Most religions understand, and often accept, the concept of God.
Some deny Him or redefine Him, but overall God (or gods) is a common cultural theme.
Many religions also acknowledge Jesus…
…considering Him to be a good man, a wise and moral instructor, maybe even a prophet,
and even in some cases, one who creates.
But no other religion other than the Christian faith, recognizes Jesus as God’s one and only Son, the incarnate One, Immanuel – God with us.
The One who came to die, rise again, ascend on high, and rule forever.
This resurrection fact is denied.
God is acceptable.
Jesus is acceptable.
The virgin birth is acceptable.
Sometimes even the cross itself and ascension are acceptable.
But the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are not —
except in the Christian faith…. the Christmas faith, the Reason for the Season.
Because this is where grace, redemption, and salvation in Christ alone are central.
All other religions boast of ritual and reward — an earning of one’s way. With Jesus, who is the Way, it is to simply repent and believe, and follow Him.
And then the rightful Lordship of Jesus truly comes into focus.
When this is accepted, everything changes.
Allegiance shifts:
from self to Saviour……. and from earthly, temporary kingdoms to the one true and eternal Kingdom of God, a Kingdom advancing still today.
History shows how unsettling this truth is. Rulers and authorities continue to deny it and embrace an ever-incessant flood of ideologies. “Anything but Christ” is the underwritten motto of the day. And the masses are led astray.
Oh sure, we believe in the supremacy of God, except that “God” is left open to interpretation. Jesus as Lord, King, and God, the Saviour of the world, is marginalized with the hope that Christ and Christmas will fade.
How ridiculous.
“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” Psalm 2:4-6
Canada will come to an end. As most nations will. But Christ and His Kingdom never will.
So this Christmas, if your religion is something other than confessing Jesus Christ as the risen Lord, King, and Savior, don’t leave it that way. Don’t leave Christmas, or Christ, unexamined.
Compare Him with what you believe.
Weigh His claims. Explore His life — who He is and was, and what He said about Himself — and the fact He did rise, lives, and is coming again.
Two thousand years ago, He came to save…….. and that door is still open right now.
But He also promised to come again — not to save, but to usher in His rule in all its fullness, and His judgment over all.
At that point, it will be too late.
Don’t wait.
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.” John 11:25, 26
C.S. Lewis, himself once an atheist, said, and I quote:
“…Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Christmas leaves us with a decision.
Will we place our faith and hope in this one and only resurrected King Jesus, who came in the flesh?
and who will come again….
Because then indeed, everything changes…. both now and into eternity.
The Artisan Post 