The Most Wonderful Time of the Year! (Christmas 2020 Update)
There are few times in the year that compare with the Christmas season. It is a time of joy and wonder for people of all ages and generations! But the season is nothing compared to the mystery and the reality of Christmas. There are three events that define Christianity – the Birth of Jesus, the Cross of Jesus, and the Resurrection of Jesus. Each of these is unique to Christianity. No other religion claims their founder died to pay for their sins and then rose from the dead as proof of this payment. No other religion has such a great and risen Savior!
But why is the celebration of His birth so special? It is because the Cross and the Empty Tomb would be meaningless without the Incarnation of Jesus. Christmas is not about trees and lights and presents. It is about the most amazing event in human history. It is about the Incarnation – God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14)! And no other religion claims that God became man. That’s why Christmas is so special. That’s why it is truly “the most wonderful time of the year.”
However, we must understand why Christmas and the celebration of the Incarnation is so important. Most Christians would say that the Cross and the Resurrection are the two essential elements of Christianity. Without them, Christianity would not exist. That is true. But Christmas (or the Incarnation) is equally important! Without Christmas, the cross and resurrection would have no significance. Let me explain.
The Cross provides salvation for us for one reason: because the crucified one is both God and Man. If Jesus is not man, then He cannot die in our place because He would not be one of us. The writer of Hebrews says a lot about this in Hebrews 2. In verse 9, he reminds us: “But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Unless Jesus leaves his throne in glory and comes to be one of us, he cannot be our substitute and “taste death for every one of us.” The writer of Hebrews continues: “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.” In verse 17, he explains further, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human 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.” If he is not one of us, he cannot die in our place. Jesus must be fully man to be a perfect substitute for mankind.
But it is more than that. To be our savior, Jesus must not only be fully human – he must be fully God. If Jesus is a good man, even a great man, even the greatest man ever, He will not be able to pay for the sins of the world. It might be possible for this good man to be a substitute for one man but not for the whole human race. A good man’s righteousness might (though probably not likely) be enough to cover one man’s sins, but no more. To be a savior for all mankind, for all ages and for all cultures, the substitute must have INFINITE righteousness to be able to cover an INFINTE number of sins. Only God can do this. That is why Jesus was born and why He came to live and die for us as one of us.
Can you see why the incarnation is so essential? Even if God comes to earth, He cannot be our substitute, because He is not one of us. But if He is just a man (even a great, righteous man), he can only pay for the sins of one other man – not all mankind. But through the miracle of the virgin birth, God became man and lived among us and died for us and then rose from the dead. As God, His infinite righteousness can cover all the sins of the world. He can be our perfect savior. As Man, His perfect, sinless life can be our perfect substitute. This is the incarnation. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This is Christmas! And this is why Christmas is the “hap-happiest time” of the year (and all time too)! And all the wonders and beauty of our Christmas celebrations are pale but appropriate reminders of the greatest event in human history – that God became man – Immanuel, God with us!
Christmas is a time of joy, of “peace on earth, goodwill to men” for one reason – Jesus is God with us! And that makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year! When you celebrate Christmas, give thanks to the one who left His throne in glory to come to be our Savior!
The Joy Teaching …
While I have not been able to be in the classroom this semester due to Covid and due to my ongoing health issues, I have still had the joy of teaching 4 classes! It has been a real challenge and a lot more work preparing lectures and grading papers (I will still be grading papers until after Christmas 🙁). But it has been worth it as I listen to the comments and questions of these students who love learning almost as much as I love teaching!
Be praying for me as I continue to work on my next class for February, Theology 1. Again, it should be a lot of work to get ready, so I really don’t have much of a break. I am working on PowerPoint and audio lectures right now and I’m enjoying putting this class together. We will be studying about General Revelation, Special Revelation, The Attributes and the Works of God. It has been a long time since I taught this section of theology (the last time was in Bulgaria, nearly 20 years ago!), so I have a lot of work to do getting this class ready. I’m being assisted by 3 translators who are doing a great job putting everything together for me.
As we mentioned in our last update, the conversion to online is very expensive. I normally spend $200-400/class for translation. My September and October classes cost about double that. My Church History class had a lot more information than the earlier ones – nearly $1500. What a blessing that we have had a few people contribute to help cover these costs and we have been able to pay for all the translation work through November! The Theology 1 class also has a lot of information and we are estimating that it will cost over $1000 too. If you want to help with the costs for this upcoming class, you can designate a gift through Teaching Resources (just put “Translations” in the memo). That would be a great help for us!
The Joy of Family …
We are continuing to Homeschool and love the times we have together. We are studying American history and are now looking at the different states. We also had a quiet but very enjoyable Thanksgiving time with Katya’s grandmother, mother and aunt. And I was great to finally be healthy enough to eat some holiday food! The girls also did some Thanksgiving pumpkin carving before we made the pumpkin bread (We don’t have a Halloween here in Ukraine).
We are all looking forward to Christmas. We had a St. Nicholas Day (complete with candy in the shoes) to remind us about the origins of Santa Claus and the acts of loving charity from a Bishop named Nicholas in the 4th Century. The girls are also doing an advent calendar and we have an advent wreath that daily helps us to remember various passages about the coming of Jesus. This year, the girls and their grandmother put together a gingerbread house. It’s beautiful – but the only problem is that we have to listen to the girls begging every day to eat it! We are hoping to hold off until Christmas Eve. We have also enjoyed singing Christmas carols and playing games together.
We are enjoying watching our favorite Christmas movies. We have watched Holiday Inn and White Christmas and of course we will be watching It’s a Wonderful Life before Christmas! We also watch a plethora of just fun movies too- The Santa Clause series, Earnest Saves Christmas and too many Hallmark Christmas movies (I know they are all the same, but I actually like most of them).
Even with the joy of Christmas around the corner, we received some difficult news this past week, hearing about the death of Debbie’s father, Bill McCullough. Debbie’s mom passed away last year after a long struggle. Bill’s death came as a great surprise to us. Bill and Sally were very, very special people in my life! In some ways, they were like second parents. But I rarely thought of them in that way – they were more like dear friends and wonderful mentors in many areas. And they loved the Lord and it showed in their lives. The absolute best times of the year for my children were the times we travelled to Florida to spend Christmases with them. It will be especially difficult this year knowing they are not here with us to enjoy the wonder of Christmas with us. But they will have a Christmas better than all of us as they are able to gather around the throne and celebrate the birth of Jesus in the presence of all the angels!
The Joy of Health …
My health continues to improve. All of the pathologies have come back clear now and so we think all the cancer has been removed. But we will continue to have follow-ups and watch to be sure that it is all gone. Thank you so much for your prayers!
My heart and lung and blood pressure issues appear to be stable now too. I have had nearly three months now with no major issues. My colon continues to have difficulties, but it seems to be improving too. This is my concern for right now. I am still doing some therapies that are helping but much of it (especially the alternative medicine treatments) is not covered by medical insurance. But it is worth every penny to feel better!
The Joy of Serving …
We are grateful for the opportunity that the Lord has given us to serve here in Ukraine. We are still working on classes and even Katya is now helping with translations (which helps to lower our translation costs too!). Our plans are still to work here in Ukraine for another 3-4 years before retirement and return to the states. Of course, all of this depends on my health and also on our finances. We have been working hard to be completely debt free so that we can afford to live in the states on only my retirement income (hopefully about $2500/month) and then we plan to start saving up so that we can cover the costs of moving back. We have made great progress this past year and it looks like we are on target for our goals for moving back. Please pray that our support will remain consistent and that we can keep expenses low so that we can stay on track with our plans. We continue to be amazed at how God has provided for us in every situation. What a joy to be able to see how God provides! We are especially thankful for your prayers and support through all these years! It is really a joy to be able to serve the Lord for all these years here in Ukraine!!!
Thankful for Ukraine
Please continue to pray for peace in Eastern Ukraine. The conflict is almost forgotten by the rest of the world, but Russian-backed forces continue to attack every day looking for an opportunity to break through the Ukrainian forces holding the line. We are so grateful for the soldiers defending our country. Even our girls are always glad to see men in uniform and they say how glad they are that the soldiers are protecting us! That’s a great attitude. I am equally grateful for all the students and chaplains from our seminary who are serving in those areas and ministering to refugees, soldiers and churches affected by this on-going conflict.
One of our favorite Christmas movies is White Christmas. Our girls love the songs and the dancing. But my favorite part is the last song. I still tear up every time I watch the ending when they honor General Waverly (and I watch this every year!). I am so grateful for our military in the US and also in Ukraine. It is hard to imagine the sacrifices they go through to protect us and our freedoms! So, pray for Ukraine this Christmas, but also remember our own military who not only sacrifice to serve our country, but also miss being home with family so they can serve us all.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I pray that you will think more about the Savior who came to live among us than about all the beauty and presents and other celebrations. We have much to celebrate – but most of all, we celebrate that the “Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory – glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Jim, Katya, Kristina and Nadia
Teaching Resources International 