Advent2025_Dec25

December 25th, 2025
by Pastor Kurt

The Light That Shines Still
John 1:14; Luke 2:10–11; Isaiah 9:6–7
Optional Family Reading: Luke 2:8–14

The Light who broke into our darkness now shines among us with unfailing grace and eternal joy.

This is Christmas morning. A day when the world seems quieter, when the pace slows, when homes fill with warmth and light. A day when we remember not only that Christ came, but that Christ remains.

Last night we gathered around the wonder of the Light breaking into the darkness. Today we celebrate something just as astonishing: the Light did not flicker, fade, or pass by.
He stayed. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . ” (John 1:14)

The One who spoke galaxies into existence wrapped Himself in our humanity . . . not as a visitor but as a Savior. He did not arrive in power and then leave in haste. He came to live, to walk, to weep, to heal, to teach, to rescue, and to redeem.

Isaiah told us long before this morning ever arrived: “To us a child is born . . . and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

A child . . . yet mighty. A son . . . yet eternal. A baby . . . yet King.

Luke tells us the same truth, only with the gentle language of shepherds and angels: “ . . . good news of great joy . . . a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10–11)

This good news is not a seasonal feeling or a temporary glow, it is the abiding presence of God with His people. He is our Counselor in confusion; our Mighty God in weakness; our Everlasting Father in loneliness; our Prince of Peace in the storm.

And because He came, truly came, His light still shines today: In our marriages and families; in our fears and failures; in our griefs and burdens; in our hopes and longings; in our worship and our wandering.

Christmas is not simply the memory of a birth; it is the celebration of a Presence. God with us. God for us. God among us. God in us.

So on this Christmas morning, may the Light of Christ fill your home with joy, your heart with peace, and your life with hope. May His grace steady you. May His truth guide you. And may His unfailing love surround you in every room, every moment, every breath.

Christ has come. Christ is with us. And Christ will shine forever.
___

For Young Ones: What is one thing about Jesus you are thankful for today?

For Older Ones: Where do you need to remember that Christ’s presence is with you (truly and personally) on this Christmas Day?

Pray: Lord Jesus, Light of the world, thank You for coming and for staying. Shine in our homes and our hearts today with Your joy, Your peace, and Your love.

Family Practice: Before opening gifts, read Isaiah 9:2–7 aloud. Talk briefly about one way Jesus has shown His light in your family this year.

Dig Deeper Text Note

The Word Made Flesh

John 1:14; Phil. 2:6–8; Heb. 2; 1 John 1:1–3

Christmas morning gathers us around the greatest miracle in the Christian faith:

the eternal Son of God took on human nature . . . fully, truly, permanently. This is not poetic symbolism or a seasonal metaphor. It is the theological center of Christianity: the Incarnation.

Here is the depth behind the miracle:

1. Fully God: the Eternal Word

John 1:1 establishes the Son’s full deity:

“with God”: distinct in person
“was God”: equal in essence
“all things were made through Him”: Creator, not creature

Before there was even a Bethlehem, there was the Word. Before Mary held the child, the child upheld all things (Heb. 1:3). The baby in the manger is no less than God eternal.

2. Fully Man: the Word became flesh

The verb “became” (ἐγένετο - “egenetah”) does not mean the Word changed into flesh, but that He took on human nature . . . not temporarily, not partially, but fully.

He grew (Luke 2:52).
He hungered (Matt. 4:2).
He slept (Mark 4:38).
He suffered (Heb. 2:17–18).
He died (Phil. 2:8).

He assumed everything necessary to redeem what humanity lost. As Gregory of Nazianzus wrote in the fourth century, “What He did not assume, He did not heal.”

3. One Person, Two Natures: the Wonder of the Incarnation

The Chalcedonian Definition (A.D. 451) put words to what Scripture teaches: Jesus is: One Person with two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation. Fully God. Fully man. Perfectly united. Forever.

Christmas is when that union began.

4. Why Did God Become Man? Five Biblical Reasons

To reveal God (John 1:18).
To destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
To save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).
To redeem us from the law (Gal. 4:4–5).
To sympathize with our weakness (Heb. 4:15).

The crib points directly to the cross.

5. The Light Still Shines: Present Tense Hope

John insists that Christmas is not merely an event: “The light shines in the darkness . . . ” (1:5)

Present tense again. Christ shines still. His grace is not a memory. His presence is not symbolic. His love is not seasonal. The Light that dawned in Bethlehem shines today and forever.

A Closing Thought: Christmas Day proclaims the staggering truth that the eternal Word is God with us, the eternal Word became one of us, and the eternal Word now shines upon and within us.

Friends, the baby’s cry in Bethlehem was heaven’s announcement that RESCUE HAS BEGUN.

Posted in Christmas Devotional