Reflection on Christmas: O, Come! Let Us Adore Him!

Wonderful food, family, friends surround us throughout this Season. 

Lights, adorning every corner of visual space,

glistens on shades of red, green, silver and gold. 

The scent of pine, orange, cranberry, and cinnamon remind us of days gone by, connecting us to the stories of our own childhood.

Don't forget the chocolate and caramel. 

Carols, songs, and jubilee. 

Kid's patiently awaiting for the secreted arrival of santa. 

Loved ones closely resting by the fireside

 sharing the stories that will bind their future hearts together.

It is amazing to sit back and think about the season of Christmas. The festivities linked to Christmas are almost ubiquitous with our cultural celebrations. But this season has come with a slightly different perspective for me. A perspective that I could not have anticipated at the start of 2018. I hope you do not mind me sharing with you my story.

Reflections on Christmas

This past year I attempted to read the bible, the whole thing, all the way through. I am finishing up this year only a few hours away from completing this project. At the start of Thanksgiving break, I finished reading the Historical Books and began to delve into the Prophets before pausing to jump back into the New Testament. During Advent, I read through Matthew, Mark, and I am now almost done with Luke. Since I read John during lent 2018, I will be finished reading the New Testament probably this week. I then plan to jump back into the Old testament to finish the book of Job, Jeremiah, and the minor prophets. I say all of that because my journey through the bible placed the apex of the plot line around advent. Here is why Christmas has felt very different this year:

Everything about the bible points to Jesus, the Messiah 

I know this might seem like a "Duh!" moment to you but follow along if you will.

The Pentateuch (first 5 books) establishes God's covenant with the Israelites and sets forth His promise of protection and prosperity. Since mankind chose obedience to self over obedience to God (story of Adam and Eve), lawlessness and spiritual disorder was the theme of the day. Genesis and Exodus shows that the covenant with Moses set apart the Israelites due to the faith of their fathers, who chose holiness over self-exaltation. Today, we, as Christians, may look at the covenant Law inscribed by Moses as full of legalities. However, the covenant actually offered a radically different access to God; while the tribes around the nation of Israel were sacrificing children in the name of Baal (a prominent false God of the day), God promised the nation of Israel the world if they simply remain obedient to God's word by keeping their hearts pure. 

Fast forward to the Book of Judges where the Israelites, after successfully taking over territory after territory of their promised land, fall pray to the gods and religious practices of the lands they are capturing. Now remember, God's covenant was meant to be enough to lead, protect, and guide His people but their hearts could not remain holy in the sight of God. A snap shot can be found in Judges 2: 

"Wherever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways." (Judges 2:18-19 ESV) 

Now is a good time to point out the sovereignty of God, because when you read the phrase "For the Lord was moved to pity," it sounds like God is reactive and not in control. However, that is not the case at all. This passage demonstrates that He is perfectly patient, kind, and just.

And justice is always framed in the Old Testament as a way for God to direct His people back to Him. 

Fast forward again to the books of Samuel (1 & 2) and of Kings (1 & 2). Again, God's covenant was meant to lead His people by them willingly, through obedience, seeking after holiness in Him. However, these books demonstrated that the nation of Israel wanted to sort stuff out for themselves as reported through one of their judge leaders, Samuel: 

"Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, "Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them." (I Samuel 8: 4-9 ESV)

Did you catch that, God permitted, in His perfect sovereignty despite their rejection of Him, Israel to have kings to rule over them regardless of the fact that the covenant Law was meant to fulfill this purpose. Why?

When I originally read this my thought was that Israel was not following the covenant, so they got the second best, they got a political king. That political king was eventually king David after God removed king Saul from authority. Sure it was off to a rocky start but it did it get better, right? 

Sure enough king after king after king was seemingly worse than before. Ultimately, the plot gets so grim that Israel completely loses track of the covenant laws (literally...King Josiah had to dust them off from storage at the end of II Kings... too little, too late) and Israel was conquered into exiled again by the Babylonians under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar. Eventually the Lord released them back into their land (Books of Ezra and Nehemiah) and they tried their best to recapture the original covenant of Moses but something just seemed a little off; true spiritual reform was never quite successful. 

Remember when I said that Israel got the second best by getting a king? I was wrong. Deeply wrong. During this whole time, God was setting the stage for something earth-shattering, as first foretold by the prophets.

In the midst of the grave despair and devastation of Israel's final days before their exile into Babylon, the prophet Isaiah, who was still working to convince spiritual reform of Judah (Wait, where did Judah come from?? Well, during the reign of the kings, Israel was split into two political states, Judah and Israel: Judah is in the south, where Bethlehem was located, and Israel is in the north. Don't worry, the prophet Jeremiah was working around the same time to reform Israel up north)... where was I, Oh right, the prophet Isaiah wrote this: 

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light...For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace..." (Isaiah 9:2-7) This prophesy forsees that very moment when a king, from the line of king David, is born to bring truth and justice to all nations (Isaiah 9:7). Except this time, this king was God Himself.

Pause: Do you see the advent darkness we all appreciate now in context (exile, conquered, chained, out of the will of God)? To be honest, this hit me like a ton of bricks. It's not a metaphorical darkness that we talk about, but a grave and real spiritual darkness that deeply effected real people. 

Fast forward to the New Testament, where the first 17 verses establish a lineage from king David to the Joseph of the Christmas story. 

This is how I was so wrong with the "second best option" assumption:

God's permission for a king to rule over His people set the stage for Jesus to be just that King; a Wonderful Counselor capable of making pure the hearts of all who, by faith, willingly sought after Him (the book of John). The fruit of this miraculous change of heart is love and holiness from those who believe in him (Romans). Ultimately, it is through Jesus that we are equipped to meet the conditions of love and holiness established by the original covenant with Moses. Remarkably, it is through Jesus' ultimate death and resurrection that broke the conditions of the original covenant, allowing us to live freely in the grace of God by faith in Him (Romans 7). Doesn't seem perfect here on earth yet? Don't worry, the best is yet to come for all Christians with the promise of Heaven and the second coming; Jesus taught it, Paul reminded us of it, and it was revealed to John as the culminating book of the bible (Matthew 24, Paul's Letters, Revelation).

So when we sing, "O, Come! Let us Adore Him!" this Christmas season, be reminded of the context and the background of Jesus' birth. The birth of Christ wasn't just the birth of Christ, it was the fulfilling of God's original promise to mankind, worked out perfectly, patiently, and sovereignly throughout the pages of the Bible. Jesus is the missing piece that directs our hearts toward living in obedience to God and with love, peace, and kindness towards one another. The Holy Spirit fuels all of this to happen, constantly directing and re-directing our lives towards Him (Acts, Paul's Letters). 

With 5 minutes to spare before midnight, I guess this blog post was my candlelight service of sorts. I wish you the Merriest of Christmas seasons. Blessings to you, all. 

Remember: Be Encouraged, Be Inspired, Be Resonant.