The Biblical focus on Jesus Christ is not on His birth. Naturally, it is important and everything from prophecies and angelic announcements to Mary & Joseph, to Simeon’s Holy Spirit inspired prophecy of the identity of the Messiah, to angelic choirs singing praise at His birth, declares that the arrival of Jesus into the world was a fantastic event!

Still, the focus isn’t there. The real focus is some thirty years later, at an execution scene. There was no tender moment at that place to cause us to sigh and wonder. Instead, the air was ripe with evil. Man’s disdain for his God ruled the day as the Son of God was discarded in hatred. The baby of the manger was murdered, charged like a common criminal. For a brief moment, it appeared that the great promises of God would all be lost.

But there is a reason why that death scene is the focus. Birth brought God’s Son into the world and gave Him a body of flesh. Birth is what brought into being a Man, a Man with a body, and a body designed from before creation itself to die as a sacrifice. The reason His passion is the focus is because of what was done when the baby who lay in the manger became a man who could give Himself as a sacrifice for sin.

It was the blood of His death that cleansed the sin-stained souls who put Him on the cross. It was the agony of death that reflected the true nature of sin and its consequences. This was a man born to die, and that’s the point. The Christmas Story is magnificent. But even more magnificent is that He died to take away my sins. That wasn’t done in the manger. It was done on the cross. However, an old rugged cross will never have the appeal of an old rugged manger. My plea is that you simply remember why He was born. It is in the purpose of His life that you will find a permanent reason to rejoice. There was born in the city of David, a child who was, and is, and always will be the Savior, Christ the Lord!

Bill Cox
[Bill Cox has been a preacher of the Word for 40 years, currently ministering in Bridgeport, IL. He is the father of CTF speaker Ryan Cox.]