“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
- Gal 4:4-5
Adoption is a beautiful thing. A child without parental care or sustenance is brought into a loving family where they become a full-fledged member and enjoy all the benefits of being a member of the family. Not only are they loved and cared for, but they become members of that family.
But imagine an adoption where the new parents were only willing to allow the child to stay with them if they were perfect. Any disobedience, any evil word, any evil deed, and the child would be rejected.
Spiritually, the thing that kept us out of the family of God was the Law. God’s Law requires complete and full obedience. He demands perfection. However, all of us have fallen short of the glory of that perfection that God demands because of the sinful choices we have made. Each of us is now enslaved to the Law in seeking to be made right with God. And this is a miserable place to be. We cannot keep the Law, and yet we must.
But the glorious reality of Christmas is that Jesus came into the world in the same state that we are—under the Law. The demands of the Law were perfection, but unlike any other person that ever lived, Jesus actually was perfect. No sin, no failure, no falsehood of any kind. Just perfection.
But at the end of that perfect life, He died, not for His own transgressions, but for the sins of those who would trust in Him in order to redeem them from the wages they had rightfully earned.
The perfect life that we needed to be part of God’s family was fulfilled, and the perfections of Christ were gifted to those who believe this is true. Now, in Him, we are adopted into the family of God, loved and cherished and safe for eternity. Nothing can separate us from the love that God has for His Son, or the love that God has for us.
This is the great message of Christmas…a Son, coming in perfection, to rescue His brothers and sisters through perfect righteousness and embracing them into His family. The baby in the manger is your older brother!
