How often do we forget the reason for the Christmas season? I'm not talking about getting caught up in the hoopla of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. I'm not talking about our tendency to look more like the world around us with our consumer mentality. No, I'm talking about something that is perhaps more dangerous because it is a forgetfulness that is wrapped in a religious veneer.

Who is Jesus? At the bottom, that's at least part of what we are answering in our Advent series. Who is He? He is the fullness of God's revelation (Hebrews 1:2, Colossians 1:19). He is the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 1:15). He is God, and He is man. He is Sovereign Lord of all. He is the one to whom all the OT Law and Prophets pointed. He is the one in whom all the OT shadows are fulfilled.

Christmas is the middle of the story, not the beginning nor the end. Jesus is not merely a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, He's the one in whom all the OT promises are fulfilled (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 9:11-14), and He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). To be sure, without Christmas, Easter would not have taken place. But without Easter, that night in Bethlehem ultimately would have seen another faceless poor baby born to faceless poor parents. Perhaps that is why Christmas has such popularity over Easter even in our secular culture. It's easier to keep Him in a manger - cooing and sleeping - than to put Him on a cross where he makes demands like, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)