Matthew 1:21 says " She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins"
Luke 1:30-33 read " And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Mark 4:35-41 say "..... And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, JUST AS HE WAS, And other boats were with him......"
As the world celebrates the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,I felt I should put this out into writing.....
Concerning the story of how Jesus was born,only two out of the four books of the Gospel,as we generally know it,give us the account of how Jesus was born. The two are the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke. And,although both reveal to us the same truth about Jesus, yet their initial introductions about the person and purpose of the coming of Jesus were not the same. And I felt that if we want to know Jesus as he actually is,if we want to relate with him as we are expected to,if we are to "take Him as He is" into our lives,then we must need to apply both the introduction of Matthew and Luke.
The Holy Spirit through Matthew introduces Jesus to us as a saviour, hence he wrote "...for he shall SAVE his people.....". On the other hand,the same Holy spirit through Dr Luke introduces Jesus to us,not as a saviour but as a king. Hence, Luke wrote " ..and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end".
I dont know how many reasons to itemize to describe why Jesus was born,but from these two passages,I see the two reasons why Jesus came:to bring salvation and to reign. Every other reasons hang upon these two:that He came for the purpose of bringing salvation/redemption and to establish the kingdom of God on earth through the saved people. He's "both Lord and Christ ". The purpose of God for sending Christ to the world doesn't end at salvation of men. Salvation is for the benefit of man as an individual - to bring man out of his woeful and deplorable condition due to the fall,but the kingdom is for the benefit of God -to express Himself and exercise His authority through the church in the world. If the matter of the kingdom hasn't yet come to reality, then God's purpose is yet to be fulfilled. One reason why the much anticipated second coming of Christ seem to have become an unrealistic expectation is because, although many have been truly saved,yet the kingdom aspect hasn't been fully exercised. Many Christians know about salvation,but little or nothing about the kingdom. We have reduced the kingdom to become something of a theoretical doctrine, and as something to come in the near future. It baffles me alot to see some who think that when the rapture comes and we get to heaven,that's when we enter the kingdom of God. And so, their goal is,number one,to make heaven. If you are truly born of God and furthermore you understand what the Christian life is,then the matter of making heaven won't be your goal again,but it'll become a reality to you that already "you are seated with Christ in heaven" and that "your life is hid with Him". So then there's no need of trying to make heaven again. Salvation doesn't come to us just because God wants us to make heaven. If that were to be the case,then I think the day we got born again we should have fallen down and died immediately and go straight to heaven. But of course that's not the case today,we still remain on earth today. That's enough to tell us that primarily as children of God,God needs us first and foremost here on earth and not in heaven.
As we celebrate Christmas, we should know that Christ didn't come only to save,but also for the His kingdom on earth. When John began,he preached "repent,for the kingdom of God is at hand". The same as Jesus too. For what purpose did John preach repentance? And why should men repent? It wasn't because of man himself but for the sake of God and His kingdom. That is the focal point of the Gospel. The Gospel of salvation,of grace, of redemption.... is being preached,but if it hasn't grown to become the Gospel of the kingdom on earth,it's not yet complete. Jesus said "And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world... and then shall the end come". I'm not in any way trying to differentiate or separate salvation and the kingdom,but we should know that salvation restores to man what man lost at the fall,and even gave man a better package,but the kingdom is what will restore to God what God lost at the fall. So although God's ultimate purpose on earth is the kingdom,yet HE can't achieve that except man is first saved. Then we shouldn't stop at salvation,we need to press further to seek the reality of the kingdom of God. JESUS told Nicodemus "except a man be born again,he cannot see (or enter into) the kingdom of God ". Why does a man need to be born again? It is not just for him to be experiencing the power and grace of God (I can never rule that out as it's very important ) ,but it's so that God might establish His kingdom through him on earth. Salvation deals with the individual man, but the kingdom is something that concerns many (to be experienced and expressed through many that have the same life of God in them). God's purpose is to express Himself and His authority on earth through man (That's the kingdom). But man has fallen because of sin,and thus become disqualified to fulfill God's purpose of the kingdom. Hence,God needed to reach out to man to save him from sin and every of sin's effect (That's salvation ) so that man can become again more than qualified to be able to express God's authority on earth,to bring in the kingdom of God on earth. As children of God,we shouldn't just stop at salvation,we must have the matter of the kingdom as our focus. We know that you have received Christ as your saviour,Thank God for that. But is Christ also the king over your life? As a saviour He has saved you (even if you don't realize it),but as KING, he wants to govern your life. Do you give him the chance to do just that? Or you are still the chief master over your own life? If only we really understand this matter of the kingdom,and the description of the purpose of God from eternity to eternity,we will detest every form of human government and seriously yearn for God to express Himself and His authority as He desires through us and through His church. Do not see Jesus as only a Saviour.It's not enough to see Christ just as a saviour BUT also as a King over your life, because He's a SAVIOUR for the purpose of exercising His power and authority on earth,both through you as an individual, and through His Church collectively. Have you accepted Jesus just as He is into your life -both saviour and king?
Merry Christmas