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Behold Your King

Christmas Day is almost upon us and it seems that every year we as Christians struggle to keep Christ at the center of our family traditions and celebrations.  We find ourselves pushing back against a world view that has determined to make Christmas just another day in a holiday season that stretches from Thanksgiving into the New Year.  So, how do we keep Christ in Christmas?  I would suggest that we use these last few days of Advent to reflect on this question: who was this babe born in a stable to a teenage girl named Mary some 2,000 years ago?  

From the beginning this was no ordinary birth and no ordinary child.  Luke's Gospel relates that the birth of Jesus was foretold by the angel Gabriel.  He declared to a virgin named Mary that the power of the Holy Spirit would conceive the child and "The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."  All Israel had been waiting for this moment since their return from exile in Babylon some 500 years earlier.  It was an event prophesied 250 years before when Isaiah declared that a child would be born who would be called "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace", and that he would reign over David's throne and kingdom forever.  The arrival of a king in ancient times would be heralded by trumpets and a royal procession attended by the elites of the nation and crowds of cheering subjects.  In contrast, the birth of Jesus was revealed to shepherds, the lowest caste of Israelite, who were beckoned to see the coming King not in a palace in Jerusalem, but in a horse trough in a barn in Bethlehem.  The call to the shepherds came not through human design.  They witnessed the veil of heaven open and angelic messengers of God bringing the "Good News" that Messiah had come to free the world from the bondage of sin and evil.  These were not chubby babies with little wings from a Renaissance painting but powerful and awe inspiring heavenly host declaring "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." 

As we ready ourselves to celebrate this Christmas Day, let's begin to envision our Nativity scenes as more than just an idyllic family gathering around a newborn child.  God has come to dwell with us.  We can and should celebrate with great joy the Advent of Jesus our King who has come to establish God's Kingdom of righteousness and restore God's good creation.  More than the blessings of "Merry Christmas" let us declare this Christmas to the world: "Behold Your King!"            

The Christmas Dragon

Silent night.
  Brutal night.
Hell and heaven
  Meet to fight.

I doubt this version sounds familiar, but consider its appropriateness; over 2,000 years ago God fired the opening shot in a war for your soul and mine in the small town of Bethlehem. Jesus’ birth is the culmination of all that God worked in the previous 4,000 or so years since since sin entered the world.  In Genesis 3:15, God reveals a glimpse into His plan when He tells the Serpent,

“I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
      and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
      and you will strike his heel.” (NLT)

So it shouldn’t be a big surprise when we read what the disciple, John, describes in Revelation 12:3-5. Here we read a decidedly different perspective on the Christmas story. There’s no stable, no manger and no Heavenly Host singing “Gloria, in excelsis Deo.” Instead our enemy, the serpent...now depicted as a giant red dragon is poised, ready to pounce.

“I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky, and he threw them to the earth. He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born.

"She gave birth to a son who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne.” (NLT)

The coming of Immanuel (God with us) signified the first salvo fired in the war of souls.  Not a world war...a cosmic war. One that shows how deep the love of the Father is for us. It wasn’t by chance or accident. Paul tells us that it was God’s plan all along in Galatians 4:4,5:

“But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” (NLT)

Christmas time always leaves me in wonder. Not at the tinsel, snow or other trappings...but at the fact that God Most High chose a lowly baby to be born and grow into the man who would rescue me from a death trap of my own making.  Relient K wrote a song that still moves my heart every time I think about it:

“And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life…”

This cosmic war that began in Bethlehem and rocked the heavens was all so that you and I would accept this gift...this Jesus.