Christmas Devotionals – Page 2

The Story Begins: John 1:1-5

All was quiet; all was dark that first Christmas Eve night. The shepherds scattered across the hills of Bethlehem had become accustomed to the despair. They were well acquainted with Rome’s red shields that glistened atop the walls of Jerusalem. What little dignity the Romans had left the Judean shepherds was exploited by corrupt priests who preferred philosophical discussions about the proper way to tie one’s shoe to debates about justice, love, and mercy. Indeed, the shepherds’ world was dark.

But the world had not always been this way. The shepherds had heard the stories of the great prophet Moses. He had talked of a paradise inhabited by the universe’s first couple, Adam and Eve. There, at the beginning of time, all was good. All was perfect. Moses’s first book, Genesis, reports that, “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen 1:31a).” Every day, Adam and Eve conversed with God as they walked through the garden together. The first couple could feel, taste, and sense the love, justice, kindness, and goodness of God. They in-turn cultivated a human society defined by love, kindness, and justice. No fears, darkness, or silence could touch their hearts for they knew God. Like a child on Christmas morning, Adam and Eve rebounded with joy, praise, and glory. All was good!

But as the Shepherds knew, those days of joy had faded into the recesses of history long ago. God now resided behind a curtain in the temple. He no longer walked with humanity. Even the great prophets like Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah had become the relics of a by gone era. God was silent, hovering far above the stars. Evil, despair, and sorrow filled the void he had left.

The Darkness Explained: Luke 1:68-71

The Shepherds also knew the source of the darkness. Moses spoke of a vile snake. He had slithered into God’s paradise, promising Adam and Eve equality with God in exchange for one act of rebellion. The couple took the snake up on his offer. But instead of being elevated to the heights of Mount Olympus, the couple stumbled into the pits of Hades. The couple lost their connection to the divine experiences of love, goodness, and justice. They had attached their souls to selfishness, brokenness, and lawlessness. Sadly, Adam and Eve destroyed not only their own hearts but also the hearts of all their children.

Their son, Cain, turned worship into a provocation for murder, serving as the new exemplar of humanity. Within a few generations, the evil of humanity reached such heights that God began humanity anew, wiping out the world with a flood. He set aside Noah to serve as the new father of the human race. But the builder of the ark would fail to keep the world pure, stumbling into drunkenness. God then set aside Abraham to create a people for himself. But like Noah and Adam before him, Abraham stumbled from the heights of faith. He lied and committed adultery.

His descendants fared no better. The great prophet, Moses, whom all the Jews revered disobeyed God, striking a rock in a fit of rage. The first priest, Aaron, created a golden calf. And King David committed adultery on numerous occasions before murdering an innocent soldier. Every great prophet, priest, and king of the Jews failed to escape the effects of Adam’s first sin. As the apostle Paul had said, “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Rom. 5:12).”
Darkness reigned. No human could overcome it.

If we are honest with ourselves, we too have known this darkness. Despite all our intentions, efforts, and promises to eat healthier, listen more, and complain less, we still find ourselves plagued by sin and lawlessness. We still get angry when a loved one interrupts our T.V. show. We still roll our eyes when Aunt Sarah gifts us another homemade sweater instead of a PlayStation. And despite all the lights, hot coco, and cheer, we still cannot find the power to forgive that one person that stabbed us in the back all those years ago. The darkness that hovered over the shepherds that first Christmas Eve still hovers over many of us.
But the darkness of that first Christmas Eve would not remain. An angel visited Zechariah while he ministered in the temple, telling the aged priest that he would have a son. Another visited a virgin in Nazareth, proclaiming that Messiah was coming! God was about to break through the darkness!

Baby Jesus: The Light of the World (Luke 2:8-20)

On that first Christmas morning, the light of salvation penetrated the darkness of earth in the form of a tiny baby. God filled the night sky with angels and his glory. It was light far more magnificent than any sun or star. It possessed a purity unlike any other. As the apostle John had written, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all (1 Jn. 1:5).” The shepherds understandably trembled when they first saw the light for God was holy and they were not. Were we with them on that first Christmas morning, we too would have been “filled with great fear (Lk 2:9).”

But the message of Christmas proclaims that we no longer have to fear God. The light that shone about the angels consisted of both holiness and forgiveness. The angel tells the Shepherds (and us) to fear not, “for behold I bring you good new of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto to you is born this day in the City of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord (Lk 2:10-11).” Jesus came not to judge but to save. He arrived not as some self-righteous, grumpy old man who looks cross eyed you when you walk into church 5 minutes late. He came humbly as a baby “wrapped in swaddling cloths and laying in a manger (Lk 2:12).” No pretense is required. No hoops have to be jumped through. To commune with God afresh, men and women need only to follow the shepherds to the stable and worship baby Jesus.

Though such an offer sounds outlandish, it is not. The manger was not a bait-and-switch tactic. It was a foreshadowing of Jesus’s true purpose. The baby in the manger can freely commune with sinners because he deals with their sins, dirty looks, and imperfections on the cross. As a child, teenager, and adult, Jesus perfectly fulfills the law. He faithfully worships God and never rolls his eyes or forgets to follow through on a project. He dies not for his sins but for ours. At his death, “the curtain of the temple was torn in two (Lk 23:45).” Thankfully Jesus does not stay dead; we do not commune with spirits who hide in the universe’s shadows. Our God is the God of the living. The angels at his tomb wonderfully declare, “He is not here, but has risen (Lk 24:6).” All who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus for salvation will live in eternity with him. God once again dwells “with those with whom he is pleased (Lk 2:14).”

This is the good news of great joy that the angels sing of. The light that Adam and Eve had rejected has returned to call sinners to himself. A prophet, priest, and king who never stumbled into sin has come, died, and risen again. The light has overcome the darkness.

Follow the Shepherds to Bethlehem: Luke 2:28-32

Christ the savior has come! This is the good news of great joy that shattered the darkness of that first Christmas Eve as the calendar flipped to Christmas day! As the Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Christmas morn has dawned!

And now we must respond. We must follow the shepherds and come to the manger of the newborn king. As Christmas begins to dawn again, we should contemplate afresh the offer of salvation. If you come to the manger enveloped by the darkness of that first Christmas Eve, I invite you to repent of your sin and to trust in Christ for salvation. You need not do anything but come and worship Christ the newborn king. If you have already joined the shepherds’ song embracing the glories of salvation, I encourage you to kneel afresh at the manger. The miracle of salvation proves just as profound today as the day when you first believed. The light of revelation has come! Merry Christmas!

Sharing the Christmas story with my church family has proved to be one of the highlights of the holiday season. I construct my narratives the around four-part gospel presentation (God, Man, Christ, Response) highlighted in Greg Gilbert’s book, What is the Gospel. I am excited to share one of those retellings of the Christmas story with you today.

The Script below was designed to be read aloud in a congregational setting. But I believe it will hold up quite well when you read in your comfy chair or at the kitchen table with your family. I hope this recounting of the Christmas story helps you rediscover the joy of knowing that the baby in the manager is Jesus, our Messiah who saves us from our sins.

Merry Christmas!

In the Beginning

The Christmas story is a political story. But it is not the story of elections, debates, and shady deals. Yes, King Ahaz gets a less than honorable mention, the Emperor Augustine makes a brief appearance, and the wicked King Herod sets the divine family on the run. But the Christmas story is not about these men and their governments.

As Jesus would one day tell the Governor of Judea, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

According to the Bible, God’s kingdom transcends the limits of earthly space and time. God lays claim to the universe and everything it: physical and spiritual, visible and invisible…and even you and me. Psalm 89:11-12a declares that, “The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have created them;” The triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) deserves to be worshiped for he created and sustains the universe.

God also created the first humans, the first royal couple, Adam and Eve. God designed them to lead all humanity to love and goodness, placing them in the center of his beautiful world, the Garden of Eden. For a glorious season, the first couple lovingly nurtured the flowers that swayed in the summer breezes, the creatures that danced in the meadows, and the fish that splashed about the oceans. All was good, pure, and right. All was peaceful between God and man, between man and man, and between man and nature.

But, this glorious world would not last. Adam and Eve would fall from their thrones.

The Political Crisis that Necessitated Christmas

One day, Eve entered into a conversation with a wicked serpent, whom God had tossed out of heaven. This snake told Eve that God was a liar who would exploit the first royal couple.

First Eve and then Adam believed the snake. They thought rebellion against God would enable humanity to reach heights of unimaginable new achievements. When the first man and women sunk their teeth into a piece of forbidden fruit, they kicked off the greatest revolution of all time.

But their rebellion did not go as planned. When Adam and Eve struck out on their own, they discovered that the snake had lied and not God.

God had kept nothing good back from them. God had only protected the human leaders from all that was evil, rotten, and deadly. And now as Adam and Eve looked about God’s once good world, they saw fear, misery, and death. The very essence of their souls and the very foundation of the world had been corrupted. Adam and Eve were naked before the Lord. Try as they might, they could not undo what they had done. The kingdom of light had been replaced with the kingdom of darkness. The peace was gone. They were rebels against God.

Sadly, the corruption did not end with the reign of Adam and Eve. The first king and queen bequeathed their legacy of deadly rebellion to all of their descendants.

Take King Ahaz for example.

Isaiah Chapter 5 reports that Ahaz’s once shook with fear because an army of sword clad Syrians stood outside his castle gates. But all was not lost. God decided to help Ahaz. God told Ahaz, “Do not fear” for you will prevail. To prove that his message was not a divine prank, God gave Ahaz one genie-like wish. The king could have asked for a star, a dinosaur, or a gold nugget that weighed a million pounds. The universe was his for the asking. But instead of taking God up on his offer, Ahaz said, “No thanks.” The king wanted nothing to do with God’s salvation. He wanted to keep the rebellion going.

Despite all our iPhones, electric cars, and 85-inch flat screen TVs, we modern men and women have not progress beyond the rebellion of Ahaz. We all have spoken angrily to a child, stolen a pen or pencil, and harbored some really bad thoughts about a neighbor, family member or an ex. We have all sinned like Adam and Eve and Ahaz, believing God to be a liar. And like our first parents and all the kings and queens of old, we too will die. Though we cannot shake our fear of death, we will not ask God for help.

But God is not deterred. Humans like you and me cannot keep God from being God. Though Ahaz did not want a sign, God still gave the king a sign, a sign that would be for all people. Isaiah 5:14 reports “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.” God would once again walk peacefully among his people. The kingdom of heaven would be restored. The Prince of peace was coming!

Baby Jesus: Defeats the Rebellion

On Christmas morning, God again dwelled with the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. When the baby in the manger became a man, he set out to restore the kingdom of God. He overthrew sickness, rebuked the waves, and vanquished demons. He reminded the heirs of Adam and Eve of the glories of God, preaching peace, joy, and salvation. The serpent too reappeared, seeking to persuade Jesus to follow the first Adam into rebellion. But Jesus refused the offer. The kingdom of God was advancing. A new Adam, a new king had come. Seemingly just as he was about to ascend to the throne of Jerusalem, the Jewish and Roman rulers of the day intervened and crucified Jesus, preserving the political systems of the ancient world. His followers were bewildered by the cross. Perhaps the snake had not lied. Perhaps men and women truly could contend with God and defeat the kingdom of righteousness.

But Jesus had not been defeated. Three days after dying on the cross, Jesus stepped out of the tomb. When the women went to anoint Jesus dead body, the found not Jesus but an angel who declared, “He is not here, he is risen.”

Jesus burst through the serpent’s wall which had built with the slimy bricks of sin and death. The Scriptures reveal that the Wonderful Counselor had intended to die all along so that through his sacrifice he might liberate the descendants of Adam and Eve from the kingdom of darkness. Through his birth, life, death, and resurrection, Jesus had defeated the rebellion!

All the descendants who follow Jesus through the breach are welcomed back into the kingdom of light. Shepherds, prostitutes, prideful men, sex-crazed teenagers, and angry kids are all invited to repent and believe! When Jesus died, he suffered not for his own sins but for our sins. He satisfied the wrath of God with his righteous life, exchanging his holiness for our rebellion. As we step through the hole in the wall by faith, Jesus clothes us in his righteousness and fills our hearts with his spirit, providing us with the credentials and the power to once again walk with God forever. The Prince of Peace had come!

Come Worship the King

Because of the Baby in the manger, we no longer have to follow in the footsteps of our father, Adam. Though Adam brought death to all men and women, Jesus has brought eternal life to all. As the hymn says, “you will no longer need to fear the grave. Christ was born to save.” Those who repent of their sins and believe on the cross for salvation become sons and daughters of the Mighty God and will reign with Jesus in heaven. Those who believe will find the peace that Adam and Eve had lost through their rebellion.

The question we now face this Christmas season is this: “Do we have peace with God? Have we repented of our sins and trusted in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for our salvation? Is the baby in the manger, the Prince of Peace, my savior?”

If your answer is no, I encourage you to come and repent and believe before another Christmas comes and goes.

If the baby in the manger is your savior, rejoice with great joy! No more let sin and darkness reign! You have been delivered from the rebellion. You no longer have to live in fear for Christ dwells with you, leading you to love, gentleness, kindness, mercy, and glory! Joy to the world, the savior Comes. Let earth receive her king.

Merry Christmas!