Why you should visit a church this Christmas

When Jesus eventually arrived, only a few people realised how significant he was. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

A boy nicknamed Muhammed the Wolf is an odd place to begin a column about the true meaning of Christmas, but that is where this one begins.

Muhammed the Wolf was a shepherd boy who, while looking after goats one day, made a famous discovery in the mid-1940s.

He threw a rock inside a cave and heard something break.

With his curiosity pricked, he climbed inside and returned with some old manuscripts that had been kept inside a jar.

Those manuscripts — many more were later found — turned out to be one of the great historical finds of the 20th century.

They are what we now call the Dead Sea Scrolls — the oldest existing copies of the Old Testament (the first half of the Bible).

Experts date them as being written down well before Jesus’ birth. A major find for historians and theologians.

But what’s that got to do with the meaning of Christmas, you may ask?

Well, the Dead Sea Scrolls aka the Old Testament have a lot to say about a coming saviour.

For example, a man named Isaiah wrote this down long before Jesus was born.

“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed … for he bore the sin of many.”

When Jesus eventually arrived, only a few people realised how significant he was.

But he was the one written about from long ago, who would go on to be “crushed for our iniquities” so that “by his wounds we are healed”.

And that is why Christmas is so cherished by millions of people.

People like me adore this saviour Jesus anticipated from long, long ago — who was born into the world.

He came with the sole purpose of dying on a wooden cross to save people who had sinned, and to save people who needed someone to take punishment in their place.

I would highly recommend this Christmas morning that you don’t miss the opportunity to hear more about him by visiting a church near you.

– Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay Today reporter and a proud Christian