John 8:23 But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
From the beginning of the earthly ministry of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, the Jewish leaders railed against his nonconformist teaching and heavenly testimony. Jesus claimed, rightly so, that He was the long-awaited promised Messiah. Furthermore, He had come to earth to save the world from their sins. The religious hypocrites of the day attempted to explain away the marvelous miracles that he was performing. Their hatred reached its pinnacle when Jesus healed the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day. The scribes and Pharisees were further enraged when Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sin.
The so call educated religious leaders were astonished at the high level of biblical learning and authoritative teaching since Jesus was not schooled in the rabbinical tradition. They completely missed the boat, given the fact that Jesus was the Word of God. Over and over, they tried to trip Jesus up by asking Him questions, hoping that He would somehow deny the Law of Moses. In this way, they could label Him a blasphemer and turn the people's hearts against Him. However, every incident backfired on them, and Jesus always came out on top of the situation.
A prime example of this is when someone caught the woman in adultery and brought her to Jesus. The Jewish leaders ask Jesus should not this woman be stoned since that was in the Mosaic Law. However, Jesus instructed that the one standing among them without sin cast the first stone. This revealing truth statement tore at the hearts of all there, and one by one, they dropped their stones and went away. When all had walked away, there was only the woman, and Jesus left on the scene. Jesus asked the woman where her accusers had gone and had no one condemned her. She replied that no one had condemned her, and Jesus said that he did not condemn her either. Our Lord and Savior instructed her to go her way and abandon her life of sin.
Satan said to God, "you know that Pastor Ron down there in Virginia is a sinner." Jesus said, "I know that." Satan said to God, "that Pastor Ron deserves death for his sins." My Lord and Savior said, "I know that too, but I took his place." We are all sinners and deserve death eternal for our sins. However, God loves us so much that He sent His one and only Son to suffer and die on the Cross of Calvary to pay the sin debt that we could never pay.
As we get nearer and hearer to the celebration of the birth of Christ, Jesus let us never forget that Jesus is the "reason for the season." Christmas is not about the worldly hype of giving and receiving presents or the commercial aspect surrounding this most Holy of seasons. Christmas is about the unfathomable love demonstrated by Jesus when He joyfully went to the Cross so that you and I could know and have eternal life.
Hebrews 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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