Christmas is a good time. One thing was always sure for myself and my siblings every Christmas: we knew we were going to be given new shoes, and clothes. We had the best meals as well. I have always loved Christmas, and even as I have grown old, Christmas continues to be one of the events that I love in the year.
Recently, my brother asked me a question that got me thinking about Christmas. He asked me what lights had to do with the season and how significant Christmas trees were to Christmas. I couldn’t answer him. We didn’t have Christmas trees growing up. In our home, my wife and I have had Christmas trees ever since we celebrated our first Christmas together as a married couple. But I have no idea why we have always set up our tree or decorated with Christmas lights.
Since his question I have spent so much time looking at our white conical Christmas tree adorned with lights with a beautiful star at the top. I am a visual learner so I have concluded that the lights on the tree ascend from the bottom to the top, to the star. This is that star that shone on Christmas day! Someone may ask, why do we have to use a tree? Well, if you find the answer, do share. LOL
By the grace of God, I am in a part of the world where Christmas is also a big deal. Walk down on our street and no one needs to remind you that we are in that season. That Christmas saying of ‘deck the halls’ is practically deck the houses! It is amazing how much time people put into decorating their houses. Beautiful light designs, elaborate inflatable displays and beautiful Christmas trees visible in their windows. Interestingly, not many of my neighbors are Christian. People celebrate Christmas but they are atheists or agnostics. Santa is very much associated with Christmas than Jesus. But I love Christmas for what it represents.
You know, in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, a simple survey of the books from Genesis to Malachi paints a connected story of a loving God who set in a motion a redemptive plan to bring man back to himself after man sinned. In Genesis 3:15, the woman’s Seed/Offspring, who was going to bruise the devil was promised. Bible scholars believe this is the very first time the birth of Jesus is prophesied. In Isaiah, we learn of the prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus (Isaiah 7:14) and in Micah 5:2 we learn that he would be birthed in Bethlehem.
Every Jew, right from infancy is taught this, that a Messiah is to be born. The promise of and the hope in this incoming Messiah filled them with hope. And for many generations, from generation to generation, this was passed on. This hope kept them going.
During the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 2, the Israelites were under Roman occupation. When word for around that the Messiah, long promised had been born, what he represented had an even greater meaning now: the Messiah had come to free them from the Romans!
But then, they found him, and he was...a baby…wait a minute…a baby born in a manger? He didn’t come with an army? This was who we waited for all these years? No wonder John 1:11 mentions that he came to his own but his own received him not. Heck, this Messiah had to escape to Egypt or risked being killed by the Romans.
This baby, when time was right, raised an army of 12 non-entities and set in motion the great redemptive plan of God which has brought you and I to him now. Praise be to God!
The meaning of Christmas can really be lost in all the celebration that goes on. However for me, two things stand out:
God is a man of his word. I can hope in his word because when he says it, he would do it. In Genesis 3:15, right after the sin of Adam and Eve, his justice brought swift judgment when he drove them out of the garden. However, in his love and mercy, he promised redemption which is available to anyone who believes in Jesus.
God’s fulfillment or his move may not always align with my expectations. The Israelites believed in a Messiah, some didn’t believe this was to be fulfilled with in a baby, born in a manger. At times, our prayers to God contain in themselves how he should answer us.
As you celebrate Christmas, a day for the birth of Jesus, amidst the glam and glitz, take a pause to understand the lowliness of his birth and how some Israelites missed the opportunity to experience the answer that they had always waited for because they had a different expectation of who he should be. I pray we wouldn't be like them.
Merry Christmas and the very best of this season!
Merry Christmas to you too! A very good read indeed. Patiently waiting for the answer to the Tree issue as well 🎄😁🙌