Dear BPCWAians,

Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Christmas is a day which Christians set aside to remember and tell others about the birth of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Today, we look back on a period more than 2,000 years ago when Christ was born. We celebrate Christmas not because we believe Christ was born exactly on the 25th of December. We do not know for certain the exact date He was born, and it may likely not even have been in December. However, that day has certainly been marked in eternity’s history. That day, the Almighty God took on human flesh to be Redeemer for lost mankind. This is what we seek to remember and rejoice for on Christmas day.

Promised from the beginning. With man’s fall into sin, God promised our first parents in Gen 3:15 that one day, the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of Satan. With this promise, God showed to our first parents the means by which redemption would come – through death and shedding of blood of a substitute. The LORD God killed an animal, made coats of skins, and clothed Adam and his wife with it. This was the first gospel, showing to mankind God’s plan of redemption. Even then, God had already planned for a day when God’s only begotten Son would be given, that He might be killed to be the sacrifice for man’s salvation. The gracious God had provided mankind a way of salvation through His Son because we could no longer obey Him perfectly. The Covenant of Grace had begun. Only by grace alone could man be saved. Holy, Just and Righteous, the Gracious God had to provide for Himself the Holy Lamb so that we could be saved. From the first Adam till us living today in the 21st century and while the earth shall last, there was and is only one means whereby man can be saved – through faith in Jesus Christ. The LORD God had promised to give to man the Lamb of God, and He would not fail. He would not forget. He would not change His mind.

Revealed through the ages. And so, as man’s history unfolded, God worked out His plan. He called Abraham out and made a covenant with him, promising to make him the father of many nations (Gen 17:4). He cared and protected Abraham and His seed through their generations. When His people were in Egypt, God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob (Exod 2:24). While the disobedience and murmuring of His chosen people angered even the meekest man Moses, God steadfastly never wavered in His promise to give the greatest Gift man could ever receive – His Son was born in the nation that these chosen people would form. As God unfolded His plan of Redemption to mankind, the focus was sharpened from “the seed” to one that would come from the line of David (2 Sam 7:12,13). The hope of all mankind was not “to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal 3:16). The child would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). The child would be the Almighty God (Isaiah 9:6, 7) – the LORD of hosts will perform this. God Himself would fulfil the promise He had made in His Covenant of Grace. God would provide the Lamb, in His time. Man was to watch and wait for His Coming.

The Day Comes. What would you do if you were planning for months for a special event and the day arrives? The LORD God had planned for this day before the foundation of the world, and He sends His angelic messengers to announce the glad tidings in Luke 2:11. Do you realise how remarkable that day was? Sometimes we wait for someone to do what they had promised to do, and that day never comes because the person was unable to, or neglected to do as he promised. But with the omnipotent God, all that He purposes always comes to pass. Strive as he would, Satan could not thwart God’s plan for redemption. God’s Covenant is sure, immoveable, unbreakable. The Seed that would bruise Satan’s head was given to man, and the Seed was none other than Christ, the Lord.

So, as we approach another Christmas, let us take time to ponder and to reflect on our faithful LORD. He gives us His promise of salvation in His Covenant of grace, and the Mediator of that Covenant is the LORD God Himself. For any reader who has not yet believed in Christ, how will you escape God’s judgement, if you reject so great and gracious a Covenant that God offers to you for your salvation? And for us who have believed, what shall we give who have received such a wondrous gift as the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives? This is what we celebrate at Christmas – the Lord Jesus’ Birth in fulfilment of the promised Covenant of Grace. How our hearts must sing out,

O come, let us adore Him,

O come, let us adore Him,

O come, let us adore Him,

Christ the Lord.

Yours in our Lord’s service Pastor