Christmas 2010

Dear Neighbor,

You are invited to come to a special Christmas service on Sunday, December 19, at 4:30 and at 6:00 p.m. While the Gospel is being read, people in costume will reverently present the Christmas stories. This can help us picture what happened when the Lord was born. Adults and children are welcome.

Who came into the world on Christmas? After Jesus was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds. The angel said to them, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). “Savior” means the one who “will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). “Christ” means the one who is anointed to be King. But what did the angel mean by calling Jesus “the Lord”?

In the many places where the gospels quote the Old Testament, they always substitute “the Lord” in place of the Hebrew “Jehovah.” For example, in Mark we read:

Jesus answered, The first of all the commandments is, Hear O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and from all thy soul, and from all thy thought, and from all thy strength (Mark 12:29-30).

Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy, where we find:

Hear O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God from all thy heart, and from all thy soul, and from all thy strength (Deut. 6:4-5).

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the cheering crowds shouted “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, John 12:13). They were quoting Psalm 118:25, which says, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of Jehovah.”

So “the angel of the Lord” was “the angel sent by Jehovah.” His message to the shepherds was that a Savior was born who is Jehovah. Jehovah, the Creator, the God of heaven and earth, had come into the world. He Himself is the Savior. He who has all power in heaven and on earth is the one who came to save us from our sins, for there is only one God, one Savior. Jesus is Jehovah in Person.

Merry Christmas!

Rev. Lawson M. Smith