Christmas 2021 Meditations
Our pastor recently made the point that we can't have Easter and all the joy of that day without Christmas. Without Jesus choosing to come to earth, we can't be saved. That got me to thinking about Christmas in a way I never have before.
Have you ever thought about how big a deal it is that Jesus was in Heaven with God the Father and chose to come down to earth at Christmas? He had seen God in His fully glory and yet chose to leave His presence and come to earth. 1 Corinthians 13 speaks of our only seeming "in a mirror indirectly" on earth but seeing "face to face" when we are in Heaven (vs. 12). Jesus saw God "face to face" in a way that we humans cannot yet. The movie Dogma says "Human beings have neither the aural nor the psychological capacity to withstand the awesome power of God's true voice. Were you to hear it, your mind would cave in and your heart would explode within your chest." (source). Yes, it's a work of fiction. But there must be a reason that God has not shown Himself fully to any human (and instead appeared as a burning bush, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and vocally). We have not yet seen Him fully as Jesus had and cannot fully fathom how amazing that is. And He did not have merely a fleeting glimpse of it. He was with God the Father before Genesis 1:1 ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning."). He knew God fully. And yet, He chose to leave God and come to earth.
It's like in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" where people who see the basilisk's reflection (either in a mirror or via water on the floor) are only petrified while anyone who sees it directly dies. We think we know God, and we do know a good bit. We've got the Bible, our personal relationships with Him, and times that He has written His story on our hearts during worship and prayer. But those pale in comparison to what Heaven will be like.
Jesus had a full knowledge of God and still chose to come to earth. That absolutely blows my mind. It would be one thing for Him to chose it if He knew that every human would choose salvation or if He knew he was coming to a life of luxury and opulence. But rather He was born around/with animals (not in the finest hospital or whatever they had back then), was a political refugee before the age of two, lived in a carpenter's (likely not the highest paying of jobs) household, had a bunch of siblings (four brothers and at least two sisters per Matthew 13:55-56), and lost a parent before the age of 33 (I feel cheated of time with my Mom, and I was 40 when she died). He was an itinerant preacher for three years (before they had smartphones, cars, internet, air conditioning, etc...), was betrayed by one of His twelve best friends, suffered a show trial where He knew He would be found guilty, was tortured within an inch of his life, suffered the worst form of capital punishment available at the time, and was abandoned by almost all of his family and friends as He died. He knew He was coming to a hard life beyond being away from God (and God eventually having to turn His back on Jesus... Matthew 27:45-46).
Yet He chose to come anyways. Why? Why do that? Why give up all that? Because he wants a relationship with you and me (1 John 4:9-10). Because the infinitely holy God cannot look upon sin (Matthew 27 from above). Because each and every sin requires the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). Because no human is capable of perfectly fulfilling the Old Testament law and upholding it completely (Romans 3:10). Because he knew that the Levite priests were not sufficient and that we needed a new type of priest (Hebrews 7).
That is why this "little child" came "to redeem us all to save us from the fall." Because He chose to come "Redemption is in sight" "under Bethlehem's star tonight." Please listen to "Bethlehem" from Theocracy. If you don't know this Jesus I speak of, contact me. I would love nothing more than to introduce Him to you.
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