The Christmas story is or was not a one time event. It is a tale of epic proportions, written over centuries. It is a story as old as time itself that continues through to today.
The Christmas story is not just about a young couple, a baby, shepherds and some angels with a smattering of kings. The Christmas story is ages in the making and writing and experiencing. The story began in the opening chapters of Genesis and will never end. It is an ongoing saga.
Let's put aside the popular niceties and festivities of the season and experience instead the Story that God lays out as His gift to all of mankind. The Bible brilliantly and powerfully speaks for itself. I make no apologies for sounding so serious, but when it comes to God's working in our lives, it is a matter of eternal life and joy or eternal damnation and suffering.
In the book of Genesis, God lays out His plan of redemption for fallen man. We read,
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15.
Creation was originally perfect. Adam and Eve chose to sin. They listened to a lie rather than their Creator. In this passage, we read that in time there would be offspring that would be aligned with God and offspring aligned with the devil. The devil would strike and wound, but God's offspring, His Son, would fatally crush the deceiver.
Time would pass, centuries in fact probably more than two millenia. The offspring of each were in tension. Israel - God's lineage - would flourish, be subjugated, then liberated. Before they would enter the promised land and rise to become a blessing to the nations, the gentile prophet Balaam would speak these words:
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob..." Numbers 24:17-19.
And we would wait for this star. The scepter, the King of the Jews would eventually rise. In time, gentile astologers would follow this star. This King would crush His enemies and He would grow strong. Another thousand years would pass. Time grinds slowly in God's economy.
After the break-up of the united kingdom of Israel, the kingdom of Judah would soon fall. The Jewish people would be dispersed. But God is still with them. God has been tried. Man prefers sin rather than righteousness. The prophet Isaiah speaks to the chosen children of Israel and to us who will listen:
"Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right,..." Isaiah 7:13-15.
Immanuel. Indeed, God with us. God would be with us. He would walk among us and directly interact with His creation. Isaiah further goes on to speak of Immanuel with these familiar words,
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
"He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:2-3, 6-7.
The zeal and power of the Lord God Almighty will indeed accomplish all of this. And time will pass again until the right moment. God is patient and purposeful in His timing. He is not in a rush. Everything must be perfect.
At last we come to the familiar words of the Gospel writer Matthew.
"This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
"But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'
"All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' (which means “God with us”).
"When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." Matthew 1:18-25.
A young couple; not yet married. We are astounded by their obedience. Their lives were placed into the hands of God. He alone would direct them. He alone would guide them and provide for them. Luke the Evangelist fills us in with more of the details of the night of the Nativity itself:
"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: 'You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'
"Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.'
"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'
"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."
An obedient young couple. A new baby boy. Angels singing and glorifying God. And shepherds. Plain old ordinary shepherds. Shepherds were the lowest of the low in the pecking and social order of first century Palestine. They were considered dirty and coarse. Yet, God in His love and mercy chose lowly shepherds to announce this Great Event. Not to kings or royalty. Not to great generals and powerful rulers. Shepherds.
God does things on a vastly different scale than we do. Not only is it more grand, but it's usually the direct opposite of how we would do things. God brings down the proud and the mighty. God lifts up and uses the meek and the lowly. He gives power to the powerless. God is the one who is in control; not man.
This is the mystery and majesty of Christmas. And yet the mystery is even greater. Not only has Majesty clothed itself in humility, but Eternity and ultimate power has clothed itself in mortality and powerlessness or weakness. God has clothed Himself in humanity. This is the kenosis. Jesus is fully God and fully man all of the time from eternity past to eternity future. Our minds cannot grasp or fathom this fact. The Apostle Paul writing to the Philippian believers puts it this way:
"[Jesus] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:6-11.
This is God's ultimate condescension. He came to us. It was impossible for us to go to Him. God is perfect; men and women are not. God is pure and holy; we are not. The chasm separating Creator and created is too great. God clothed Himself purposefully in human flesh because the sacrifices of bulls and goats and lambs and doves would never suffice. These blood sacrifices could never cover over our sin.
And so we return to the prophet Isaiah for the reason why He came:
"Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
"He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
"Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
"But 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.
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
"By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
"Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
"After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
"Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53)
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
"Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
"Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you," (Isaiah 55:1-3)
Isaiah chapters 53 and 55 tell us why He came and what He would do and how His divine work would be accomplished. The best news is that God gives to us and provides for us completely free of charge. He loves us so much.
And that's probably a good place to wrap up the Christmas story. Let's let Jesus Christ tell us in His own Words: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God." John 3:16-21
Christmas and all that it represents should strike us with ultimate awe. To think of what we deserve as sinful men and women - death - we are instead loved and redeemed by the God who created us in the first place. Do we love Christmas or do we love Christ? That's where this choice comes down. He loved us first. How do we respond?
Accept His free gift of eternal life.
Merry Christmas! My love to you and yours.
