The Purpose of Christ's Birth

For two thousand years, non believers have been asking, “What purpose did Jesus have for coming to the world?” Some Christians have a hard time answering this question, other just give a stock answer, (for the Salvation of mankind), still others will answer, “I don't know, it's whatever you want to believe” (which is going to be a topic for another discussion). The Holy Scriptures gives a clear answer to this question, “What is the purpose for Christ's birth?”

The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8 NASB). The purpose of Christ's birth is to destroy the works of the devil.

To fully grasp the purpose, we need to understand what the works of the devil are. First, the devil introduced sin into the world. The devil was not created evil, but he sinned, and not just one sin and then reform, he has continued to sin. He not only sinned by rebelling against God and bringing the fallen angels with him, but he enticed mankind to sin and has continued to introduce sin into the lives of men.
The devil introduced sin into the world, by tempting mankind to disobey God. Sin is disobedience to Gods commands. When God says not to do something, and the person does it, they have sinned. The first introduction of sin came when mankind disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave the command, mankind disobeyed, and sin entered into the world.
With sin entering into the world, the second work of the devil came into existence. Death entered into the world.
Prior to Genesis 3:6, death is only mentioned as a future tense possibility. Three times the phrase, “will die” is said. Nowhere is death mentioned as a current active presence. The reason: God did not create life for the purpose of death. Life was created to be eternal. God made a promise to mankind that they would die if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God made good on His promise.
God can not be around sin. Thus, when sin entered into the world, God removed mankind from His presence. He through them out of the Garden of Eden. Sin separated mankind from God. After that point, mankind needed to be reconciled to God. The only way to do that is to have mankind's sin and death removed from them. Thus, Jesus was born.
Since sin and death came into the world because of man, they could only be taken away through man. Jesus had to come as a man, born as a babe, grow into adulthood, experience what mankind experiences and become the perfect sacrifice. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil . . .For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:14,17-18 NIV)
By Jesus destroying the works of the devil, mankind has been given a great gift. They have been given the gift of eternal life. As it is with any gift, it must be received. The gift of salvation is easy to attain. Some people will tell you that you must do a lot of good works, or other things to attain salvation. There are a couple of steps to accept the gift of salvation, and it is difficult to do. Not in the sense that it is hard to get accomplished but in the sense that it involves a drastic life change.
The first step to getting the gift of salvation is to admit that you are a sinner in need of a savior and to repent from your current sinful lifestyle. Everyone is a sinner, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 NIV) Once you can admit that you are a sinner, you must repent from your sinful lifestyle. Repentance is a word that is often misunderstood. Repent does not mean to feel sorrow or sorry that you did something. Repent means to turn away. Literally it means to change your direction. When you repent, you turn away from your current lifestyle and where do you turn to. You turn to God for the forgiveness of your sins, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” (Acts 3:19).
Once you admit that you're a sinner and repent, you need to believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. The most fundamental truth about Christianity is that Jesus was dead and buried and resurrected on the third day. If Jesus was not resurrected, then no one will be resurrected and there is no hope at all. Yet, Jesus WAS resurrected and we have the hope of being resurrected into eternal life.
Then confess that Jesus is Lord. Aside from an absolute life change, this is probably the hardest thing to do. Many people will be ridiculed for their confession. They will be branded as, “Jesus Freaks”, “Fundamentalists”, “Holy Rollers”, and many other names with negative connotations, yet, take them as a compliment, they at least know where you stand. When you believe and confess you will be saved. “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved,” (Romans 10:9,10) The Scriptures are clear on this, believe and confess, “you will be saved.” It doesn't say “you might be saved.” It doesn't say, “You possibly could be saved.” It doesn't say, “You will be saved after you do some other things.” It simply says, “You will be saved.”
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us remember the purpose of his birth. If you have not accepted Christ as your savior, today is a good day to do that.
Have a merry Christmas
Daniel