"The Meaning of Christmas"
The Bible begins by testifying, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1 KJ). It adds, “The earth was without form and void” (Gen 2:2 KJ). The vast intricacies of the galaxies and stars, the uniqueness of our sun and its planets, and the distinctive nature of our earth testify to a Creator. The Biblical account is so compatible with modern scientific understanding that a preponderance of physicists recognize that some intelligent designer made the universe and its laws. A number of them have become Christians.
The Bible continues: God said, “Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen 1:3 KJ), “which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God, to fill the immensity of space” (D&C 85:3a). Physical light is the highest and most concentrated form of order in our universe. Scientists have acknowledged that our universe began in a high state of order, further confirming the Biblical account. Without light, there is no order. The Bible says, “Darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness” (Job 10:22). As light proceeds from God to fill the immensity of space, it orders all things. It orders the stars into galaxies and the planets around stars. It orders quarks into elementary particles and the subsequent protons, neutrons, and electrons into atoms.
For what purpose did God create everything? He revealed why: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen 1:26). He made the entire universe for humans and placed us in it to interact with Him. Jehovah even wants to live with us, with the people whom He made. He told Moses, “I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God” (Ex 29:45-46). How could the Creator of the universe dwell with people? Will he shrink Himself onto one planet among the billions in the immensity of space? When the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, God came down and filled its top with a cloud full of thunder and lightning. The earth trembled. How could the power that formed the earth and stretched out the heavens or the power that shook Mount Sinai dwell with people?
God commanded the Israelites to build a Tabernacle, a portable Temple that could follow them through the wilderness. When they finished it, He dwelt in it. The people saw His presence there every day: “A cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle . . . For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys” (Ex 40:34-38). God’s presence filled Solomon’s Temple once the Israelites built a permanent House in their Promised Land. Is that what God meant when He said, “I will dwell with the children of Israel?” Was the dwelling of the Creator of the universe and all things in it just the manifestation of His presence in a consecrated building? What value was His presence? What value was the lot for the scapegoat always coming up in the High Priest’s hand on the Day of Atonement, or the scarlet-dyed wool tied to the head of the scapegoat turning white? Those manifestations did not keep the Israelites devoted to God. They went ahead and served false gods anyway. They also engaged in the most immoral behavior. Displays of power that could fill every courageous man with fear did not inhibit people from being disobedient, nor will it ever. Yet, despite His people’s waywardness, God still wants to dwell with them amid His glorious creation.
At the appointed time, God templed in a body of flesh. The Messiah came at the time previously foretold (Dan 9:24-26). That is why Jesus began His ministry by saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:10). When the time came, the presence of God filled a human body, not just any body, but a human body miraculously conceived within a virgin. How could the presence of God that burnt the top of Mount Sinai, shook the entire mountain, and filled the sky with thunder and lightening dwell in a human body? The mystery of Jehovah’s presence filling the Tabernacle or the Temple was hard enough to understand, but the mystery of His presence filling a living, created human body? That was outside the theological understanding of the best Jews. Why? The power of God’s presence burnt the mountaintop. The blackened rocks are still visible today. Would not that fire burn the flesh, and would not the intense lightning and thunder destroy any part that survived the fire? But that is precisely what Jehovah did! He is a fire that can consume the corruptible, but at same time, enliven the repentant. He can burn away our seditious selfishness while insulating and liberating the captive creature held within, but that liberation can only free those who want to be rescued. Those content, or worse, enamored with the pleasure or greed attending their selfishness cannot be rescued, for they will gladly return to the bondage that confined them.
Jehovah became flesh when the time for salvation came. The lawlessness of the Jews had won. The Law that was supposed to discipline them and set the boundaries of their fleshly impulses proved insufficient. It could not save them. Jehovah took our flesh in the person of Jesus, born of Mary, to do what we could never do for ourselves. He came to save us. What king would lay aside his crown to suffer the limitations of his servants, all of whom had been corrupted and defiled by the enemy? It would have been far easier and much more efficient for our Maker to discard His polluted creation—disintegrate it—and start anew, but that is only an option for those devoid of love. Our Creator loved us even in our corrupted, defiled state. He saw what we were before the fall and what we could become again. He became like us to restore us to the people we were when He made us. John, Jesus’ beloved disciple and faithful apostle, explained, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1J 3:8). To liberate us and to save us, Jehovah became like us: “Unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor 1:23).
Yes, Jehovah God became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, “The Father because he was conceived by the power of God: and the Son, because of the flesh; thus becoming the Father and Son” (Mos 8:30). He became flesh by being born of the virgin Mary. After His birth, He was proved spotless in the Lamb’s manger and worshipped by shepherds and kings alike. He took upon Himself our limitations and our infirmities, “Suffering pains, and afflictions, and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith, He will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people; and he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people” (Alma 5:20-21). How deep is Jehovah’s love for us. It led Him to be like us for the sole purpose of bearing our sins and dying in our place, redeeming us from eternal death. What unselfish love! What grace! What mercy! He loved us when we could not love Him. Even our fear of Him could not restrain our rebellion. But because He loved us so deeply, we can love Him. John wrote, “We love him, because he first loved us” (1J 4:19). If He had not loved me first, I would reject Him still. Would we all?
This Christmas season, we will remember and retell Jesus’ birth. We will sing its carols and listen to them throughout the season. We will decorate our homes and churches with symbols of His birth and see them in our stores, offices, and places of business. The wonder of it all continues to amaze children and adults alike. It expresses a love beyond our understanding and outside our carnal nature. And we are attracted to it. Even skeptics and the irreligious are drawn to its magic and mystery. What is that mystery and wonder? It is the profound love of our Creator for His creation, for the people whom He made and whom evil corrupted—a love that motivated Him to pursue us into the sewer of mortality and through death to ransom and save us. His birth and the life, death, and resurrection that followed put that love on full display. We see it in the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in the manger. Because we can see that love, we can love Him back. May that love, the love of God, which regularly attends this season, fill you with love for Him, a sufficient love that compels us to embrace Him and please Him with amended conduct, happily doing His will because we love Him.