Christmas, Then and Now (Part 2)

You can listen to the podcast here.

Last week we began looking at the origins of Christmas from Genesis. We saw the beauty of God’s creation destroyed by the free will choice of the two God desired to have a relationship with. God determined that Christmas would come. We left last week with God pronouncing judgment on the snake as well as the man and woman.

When did Christmas come? At this point in Christmas, Adam and Eve are still in the garden. The consequences of their actions was monumental affecting not just them, but humanity. There would be enmity between the serpent and the offspring of the woman for generations to come. This enmity was quickly seen with the next generation as Cain killed Abel and the warning of, “Sin is crouching at the door” (Gen. 4:7) must have been echoing in the ears of Adam and his wife. But while Genesis speaks of enmity, it also speaks of victory. Look at the incredible statement God makes in Gen. 3:15 regarding Christmas, “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” This is what is going to happen; this points ahead, but it is as good as done. How would Christmas be accomplished? We know from Genesis that God is pointing to the future, but do we have any other evidence of how this will occur?  Is. 7:14, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” If you search the Scriptures, you’ll find just one virgin that was with child.

What Child is this? Luke 1:26-35 says, “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

You can search the rest of the Bible, you can search throughout the world and throughout eternity and Mary is the only person that conceived a child without ever having any involvement from a man. Even with in vitro fertilization, there must be involvement of a man. But not with Mary. While they were there in Bethlehem, “The days were completed for her to give birth and she gave birth to her first born Son.” (Lu. 2:6-7) In the story that is familiar to even the most casual observer, Mary and Joseph had to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. It was an 80 mile journey and they find themselves without a room for the night. Their Christmas was full of poverty and anxiety, not mulled cider, turkey, ham, and peppermint sticks. I’m not sure how Mary and Joseph would describe their memories of Christmas, but it was probably not a silent night where all was calm and all was bright. Mary and Joseph were alone in a strange place and of that night we sing, “The cattle are lowing the poor Baby wakes, but little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.”

Even if it looked bleak for them, Gal. 4:4 says, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.” It was the right time for Christ to be born. Is. 9:6-7 sing out, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” The promise of Gen. 3:15 was fulfilled in the flesh of Jesus who is the Christ. While Genesis points to the victory we have in Jesus, the battle is yet to be won. After His circumcision on the eight day, Jesus steps out of history. He reappears at the age of 12 teaching in the temple in Jerusalem and then disappears for another 18 years before coming on the scene again to be baptized by John at the Jordan River.

What’s this have to do with Christmas? Jesus was born in a little nothing town of blue collar working parents. He never wrote a book, had no education, didn’t travel far from where he was born and lived in relative obscurity for most of His life. At the age of 30 he entered public ministry where He was loved and followed by many people. The tide of public opinion and popularity changed when the religious crowd became threatened by His teachings that were so contrary to theirs, so radical that the religious leaders plotted against Him and declared Him an enemy of the state. After a pitiful excuse for a trial, the government found Him guilty and sentenced Him to die. Roman soldiers tortured and humiliated Him before hanging Him to a tree fashioned into a cross. He died there on the cross being forsaken by all those that loved Him. He was hurriedly taken off the cross following His death as the Sabbath quickly approached and was placed in a borrowed grave where He laid for three days. Just three days for God’s plan for Christmas to come full circle. The wonderful gift of Christmas was complete as the tomb was opened to the chorus of the angels singing, “He is not here for He has risen!” (Matt. 28:6) Christmas is about the sacrificial gift of Jesus that we tend to leave in the manger during this time of year. You cannot separate the child in the manger from the message of Christ on the cross. Christmas is not just about the birth of Christ, it is about His death and His glorious resurrection.

Satan was defeated in Gen. 3:15 when God revealed Christmas would come. Satan was defeated when Christ rose in victory conquering death. Satan is defeated each day when we who are followers of Christ choose to walk in the light. Satan will be forever defeated as John writes, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev. 20:10) Christmas redeemed us. The gift is waiting, but it’s not yours until you open it and accept it. 1 Jo. 3:8b, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” There is no room in our celebrations for anything but Jesus.

Christmas, Then and Now (Part 1)

You can listen to the podcast here.

We’re going to take a break from our study in Jude until next month as we look at the origins of Christmas. Believe it or not, Christmas was not invented by Macy’s, Gimbals, Wal-Mart, Kmart, or Amazon.com. Why do we have Christmas? Is what we do and see today consistent with Scripture? What exactly does Christmas mean? If you talk to people on the streets and ask that question, you’ll get numerous responses. From family to good feelings. Parties to presents. Decorations to debt. Gluttony to gifts. Of course the spiritual side talks about the over commercialization of Christmas and that we must keep Christ in Christmas. We fight to keep nativity scenes displayed on public property. We talk about Jesus being the reason for the season. We boycott stores that wish us “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. Oddly enough, some of these are the same people that include Santa Claus and the Elf on the Shelf in their festivities. How far has our modern Christmas diverted from the original Christmas? We think the real meaning of Christmas is to have warm and fuzzy feelings surrounded by family and friends with the gentle sound of Christmas carols playing softly in the background with the home filled with the aroma of ginger and cinnamon. That’s not the picture the Bible paints for the reason we have Christmas. It’s not about family, friends, or food. We must evaluate why we have Christmas through God’s eyes. So what are the origins of Christmas? To understand the why behind Christmas, we don’t look to Luke or Matthew . . . we must go back to Genesis.

Gen 1:26-31 says, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

God’s design for humanity was to engage in intimate, personal, and daily fellowship with Him. The instructions seemed simple enough. Be fruitful and multiply – fill the earth. Take care of the earth and have dominion over it and the animals, and the fish, and the birds, and even all the creeping things. Everything that you see in the garden is food for you. Among all the plants and bushes and trees, two trees stood in the middle of the garden. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don’t know how much time had passed between the time God completed His miraculous creation and this point. The Bible does indicate that there was communication and fellowship between God and the man and woman He created. God gave Adam instructions on what he and his wife were to do.

Included in those instructions was just one thing God told Adam not to do. Often we focus on the don’ts of the Bible. Maybe you’ve even talked to people about Christ and they say they don’t want to get saved because they’re having too much fun. Maybe they say, Christians can’t dance or drink, or smoke or whatever else they may come up with because they think Christianity is all about what you can’t do. Sometimes we have that attitude as well. We’re like the kid who begs his parents for a cookie and then complains because he only got one. Or the ungrateful child that complains on Christmas morning while sitting among all the gifts he received that he didn’t get the gift that he really wanted.

Of all the trees in the garden, God’s simple instruction was don’t eat from this ONE tree. Choice is introduced. They each had the opportunity to choose obedience or disobedience. They could eat from any tree in the garden – there must have been hundreds and thousands of trees. Satan comes in the form of a serpent and is the craftiest being God created. The enemy of man focuses on the one thing God prohibited. The serpent introduces doubt into the minds of Adam and Eve. In Gen. 2:17 God told Adam, “From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat it.” Again, a seemingly simple instruction. God lovingly provides the reason too. He doesn’t say because I said so although He could have. He tells Adam, “In the day you eat from it, you will surely die.” What does this have to do with Christmas? Christmas began because of Adam. Gen 3:6 says, “She took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”

The obvious question is why did Christmas begin with Adam? What’s the rest of the story? Gen. 3:8 says, “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.” This as not a one-time occurrence. In Gen. 3:10 Adam said, “I heard the sound of You walking in the garden.” Adam must have known the sound of God; it must have been familiar enough for him to recognize the Creator. To find out the true origins of Christmas, we need to understand what just happened. God calls out to Adam, “Where are you?” Adam and Eve who were together and unashamed in the garden now find themselves trying to hide from the all knowing, all present, all powerful Creator. We don’t know the tone of voice or body language demonstrated by God or Adam, but I have to think that even though God knew this day would come, it still had to have grieved Him beyond measure. To answer God’s question, Adam called out, “I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” I picture Adam embarrassed, ashamed, and overwhelmed by what he had done, knowing that he had disobeyed. Immediate consequences resulted from Adam’s disobedience, but not just for him. Guaranteed death for Adam, his wife and for all humanity. Rom. 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

There are incredible word pictures presented here, but for the sake of time, we’ll focus only on the offspring mentioned. The pivotal statement comes from God when He tells the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Gen. 3:15) This allows us to see into the future through God’s eyes and what He had to do to reconcile humanity in light of Adam’s disobedience. Remember God’s design was to be in intimate, daily fellowship with His creation. God says, “I will put enmity between you and the woman.” Enmity is a word we don’t use often. It means intense hostility or animosity. It’s often used when describing the feelings between warring nations as described in Ez. 25 and 35 or of the feelings that drive one to murder as in Num. 35:21. The enmity occurs between the serpent and the woman first. Singular pronouns are used. The serpent and the woman would be at odds, and the affect of that enmity is transferred to the serpent’s offspring and to the woman’s as well. “Between your seed and her seed,” God tells the serpent. Generation after generation would endure this enmity, this animosity, this intense hostility to one another until Christmas comes.

What does this have to do with Christmas? Christmas is coming. Not December 25th, but what it represents. We’ve led up to this point to understand why Christmas had to come. Next week, we’ll see exactly how Christmas came and what that means for you and me, and for humanity.