Christmas Has its Promises to Keep

Tommy Boland, Cross Community Church Pastor
ChristmasWe are entering our second Christmas season as a church plant family and I have to tell you, there is nothing like it in the world. As much as we looked forward to Christmas before planting The Cross in Deerfield Beach, it is nothing like looking forward to it now as a growing church family. We start gearing up for it in November and focus the whole month of December on the one named Immanuel, God with us. And this year it will build to a Christmas Eve where we will be having three candlelight services.

God’s Christmas Promises

It is my desire this month to share with you a word of Christmas comfort that I pray will last not just throughout the Christmas season, but throughout the rest of your days until you are received into your eternal rest.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” ( John 3:16).

In one of the most recognized verses in all of sacred Scripture, we see that Christmas has its promises to keep for those who believe in the Son of God as the Savior of the world. Let’s take a look at just three of them.

Promise #1 – God gave his one and only Son

The first promise that Christmas keeps is the promise God made all the way back in the Garden of Eden to send a Savior (Genesis 3:15). Adam and Eve sinned and were on the run from God. Yet, God in his infinite grace and mercy pursued rebels on the run. Instead of wiping Adam and Eve off the face of this earth and starting over with some different dirt, he promises to provide the solution to their sin problem…a Savior and his name is Jesus Christ.

Promise #2 – Shall not perish

The second promise that Christmas keeps is the promise that all who believe in the accomplishment of the first promise, shall not perish. As children of Adam, we are all perishing as sinners by both nature and habit and under the wrath and condemnation of Almighty God. But to those who believe in the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger as the Savior of the world, shall not eternally perish. Jesus grew up and lived a sinless life, died a sacrificial death, and was raised from the dead on the third day. Because Jesus took the full punishment and made the full payment for sin, those who believe in him shall not perish.

Promise #3 – Have eternal life

The third promise is found in the already and not yet context. We already have eternal life in Christ by grace through faith but we will not fully possess it until we get to the other side of the grave. We have been given the Comforter, the Holy Spirit and we possess all of the promises that are in Christ, but we are still in the sinful flesh and cannot yet fully experience it. When we are received into glory we will know a life of never ending and unimaginable joy and pleasure free from the pain, sorrow, tears, sickness, and death because the old will be passed away and the new will have come.

With all of the excitement and great joy surrounding the Nativity story at Christmas, we can easily miss the great comfort found in a promise keeping God. When God makes a promise you can count on it. God promised to send his Son as the Savior of the world and he kept His promise on that first Christmas morning. The shepherds saw this promise kept and believed. The Wise Men saw this promise kept and believed. How about you?
I pray that throughout this Christmas month you will be continually reminded of these three Christmas promises kept and if you believe…you shall not perish, but have eternal life. You have God’s Word on it. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Tommy Boland is Senior Pastor of Cross Community Church in Deerfield Beach, FL. He blogs regularly at tommyboland.com. For more articles by Dr. Tommy Boland, visit goodnewsfl.org/tommy-boland.

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