Many people think that it is almost infidelity, or even sacrilege, not to celebrate the birthday of Christ, even though no man has the slightest knowledge of the day or the month when it occurred. They would ask, "Shall we not devote at least one day in the year to thinking of the miraculous birth of the Saviour?"
We would reply, not one day only, but every day. Let us see how this may be. The birth of Jesus was by the Holy Spirit. The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
By that same Spirit's power Christ dwells in the hearts of all who believe. The Apostle Paul prayed to God for us, "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." (Ephesians 3:16-17)
That is the only way that we can have real life, for Christ is our life: "Christ, who is our life." (Colossians 3:4)
Christ in us is the hope of glory: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27)
Now the birth of Christ is nothing to anyone in whom His birth is not repeated. Indeed, he in whom Christ's life has not sprung up, does not know of a certainty that He was ever born, and that He was crucified and raised. These things are known only by faith, and faith brings the life of Christ into our mortal bodies. No one can certainly know anything about Christ's birth, if he does not know Christ himself; and we know Him only by His life. "And this is life eternal, that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." (John 17:3) "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:1-3) "And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." (1 John 5:20)
The birth of Christ, therefore, can be known and celebrated only through the new birth. But this is not accomplished once for all. That is to say, the new birth is not an event of one hour or one day, to be ever after looked back upon and celebrated. "Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." (1 John 5:1)
Note that he is born while he is believing. The new birth is complete only as it is continually progressing. To this end are the words of the Apostle Paul, in: "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:10-11)
Here we have Christ formed within, the real life of Christ.
Now read, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:16)
He in whose heart Christ's life is not daily renewed, cannot celebrate His birth, because he knows nothing about it. The birth of Christ is not a thing of memory, but of present experience. We commemorate it not by observing days, but by putting on the new man, "which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." (Colossians 3:10)
Your Own Bethlehem
1. The sure and certain Bethlehem
Is found when one is born again;
Then in the crib of mortal flesh
The promis'd Saviour comes afresh.
It's not a play that eyes can see:
He sends His seed to grow in thee;
It's not a selfish Christmas day,
By faith you get His life to stay.
2. In your dry ground, a tender plant,
Rejected and despised by men,
Comes in without the worldly bliss,
He has no form, no comeliness.
He takes your sorrow and your sin,
And fills your cup well o'er the brim
With His eternal life and grace,
And by His stripes He heals your case.
3. The devil challenges the world:
"Can mortal man be just with God?
And stand before his Maker pure?"
To this we have an answer sure:
"Look, Jesus took our flesh and blood
And lived a sinless, perfect life,
To show the lost, deceived within,
That 'God with man' will never sin."
4. I pray God's Word would give you faith
To rise to such a Bethlehem:
Wash'd in His blood, the past forgiv'n,
And freed from Satan's seed within.
Let's be the manger of the Lamb,
That crib of mortal flesh and blood,
In which Christ's perfect, sinless mind
Forever manifests its kind
--Poem: Stefanescu / Zimmerman, 2005.
--Present Truth, December 28, 1893.