One of the civil laws given to Israel concerned slaves, which is found in Leviticus 25:39-55 (It must be noted that slavery in Biblical times was not like slavery in America). Under the Law, if another Hebrew became destitute, he could be purchased as a slave. The Hebrew slave could then be freed in one of two ways - by being bought back by family, or find his freedom after 6 years of servitude or in the year of Jubilee, whichever happened first.

So how is Christ in this particular civil law?

We were all slaves to sin, and John 8:34 reminds us that sin was our master. But unlike the civil law concerning slaves, there was nothing we could do to redeem ourselves. We owed a debt that could never be paid, and the price was death. But there was one who could redeem us from slavery to sin - Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:3-7). Jesus was born of a woman, and born under the law, to redeem us from our sin to which we were enslaved. And through his death on the cross, he paid the price of our redemption with his blood. That should have been our life, our blood.

Because Jesus redeemed us, not only are we no longer slaves to sin, but we are now children of God who we can call Him Abba Father. This is what Christmas remind us, and why we celebrate it. It was the start of Jesus buying us back from being slaves of sin. Jesus had to come as man in the flesh, he had to be born so he could die and pay the debt that we owed.

Jesus gave us the greatest gift, the gift of freedom from the slavery of sin. And this gift came wrapped in swaddling cloth in a manger. So when you give Christmas gifts, or when you open a Christmas gift this year, think of the greatest gift that was given to you - the redemption from slavery of sin.