Known as ‘the greatest story ever told’, people all over the world have heard the story of Jesus’ birth. Many celebrate Christmas, or the festive season, but is it only a time to exchange gifts, spend time with family, enjoy feasts or set up festive décor? Have you ever wondered if there’s more, a deeper meaning, to the popular story? Pastor Patrick Rugira from Phaneroo Rwanda says the birth of Jesus may seem normal to some, but to believers, it’s a kind. “Picture a person with everything he will ever need in his lifetime, even life itself, choosing to go to a distant land, forsaking what he has, knowing what he will face in that land—being nailed to a cross. “Without a second thought, He left everything behind and came to earth, He was born in a manger, began his life there until He was nailed to a cross to unite people with God,” he says. Through his death we received life and there would be no death without a birth. Pastor Rugira also highlights on 1 Corinthians 15:45, where it is written that the first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual); the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit (restoring the dead to life). He also adds that the significance of the birth of Christ was to restore believers to the father spiritually and prove that it is possible to carry His nature yet in the flesh. Marvin Trevor Aizire, a prophet in Rwanda, explains that Jesus’ birth was not any ordinary birth. He says, before the birth of Christ in the Old Testament, God did not dwell in man, He didn’t dwell in Adam, He didn’t dwell in Abraham, He didn’t dwell in Moses, neither did He dwell in David. Aizire explains that all the above mentioned men were greatly used by God who didn’t dwell in them even though he used them. “But now, the birth of Jesus Christ brought a God who is timeless, who is without limit to actually dwell in man,” he says. “So ‘the word’ became human and made a home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” Aizire says, without His birth, there is no way God would dwell in man. This is why for God to dwell in man, it has to be through Jesus Christ. Pastor Emmanuel Muhirwa from Healing Centre Church Remera, says that the significance of the birth of Jesus is the harmony in the relationship between God and man. In the article, ‘The Deep Significance of the Birth of Jesus Christ’ is says, “Because of the fall of man, all human beings need a Savior. This Savior is Jesus, who is Jehovah, the very God Himself. The God-man Jesus is the only one who saves us from our sins. We can enjoy His salvation whenever we call upon the name of Jesus.” Muhirwa says this is seen in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.”
