Blue Umbrella Official Blue Umbrella Winter 2018 Issue | Page 3

Wh at are you cel eb rat i n g
t h i s Ch ri st m as?
By: Nathan V.
What do we even celebrate at
Christmastime? Do we celebrate getting
gifts? Giving gifts? Being with family? If
you?ve grown up in a Christian home, you?ll
most likely admit that while all of these
things are nice, they aren?t the main thing we
celebrate at Christmas. You?ll most likely say
that at Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus
was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of
the virgin Mary in a stable near Bethlehem.
Surprisingly, even if you said this, you are
wrong (sort of).
Granted, we do celebrate that Christ
came to Earth at Christmas.We thank Him
for obeying God by allowing Himself to be
conceived by the Holy Spirit and to be born
of the virgin Mary. We praise Him for
fulfilling every prophecy in the Old
Testament as He was born in the city of
Bethlehem in the lineage of David, making
him the legal King of Israel. We adore Him as
we hear of how He was recognized as
Messiah by both Jewish shepherds and
pagan Magi.
However, the fact that Jesus came to
Earth is not all we celebrate at Christmas. If
Jesus just came to Earth and ascended thirty
years later, we would have absolutely no
reason to celebrate. Rather, we celebrate
because of why He came! Christ came to die
as a substitute for us. Withstanding every
temptation the Earth could offer, Jesus lived
a perfect and sinless life we could never live
so that He could die as the sacrifice we could
never offer. On the cross, He bore the
suffering demanded by the law as He died,
fully paying the price for our sin. After three
days in the tomb, He rose again, and now
lives as the perfect Savior to all who trust in
Him.
You see, we don?t just celebrate
Christmas because Christ came, but rather,
we celebrate Christmas because of why He
came. We celebrate the fact that God
became man to save sinners. We celebrate
the fact that Jesus died so that we might live.
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