Christmas! It means so many things to different people. For example, WorldNetDaily reports that Senator Patty Murray “rebuffed instructions given last year by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, that the national tree in front of the U.S. Capitol be referred to as the ‘Capitol Christmas Tree’ after having been called the ‘Capitol Holiday Tree’ since the 1990s. During the lighting ceremony, the senator from the tree's home state never used the word ‘Christmas’ in her speech to the assembled crowd, opting instead for the term ‘holiday tree’ twice.”

 

But, it was her communications director Alex Glass’ answers to questions in the aftermath that were so intriguing: “She was speaking to a crowd, and she said what she said. This is the holiday season, we're just thrilled that the tree is from Washington state. It's just a time to bring everybody together to celebrate the season.” “When asked if there were any objection to calling the tree a ‘Christmas tree,’ she said the senator doesn't have a policy. ‘I think, you know, whatever people want to call it, we are accepting of all of it. It's a time to remember what the season is about.’ And that is? Celebrating, of course. And what are we celebrating? ‘The season,’ Glass said. And what is the season? ‘I'm not going to get into semantics with you guys,’ she said.”

 

Now, there is a sense in which we can forgive Glass and the senator for not knowing what the season is about. They apparently don’t know Christ and are merely politicians struggling in a politically charged climate. The problem lies in the fact that too many Christians are confused about what the season is about as well. Do we really know and live out the reality that Christmas is about the advent of the promised deliverer? Think about this wonderful verity for just a few minutes as we ground our thoughts in one verse from God’s word: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel (Gen. 3:15).”

 

First, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would be specially and sublimely a man. He would not be an angel or some other creature, but a man, “for there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).” The deliverer was to be “her Seed,” the seed of the woman. How sublime is the fulfillment of this promise. Christ Jesus, “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:6-8)”

 

Second, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would be unique concerning His human nature. He would be the Seed of the woman only and not the Seed of an earthly father. Much debate is centered on the virgin birth of Christ. The fact that Matthew and Luke are clear in their affirmations that Christ was indeed born of a virgin (Matt. 1:23; Lk. 1:27) should stop all debate on this issue. While alma in Isa. 7:14 literally means “young maiden,” not only is the implication of virgin clear in that text but declared with no equivocation in the gospels with the use of the word parthenos, or virgin. But more compelling is the unity of Scripture from Genesis to Isaiah to the gospels and the intent of the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning this wonderful reality. Those with eyes to see understand clearly the Seed of the woman in Genesis to be a clear gospel reference to the nature of Christ’s birth as the sinless One.

 

Third, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would accomplish His mission through vicarious suffering. The word of the Lord was “you shall bruise His heel.” This statement is the gospel in a phrase! “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18).” Christ died as a sinner by way of imputation: our sin imputed to Him. The Just One suffered for guilty sinners. But, because He had no sin of His own, death could not hold Him and three days later He came out of the grave with all power and glory in His hand.

 

Fourth, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would ultimately defeat sin, Satan, and death. Christ abolished death (2 Tim. 1:10), destroyed the works of the devil (1 Jn. 3:8), and disarmed all principalities and powers, having made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through the cross (Col. 2:15). These blessed realities are summed up in the promise, “He shall bruise your head.”

 

Fifth, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would be revealed in His divine nature. If the Seed of the woman was virgin-born with no earthly father, it follows that His origin is special in more than one way. Further, if this One was to suffer for guilty sinners though He had no sin of His own, and if this One was to conquer sin, death, and the powers of darkness, it follows that such a One would have a unique power and nature. One who could atone for sin and defeat Satan, reverse the fall, (and be not only typified in worship but worshipped in the process as we shall see momentarily), could be nothing short of Divine. The deliverer would be God Himself. As noted, He would also be man. Thus, the deliverer is none other than the God-man. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, ‘God with us (Matt. 1:23).’” Here the response to Mary’s question, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God (Lk. 1:35).”

 

Sixth, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would reconcile His people to the Father. Out of the mass of humanity, Satan’s children, by nature, children of wrath, Christ would redeem a people for Himself (Jn 8:44; Eph. 2:3; Matt. 1:21). The mass of humanity is at enmity with God for the Lord declared “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.” Of course, this enmity is the result of the first Adam. But, our reconciliation, the fact that “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” is the work of the Second Adam on the cross. “Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life (Rom. 5:18).” O how we must preach Christ at Christmas!

 

Seventh, Christmas is about the promised deliverer who would be typified in worship and worshipped. In this way God has declared fully “the way” and “the who” of our salvation. God has told us what worship of Him is. While the form of worship has changed from the primeval period to the patriarchal period to the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, the essence of worship has not. The essence of worship is the glorification of God though the person and work of Jesus Christ. 

 

In the aftermath of Adam’s sin, it is obvious that men were commanded to worship God by way of sacrificing animals that were consumed wholly upon the altar after the skins had been removed. The skins were to be used for clothing (and not for food as men were not allowed to eat animals until after the flood). The Lord Himself demonstrated such in slaying the first animals and covering our first parents’ nakedness. Subsequently, Cain and Abel were given to the same activity. Cain’s offering of fruit was not accepted because he did not obey God in faith and offer that which had been commanded (Gen. 4:3-7; Heb. 11:4).

 

Of course, as Adam and Eve covered their own nakedness with fig leaves (Gen. 3:7), the fact that God slew animals and covered them with the skins demonstrated to them that they could never cover their own nakedness or work for their salvation, but that God had to cover their nakedness and He had to do so through the sacrifice of His Son and cover their shame with His righteousness by way of imputation. O what blessed gospel truth is here proclaimed!

 

And, what gospel truth is preserved in the revealed mode of worship given to Adam and his immediate posterity as they had Christ in a figure every time they offered a sacrifice to God! Every time they remembered what God had done and every time they made an offering to the Lord they were hearing and proclaiming “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel (Gen. 3:15).” Every time they worshipped they heard and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, even as we do the same.   

 

So, let us therefore worship Christ at Christmas and let us put that worship of Him on display. After all, that’s what Christmas is all about: Christ the Lord our promised deliverer.