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Why the Present?

Why the present? Check out Pastor John Highstreet's answer to this questions. He is the pastor at Algonac Church of Christ, and he gives some great biblical insight!



Hello friends! My name is John Highstreet, minister at Algonac Church of Christ. I hope you have visited the Nativity on the waterfront. It is amazing! If you did, maybe you saw the question:


“Why the present?”


If the gift of Christmas is God’s son, why did we need him to come? Hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus – Isaiah wrote –"Your iniquities have separated you from God." Paul wrote to the Romans: “For the wages of sin is death” – that death is separation from God.


Because of the love God has for us – He sent His one and only Son – to be a sacrifice for us

That is the present… so that we won’t be separated from God. The present is Eternal Life for those who accept him as their Lord and Savior.

God does a lot of things – many of them seem strange to our admittedly limited perspective. Without a doubt, the single most unsettling, irrational, illogical thing He has ever done is come to earth as a baby! In one moment, Jesus went from the most comfortable and beautiful place that has ever and will ever exist to one of the grossest, germiest place you can imagine…A baby in a stable – among the flies, barnyard animals, and the manure.


When Jesus was born, they wrapped Him in strips of cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough. The Author of Life, The King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Light of the World, the Lord of All, The Alpha and Omega, The Way – the Truth and the Life – Lying there in a manger among the smells and leftover feed…


That, of course, is the point.

If Jesus had been born in a royal palace, or a nice home, He wouldn’t have been as approachable as a baby in lowly manger. In the manger, the God-child was approachable and accepting. Jesus the King of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself to you and me. Jesus could have stayed in heaven and been our prophet and King. But the present is - Jesus becoming our Messiah and Savior. And it required Him to step down out of His splendor. It required God coming to earth as a man. It demanded that He allow Himself to humble Himself and become a child in a humble manger stall.


Everything God did that day spoke of a Messiah who would be approachable.

Jesus was born to be a servant.

Jesus was born to be a Savior.

Jesus was born to be a Messiah.

Jesus was born to die for you and me.

Jesus came and died so that our sins can be forgiven – that is the Gift.


This innocent baby born in a manger is a proclamation that God became flesh and dwelt among us. The angel told Mary “They will call him Immanuel”— which means, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:23). So Immanuel is NOT an “above-us God” or a “somewhere-in-the-neighborhood God.” He came as the “with-us God.”

God with us.

NOT – “God with the rich” or “God with the religious.”

BUT God with us.

ALL OF US.


One of the important aspects of the gift of Christmas is receiving it. The Bible says that as many as received Him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. We receive God’s gift of forgiveness and eternal life when we place our faith in Jesus as the way to the Father. Wouldn’t it be great to know that all of your sins are forgiven? The Apostle Peter was asked how - when he gave the 1st sermon –

And his answer:

Repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.


What a present – what a gift – what an amazing and loving God!


Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoy the true meaning of Christmas this year. Merry Christmas!


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