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Searching for the true meaning of Christmas

May you find the Christ of Christmas beneath the tinsel this year!
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To the editor;

Where can we find the true meaning of Christmas? If you really look, it’s underneath the presents, trees and decorations. Buried and hard to find these days, is a baby in a manger.

Hundreds of years before this baby arrived, prophets wrote about him. Although they didn’t understand all that they wrote, God moved them to record this coming event.

How amazing is this? Different prophets at different times wrote the details of the coming of this babe. In the book of Matthew you can find the history of the birth of Christ. In chapter 2 verses 22 and 23, it quotes from the book of Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son , and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Matthew adds the meaning, “… which is translated, ‘God with us.’”

In the next chapter of Matthew, we find out where this Immanuel was to be born. Referring to Micah 5:2, written over 600 years before the Christ child was born, “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.”

A short time later, Herod sought to kill all babies two years old and under in a futile attempt to destroy the Christ child. Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus fled to Egypt.

Hosea had written over 600 years before, “Out of Egypt I called my Son.”

Jeremiah, also 600 years before this event, described this slaughter in chapter 31:15. The book of Daniel, refers to the date of Messiah’s birth in chapter 9.

These are only a few of the hundreds of prophesies which foretold of Christ coming to earth as a baby, of His life, death and resurrection.

Is it any wonder that this season is often referred to as X-mas! Because the true meaning of ‘Christ’mas has generally been removed from society today.

Jesus, Christ, Immanuel, Messiah was born because, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” May you find the Christ of Christmas beneath the tinsel this year!

Marguerite Meland

Clearwater, B.C.