Monthly Archives: December 2012

The Christmas story is ultimately a love story.

A love that has always existed in Eternity.  A blazing and glorious Divine love that entered time and space with one burning, zealous, resolute, beautiful goal: rescue.

The rescue of you and me.

When we typically think of Christmas, we think of gifts, bright lights, carols, and scrumptious food. The most wonderful time of the year. And it is all those things.

However, it is easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas during all the festivities.

Christmas is radical. Revolutionary. Breathtaking in its enormous scope.

God came to this earth in human form as a baby to a world who desperately needed Him but who were:

*enemies of God
*spiritually dead
*weak
*empty
*distressed
*sorrowful
*in every kind of pain
*rebellious
*arrogant
*faithless
*heartless
*filled with every kind of unrighteousness
*callous
*hopeless
*exiles
*helpless to make things right
*dirty
*unforgiven
*estranged and alienated from all that is good
*broken beyond repair
*unredeemed
*in darkness
*wounded with no hope of healing

Yes, that list describes you and me and every other person who has ever entered this world, much as we would like to think otherwise.

We did not” see fit to acknowledge Him or consider Him worth knowing”. (Romans 1:28)

The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood…or sought after God, inquiring for and of Him…they had all gone aside, they have all together become filthy; there is none that does good or right, no, not one. —Ps. 14:3

Yet, He came.

Until we fully comprehend the sheer depth of our need and desperation for a Savior, we will never appreciate the true miracle of Christmas.

It is utterly astonishing.

The Beautiful came to the ugly.

The Creator came to the created.

The Perfect came to the utterly sin-stained and scarred.

Hope came to the hopeless.

Light came to those living in darkness.

He came to and for you. 

Because of and through the heart of tender mercy and lovingkindness of our God, a Light from on high  will dawn upon us and visit us to shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death , to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace. —Luke 1:78-79 (Amplified).

Don’t miss that: the heart of God is full of tender mercy. It is that same tender mercy that drove Jesus to leave the perfection and beauty of Heaven to confine Himself to the womb of Mary and enter this world via a dirty and noisy barn.

Today’s nativity scenes portray a sweet and peaceful scene but I doubt it was that serene that evening. Have you ever been to a barn? It is unsanitary, crowded, smelly, and cold. Yet this is where the King of Glory made His entrance into this world. It is hard to imagine a more ignoble entrance for Jesus who:

*is the exact likeness of the unseen God (the visible representation of the invisible)
*created all things
*existed before all things
*holds all things together
*is the sum total of the Divine perfection, powers, and attributes
*has power that is immeasurable and unlimited and surpassingly great
*fills everything everywhere with Himself
*possesses unending, boundless, fathomless, incalculable, and exhaustless riches (wealth no human being could have searched out)
*embodies and personifies ALL truth —-(Colossians 1-2; Ephesians 1-3)

THIS One came with one objective: The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. —Luke 19:10

At the exact moment of the Fall, when man turned his back on God, “the relationship between God and man was severed. We were ripped from the heart of God.”  (Pete Briscoe).

Jesus—God in human form—came to this earth all those years ago to restore what had been so devastatingly damaged.

He came to draw us back to His heart that overflows with “love that burns like blazing fire”….for you. (Song of Songs 8:6).

That Christmas night was what the entire world was waiting for! The promise of redemption! Restoration! Renewal!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing!
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and Heaven, and nature sing.

No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Christmas is a time for tremendous joy and celebration! Jesus was coming to begin the process of total restoration!

…while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby. Mary gave birth to a Son, wrapped Him in cloths and laid Him in a manger—there was no room for them to stay at the inn. 

There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day…your Savior was born—Christ the Lord! And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’

Suddenly, a great army of Heaven’s angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God: ‘Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom He is pleased.’ (Luke 2:6-14).

Heaven opened on that night of all nights to declare that a new day for mankind had dawned. Salvation had come as God Himself came down to live among us.

Miracle!!!

The people walking in darkness have seen a great Light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a Light has dawned…For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. —(Isaiah 9:2,6)

That is what we celebrate on December 25th.

“Christmas isn’t a gift to wrap—but a Person to unwrap.”—Ann Voskamp

We were given the Greatest Gift that could ever be given that Christmas night over 2000 years ago. HE is the Gift. The eternal, magnificent, endlessly celebrated Son of God who came to give His life so we could live.

As we all know, Jesus did not stay a baby. Thirty three years later, there was Good Friday: a bloody cross, a horrific death. Because that is why Jesus came: to bring an unholy people back into fellowship with a holy God. To right the wrong of the Fall.  To free the captive. To take the penalty we owed.

He came to us, Perfect Love veiled in human skin to live a perfect life that we were incapable of living.

We despised Him.

We rejected Him.

We killed Him.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised and we held Him in low esteem. Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering…He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishments that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. —Isaiah 53:2-6

On the cross, Jesus purchased our eternal pardon. A holy God must deal with sin. Our Savior died in our place.

On the third day, He rose from the grave overcoming death once and for all. That is the best news of all, the crowning glory of the Incarnation.

The debt had been paid in full. Jesus’ divine mission had been gloriously accomplished.

And for all who humbly come and accept His free gift of salvation they celebrate Christmas knowing that they are:

*forgiven and able to freely forgive
*a new creation: the fresh and new has come!
*fully reconciled to God
*spiritually alive
*redeemed
*purified
*well-beloved
*whole
*healed
*joyful
*peaceful
*set apart for Him
*adopted into God’s family
*an heir of God
*lavished with His favor
*granted free access to God Himself
*indwelt by the very Spirit of Jesus Himself
*complete
*are provided with everything they need
*know that Heaven is their true home

Breathtaking grace!!! May we never get over it!

Because if He hadn’t come? This would have remained our lot:

At one time, you were separated (living apart) from Christ (excluded from all part in Him), utterly estranged…and you had no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God. —(Ephesians 2:12)

The horror is inconceivable.

“Were it not for the Gospel, the everythingness of Christ would remain only a distant, unreachable nothing to us.” —Tullian Tchvidjian, Jesus + Nothing = Everything (p. 77).

That is why Christmas is the most joyous of days!

Our Deliverer has come! We have been rescued!

But now, in Christ, you who were once so far away, through the blood of Christ have been brought near. —Ephesians 2:13

Joy to the world indeed!

A text from a  dear friend crashed into my day of Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon.

Her words on my phone relayed the horrifying news of what had happened at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, CT.

The mind reels. How could anyone do  this????

The heart breaks for the shattering loss. Five year olds??? A mother killed by her demented son’s own hand???

The deepest part of the soul cries out for comfort. For justice. For answers that may never come this side of eternity. Why???

I turn on the satellite radio as I drive home, my heart growing heavier as more unfathomable, grisly details emerge.

At one point, I hear a television anchor from one of the 24 hour cable news channels interviewing a pastor whose name I don’t catch. The pastor begins to talk about the pivotal moment of the Fall, when the heart of man became entirely corrupt, severed eternally from its perfect and holy Creator. Until… in a stunningly breathtaking moment that was planned in eternity past, the Creator Himself enters time and space through a teenager’s womb to make things right. He is called Jesus. (Luke 2:1-21)

“Excuse me Pastor,” The anchor’s voice is cutting, dripping with barely concealed contempt. ” With all due respect, this is NOT about religion. This is about GUNS. What are we going to do about the GUNS?”

I can only listen to a few more minutes, as the pastor tries valiantly to make his point in the face of more hostile interruptions. I turn off the radio as I pull into the parking lot of a crowded grocery store.

No, sir, you are wrong, I think as I walk toward the store entrance.  What happened in Newtown on Friday morning was not ultimately about guns. Or mental illness. Or  more stringent firearm laws, although all of those issues are important and worthy of discussion and debate.

As politically incorrect as it is these days to say such things, that brave pastor was right.

Death (both spiritual and physical) entered the world for the first time the day that man turned his back on his Creator and chose to believe the enemy’s hideous lie that independent self rule is the  key that opens the door to the fullest life. (Genesis 3.) Rather, that door opened to the horror of gnawing, cavernous emptiness, darkened, unredeemed hearts, and stark hopelessness.

What was once whole, perfect, and beautiful became broken, damaged, and ugly.

Tragically, that choice resulted in a flood of destruction, despair, and utter devastation that continues to this very day. It was on ghastly display last Friday.

We do reap what we sow.

The culture we live in has become a culture of death. Millions of abortions are performed on demand.  An entire generation is growing up desensitized to the horrific violence of video games that masquerade as “entertainment.” Brutal murders are on the rise. Inconceivably, parents are now the prime suspects when a child is murdered.

In the midst of all this tragedy, God has been legislated out of the public square in man’s utterly futile attempt to declare his independence from his Creator.

And the country grows darker by the day.

What of the Creator? What of Jesus?

He weeps for this broken and fallen world.

Just as He wept thousands of years ago standing outside His dear friend Lazurus’ tomb (John 11:35). Jesus hates death with a holy hatred. So much so that the very reason He came to us was to die in our place, to take the penalty upon Himself that we deserved.

“Jesus came to undo what Adam so disastrously did and lead us back through the jungle to the garden. He crossed the ravine, the unbridgeable gap between sinful man and holy God.” —Justin Taylor 

He is  intimately acquainted with horrific suffering. No one has ever suffered the way Jesus did as He hung on the cross and took the full brunt of God’s terrifying wrath against all sin that would otherwise have fallen onto you and me.

John Piper writes: “Mass murder is why Jesus came into the world the way He did. What kind of Savior do we need when our hearts are shredded  by brutal loss? We need a suffering Savior. We need a Savior who has tasted the cup of horror we are being forced to drink. And that is how He came. He knew what the world needed. Not a comedian. Not a sports hero. Not a movie star. Not a political genius. Not a doctor. Not even a pastor. The world needed what no mere man can be. The world needed a suffering Sovereign. Mere suffering would not do. Mere sovereignty would not do. The one is not strong enough to save, the other is not weak enough to sympathize. So He came as who He was: the compassionate King. The crushed Conqueror. The lamb-like Lion. The suffering Sovereign…The God who draws near to Newtown is  the suffering, sympathetic God- Man, Jesus Christ. No one else can feel what He has felt. No one else can love like He can love. No one else can heal like He can heal. No one else can save like He can save.” 

I enter the crowded grocery store that is filled with harried shoppers. As I push my cart through the produce aisle, I become aware of the fact that Silent Night is filling the air over the loudspeakers.

“…Christ the Savior is born…Christ the Savior is born!”

Those words ring out loud and clear, a balm to my hurting  soul.

Does anyone hear? The people appear unmoved, absorbed in their pursuits.

He has come! 

Because He has come:

*Hope reigns, even in the midst of heartbreak
*Death has been defeated once and for all by our Warrior King who triumphed over it at His victorious resurrection
*Heaven has been opened to all who will come
*Tears will one day be wiped away by the nail scarred hand of our Savior
*Perfect justice WILL be done. (Romans 12:19). Children hold a very special place in the heart of Jesus (Mark 10:16; Mark 9:36-37) and He had dire warnings for anyone who dares hurt them (Matthew 18:6)
*All wrongs will one day be made right
*Those 20 precious children are now in the glorious presence of the risen Christ, forever safe, forever alive, forever celebrating
*Life and Love win

And in the words of Tolkien, one glorious day “everything sad will become untrue” for the believer because Jesus came.

No, none of us will understand how or why this happened.

More tears will fall as the memorial services begin and the nation mourns for those parents who will deal with such deep grief.

We will marvel at the bravery of the heroic efforts of the teachers and staff at that school who gave their lives to protect others.

Anger at the destructive nature of sin will continue.

We will all hold our loved ones a little bit closer and treasure the gift of time with them.

Prayers for healing and comfort for the bereaved will be frequent.

I, for one, will spend everyday offering heartfelt gratitude for the precious gift of Jesus, who is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. I will thank Him for the fact that He is still on His Throne and in absolute control, even when it appears as if things are spinning out of control. I will thank Him that He alone is capable of bringing beauty from the ashes.

His Light still shines, even on the darkest day.

And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it. (John 1:5)

Pray for the people of Newtown.