Christmas Beyond the Seasoon

Christmas Beyond the Season

Christmas is well known as a season for peace, hope, and joy! But what is the reason for this joy and hope? For some it the celebration of the season, as for us at Sturgeon Valley Baptist Church the reason for these things can be found in who Jesus is and what he came for. That is the reason we here celebrate Christmas.

Jesus is described as the prince of peace, as it says in Isaiah 9:6 that he (Jesus) shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He came as the Son of God, the prince who would be the representative of the Kingdom of God to us. But instead of coming to raise earthly powers to his aid, Jesus came as a baby so he could live the life of a man. He did this to share in our experiences and show us the example we are meant to follow. His kingdom was not a violent revolution, but an olive branch of God trying to restore what was broken between man and God. Through Jesus we have peace with God, and he calls us into peace with each other.

Because of this peace between humanity and God we have hope. Jesus came as an offer of peace to bring man and God together. This is because he was the promised messiah that had been hoped for since after the fall of man (Genesis 3:15). He is the hope promised from God that there would be a way to restore what was broken between himself and humankind, that sin and death could be defeated once and for all. He came as the awaited hope and showed that God’s promises were not empty. We can continue to hold hope in his promises just as Jesus came to be the savior as promised.

And since God has offered this opportunity for peace between humanity and God, one that was promised and hoped for, we can have joy! In the account of Luke 2:10-11, when Jesus was born angel announced his arrival as news of great joy, that Christ the Savior was born. And indeed, that is what Jesus came to accomplish, he became the savior that we all needed. In doing this he provided us a way to be redeemed from our sins and restore our relationship with God and find unity with one another across all tongues and nations. We find complete joy knowing God has saved us and given us peace with him and a hope for a future forever with him.

Because of all of this we believe Jesus is our peace, joy, and hope. We celebrate Christmas not because it is a season of joy, peace and hope, but instead because we can find peace, joy, and hope that lasts beyond the Christmas season in Jesus. We invite you to come to SVBC celebrate the season with us and see for yourself the lasting peace, hope, and joy that we have in Christ Jesus.