The Christmas season is a special time of the year. This season is filled with so many wonderful things: lights, decorations, special songs, and time spent with friends and family. Another part of Christmas is gifts. I thought about putting that in the wonderful section of this season, but sometimes gifts can be one of the biggest headaches of this season. How many times have you found yourself banging your head against a wall trying to figure out that perfect gift for someone? You just want to get them an Amazon or Visa gift card, but then you realize that you might come across as copping out and not putting any real thought into it.

The truth is that this season is about the greatest gift that was ever given. It didn’t come from some warehouse or website. It wasn’t delivered to us by some guy in a brown suit or GrubHub. The greatest gift came from God as He sent His one and only Son into this world to bring to us the gifts of Advent: hope, joy, peace, and love.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul reminds us that…

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

Love is truly the greatest gift of all. As we celebrate the Christmas season, we celebrate the love of God coming to us in a tangible way. As we look at Matthew’s account of the first Christmas, I want to show you a couple of things about the love of God that came to us that first Christmas.

‌The love of God comes to us

As Matthew begins sharing about the first Christmas, he points out the truth that the love of God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18 ESV

The virgin birth is an important part of the story. The fact that Mary was pregnant is truly a miracle in itself. This was a sign that this baby was no ordinary baby. This child in Mary’s womb was the Son of God.

The apostle, John, shares with us that God is love. The baby that was growing in Mary’s womb in this verse was in fact love coming to us. God didn’t just write a message in a sunset that says He loves us. God came to us… to where we are — in the muck and mire of our situations — to show us that He cares for us and has not abandoned us.

We celebrate during this season as we realize that through Jesus, love came to us.

The love of God transforms us

While Matthew starts his first Christmas account with the wonderful news of God coming to us, in verse 19, Matthew shows that it was a difficult event in the moment.

¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:19 ESV

Mary was betrothed to Joseph, and they were looking forward to a wonderful life together. I’m sure they were dreaming about their future together. But when Joseph realized Mary was pregnant and the child was not his, he didn’t understand what was going on. What we see in verse 19 is how the work of God’s love on a person’s heart can transform them.

Joseph thought that Mary had been unfaithful to him. The Jewish law gave Joseph every right to humiliate Mary. A normal person might have done this, but Joseph was not a normal person. The Bible doesn’t say a lot about Joseph, but what it does points to the fact that he loved and walked in faithfulness to God. Because of Joseph’s relationship with God, God’s love transformed Joseph from being one who wants to get even to being one who looks out for one whom he thought had betrayed him.

The love of God transforms a person’s heart, words, and actions. When we experience and walk in the love of God on a consistent basis, it transforms us to live in a way that reflects God. That transformation doesn’t come by any other means.

The love of God teaches us

While Joseph was making plans in his mind to gracefully part ways with Mary, God sent an angel to him in a dream to teach Joseph the truth about what was happening. God cared deeply for this young couple. God didn’t want there to be a split or shame or anything like that. In verses 20-21, God sends a message which teaches Joseph the truth of the situation.

²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:20–21 ESV

The very first temptation that a human being experienced was when Eve was tempted to doubt God’s goodness and think He was holding out on humans. God’s love for us proves that to be a complete falsehood. God’s word is truth, and He has shared His truth with us. We may think that we know what our situation is all about, but we would do well to seek the truth from God if we want a better understanding.

God shares with Joseph that Mary had not been unfaithful to him. The baby she was carrying in her womb was a gift from God placed there by the Holy Spirit. Notice that the angel said that Mary would bear the son, but Joseph would name the baby Jesus. This indicates that God desired Joseph to continue with plans to take Mary as his bride and help raise this child.

The love of God saves us

In verses 21-23, Matthew shares with us that the love of God comes to save us.

²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Matthew 1:21–23 ESV

The angel shares that what Joseph is experiencing at this moment is the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Savior. The prophet Isaiah foretold how the Messiah would come about 700 years before it happened. It wasn’t the way or when most people expected, but God is true to His word and always comes through at the perfect moment.

Jesus’ coming that first Christmas was the foundation that John 3:16-17 stands on. These verses are well-known by many because they share that God’s coming to us for the first time was not about judgment as much as His love toward us.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:16–17 ESV

A person is saved from their sins by turning from their sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. This work of God’s grace brings eternal life to any person who trusts in and follows Him.

The love of God empowers us

In Matthew 1:24-25, we see Joseph awakening and responding to what God had shown him.

²⁴ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵ but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

​Matthew 1:24–25 ESV

Joseph had to make a decision. He could go with what he originally thought about his situation, or he could listen to God’s word and walk in obedience. Because Joseph had experienced the love of God, he was also empowered to walk in obedience to what God wanted. There were going to be people who whispered about him and his bride. There were going to be people who made fun of him for being so foolish to believe that Mary was carrying the Messiah.

There are times in our lives when the decision to walk in obedience to God’s ways is not easy. There are times when walking in obedience to what God wants is not seen as popular or even logical at times. Because the love of God has come to us, we have been given the empowerment to live as God desires when we experience His love.

‌Conclusion

As Matthew shows us in his account of the first Christmas, it was a time when God’s love came to us in a special way. God’s love came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He came to make the only way for our sins to be forgiven and for us to be reunited with God.

Gifts are definitely on people’s minds in this season and rightfully so. The first Christmas brought us the greatest gift of all — the love of God. The interesting thing about a gift is that it doesn’t become yours until you actually receive it. Have you received the gift of God’s love through Jesus by confessing and turning from your sins to Him by faith? I would encourage you to do that today if you haven’t. It is truly the greatest Christmas present ever.