Today we live in a world that places a lot of hope on the festiveness of Christmas. We enjoy the decorations, the food, the gifts, the visits from family and friends. This certainly makes Christmas special.

We live in a world that is trying to push the name of Jesus Christ out of Christmas into making it a holiday celebration, but if we don’t know why or whom we are celebrating what will the importance of Christmas truly be about? Christmas brings excitement not just to children who get gifts at Christmas. Christmas doesn’t just mean we get visits from the grandchildren. Christmas doesn’t just mean we get some paid holidays off from work. Christmas doesn’t just mean sugar cookies and candy.

The joy of the wise men was the coming promise of a savior, not about a place or festival, but about the person Jesus Christ. The joy of Christmas is not about festivals, places or gifts, but God’s fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

When we celebrate Christmas we celebrate the hope that we have in salvation, because Christmas is a person, Jesus Christ. We probably don’t think about salvation much at Christmas because we are so caught up in the celebration we forget about the hope that Christ brings in his incarnation. Our joy in Christmas is in a person, because Christianity unlike any other faith is about a relationship with a person. So today in our message we see three things God fulfills when the when the wise men visit the Christ-child.