I woke up this morning with the word on my mind that Christmas is about forgiveness, not just a baby. Christmas is about the Gift of Forgiveness. A different twist to our usual thoughts of Christmas, I know, and even though we know that Jesus came to save the world, we mostly think of Him this time of the year as a baby.  However, we must grow up and let the Baby Jesus grow up too; because it’s when we are adults that we fulfill the purpose for our lives. The real reason for this season is to bring us the good news that God has forgiven us. We must realize and fully understand that God decided to forgive us long before He sent Jesus.

God began opening the door for people to receive His forgiveness by instituting the work of the priests and the sacrifices of innocent lambs for the shedding of blood (death) for their sins. The meaning of the innocence of the lambs was that it was free from guilt or sin, and blameless and their blood covered their sin so the people could come to God.

Leviticus 6:7 — “The priests shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he will be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.”

Numbers 15:28 – “The priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who commits an error when he sins unintentionally, making atonement for him so that he may be forgiven.”

Psalm 85:2 – “You have forgiven the wickedness of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah”.

But there was a problem in that it was impossible for the blood of bulls, goats, and lambs, to take away the sin. (Hebrews 10:4)

Now jump to the New Testament where we are told in John 1:29 by John the Baptist that Jesus is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. In Second Corinthians 5:21, Paul goes further into detail by describing Jesus as the one who knew no sin, who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Since Jesus was innocent of sin, and He died because of our sin, and because He rose from the dead and still now lives, His sacrifice was the final Blood Sacrifice which provides forgiveness of sin for the whole world.

In Hebrews 4:14, 16, we find that Jesus is the High Priest, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

When I think of these Scriptures from both the Old and New Testament; I make the following proclamation of my faith: Jesus is my High Priest and His death and Resurrection has made atonement for me – therefore – I am forgiven for any and all my sin that incur guilt. Jesus is my High Priest and has made atonement for me – even for those unintentional sins of error – as well as those sins done intentionally with a wrongly motivated heart.  Jesus is my High Priest who is in heaven, thereby giving me the privilege and right to come before God boldly to ask for forgiveness and obtain His help.  According to 1 John 1:9, we receive His forgiveness by having a repentant heart.

We repent because of conviction in our heart of wrongdoing. By faith we believe that Jesus is true to His Word to forgive us; and by faith we receive His forgiveness and the cleansing of stain that sin wants to leave behind in our heart. I also believe that receiving His cleansing wipes away the residue of the guilt that may want to stay behind and cause condemnation.  There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

Jesus was the Savior of the world when He was born and laying in that Manger; but He didn’t accomplish Salvation’s work until He died on the Cross as an adult. As we enter this Christmas Season let’s purposely monitor our heart to keep it cleansed by a repentant heart. Let’s place Him where He is today: alive and at the right hand of God, making intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)   Let’s move our focus from the Manager when the Baby Jesus slept, from the Cross where Jesus died for our sins, to the heavens where He is now and to will soon come again – because JESUS IS COMING BACK – and it could be very, very soon. Praise the Lord!