was prepared so one day it would be made an offering for sin. Christ knew His purpose from the start. That first Christmas began a journey that ended a little over thirty years later when Christ died on the cross, shedding His precious blood as a sacrifice better than any blood of any animal. If we accept that one-time sacrifice, and if our family and friends accept that same sacrifice, then we are saved by the plan of God which Jesus fulfilled at Calvary. Let’s celebrate Christmas always remembering Jesus didn’t start in Bethlehem and he didn’t finish at Calvary. He was alive for all of eternity, past and future.