1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. He was in the beginning with God.

3. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Christmas has not always been what it is today. Because of pagan influence it had degraded so badly that by Cromwell's time he outlawed the observance of Christmas. Just to give you an example, in the Christmas song, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, the words go, Oh bring us a figgy pudding, and a cup of good cheer, we won't go until we get some. Those were were more than a song, for groups of drunken men would stand outside homes and ask for this pudding and would literally break into the houses if they did not get it. Ace Collins describes Christmas in England during that time as more like Mardi Grau than anything else.

Even in this country the puritans had outlawed Christmas because it was not considered a Christian holiday. For the first 72 years of this country's existence Congress met on December 25. And churches would not meet unless it happen to fall on a Sunday.

Christmas was rejected by most Christians because Christ was not central to it. Aren't you glad that it is not that way today, or is it. Have we lost the marvel of Christmas. Is the Grinch right? If we lost our decorations, our puddings, and pies and our Christmas beast, would Christmas continue for more than a decade. The biggest news of the holiday season is that Wal-Mart's sales are not what they expected but the rest of the industry is quite happy with sales.

I want to talk to you today about the marvel of Christmas. Not in decorations or multi-millions of lights. But in the simple message of the gospel. How God, yes God came to earth to safe people from their sins. Isn't that what the angel told Mary her child would be?

1. Jesus is God
   1. He is not created
      1. John 1:3. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
   2. He had not beginning.
      1. He was before the beginning.
      2. He used the same language Jehovah used to Moses.
         1. Before Abraham was, I am.
   3. He is the Jehovah of the OT
      1. Look at Isa 6
      2. John 12:41 These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
   4. It is indispensable to know who this babe in a manger was to have a proper Christmas.
2. He was more that any other
   1. He was a king but much more than a king.
      1. We may honor people of importance but no one compares to God.
      2. You might as well compare a germ to an elephant as compare man with God.
   2. He was a prophet but much more than a prophet.
      1. The liberal scholars talk about Jesus as a great teacher but deny His deity.
      2. If He was not God in flesh then He could not be a great teacher but a great deceiver.
   3. He was a priest but much more than a priest.
      1. He was the sacrifice, the altar and the priest.
      2. He entered the holy of holies in heaven with His own blood to make eternal satisfaction for sin.
   4. He was the Daysman that Job called for to stand between God and man and to reconcile us to God.
      1. Job 9:32. "For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. 33. Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both. NKJV
3. His deity is foundational to all Christian teaching, yet many have denied it
   1. It is amazing that deism so early crept into our American Christian institutions.
   2. Those that deny the deity of Jesus have only a man. Not one in whom is hidden all the treasure of wisdom and understanding.
   3. They do not have an infallible guide but only the opinion of one man.
   4. They do not worry that they have no savior for they do not think that we have any thing to be saved from
   5. How could we allow professors to fill our seminaries and pulpits who reject so much of the pain teaching of the Bible.
   6. When rationalization came into Christian theology, anything that couldn't be explained from a naturalistic rational view was rejected. Therefore theology became a godless theology.

What does this mean to us?

It means that Christmas is really not about you and me and our families. It is about Jesus who we say that we honor on that day.

If Christmas is really about Jesus and not about us, then let us live it. Tell the story and live the marvel of Christmas.

 This message was preached at FBC Toulon,

by Albert Harmon. See it at http://toulonbaptist.com/