"Christmas
is the most stunning rescue story of all time. Under cover of night, in
a remote village in Palestine, in a world held captive by the dark
prince, God comes to earth as a human being, a little boy. He invades
the human race in order to rescue the human race...The beauty of the act cannot be adequately expressed." John Eldredge
"God has too much on his mind and is way too busy maintaining this huge universe to be concerned about me and my problems!", a friend once told me. Undoubtedly my friend isn't the only person in the world who has felt this way.
Christmas is the perfect time to ponder this. After all, what is Christmas and what does it say about God and what he thinks about us? The next couple of blog posts will be dedicated to this.
To me, Christmas demonstrates an intentionality in God's love...of God's "coming for us." At Bethlehem, God through Jesus "personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all" (1). But his birth was opposed. Recall that after Jesus' birth, King Herod killed all the baby boys who were 2 years old or younger in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the prophesied King Jesus (2). Revelation 12 presents a fascinating description of the tumultuous events surrounding the birth of Christ, and offers an alternative perspective from the peaceful nativity scenes we typically see at Christmastime. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, Christmas represents an invasion into enemy-occupied territory (the world) by the rightful king (Jesus) (3), who came to cast out the evil "ruler of this world" (4). Spiritually speaking, this is no silent night. It is D-Day. God came to rescue us! (See my earlier post The Great Rescue).
This is good news, and is the meaning behind the words "A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices" in the Christmas song "Oh Holy Night"!
So Jesus came to "set right" humanity (yeah!), but humanity is mighty large. And a single person can get lost or feel very small or insignificant among 7 billion people. But be encouraged, the Gospel really is good news and by its very nature is personal and intimate! Let's look at that side of Christmas with the next blog post. Stay tuned...(see post "Immanuel - God With Us").
Footnotes:
1. Romans 8:3-4 (The Message);
2. Matthew 2:13-18: Now when [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
"A voice was heard in Ramah,weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more."
3. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis.
4. John 12:31: Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out (these words were spoken by Jesus shortly before his crucifixion).
5. Revelation 17:14: They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.
"God has too much on his mind and is way too busy maintaining this huge universe to be concerned about me and my problems!", a friend once told me. Undoubtedly my friend isn't the only person in the world who has felt this way.
Christmas is the perfect time to ponder this. After all, what is Christmas and what does it say about God and what he thinks about us? The next couple of blog posts will be dedicated to this.
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In "The Return of the King" (Lord of the Rings), Aragorn takes his
rightful place on the throne of Gondor. This is symbolic of Christ,
who is the King of kings and will one day return in this role
(Revelation 17:14) (5).
|
This is good news, and is the meaning behind the words "A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices" in the Christmas song "Oh Holy Night"!
So Jesus came to "set right" humanity (yeah!), but humanity is mighty large. And a single person can get lost or feel very small or insignificant among 7 billion people. But be encouraged, the Gospel really is good news and by its very nature is personal and intimate! Let's look at that side of Christmas with the next blog post. Stay tuned...(see post "Immanuel - God With Us").
Footnotes:
1. Romans 8:3-4 (The Message);
2. Matthew 2:13-18: Now when [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
"A voice was heard in Ramah,weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more."
3. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis.
4. John 12:31: Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out (these words were spoken by Jesus shortly before his crucifixion).
5. Revelation 17:14: They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.
