We consider Christmas to be the most wonderful time of the year. Perhaps it's the gifts or the feeling of joy in the air. Maybe it's the gathering of family and friends. But these welcoming reasons don't make Christmas monumental. What makes it monumental is the reason why the holiday is celebrated: Jesus.
The author of life stepped down from His throne in heaven to be with his creation. He came to our broken world during one of humanity's darkest seasons. He lived as a human, surrounded by sin.
For years, all was silent. The prophets of old were gone. And for the Israelites, it must have felt like all hope was lost. God had promised that the Messiah would come and save Israel, but would He? They were waiting and waiting for hundreds of years, hoping God would keep His promise.
The wait lasted for over 400 years. But the Messiah came—and rather unexpectedly. So unexpected that many people didn't even recognize Him for who He was.
The people of Israel had envisioned a warrior as their Messiah—someone who would defeat their enemies. They imagined that He'd enter the world triumphantly. But He came to the world as a tiny baby in a manger. And although He was sinless, He was still a helpless infant who needed His mother. He needed His mother to care for and feed Him. The savior saved the world in a humble, unexpected way. And that's what makes the Christmas story even more special.
The Messiah came to the world and showed us what it looks like to be human. He showed us what it means to be compassionate to both the outsider and the neighbor, to both the sinner and the saint. He showed us what genuine humility looks like. And He showed us what love is, and ultimately, that led Him to the cross.
As cliché as it may sound, Jesus was—and still is—God's greatest gift to the world. That right there is what the Christmas season is all about.
Here are three songs that speak to the Christmas message—about the humble King who was born in a manger nearly 2,000 years ago. I hope these songs and reflections bring you joy this holiday season and remind you that our Messiah is still present with you today.
We The Kingdom, "Light of the World (Sing Hallelujah)"
When Jesus was born, He was fully man, but He was also fully God. He was a humble, tiny baby in a manger, yet He was still the God of all creation. Even as a child, Jesus knew what lay ahead for Him: the cross. He came to earth to free the world from the bondage of sin and separate the veil between humankind and God. When Jesus saw the manger and the cross, He saw the world. He was born in a feeding trough and died on a Roman cross.
I wonder what it must have felt like to have the weight of death looming in your face. To know exactly when you're going to die, yet choose to fully live, anyway. Jesus knew He would die on the cross. He knew someone would soon betray him. He knew those He created would deny Him and walk away during His greatest hour of need.
Yet He still chose to live and die for those people, for those who turned their backs and walked away from Him. He died for the world and will spend eternity with those who believe in Him because that's how great His love is. He's the light of the world and the hope of humanity. And for that, we can sing "Hallelujah" for the things He has done. "Light of the World (Sing Hallelujah)," a song by the popular contemporary band We The Kingdom, captures this message.
The song is a story arc that highlights the birth of Jesus, the cross, His death, and His second coming. There's a line in the song that says Jesus was "born for the cross, to suffer, to save." The song says, "Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah/Sing hallelujah for the things He has done."
I don't think we'll ever be able to fully grasp the Christmas miracle. I don't think we'll ever completely be able to understand God's incredible, death-defying love for us. And that's okay. Because every time we return to the story of Jesus, we'll find that there's still more to discover. There's more love and compassion written in the pages of His story than we could ever fathom, and we'll always be able to find new ways to stand in awe of Him. And for that, we can sing "Hallelujah" to the light of the world.
"Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah/Sing hallelujah for the things He has done/Come and adore Him, bow down before Him/Sing hallelujah to the light of the world."
Hillsong Worship, "Seasons"
Sequoias are giant, extraordinary trees that are awe-inspiring. They're huge and can grow for hundreds of years. But do you know how sequoias reproduce? They first must die. Inside a sequoia's pinecone are lots of little seeds, but for them to grow and produce new trees, they first must be burned. Without fire, they can't reproduce. For other new trees to live, one must die. I can't help but think that God designed these giant sequoias for a reason—to be a foreshadowing of Jesus.
Shortly before Jesus' death, He used this same analogy of seeds and plants to talk about His salvation plan. In John 12:24 (NIV), He says, "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." He's that single seed that died so others could live.
One of my favorite Christmas songs is called "Seasons" by the iconic worship band Hillsong Worship. If anyone's keeping track, I highlighted this song in last year's Christmas Trinary Reflection. But I'm featuring it again with a new perspective. I want to highlight the phrase "from seed to sequoia."
It takes sequoia trees hundreds of years before they reach full height. In the same way, the Jews had to wait hundreds of years before they saw their Messiah. But God never broke His promise to His people. He had a plan, and His plans are always so much greater than ours. When all we saw was the soil, God saw a seed. And where He saw a seed, He also saw a forest of sequoias.
Jesus was born so He could be the one that would die for us. But, of course, in the same way, that a seed has to die before it's reborn, Jesus died and rose again. And when He rose again, He gave us a mission.
We're like a forest of sequoia trees that gets to keep spreading the word about the one who died and rose again for us. Because Jesus is the single seed that died, we're the ones who are the living. We're the ones who get to spread His message and continue His mission. And when we come to the end of our lives, I hope we can look back and find that we have planted many more sequoia trees because of our dedication to sharing this news about God's greatness. That's my ambition in life, and I hope it becomes yours as well.
"Like a seed, You were sown/For the sake of us all/From Bethlehem's soil/Grew Calvary's sequoia."
Chris Renzema, "Mary and Joseph"
We've talked a lot about Jesus and what His birth and death mean for us. But now, let's talk about Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus. For Jesus, He had to live His whole life with death looming on the horizon, and for Mary and Joseph, they had to live their lives knowing that they were raising the Messiah. They must have felt an incredible amount of weight, and I imagine they felt incredibly unqualified.
Mary and Joseph were just a young couple from Nazareth about to get married. So, when the angel told Mary in Luke 1:31 that she was going to conceive the savior of the world, she must have had many feelings. On one hand, this was the greatest honor any Jewish girl could have, but on the other, this was going to turn her world upside down. Would Joseph still marry her? What would her family think? She was a virgin who was chosen to give birth to the light of the world. But would they believe her?
Singer/songwriter Chris Renzema recently released a beautiful song called "Mary and Joseph," and it highlights this aspect of the Christmas story that we often overlook—this young couple from Nazareth and how their world turned upside down.
Even though Mary must have felt like an outcast and misunderstood by many of her peers and family members, Joseph still married her. The song's chorus says, "She said, 'Hold on, hold on. I know this sounds crazy,'/And he said, 'You're still the one I wanna marry.'/So hold on, hold on, cause I know this seems wild, it's a miracle falling in love/And this is a miracle child."
Joseph believed Mary. He realized that this was no ordinary child, and when an angel told him in Matthew 1:20 to marry his bride-to-be, he obeyed. He saw the miracle unfolding, and as daunting as the task before he seemed, he stayed by Mary's side and helped her raise the Son of God.
So, the story of Christmas is so much bigger and wider than we could ever imagine. Underneath the words of scripture are real people and real stories. The Christmas story is far from fiction. More than anything, this story shows us what it means to be human. It shows us what it looks like to show love and compassion. It shows us how much our savior cares for us. The ordinary lives of ordinary people were used to bring about the salvation of the world. If He could use a teenage couple from Nazareth, He can use you, too. The story of Christmas is a beautiful reminder that nothing is impossible for God.
No matter where you find yourself this holiday season, keep holding onto the real love of Jesus. Remember, He who was born in a manger and bled and died so you could live. Nothing is too hard for him.
Merry Christmas.
"Joseph, Mary, it's a lot that you have carried/This child, this savior, and one another/This miracle, this love/This miracle, this love/A miracle, your love/This miracle, this love."
Grace Chaves has been a fan of all things Christian music since 2016. She is NRT's news editor, and one of NRT's youngest writers. Homeschooled, Grace is an author, loves Jesus, concerts, and road trips.
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