Why Christmas has to do with life or death for every person on this planet

WHY CHRISTMAS JOY IS RELEVANT
By Ada Nicholson Brownell

The church today is accused of being irrelevant.
Irrelevant? What is more relevant than we’re all destined to die, but Jesus Christ came to get us off this planet alive?
What is more relevant than John 3:16? “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The relevance of the gospel of Jesus Christ is never more real than when death invades your life. When our oldest daughter died of cancer less than a month after her 31st birthday, I knew there was hope because of Jesus.
Jesus did something about death, and since then people have been singing “Joy to the World! The Lord is come.” Not necessarily the words written by Isaac Watts. The song wasn’t written until 1719.
But on that first Christmas, which became the dividing point of world history—B.C. and A.D.— a choir of angels sang a joyful song about tidings of comfort and joy. The tidings were for all people, “for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Why did humankind need a Savior? Because sin brought death.
God warned Adam and Eve that although they could eat everything else in the Garden of Eden, if they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die.
“You won’t die!” the Tempter told Eve.
So Eve ate, shared the fruit with her husband, and not long afterward she sat at the gravesite of a murdered son. Eventually, death claimed her.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed, the Heavenly Father still loved them. He created them for fellowship. So He designed a “just” way to restore humans to righteousness and life forevermore. He would bring a Redeemer to reverse the penalty of sin. But blood would be required, because sin is so serious and always hurts someone, especially the sinner.
Yet, death became the enemy of every mortal person, despite a glimmer of hope with repentance and the sacrifice of bulls and goats. Bull and goat blood wasn’t enough to thwart the Tempter—the Enemy who is delighted when people fall into sin and are destined to eternal death.
Then God-the-Son slipped into a baby’s skin, and He landed in a straw-filled manager surrounded by cattle, sheep and the smell of manure. A long, hard road stood between the Christ Child and victory. He grew and demonstrated His love, but people loved themselves more than God and killed Him. His blood trickled down a splintery cross and He died. Hope seemed lost.
Three days later, Jesus’ walked out of the tomb alive without even unwrapping the grave clothes. He told the Apostle John, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Revelation 1:17-19 ).
Isaiah wrote in his prophesies about the Messiah, that “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:2-4). But we’re like Adam and Eve. We decide whether to obey God. It’s up to us whether we accept the gift of salvation and the resulting joy.
Joyful singing about Jesus has erupted from mortal lips since His birth and for good reason. And we’re still singing, “Joy to the World! The Lord is come!”
If you’re human, that’s relevant.
© Copyright Ada Brownell 2016