The Start of Christmas

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.  Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of Me.  I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within My heart.” (Psalm 40:6-8)

Christmas doesn’t start on Black Friday or on Cyber Monday. It didn’t start with Santa Claus or even Saint Nicholas. The start wasn’t with Mary and Joseph in a stable. To go to the start of Christmas, we have to leave earth and go the throne room of God. There, before the foundation of the world, in the eternal counsels of the One God in three Persons, is where Christmas started. It started in heaven when God the Father agreed to send; when God the Son agreed to go; and when God the Holy Spirit agreed to guide.

Psalm 40 takes the words of David and shows us the heart of God’s own Son as He came into the world. This passage tells us about the start of Christmas.

Christmas started because something was lacking. We read, sacrifice and offering You did not desire. Sin made sacrifice and offering necessary. Yet the sacrifices of animals in the Old Testament were not enough – and whatever sacrifice we make in our life is not enough to take away our sin. Because sacrifice and offeringare not enough, God knew that we needed Christmas.

Christmas started because Someone was willing. We read, My ears You have opened. According to the ancient custom in Israel, this means Jesus was a devoted servant out of love, not obligation. This is also reflected in the words, I delight to do Your will, O my God. Jesus was willing to be the servant we needed to gain our salvation. He was willing not only to feel the feelings of a servant, but to also do the doings of a servant. That is why Psalm 40 says, Behold, I come. Those are doing words, not feeling words.

Christmas started because Someone loved. Love is all over these verses. My ears You have opened – and only love could make Jesus do this for us. In the scroll of the Book it is written of Me – and only love could promise such a plan. God planned it long ago; and He delighted in this plan so much that He couldn’t keep it to Himself. He had to put it in a Book so we could read about it. I delight to do Your will – only love could make the suffering Jesus endured His delight.

When we think where Christmas started – in the heaven of heavens, in the secret councils of the godhead – it should fill our heart with true worship. It should make us humbly ask forgiveness for every time we have doubted God’s love. It should make us acknowledge that we are unworthy, but that His love is even greater than our unworthiness.

Click here for David’s commentary on Psalm 40