Reflections upon Christmas

I wrote this well over a year ago, but as Christmas draws nigh I thought it would be appropriate to post it here.

There is a story of love stronger and deeper than any love recorded by the great novelists of the world. The sweetest romance pales in comparison to the love that God showed the world when He sent His Son. This love story is so often told that we lose sight of how truly amazing it is. The stage is set outside the church building, under a tree and on the front of a greeting card. We think of the angels and shepherds, the magi from the east and the loving young mother, all worshipping the newborn king. It is a quaint picture in our minds as we bustle to and fro in the midst of the holiday rush. As we purchase gifts in anticipation of the joy on the faces of our loved ones do we miss the joy on the face of the Father when He gave His Son to His loved ones? If all we see is the manger, we have missed the greatness of Christmas.

Let us step back to look at the scene in Heaven prior to that first Christmas. We enter a temple filled with smoke, and there in the temple we see the Lord Himself, Jesus Christ, seated on a throne and He is wearing a robe so grand that its train fills the whole temple. The ground beneath our feet trembles at the sound of the Seraphim calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” We see that even the Seraphim, creatures made to worship at the throne of God, cover their eyes and their feet in the presence of the overwhelming glory and holiness of Christ Jesus. This picture was painted by Isaiah, and in it we see the rightful place of our Savior. He sat on the throne surrounded by praise and had every right to stay there, but love compelled Him to lay it aside for a time to become a servant.

Isaiah picks up the story of Christ several chapters later, and the man we see there is ordinary at best. “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Isaiah 53:2). What about the throne? He left it to rest instead in a manger, yet that manger was only a stop on the road to the cross. Along the way He would meet with rejection, grief and hate. The Seraphim hid their faces at the sight of His glory, but now men will hide their faces at the sight of His affliction. How then do I say that there was joy of the face of His Father when He came to earth? “The Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10) because He knew that this was the only way to bring reconciliation with mankind. You and I mean so much to God that He would be pleased to send His own holy Son away from His rightful place on Heaven’s throne to become a despised man who suffered for sins He never committed. When you look at the manger, consider what Jesus left behind and what He chose to face on our behalf. The greatness of Christmas is not in the lights and bells of our decorations, rather the greatness of Christmas lies in the sacrifice of the King of the universe who traded His throne for a cross and the praises of the angels for the curses of men. Joy to the world! The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King!