THIS Wednesday the whole Christian world celebrates the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the day 2013 years ago when the son of God, the one the one true God, Yahweh, became a human being, through the Blessed Virgin Mary. The son of God, Jesus, was born in Bethlehem, in a manger. A star in the heavens showed down to earth on the exact spot where Jesus was being born, like a spotlight, to show mankind that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. Angels came from heaven and knelt before the baby Jesus to glorify Him and to attest to the truth of His divinity. Three kings from Asia traveled from far-away lands following the guiding star in the heavens to the lowly manger in Bethlehem, and they knelt before the baby Jesus, worshipping Him as the King of Kings. The birth of Jesus Christ is the single most important event in the history of mankind because in this event God became man.
Why did God become man? Because the relationship between God and man was destroyed by sin, the original sin of Adam and Eve when they ate of the forbidden fruit in Paradise. And only the Son of God has the standing before God to restore that broken relationship. The entire human race can commit hara-kiri to restore our broken relationship with God and that would be insufficient to restore the relationship because we are merely human. Only God can restore the broken relationship. But God so loved us that He requested his one and only beloved Son, Jesus to restore the broken relationship by becoming man and dying for mankind on the cross so that the broken relationship could be restored.
So, when Jesus was born on Christmas day, He agreed to become man, and agreed to fulfill the mission of restoring our broken relationship with God, by dying for us on the cross, to redeem us from the consequences of sin. How great God’s love for man is He sent His only Son to die for us. And how great the love of His Son’s love for man is that He willingly suffered and died for us on the cross! Praise and Glory to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Blessed be the Name of our Lord!
Is Christ the family name of Jesus? This is a valid question. No, in Hebrew, Christ means the Anointed One, the Messiah, and the Savior. Jesus in Hebrew means “God saves.” The other names and titles by which Jesus is known are:
1. Emmanuel: meaning “God is with us.” The angel Gabriel appeared to the Blessed Virgin Mary that “you shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be “Emmanuel” (Matt.1:23). But why was He called Jesus instead of Emmanuel? Because Emmanuel does not refer to the actual name of Jesus, it is a descriptive reference of the role of Jesus. Just like calling General Dwight D. Eisenhower, “the Supreme Commander” of all allied forces in Europe against Hitler, or Dr. Sun Yat Sen as the “Father of the Republic of China,” or St. Lorenzo Ruiz, as “the first Filipino saint.”
2. Lamb of God: meaning Jesus agreed to become the sacrificial lamb who shed His blood and died on the cross to rectify the broken relationship between God and man.
3. Redeemer: meaning Jesus gave his life to buy back the good relationship between God and man. You can compare this to a house after it is foreclosed. In some states, the law proved a time period, say six months from the date of foreclosure, called the “redemption period,” when the previous owner of the house can buy back the house by paying off the outstanding balance of the loan. This is called “redeeming” the house that was foreclosed.
4. Son of God: meaning literally that Jesus is the Son of God, the one true God, my God, the God of Elijah, Moses and Israel.
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Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S Fremont Ave Bldg A-1 Suite 1125 Unit 58 Alhambra, CA 91803.