Why Christ's birth wasn't enough

No doubt you've seen an artist's rendering of the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger. Mary the virgin gave birth to Jesus who is the Son of God. ''She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn'' (Luke 2:7). Millions had been born and died. For the first and only time in history a baby had been born who would never arch His back and defy His mother. A child would grow up without selfishly demanding attention. A teenager would live without ever demanding His own way. A young man would honor His mother without ever being thoughtless of her. A man would live without sin and have the personal right to live on forever. God had prophesied it years before: ''Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us'' (Matthew 1:23). Billions more have been born and died since that birth in Bethlehem. Merely a Wonderful Man? Many people look on that man, Jesus Christ, as a wonderful example, an ideal to strive for, or a distant, vague and friendly figure. His birth and His life brought tremendous delight to God the Father. God said, ''This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'' (Matthew 3:17). But God the Father had an even deeper purpose in sending His Son to become a man. ''The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world'' (1 John 4:14). Sin has polluted God's universe and He will not accept sinners into His presence. He has stated clearly that ''the soul that sinneth, it shall die'' (Ezekiel 18:20). Each one of us faces the consequences of our sin - death and eternal separation from God. There can be no payment for sin without the giving of life. ''Without shedding of blood is no remission (payment for sin)'' (Hebrews 9:22) Brought to God Jesus Christ came not just to be born and to live a perfect life but to die and suffer for sin, ''the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God'' (1 Peter 3:18). He had every right to return to heaven without dying. He hadn't done anything worthy of death. Instead the Lord Jesus chose to allow Himself to be beaten, insulted and crucified. Then, while hanging on the cross, He accepted the punishment against sin from a holy God for sin that others had committed. Now He can fairly offer salvation to whoever will come to Him to receive it. Merely a perfect life, as beautiful as that is, wouldn't have been enough to save anyone else. But God's love would never have been satisfied with that. ''God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'' (Romans 5:8). Will you come as a sinner to receive the salvation that Jesus Christ, who has now risen from the dead, offers you?