THINK TOGETHER.
Do you remember the day you were born? No? What do your parents remember about that day?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 2:6-7. 6And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7And [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Everybody remembers the day Jesus was born. We call it Christmas. How did you celebrate Christmas this past year? Did you talk about Jesus? Maybe you read this story from Luke chapter 2.
The day of Jesus’ birth is one of the most important days in all of history. It’s so important, that we literally measure time by it. All of time before the birth of Jesus is called BC which means “before Christ”, and all the time after the birth of Jesus is called AD which means anno domini, “the year of our Lord.” I was born in 1970 AD. What year were you born in?
The day of Jesus’ birth is also important because it fulfilled many prophecies from the Old Testament. Do you know what a prophecy is? It’s a promise about something that would happen in the future. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born the prophets told us that he would be born in Bethlehem and that his mother would be a young unmarried woman. Throughout his life Jesus will fulfill many other prophecies too, at least three hundred. The odds of that happening are incalculable. This is important because it shows us that God’s word, the Bible, is completely true and that it can be trusted.
Mostly the birthday of Jesus is important because without it we could never be saved from our sins. Jesus is God who became a person. Like we saw in John 1, Jesus is the Word who IS God, and who became flesh (human) and lived with us on earth. That’s why the angels appeared to shepherds and announced the birth of Jesus as the glory of God and peace on earth.
Luke 2:13-14. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Without the birthday of Jesus, we could never have the peace on earth that the angels announced. Why not? Because we could never have peace with God. We are all born as sinners and enemies of God. But Jesus was born to be our friend, our savior, our substitute. He was born to do for us what we could never do for ourselves – live a perfect life and have peace with God.
From the day he was born, Jesus never sinned. He never lost his temper. He never disobeyed his parents. He was never selfish or unkind. He never said no to God, even when God asked him to die on the cross.
I’m so thankful that Jesus was born to live for us, aren’t you? What a great day that was. A day that we can celebrate every day and not just on Christmas.
Because of Jesus we can be saved from our sins.
With Jesus we have peace with God.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk about the day you were born. What do mom and dad remember? Do you have any pictures from that day? Did your birth bring peace on earth?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, your birthday brought peace with God. I know that I am a sinner and need that peace that only you can give. Amen.
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