Christmas Time is Here...

Merry Christmas! And indeed, I hope it is just that: merry. For what we celebrate this day is the hope of the gospel. And that hope should make us glad, and it is right that we praise God on this day. The gospel is a beautiful thing; in large part because it explains to us the condition of the world and of our own souls: broken. And were we to only know that part of the gospel, it would not be good news at all. But, no matter the pain we know because of the fallen world we live in, no matter the trials and burdens we face now, today we see the part of the story that follows the account of sin; today we celebrate a very hopeful event. Or as the angel said,

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11)."

GREAT JOY! Or, "Behold, in the midst of the sinfulness and depravity of this world, I bring you GOOD NEWS which should be the cause for you to REJOICE GREATLY!" And what I love about God and they way He does things, is that he doesn't do things the way we expect him to. He sends us the Savior, but he's found on a bed of animal food. Jesus steps down out of his place of glory and true wealth into poverty in the world he created. The one God promised would set his people free, for once and for all, came. And it was kind of a conspiracy. At least, I'm sure if you talked to Herod or the magi you would get that impression.

As I was leading our youth Sunday school at Eternal this past Sunday, I told them that Christmas should really bring to mind 3 specific points in history: Jesus' birth, his death and resurrection, and his second coming. And all three call for great rejoicing. For if Jesus had never come, the world would probably be at least a thousand times worse than it is today, if he had never died and resurrected, we'd either be sacrificing a lot more animals, or we would be eternally screwed, and if he is never coming back, then I'd ask why he even came in the first place. But he is coming back, and it will be quite the event:

^"11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. ¹²His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. ¹³He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. ¹⁵ From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords."

And so we rejoice. REJOICE! Not because life is peachy and nice and you have no problems. We rejoice because despite the pain, despite our sin, despite the seeming hopelessness of the world, Jesus is greater, and He has authority, and as sure as He has come and died and risen again, He is coming again, and He will make everything right. And for now we REJOICE! because Jesus did come as a baby, and his life, death and resurrection brought about what Paul called the mystery of the gospel, or "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ. In us. How do we have any excuse not to rejoice? Our God is abundantly good. That is was Christmas is about.

So I pray that your Christmas day is one of great rejoicing and praise. And Christmas carols are often a great way of doing that, as many of them are full of the message of the gospel and it's hope. Merry Christmas my friends, merry Christmas indeed.