More Than a Nativity Scene: Christmas in God’s Story of Redemption

For many, the nativity is an isolated scene in the biblical story, more familiar as holiday décor than as Holy Scripture. It’s like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle bearing the partial image of a baby in a manger: Few seem to know where it fits into the picture of the Bible’s commands and promises, let alone human history. Instead, it has been framed on its own, sentimentalized as a moral lesson about feeding the homeless, putting coins in the red kettle, and just trying to make a difference—“because, after all, isn’t giving and working together what Christmas is all about?”

But Christmas is so much more than an appeal to be charitable! It is, in the words of the angel, an announcement of “good news of great joy that will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). As John Stott writes, “The gospel is not good advice to men, but good news about Christ; not an invitation to us to do anything, but a declaration of what God has done; not a demand, but an offer.”¹

If we reconnect the puzzle piece, we discover the key place of the nativity scene in the story of the unfolding plan of redemption that runs through the whole Bible. Galatians 4:4–5 tells us exactly where the piece fits: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Christmas in the Story of Redemption

The Old Testament tells us that God created the world good, that He put human beings into it in a state of goodness, and that the first man and woman rebelled against God’s command and became alienated from Him. Yet God had a plan to restore what was lost. He called out Abraham, and He made him a promise: “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). This promise was free—no laws to obey, no conditions to fulfill. Out of His grace, He was going to bless the nations through a child of Abraham.

After God gave the promise to Abraham, He gave the law to Moses—and it came with conditions and punishments. It came to reveal sin. We may think of ourselves as fine people, especially in comparison to those around us; but when we read the law of God, we realize that we are not as smart or good as we believed ourselves to be. The law exposes our sin, and it condemns us.

When Christ came, He came as the fulfillment of both the promise and the law. At just the right time, “God sent forth his Son,” the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Word of God, equal with the Father, who came willingly to be “born of a woman” among the people of promise and to be “born under the law” (Gal. 4:4). The nativity scene reflects for us the moment when the Word of God became flesh to fulfill the eternal plan of redemption.

Jesus didn’t come just to be an example of good works and to stir up holiday spirit year after year but to bless the nations by bringing them into fellowship with God. He did this by obeying all the law’s precepts and at the same time suffering all the law’s penalty on our behalf: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). He who was a Son by nature willingly took the form of a servant so that those of us who are servants of sin may discover the wonderful privilege of being adopted into God’s family as a result of His grace. This is an announcement of good news!

Good News for You and Me

People tend to respond to the announcement of the good news of Christmas in one of three ways.

Some have never trusted in Christ because they’ve never had the law preached to them. They continually hear, “Jesus is the answer! Jesus is the answer!”—but Jesus is no answer to them, because they don’t what the question or problem is. Until they recognize themselves to be imprisoned by means of sin and the law, they will never come to Christ for freedom. Until they have been driven to despair of their own righteousness, they will never understand why the baby in the manger is good news.

Others, on the other hand, do not need the law taught to them. They are already slavish in their commitment to the rules—yet they don’t understand that God has provided the law to drive men and women to Jesus for salvation. They need to hear that God gave the law not so they could prove themselves holy but in order that it would show their need for a holy Savior. Only when they understand that they cannot fulfill the law, but Christ has, will they realize why the baby in the manger is good news.

Those, meanwhile, who have seen themselves in the law of God as helpless and in need of a Savior have gone to Christ and found that the promise that was made to Abraham was offered to them—no strings attached, no hassle, no regulations. They have understood that the story of redemption entered its climactic phase when that baby was laid in the manger. And so they respond humbly, “Lord, this is good news! May I receive this gift of Your Son?”

Receiving the Gift in the Manger

Don’t let another Christmas pass and think that because you removed your hat and threw a coin in a bucket, you can say, “I understand what Christmas is all about.” The story of God’s redemption is a story about mercy. It is the story of the one who, as the angel announced, would “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). It is not a religion of personal merit; it is the offer of a gift: the righteousness of God in and through Jesus. Have you turned to Him and received it?

This article was adapted from the sermons “Why God Sent His Son” and “See Now What God Has Done” by Alistair Begg.