Category: Christmas

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The Revelation Christmas Story

Heaven answered Hell. This is the real point of the Christmas story.

The true Light came into the world. See John 1:9. It happened in the manger at Bethlehem, a small town set in a region shadowed by religious and political turmoil.

Dawn came when the night most exercised its presence and force. For this reason, the Church leaders in the fourth century made a choice to celebrate the birth of the Son during the winter season.

Moments of sunlight do grow shorter until we reach the winter solstice day, the one when parts of the earth experience their longest periods of darkness. The culture of the times used these days to celebrate Saturnalia, what one historian referred as the “jolliest of Roman festivals” related to an idol dedicated to farming and sunlight.

Was Christ born in December? Nothing definitive has been discovered about the exact birthday of the Son. He did come. This we believe.

And there was a lot going on when He arrived.

The Birth Wonder

We find a vibrant and poetic visual of this reality in the first five verses of Revelation 12. In this chapter, John the Apostle describes two wonders revealed to him about the coming of Jesus.

First, John saw a woman pregnant with the Child. It is a very real birth moment that he witnessed. This woman suffered and travailed with her labor pains as women do at such times. She cried out for the delivery to be finished at last the text tells us.

Jesus entered our world the way all babies were designed to come forth. Human births are attended with suffering, as God said they would be when He addressed Eve after the Fall in the Garden: “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children …” (see Genesis 3:16).

We can take something from this aspect related to the curse of sin. I think the pain of delivery correlates to the anguish of the Father in seeing the Son made the offering for sin upon the Cross.

A mother’s season of celebration at conception and the progress of gestation end somewhat in violence. She feels the contractions as they come steadily and stronger and then she steels herself to push out her baby — the child sometimes tears the fabric of her body in his emergence. It is a painful climax. It is also one I think serves to bring mothers very close to the feelings of the heart of God.

What comes soon after, however, is that she rejoices as the newborn is given to her arms. Tears of joy often fall when the baby finally rests upon her breast.

Think now of how the Father witnessed the wages of sin being heaped upon the humanity of Jesus, the Anointed One. Think of those terrible hours of separation when the Son was forsaken, alone, battered, blinded, and hung in the darkness on the Tree.

Consider the great contractions that shuddered Creation at Calvary. We read in the gospel accounts of the darkened, storm-clouded skies and the quaking earth and of rocks being split. Battle-tested soldiers were left stunned by this awe-filled finish of the Redemption Plan. The Temple itself was rocked and the curtain that veiled away the Holy Place was torn top to bottom.

These torturous scenes came on what we now call Good Friday. And then Easter came.

Alive again did Jesus emerge from the grave. Resurrection life – a new birth into salvation – was made available to all who chose to believe upon His Name.

The Hungry Dragon

The natural expression of the Son’s delivery scene in Revelation 12 has a contrast in the text for us to read.  Unveiled for John was the supernatural element of opposition to that very birth.

The wonder John described was that of the great red dragon. It was a monstrosity with heads and horns and crowns. This refers to the prince and the power of the cosmic world in his operations on earth.

The strange dragon points to how Satan manipulates governments and businesses and kingdoms with his deceptions. He attracted the allegiance of one-third of the “stars of heaven.” Angelic beings followed this rebel in his program to become as the Most High, according to Isaiah 14:14.

The devil had long looked for this coming of Jesus. He was ready to oppose the Son with everything at his disposal. His plot was to find His mother and “devour her child as soon as it was born” (Revelation 12:4).

Herod was among Satan’s instruments and one of the first to target Jesus. This ruler in Judea got wind about the birth of the King of Israel from foreign emissaries. We know them as the Magi, or the Three Kings as a popular Christmas carol calls them. These travelers had followed the Star, a sign that they took as pointing to the coming of the Savior.

The story they told bred tension in Jerusalem. Herod could not abide any threat to his reign. Through questioning Jewish religious leaders, he learned that the King was to be born in Bethlehem. He feigned interest in honoring this Son.

The wise travelers did find and worship Jesus, bestowing marvelous gifts upon Him. They also were warned not to return to Herod. They escaped Judea and returned to their homelands by another route.

Herod responded with viciousness. He ordered the slaughter of every baby boy 2 years of age and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem.

Christmas pageants omit this march of the killing soldiers. We see shepherds and wise men and animals, but not the swordsmen who carried out Herod’s diabolical decree.

Jesus was out of the area by this time. An angel warned Joseph to flee with Mary and the Baby to Egypt.

This begs a question from our tender hearts. How was it that only Joseph got this word from God? Were these other boys born about Bethlehem disposable afterthoughts in the divine story?

These are fair questions to pose to the Lord. How He chooses to answer them for you, I cannot say. The Bible has many answers for us. The Word also stirs questions aplenty.

Do we get the details about everything? We do not. Explanations are unsatisfying to the humanly curious who refuse to recognize the authority of the living God who made all and who is in all. Faith only comes by hearing the Word as the Word of God.

The coming of Jesus didn’t fix the world at once. The devil and his demons were active then and they remain active in our days.

Swallowed But Undefeated

Jesus faced the threat of murderers at other points before the Cross. In Nazareth, His words enraged the crowd in the synagogue. They were poised to toss Him from a cliff.

On a couple of other occasions, mobs fueled by offended religious leaders were ready to bury Him under a pile of stones. The assault of demons in Gethsemane was invisible but so intense for Christ that droplets of blood oozed from Him.

At the fullness of time, Jesus surrendered to the death ordained for Him. He gave Himself to the Cross to endure an execution orchestrated by Jewish opponents and facilitated by Roman imperial forces.

Was this a devouring? On the surface, it seems like it to me.

The reality is that the dragon bit off more than he could chew. He got his worldly powers to do his bidding and swallow the Savior with their machinations. Just as it was written, He was wounded for the transgression and iniquity of all.

And so the plan of God worked most effectively and completely. Christ finished the work and defeated death with His dying.

The Son, in the purpose of God, was born to get underneath everything. The curse of the earth brought forth by the sin of Adam could only be defeated by the One who is meek and lowly in heart.

Mary brought forth the Son of Man, the One destined to rule all nations with “a rod of iron,” a scepter He won through obedience to the will of the Father. Iron is an ore dug out from beneath the soil. Jesus gained His right to reign on earth with a life lived in perfection and offered as the ransom for the sins of men.

The Son came– small as an infant. The Son died as the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief. The Son rose in victory as the firstborn from the dead.

The Son also ascended. This Child was caught up to His Throne.

There Jesus now abides waiting, watching, and ever interceding for us who are His brothers and sisters.

And this King shall come again. Let us sing out: Glory to God in the Highest.

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Our Glory Is Not Our Own

It wasn’t much of an entrance, by the world’s standards anyway. But then God never needs much to work with. A small corner of a small room in a small town provided the setting for the arrival of the Son of God.

Jesus was delivered by His mother, Mary, in Bethlehem, in a manger, in a space hollowed out for animals to sleep and to feed. With the carpenter Joseph watching and helping, and among oxen and lambs and some barnyard fowl, the Lord of Heaven came forth to begin His stay on earth.

The details have been spoken of over and over and over throughout the centuries. The telling of these things never grows old. Tinsel and glitter and parties and shopping extravaganzas serve to propound a faux brightness and a nervous tension in our midst. Joy lives on, however. Joy reigns. Joy bursts from the hearts of real believers with songs and prayers.

The Christmas story shines so brightly because it shows the glory of God as it is reflected by such common things. This is precisely the point about Creation and about man in particular.

Our glory is not our own. The glory we exude comes from Him. What God has made for His good pleasure are things that serve as a revelation of Him and of all that He is.

Angels and Glory

I think this is what makes us different from the angels. These beings that move among us possess glory that is a part of their equipment. They were given a shine, and it is a shine that is fitted and fixed. Angelic brightness does not grow in intensity. It is what it is.

Lucifer’s original title – light-bearer — referred to the brightness given to him. It was a mode for the service assigned to him, as he was situated near the throne of the Most High. His glory was a gift to him, but he came to view it as mark of superiority. For this reason, the devil initiated a rebellion that captivated a full third of the host (see Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:13-18).

Satan fell into what he is because of his self-centeredness. He grew enamored with his glory and forsook the design of God for his office and status as an anointed cherub.

Angels were brought into existence according to the will of the Lord, and so were we. But they were not made in the image of God as we are. Also, the angels were not made “living souls” by the breath of God.

What does it mean to be made in His image? I believe it speaks of reflection and connection, union and communion. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are Three Persons and One Lord, and as such, God is love. Love is about the things that are related and refreshed and reflected one to another.

The essence of God in His Trinity understanding has always been about glory that is both shared and as well as distinct. The Persons of the Godhead are One and yet each is unique. It is such a marvelous mystery, a reality so far beyond comprehension that it may only be embraced.

Think of how Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:  “Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You … Father, glorify Me in Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:1, 5). In John 16, Jesus spoke of the Spirit like this:  “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:4). And Jesus talked of His followers to the Father this way:  “All mine are Yours, and Yours are mine, and I am glorified in them” (John 17:10).

Glory, glory, glory in the Highest is what is being communicated by these passages.

Consider this:  when the Lord revealed Himself to Moses, it happened in a wilderness as this man watched over his father-in-law’s flock. Then, God showed up as fire in the midst of a bush. The glow of the glory did not reduce the bush to ashes. Instead, His Presence abided in His Creation and brought Moses near. His Presence consecrated the very ground upon which Moses walked.

Later, we read that Moses’ face absorbed the glory of the Lord as he sat before God. This was noticed by the people and they were afraid to face Moses because of his glow.

In the New Testament, we come to understand that glory has been given to us through the offering and ascension of the Lamb of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, cloven tongues of fire were seen upon the disciples in that upper room on Pentecost as the Spirit moved upon them.

Stephen spoke the Gospel and those who heard him said he possessed the face of an angel. The glory of the Lord shone from him because of the work of the Holy Spirit in him. The record of Luke in Acts 7 reveals that as he perished from the stones thrown at him, Stephen saw Christ as He stood in His place at the throne of grace.

Glory, Closer Than We Think

The glory of God is closer to us than we think. The Holy of Holies, the most hallowed place of Israel’s Tabernacle and Temple, was divided from the rest of the worship center. What was put between this glorious room and everything else?  A curtain – the separation was demarcated by a veil, one that had been stitched and fashioned by the people who worshipped the Lord.

The Holy of Holies’ curtain was decorated with two cherubim. This imagery pointed back to the Garden of Eden and the angels who guarded the way to the Tree of Life in the midst of the Presence in the Garden. Man’s fall put something between the Lord and His prized creatures, the ones He made in His image.

It wasn’t a wall of separation that was erected, however. The glory of the Lord was not locked up behind gates and bars and chains. It was not vaulted or sealed. It was veiled – His glory just inches beyond us. Between man and the glory lay just a curtain, just a woven tapestry; a creation of fabric was what kept the glory of God from human eyes.

Veiled was the sign of His Presence until the coming of the Son. When the Son completed His redemptive work, the Temple curtain was ripped from top to bottom.

Jesus came to reveal the salvation of God to all flesh (see Luke 3:6).  God the Son took on flesh, bone, and Blood. Fragile things of frail dust as they are, these in Christ still were subject to the ordinances of nature and the earth. His Body was and is a true Body. He grew weary. He ate food. He wept. He touched many – infants, lepers, blinded eyes, deadened ears.

Our flesh can be sliced with ease. We bleed readily. And so it was with Jesus.

The Son’s glory was deposited into our form, into our likeness. He hid Himself behind the fabric of humanity, our very humanity.

Jesus was born to be torn.

With the tearing of the Son on the Cross, the veil of the Presence of God was opened to everyone. Glory can flow to us and into us and through us. We who are born again in Him are now living temples of the His Spirit. We are free to be set aglow with the glory of God. We can have as much of Him as we want, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians:

“…When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:15-18).

Let us rejoice for what He has made us to be. Though we are common, rough, imperfect works in progress, we still stand as reflectors of the glory of the Lord God Almighty.

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A Song. A Dream. A Promise

A girl got a song.

A carpenter got a dream.

A just and loyal old saint got a promise from the Spirit.

All of them are part of the Christmas story. And each one shows us something important about the way of God in this world.

Let’s first look at the aged man named Simeon from the account in Luke 2. He was a man of expectation. There are always such people among us. The Bible makes this clear.

Periods of turmoil come and go. Any look at the record of history should make this obvious to us.

Early in Genesis, we read that the world and its residents, which had been created good, good, and very good in the eyes of the Lord, had become profane and debased in mind and heart. So wicked was life on earth that it caused God to grieve to the point of considering its total destruction.

There was Noah, however, and his family. He found grace and the Lord instructed him to build an ark for his people and sent the Flood to wash all the others away. Through this faithful follower of God, humanity got a restart.

Simeon was of Noah’s kind. A watchman, he was. He had heard from the Spirit that his days on earth would not end until “he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (see Luke 2:26).

Humble Eyes, Humble Heart

I imagine Simeon with wide open eyes and discerning ears. He surveyed the streets of Jerusalem on his walks to the Temple. He listened closely to the conversations for he knew that his faith had “come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17).

The Spirit guided Simeon’s steps to the Temple just as Joseph and Mary arrived with Jesus. Born eight days earlier, this Firstborn was to be presented by the parents to the Lord according to the order of the Law.

Poor ones from Nazareth were they, and as such, they could only afford pigeons to confirm their offering of this Son. Those looking for the Messiah were expecting a grander entrance from Him, one fit for royalty.  Nathaniel, the Apostle, expressed thoughts of Jesus representative of the mood among the Jewish people:  “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (See John 1:46).

Simeon refused to judge by appearances, however. He believed and knew at once who Jesus was (and is forever) – the salvation of God prepared for all people and the true glory of Israel (Luke 2:30-32). He took the baby Jesus into his arms and blessed God. I can see this old man singing, “He is here, Hallelujah; He is here, Amen.”

This ancient man of God revealed his humility. He rejoiced at the presence of Emmanuel, though He came small and to the home of a poor, worker’s family.

A Faithful Husband

Simeon’s words were marveled at by Joseph, another man of humility and faith and obedience. The story of Mary being impregnated by the Holy Spirit became a cause célèbre and scandalous news around his town. And yet Joseph loved Mary and sought to dissolve their betrothal contract in quietness so as to shield her from added disgrace.

As he slept on this decision, this carpenter got his visitation: “… an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins’” (see Matthew 1:20-21).

Joseph took Mary as his wife, though she, a virgin, carried this Child. He treasured his promise from God despite the difficulties associated with it. Things would never be easy for this couple into whose home the Son was born. Joseph, I believe, listened carefully as Simeon blessed them. With the blessing came also a warning about days of pain and sorrow that were to come.

The somber words of Simeon were directed mostly to Mary. She would have her heart shredded as she watched the way of the Son. She nursed Him. She mothered Him through His adolescence – losing track of Him one Passover visit to Jerusalem, as we know from the latter part of Luke 2. She followed this Firstborn from His birth to His death and also to what came above and beyond His dying.

Mary Magnified the Lord

Mary stood alongside John at the Cross, as Jesus committed her to the care of the Apostle (John 19:26-27). And we also know she circulated among the band of disciples after His Resurrection and His Ascension. She and her other children were in the upper room when the mighty wind of the Holy Spirit blew into them at Pentecost (see Acts 1:14).

What was it that kept Mary? How did she weather the storms that would blow upon her mother’s heart?

I believe it was her song. This should not surprise us, for Paul wrote that songs and hymns and spiritual songs are vital to the stirring up of our faith as we read in Ephesians 5:19-21 and Colossians 3:16. The verse from Colossians is part of an exhortation to “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” and bring wisdom. Songs were and should be vehicles of admonition and consolation.

Mary’s Magnificat, as it has come to be known, goes like this:

“… My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

“For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

“He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

“He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever” (Luke 1:46-56).

Throughout her life, I believe that Mary sang this song to herself. The words detail the redemptive plan of Heaven. The proud shall be brought down. The humble exalted. The hungry filled with good things that come by grace through faith.

The girl with this song was an amazing believer, just as Simeon and Joseph were remarkable and faithful men. All of them magnified the Lord and rejoiced in the God of their salvation.

And thanks to people such as them, His mercy has been revealed from generation to generation.

Holy is His Name.