The First Person of Christmas is God

From December 1 to the 25, I am going to write about the people of Christmas - 25 "characters" who shaped the Christmas story.

We begin with God.  God the Father, the one who wrote this story in the first place.

It's so hard to imagine that bringing a baby to a poor couple, impregnating an unwed teenager, telling dirty shepherds before kings and politicos - it's hard to believe that was God's plan.

But it was.  All along.

Sometimes we belittle the nativity story by thinking that Mary and Joseph happened to go to Bethlehem, that they were struck with some kind of curse by giving birth to the Savior in a stinky stable.  We belittle the miracle when we believe it was an accident, or bad luck of some kind.

We must know, and believe, that the whole of the story was God's plan from the beginning.  From the beginning - from before Isaiah, David, Abraham, even Adam.  From before the creation of Genesis, God was planning on proving his redemptive, everlasting love for us.


Did you catch that?  God - the One who spoke, and stars filled the sky, animals roamed the earth - the One who literally breathed life into the nostrils of His created one - this God has always known that He would prove Himself to us.

He, who had nothing to prove.  He, who could have spoken His way into our hearts without our consent.  He, who gave us our very lives.

From the beginning of creation He has been pointing mankind to the coming Messiah.  Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He began the lineage that would one day house the Savior. In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham that "all nations will be blessed through you."  That means us.  You and me.  Because God was going to use Abraham's lineage to bring a Savior to the whole world.

God has been proving His love to us from the beginning of His story, from the beginning of His love letter to us.  From every thought and step that went into creating the tabernacle, to the priestly garments, to the Passover Festival - every last detail points to Christ.  Through the life of King David, through the prophets, even through the 400 years of silence from the Old Testament to the New - God has been telling us.  Every detail points to Christ. 

Every. Last. Detail.  Then, and now.  Every detail He has planned for your life is designed to show you His love for you.  Everything is about Him.


God is the First Person of Christmas, because the whole story is about His love for us.  And that's the message of Christmas.