This year’s Christmas season is ending, and the shopping centers are already clearing up their Christmas decorations in preparation for another commercial opportunity during the next major festival.
As Christians, however, we know that the significance of Christmas is more than just a mere season; it was the momentous occasion when God came to walk among us.
On Christmas Day 2022, Pr Chew shared a message that extends beyond the season. ‘When we focus on the tinsels, we miss the truth,’ he expressed. What, who, and where exactly is the Truth? Pilate demanded Jesus give answers to these questions, little knowing that the Truth was standing just two feet away from Him.
There is great significance in Jesus’s coming. It may not have been on December 25th exactly, but it is why we celebrate Christmas every year. Through Christmas, we remember Christ’s first coming. Billions of people woke up on Christmas morning globally, ready to commemorate Jesus and His first coming.
In Matthew 1:18-23, the Bible tells us the reason why Jesus came. He came not to condemn the world but that we may obtain salvation from our sins through Him. Jesus is the Emmanuel, “God with Us”.
Pr Chew imparted that there are multiple dimensions and impacts from Jesus’s identity as the Emmanuel. First, there is the historical impact. God Himself came to walk among us. This event is so significant that it split time into two; BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini: the year of our Lord). And it’s not just in our current calendar.
The birth of Christ was foretold many years before He was born; in Isaiah 9:6-7 (700 years before the birth), and Micah 5:2, many Psalms, through Daniel and Jeremiah, and many other Old Testament prophets. Today, if you go to the Holy Land, you will still see places Jesus once walked; the Garden of Gethsemene, Nazareth, the Sea of Galilee, and many others.
But more than just a historical fact, Jesus’s coming impacts us on a personal level. Jesus came to die for our sins. He shed His blood on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven once and for all.
Three crosses stood at Calvary. Christ was on that center cross, and flanking Him on the other crosses were two thieves. One responded in an epiphany to Christ’s divinity, making a humble plea that Christ would remember him in Paradise. And Jesus responded in grace, assuring the thief that he would be with Christ in Paradise on that very day.
What was the difference between the center cross and the other two crosses? On the central cross was hung an individual with no sin. Only a sinless man is qualified to die for our sins, no one else, for we are all sinners saved solely by grace. Christ came and died for us so that we may have hope for our salvation and experience forgiveness.
Through Christ, lives change. In Romans 5:8, we are reminded of Christ’s great love, that He came for us while we were still sinners. In Romans 6:23, we learn that the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord and Saviour.
Pr Chew shared a testimony of a lady who was seeking love and acceptance. She went from one person to another, had already experienced three abortions, and had fallen into drugs. A young person from the church discovered her and brought her to church, where she experienced genuine love for the first time. Today, she is a Christian in a happy marriage with two children.
Joy, peace, love, reconciliation, freedom, hope, purpose, and restedness. It all comes through Christ and has nothing to do with the intellect but with faith. The question is, do we believe? Heaven rejoices when our names are in the Book of Life. When we are in Christ, our spirits anchor in hope.
The most crucial impact of all – even more than the personal level – is eternal. On the third day after He was in the tomb, Jesus conquered death through His resurrection. Pr Chew expressed that the famous passage of 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 is not a taunt but a cry of victory. Death is the great enemy and leveler. It affects us all, princes or paupers. But because of what Jesus Christ has done, we have eternal security and freedom from death.
Before he became a pastor, Pr Chew was a doctor at Tung Shin Hospital. He knows what death is. Because many patients who were admitted to the hospital had terminal cancer, Pr Chew had to sign the death certificates every morning of those who had passed on the previous day. On one occasion, he just only managed to bring a person to salvation before that person passed on in the evening. Pr Chew’s dad had an encounter in Heaven and Hell. ‘Don’t take it lightly,’ Pr Chew exhorted. ‘The most important thing in life is making sure we have eternal security in God. When we are not sure of God, we will fear death.’
The greatest Christmas gift is the Emmanuel – Christ coming down to walk among us – and the great sacrifice He made on Calvary so that we may have eternal life and security through Him.
Note: This article is written as an independent response/reflection of a sermon by Pr Chew Weng Chee of SIB KL. It is unaffiliated with SIB KL or with Pr Chew. You may view the full sermon at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umcyTwr-sWo
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