Christmas is coming. The most wonderful time of the year. As the spirit of Christmas takes hold we become more festive. Carolers singing from house to house. Attending holiday parties where we gobble up goodies and treats. And the beautiful ornaments and decorations that fill living rooms and cover homes around the world.
There really is nothing like Christmas Day at any other time of the year. I remember growing up my mom had several countdown calendars that would rile us up as children with each day that got knocked off drawing us closer to that expectant day. These days, we are bombarded from every outlet and commercial reminding us that there are “X shopping days left till Christmas.” In fact, what other holiday can compare to Christmas’ hold over July to warn us that the Day is only six months away? So it is perfectly safe to conclude that there is no other date on our calendar that can lay claim to being so clearly seen as the day approaches. (Hebrews 10:25, 1 Thessalonians 5:5)
And why not? Have you seen the decorations we put up? Twinkling lights (1 Corinthians 15:52) that encircle the fir tree winding round as they converge in unison upon the Star at the top(1 Thessalonians 4:17, Colossians 1:18). The Christmas tree really is one of the most beautiful moments of the Day.
We all know what Christmas is about–at least we think we do. It is the day we celebrate the birth of our Messiah and Savior Jesus Christ to the virgin Mary. By now, most of us already know Jesus very likely was not born on December 25th–which really begs the question: whose male birth are we celebrating if not Christ’s? Because Jesus’ birth is not the only picture of a woman travailing in birth to a male son who will rule all the nations with an iron rod. (John 16:21, Revelations 12:2, Hosea 13:13, Micah 5:3, Galatians 4:27, Isaiah 13:8, Jeremiah 13:21, Jeremiah 22:23, Jeremiah 30:6, 49:24, Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 26:17-18, Jeremiah 4:31, Micah 4:9, Matthew 24:8, Mark 13:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, Romans 8:22), and many of those images fail to represent the events surrounding his birth.
The earliest mention of Christians celebrating Christmas day was back in 336 A.D., which is quite some time after Jesus answered the Jews that it was not for them to know the day or the hour in regards to when “all these things” would happen. And they did not know it. After all, what did any of them know of Christmas day before 336 A.D.? It would simply have registered as a day to celebrate the winter solstice–a very pagan idea for Jews. So no, Israel did not know the Christmas day Jesus spoke of, nor would they for quite some time until after the Church agreed to begin celebrating his birth on that date. But the Jews know it now, even if nobody understands it, because almost 1700 years later Christians still celebrate Christmas–and have even managed to rope much of the gentile world into the holiday as well.
So let me ask an interesting question: If Christmas day is not the day of Christ’s actual birth, then what are the spiritual implications of the entire Church body coming together in agreement in the name of Christ to celebrate a woman giving birth to a male child? (Matthew 18:19-20). I mean, this is not a one time event. We do it every year. Annually, like clockwork, we gather together in churches on Christmas eve, we throw our Christmas pageants and holiday choir presentations, and many Christian families gather their children together on Christmas day to read the story of Jesus’ birth. Pastors share the Christmas message. Families that only go to church twice a year show up for this service. This is so much more than just a custom–it is part of our identity and serves as an agreement among us. So if Jesus’ claims are to be believed, what is the Father’s part ensuring that that this agreement be fulfilled?
Now, I suppose someone will throw down the challenge that this is not the Church’s place to decide these things, but then, was it ever really the Church’s idea in the first place? After all, this is far too clever a fete to give the Church credit for. If we’re going to hold anyone accountable for staging this, there is really only one person that indwells the Church, that is capable of pulling something like this off. (Hint: John 14:26)
And that is very much like my God, shrewd towards those who are devious. (Psalms 18:26) Hiding His great day out in the open, in plain sight, right under everyone’s nose.
I suppose someone else will object that Christmas day is not found anywhere in the scriptures, as though the Jewish texts written by a people of Jewish identity have any part in the redemptive promise for that great day(they do not). That day is solely for the Church. And while the Church is composed of many people, including those who are themselves Jewish, the Church is also predominantly Gentile, but now we are neither Jew nor Gentile (Galatians 3:28) so it would be terribly inappropriate to bind a day designed for the non-Jew, non-Gentile Church to a feast day known by the Jews(Matthew 24:36, Matthew 25:13, Act 1:6-7)–would you not agree? And you know what else you will not find spelled out in the Old Testament? The Church; yet here we are.
But there is so much more to Christmas! Have you ever noticed all those wonderful gifts we place at the foot of the gloriously, beautiful Christmas tree? What about the wonderful gift of eternal life found at the foot of the gloriously, beautiful tree upon which our Savior was crucified to redeem us from the Law of sin and death? (Romans 6:23). And what does that fir tree wear upon its ordinary body if not twinkling lights (1 Corinthians 15:52) entwined like a vine leading up through the branches to the bright Bethlehem star at the top. What other picture could there be on this side of that Day for the Saints gathered together to meet our Lord in the clouds? (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
And how could we possibly forget Santa? Sure, he was once based on a saint who did good deeds for the poor, but look at what he has become today. What clearer picture do we need of a magical thief coming in the night hitting the homes of every child in the span of one night to bring gifts to all the good boys and girls, but only dead coal for the bad ones?
There is just one problem: Santa is nowhere to be found in the Bible! (2 Peter 3:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, Revelations 16:15, Revelations 3:3, Matthew 24:42-44, 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5, Luke 12:39) Santa is very much a commercialized Gentile idea propagated to undermine the meaning of Christmas by stealing the show from the real hero of the story: Jesus Christ. So Santa cannot possibly be used to bless the Church in any way–much like a donkey cannot possibly be made to give good advice to a Gentile gone astray(Numbers 22), or much like that same Gentile cannot be made to bless the very Jews he was hired to curse. (Numbers 23-24). I mean after 2 Chronicles 20 I think we can all agree that the Holy Spirit is a master of turning the tables in his favor; and blessing the Church, the body of Jesus Christ, is very much his favor.
Having laid out the bulk of my evidence, it is time to paint a complete picture:
Like actual characters in a story authored by God, we have been painfully oblivious to the obviousness of what is literally right in front of us this whole time. Every single year we celebrate a thing we have not understood, but when that moment comes, the day will be beyond obvious to everyone. Christmas day will become more clear than it has ever been. That the day we celebrated was indeed about the birth of a male child–just that while we were focused on the head we completely forgot about the body. That the Holy Spirit inspired the Church to coordinate the day of the world’s disaster by celebrating the very moment that those who rejected Christ would be completely undone.
See it: Christmas day, families and friends gathered around the Christmas tree, and then, in the twinkling of a Christmas light twinkling in our eye, we are gone. Those that hated Christmas and made war on it by removing Christ from Christmas to call it X-Mas, to have Nativity scenes removed from public places, Christmas banned from schools and our children’s vocabulary restricted from honoring Christ on this celebrated day of his birth will finally get what they demanded: no Christ in Christmas. But that will also mean, no Holy Spirit in Christmas, including no Christians on Christmas, which leaves Christmas as this gutted, hollowed out husk of a shell empty of all the wonder, delight, love, joy, and peace that reigns over this holiday season. What once brought songs of joy will bring mourning and grief to those who chose the material gifts under the Christmas Tree over the eternal gift of life under the crucifixion tree. When the houses and homes of those who have been taken are investigated, ransacked, and cleaned out the symbols of this season will remain as painful reminders of the choices those who are left behind received in their unbelief. They will still have the gifts they exchanged–idols of stone, wood, plastic and cloth that boldly mock the hollowness of what they have chosen next to the gift we, who are with our Lord, have received.
And for Israel, it will be like a blow to the gut. (Jeremiah 30:6) The day they did not know, because it was not Jewish. The Savior they rejected, because he was not what they expected. To perform a sign and wonder as great as the Great Day of the Lord on a day clearly not Jewish in any way shape or form, and so clearly Christian in every way shape and form, will speak of God’s rejection of the Jewish people for their rejection of His son Jesus Christ and wildly stir up such jealousy that their only hope is to set things right by seizing what was their heritage and making amends the only way they know how.
It is singularly the most clever snare the whole of human history has ever encountered. Having laid the groundwork 1700 years earlier in full public view, such that nobody suspected what was really being done, only to celebrate the very day for 1700 years following with nobody ever suspecting otherwise. It is genius ultimate. It is the plot twist only befitting God’s story for us. And like all characters, in all stories, throughout all the ages–we did not see it coming until the climax was already upon us.
But the day of their sorrow will be the day of my joy fulfilled. For it is the day when the only gift that I ever ever desired, ever wanted, will finally be had. It is the day that I will be with the one I love; the one who loved me so much that he chose to die painfully to redeem me. To finally be with him and know that I will never again be separated from him. To never know or have a reason to taste sorrow, loss, pain, hurt, or any other form of death ever again. To be forever in the presence of the mastermind and creator of all existence. That is a gift that makes all the Apple iPads, new smartphones, desktop computer games, new vehicles, new houses, new boats, new clothes, jewelry, and toys fade away and pale by comparison. It turns a day I have not really looked forward to in so many years into a day that causes my heart to kick for joy like a newborn about to meet the new world outside. All the excitement and wonder I knew in my childhood for Christmas day has been revived over the past few weeks: the lights, the color, the very Christmas songs we sing all testify to me of the day that is coming, that is nearly upon us and the countdown for it begins most appropriately with that twelve day countdown we had in our home as children.
I am not saying that I know anything.
But I am saying that Christmas is coming.
And there is not a thing, in all creation, that anybody can do to stop it.
Merry Christmas