When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. - Galatians 4:4

Several years ago a group of historians authored a book called If - Or History Rewritten. Some of the ifs those scholars considered were these: What if Robert E. Lee had not lost the Battle of Gettysburg? What if the Moors in Spain had won? What if the Dutch had kept New Amsterdam? What if Booth had missed when he shot at Abraham Lincoln? What if Napoleon had escaped to America?

The attempt to reconstruct the past on the basis of these ifs was only a historian's game. But apply it for a moment to the central event in history - the birth of Jesus Christ. It was foretold with pinpoint accuracy hundreds of years before by the prophet Micah. The greatest if, therefore - the most startling question to the imagination - is "What if Jesus had not been born as predicted?"

Such an if staggers the mind. It is like imagining the earth without a sunrise or the heavens without stars. Yet this if must be taken seriously, especially at Christmas, because our world is oblivious to the true meaning of Christ's coming.

Can you imagine what the world would be like without Christ? What would history have been without Him? And at a personal level, what would your life be without Him? Thank God that there are no ifs in history.

-HWR

If Christ had never left His throne
To enter time and space,
We'd have no hope beyond the grave,
No knowledge of His grace.

-Sper

A world without Christ would be a world without hope.