Christmas...the word brings us memories of sleigh rides, skating, Santa and presents, family feasts and singing songs. It's a holiday that many people all around the world celebrate, and most of the aspects of Christmas have their roots in different pagan traditions. But for me, Christmas is more than trees and tinsel, lights and lists. Christmas for the Christian is a time to remember the birth of Jesus. It's a celebration of that point in time when God finally spoke after 400 years of silence. He broke through the heavens and came to earth in human flesh as a tiny baby, ending the centuries of silence with the small, frail cry of an infant. He was born in a stable surrounded by sheep and oxen, and placed in a makeshift bassinet softened with hay. There was a star that hovered over His birthplace, leading shepherds and kings to find Him. There were angels filling the sky, proclaiming the glory of the Lord. Yes, the night when God took on flesh and was born as a baby was a sacred and holy night, one to be remembered.
But there's so much more to Christmas than the baby in the manger. The baby grew into a young man who was found teaching in the temple, confounding the wise with His wisdom. He became a man who walked on water, healed lepers and blind and deaf people and raised the dead with a word. He was a man who was tempted in every way, but never gave in to temptation. Rather, He overcame every dart of Satan with Holy Scripture. He was bold as a lion when faced with the desecration of the temple, yet gentle as a lamb when He laid His hands on the children and blessed them. This God-Man lived a life of perfect obedience to His Heavenly Father. And when the time had come, He laid down His life and died on a cross, to make the perfect payment for the sins of His people. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and then three days later He conquered death by rising to life again, never more to succumb as Lazarus did, but rather to live forever as the Holy King of the Nations.
So this year when I hear O Come All Ye Faithful, rather than picture the manger, I will picture the cross. This was the purpose of the manger, for God the Son to humble Himself by becoming a man, live a life of obedience, die a death to pay a ransom, and to rise victorious as King. I look forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the Father that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Oh, come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.
