Christmas Eternal!

Okay!  I have to tell you that Christmas is typically my very favorite time of year.  I’m talking an unapologetic, all encompassing month of celebrating my Savior in the most joyous and extreme ways.  Yet as I looked at my Christmas decorations, preparing to begin my normal decorating routine, I was overcome thinking about the current state of our world and the vast changes that our celebrations may encounter this year.  In fact, thinking about this year in general can be a bit overwhelming, can’t it?  All we have suffered and struggled through as a world, as a nation, as a community, and within our own families is staggering.  As we turn to bring into our homes the celebration of the coming of our Savior and King, we may not be able to help but think about the chaos that is around us right now.  Going downtown into our little community where we would normally hear the songs of the season that worship our Lord,  I am disheartened to hear two groups of protestors yell at each other from across the street, some threatening violence, some spewing hatred and malice.  The country so divided, and the church almost as divided.  Violence, riots, losses of income, and losses of life mark this past year, and with that, a nation on the cusp of new leadership, which at least, half of the country is in complete opposition to.  We have encountered an onslaught of corrupt news, corrupt information, corrupt government and corrupt politics.  Many have no idea what to believe.  This would seem to be anything but a silent or Holy night, where all is calm and all is bright.  A glaring difference from the normal way we depict the first Christmas in our nativities.  We see this beautiful picture of Joseph and Mary sitting perfectly around a manger with all these peaceful animals lined up just so, and a choir of angels singing to the world this message of hope.  This is of course comforting and beautiful, however the coming of the Messiah was in fact marked (much the same as today) with devastation, mayhem, and chaos.  This year I have, perhaps for the first time, been acutely aware of some striking similarities between that first Christmas and ours today.  Jesus too came into a world full of government corruption, at the local, national, and global level.  His world was divided, oppressed, and lied to, and His coming, though ultimately bringing Peace, brought with it the sword.  After Jesus was born, Herod went on a murderous rampage in a desperate attempt to maintain power.  He ordered All the boys two years and under to be murdered in and around Bethlehem.  The truth was it was not, “Oh little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.”  It would have been, “Oh little town of Bethlehem, how loud we hear thee cry!”  Can you imagine the screaming, the lamenting, the fighting in the streets as parents tried to protect their children.  So much death, and hatred.  People, including the family of Jesus, were fleeing the country, becoming refugees in other lands.  There would have been no peace at all, just sadness and despair.  This all happened because Jesus had come, and the world would be in direct opposition to its maker.  God did not bring Jesus into a peaceful, safe, and loving world, but to a broken world, sinful, and deeply troubled.  The same world that we see all around us today.  Jesus meant it when He said that He did not come to bring peace but a sword.  His coming would be divisive.  Just like His presence is divisive today.  And yet when Jesus entered into the chaos God was Sovereignly in charge of it all, in control and working His eternal purpose to redeem for Himself a people for His Glory!  The same is still true today!!  Maybe in this year we can relate, now more than ever, to the state of the world into which Jesus entered, and with the chaos, corruption, and sadness all around us, it is crucial that we see the most powerful similarity there is...the TRUTH!  The reality of the first Christmas is the powerful truth we need to know today as we plan to celebrate isolated or together.  The truth that God is ALWAYS SOVEREIGN even when it seems evil is prevailing.  The truth that Because God is Sovereign we can TRUST Him even if evil seems to be prevailing.  Amidst all the bedlam and horror that was present with the coming of Christ, God was working to bring about His eternal purpose of Victory, Peace, and Salvation!  Among all the evil, He was moving to conquer it and set loose the captives!  God knew, God moved, and God won!  That was how it was then and that is how it is now, and for all who venture out like the pagan magi to investigate for themselves this Messiah, they will discover the Creator of the Universe and the Savior of their souls, and there they will find Peace indestructible!   And for those who choose to hear the call of God to follow Him, like Mary and Joseph, even when it would lead to persecution, scorn, and hardship, they will find that their purpose IS CHRIST, and they will be part of the ushering in of the kingdom of God!  There, they will find Joy indescribable!  Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and Immanuel God With Us!  This Christmas His mission is still the same...to reconcile the world to Himself, to offer Salvation to all who will look to Him.  God still knows exactly what is going on, He still sees it all, He is still moving, and He has already Won!