'Tis the Season...

And behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus (Luke 1:31).

This is the time of year when many Christians expend the bulk of their religious fervor (most of the balance occurring at Easter). It is also a time when a great deal of the religious significance of this season is overwhelmed by crass commercialization and unrestrained materialism. Some Christians are repulsed by Christmas because of what commercialization has down; others do not celebrate it because there is no directive in the Bible to give Christ’s birthday a special celebration. Whether one opts to recognize the birth of Christ or to ignore it altogether, one fact remains: the birth of Christ is one of the four greatest, most improbable, and intensely inscrutable events in all existence. These events overshadow all human history, achievement, and thought. They are 1) the Creation (the work of God), 2) The Incarnation of Christ (the birth of God as a man), 3) the death and resurrection of Christ (the suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection of God), and 4) Christ's Second Coming (the return of God). If we would stop the excessive spending, insatiable wanting, and foolish squabbling, we might have time to consider things “that cannot be told, which man may not utter (2 Corinthians 12:4 ESV).”

First, when we consider on the one hand the magnitude of the creation that extends to the most distant galaxies of the macro world and on the other, in Michael Behe's words, the "horrendous complexity” of the micro world; when we consider the tremendous intellectual and physical power it would take to create, drive, and sustain such a world, we are driven to our knees with eyes filled with wonder and mouths overflowing with praise. The intellectual and physical demands of designing and implementing something as grand as the universe makes, I believe, many to doubt that such a powerful intellect could exist. Unable to grasp such a power and, maybe more, unwilling to submit to it, many choose the only alternative; namely, to believe it is all an accident and all the physical laws that keep things in order are simply contained in mindless matter. Inexplicably for unbelievers it is easier and more intellectually satisfying to believe that everything is nothing more than a purposeless accident. On the other hand Christians stand in awe of the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The Creation is the first of the four great events in divine history that brings man to his knees.

The second great event is the one which is widely recognized and celebrated on the twenty-fifth of December, the Incarnation of God. Many find it easier, perhaps more comfortable, to use the expression "the birth of Christ," rather than the "incarnation of God," but the two are synonymous. Perhaps when we speak of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, we are usually thinking of an innocent baby, of the hope of mankind, the Redeemer of sinners, etc., but it is mostly in the nostalgic terms of a baby born in a stable. It is a profound story full of wonderful pleasantries, but it tends toward a cheap salvation. There is not much to submit to the image of an innocent and helpless baby of whom shepherds praised and angels sang. But when we think in terms of the Creator God of whom we marvel at in power and intelligence being incarnated, i.e., taking on the form of a man, living throughout His life as sinless as the baby that was born, and enduring suffering and death, we are now considering a being before whom we once again bow down and shudder. The incarnation of God is the second great event of divine history that is perhaps even more incomprehensible to the human mind than the Creation.

The third great event is the death of Jesus Christ. When we think in terms of the death of Jesus the man, it is not so intellectually challenging. But, if we think in terms of the death of God, even the brutal, torturous death, we again cannot grasp it. Jesus is more than a mere man. Jesus "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1:15)." Jesus is the One by whom "all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers (Colossians 1:16)." He is the one that "[upholds] all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)." It is Jesus who emptied Himself of all divine prerogatives, took the form of a bondservant, made Himself of no reputation in taking on the form of a man, suffered such that "His visage was marred more than any man (Isaiah 52:14),” and died an ignominious death on a cross (see Philippians 2:5-8), so that men might be redeemed from the bondage of sin and have life eternal. It is the tortured and murdered God who defied the grave and rose on the third day whom God the Father "exulted" and gave the "name which is above every name" before which "every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth (Philippians 2:9-10)." The death and resurrection of God is the third incomprehensible event in divine history and may be still more incomprehensible than the first two.

The fourth great event has not yet occurred, but is as sure as if it already has. Throughout biblical history God frequently spoke of future things as though they have already occurred. The fourth great event, the Second Coming of Christ, is a certainty, but even unknown to Jesus as to its time. When that day arrives:

. . . the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive . . . shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord . . . (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

The operative phrase for mankind in this passage is "in Christ." Those who are "in Christ" will join with the Lord for eternity at the Second Coming. At that time we will be restored. The apostle Paul speaks of it this way:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?"

'Tis the season . . . to slow down, remember, ponder:

The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him (Habakkuk 2:20)

Originally published in The National Road Advisor