Jesus didn’t come just to make us happy, happy, happy. He came so that ruined people could be declared holy, holy, holy before a righteous God.
Happiness is a temporary feeling based on our personal circumstances. Holiness is our eternal standing before God based on the finished work of His Son, Jesus.
The LORD God says, Be holy because I am holy (Lev. 11:44; Lev. 11:45; Lev. 19:2; Lev. 20:7 Lev. 20:26; Lev. 21:8). And, “As He who called you is holy, be holy yourselves” (1 Peter 1:15-16). But, the LORD God also knows that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Psalm 143:2).
Because of sin, the first couple (Adam and Eve) were driven from God’s holy presence (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:22-24). The prophet Isaiah, confronted with the holiness of God cried out, “Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) Because of our sin, our unrighteousness, our unholiness – we cannot stand in the presence of the holy God – and live.
That’s why we need Christmas.
In His loving-kindness, God sent His Eternal, Holy Son, Jesus, to save us from our sin by dying in our place so that we might live in the presence of the Holy God: For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17)
The angel said to [the shepherds], “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. (Luke 2:10–11)
This Christmas, we rejoice not because of feelings of happiness (or loneliness for that matter) which the season brings. We rejoice with the angels because while we were still sinners, Jesus Christ came to die for us (Romans 5:8-9). Jesus didn’t come to make our lives happy. He came to make us Holy. He came so that by faith in Him each one could stand in the presence of the Almighty King, the Lord of Hosts, the Holy God – and live.
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
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21 But now, apart from the law, God’s righteousness has been revealed —attested by the Law and the Prophets 22 —that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21–26)
1 Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering. (Romans 8:1–3)
21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
8 I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ —the righteousness from God based on faith. (Philippians 3:8–9)
21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. 22 But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him. (Colossians 1:21–22)
24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness; you have been healed by His wounds. (1 Peter 2:24)
following Jesus 