Great Jubilation

Introduction: Why Did Jesus Come to Earth?

Part 1

A young girl woke up one night frightened, convinced there were monsters and spooky creatures in her room. Terrified, she ran to her parents’ bedroom. Her mother took her back to her room, gave her a long hug, and said, “You’re safe here. You don’t have to be afraid. After I leave, you won’t be alone in the room. God will be here with you.” The little girl replied, “I know that God will be here, but I need someone in this room who has some skin!”

Skin is tangible; skin is relatable; skin can embrace and comfort. We all want someone we can hold on to. Sometimes God can seem, as he did for the little girl, like not enough. We want a God we can touch and feel. Like Thomas, we want a God we can stick our fingers into.

If you had a thought you wanted to communicate to someone, how would you express it? If you’re feeling playful, you might act it out as in a game of charades. Or you might draw a picture. For most of us, the most natural way to express our thoughts and ideas is through words, spoken or written. And if the message is very important, rather than relying on a text message or a phone call, you’d likely try to express your message through words in person.

John, one of Jesus’s closest students, wrote, “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. . . . God created everything through him . . . . The Word became human and made his home among us” (john 1:1, 3, 14). The mysterious Word, who is God (vv. 1, 18), took on skin, bones, and connective tissue and moved into our neighborhood.

The Greek term John uses, which we translate as “Word,” is logos. It’s the root word from which grows our words logic and logical. But this isn’t exactly what the Greeks would have thought of. Close, but not quite. When the Greeks heard the term logos, they would have thought of the logical, rational principle that they believed governed the world. The Greeks believed that an invisible, intelligent, integrating force was behind the universe, holding it all together. Writing to his own Greek world, John grabs their attention by saying in effect, “You’re right! There is a Logos-Power in the world.”

But this Higher Power isn’t simply above us, “out there” and aloof. Unbelievably, this Higher Power has come to us to communicate with us, which is why Word is such a fitting translation for us today. Jesus came to communicate God to us.

Jesus was the Word because the message that God wanted to convey to us was so important that he had to come to us in person to express it.

The Higher Power, the Word, came to us in time and space two thousand years ago on that very first Christmas and began communicating with us through the words and actions of Jesus Christ. The message? This is who God is.

If we get to know Jesus, we get to know God. Because God took on skin and became a human being in Jesus that first Christmas, we get to know who God is. And if we know God, we can also come to know the meaning of our existence.

Some of us don’t quite understand the meaning of our lives. Sometimes we may feel as if our lives are like a book with a missing chapter. But John is saying that Jesus is the missing chapter, and if we embrace Him, He will complete the book of our lives.

If there were no Higher Power in the world, no Word to communicate with us, then our presence on earth would simply be the result of some kind of a cosmic accident. If we are all the result of some cosmic fluke billions of years ago, then, according to Shakespeare, the meaning of our lives amounts to nothing more than “a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Not very inspiring, but it’s a fair conclusion if our lives are simply cosmic chance.

Yet to that idea John says, “No, no, no! There is a Higher Power, an infinite Word, a God who is seeking to communicate with us” (see john 1:1). The Word took on skin in the person of Jesus and became one of us that first Christmas so that we might know who God is and also come to know the meaning of our lives.

Now, if you’ve heard the Christmas story from the Bible before, this idea may not stun you. In fact, you may be yawning a bit about this whole idea. But think about the first readers of John’s Gospel. To John&;rsquo;s fellow Jews during the first century, the idea that God would take on skin would have been beyond scandalous. The Greeks in John’s world, on the other hand, would not have been offended by this story because their gods—Zeus, Apollos, and Aphrodite—were thought to walk among people looking like humans themselves. The Greek gods were often depicted as human beings in statues. But John and his fellow Jews were forbidden to portray the living God in any concrete way, whether as a statue or a drawing (exodus 20:1–4).

Several times groups of Jews threatened to kill Jesus during His public ministry because, as a human being, He claimed to be God. He claimed to be able to forgive sins. Before Abraham existed (who lived two thousand years before Jesus walked the earth), Jesus said, “I Am” (or literally in Hebrew, “I-was-am-will-be”; see john 8:58). In other words, Jesus claimed to preexist before His own birth on earth—something He would not have said if He had not believed He was God. When His fellow Jews heard these words, they were so scandalized by what they thought was blasphemy that they picked up rocks to stone Jesus to death.

Have you ever been that offended? So offended by someone that you wanted to hurt them? Or so scandalized that you wanted to draw a weapon and snuff them out on the spot? That’s how many of Jesus’s fellow Jews felt about Him when He claimed to be God. Why so offended? Why not just write Him off as a nut job and walk away? Their outrage wasn’t merely personal, it was an offense to their religion and their God. It struck at the very core of their identity.

For a Jew, the assertion that a human being was God was the worst kind of blasphemy, a horrible disgrace. Many fans and ardent followers of Jesus gradually came to believe that Jesus was God because He did things that only God could do: He turned water into wine, opened the eyes of the blind, and raised the dead.

On the other hand, some who came to believe that Jesus was God doubted He was actually a human being. These followers of Jesus began saying, “He’s God, but He’s not really a human being. He just seems like a human being.” This idea persisted for about three centuries.

As a result, early church leaders determined that some clarity was needed. The Nicene Creed affirms that Jesus Christ was God and that He was mysteriously a human being. Jesus was God “incarnate,” “of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.”

What exactly does incarnate mean? It comes from the root word carne, which means “meat.” The Spanish phrase con carne means “with meat.” God incarnate, or God con carne, means God with meat—God with flesh, muscle; God with skin. This is not some dusty, abstract theology that makes no difference in our lives: this truth can change our lives and our eternity.

How so? If God came to us with skin that first Christmas, then it means we are never truly alone. We have someone who has mysteriously come to us both as Spirit and as an embodied being.

Now, it should be said that God was not absent before Jesus came that first Christmas. The whole Old Testament is filled with stories of how God was present with His people. But when Jesus was born that first Christmas, it was “God with us” in a whole new way.

That first Christmas, God—an invisible spirit—took on skin and became one of us so that He could be with us always (matthew 28:18–20).

Scripture teaches the mystery that Jesus Christ was both 100 percent human and 100 percent God. Why is this important? Because if Jesus was both a finite human being and the infinite God, then His death was not only for one person, but for the whole world. Being human (yet without sin), He could die for human sins; and being God, His sinless death was enough for the sins of everyone. Yes, for your sins too. That’s why John says that whoever receives Him can have their sins washed away and can actually become a daughter or son of God (see john 1:12). We celebrate the Christmas story because God, the Higher Power, the Word, became flesh—con carne, with skin—so that we might know who God is: a God who loves us and who died to show us mercy and forgive our sins.

Do you want to know this Higher Power, the Word, the living God of the universe personally? Then immerse yourself in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where you can observe God as a human being in Jesus.

Light and Shadow

Part 2

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. -Isaiah 9:2

Art historian Seymour Slive described the great Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606–1669) as the master of light and shadow, a compelling storyteller on canvas. Rembrandt’s painting The Adoration of the Shepherds portrays the darkened stable in Bethlehem where two shepherds kneel beside the manger while other people stand farther away. One man holds a lantern, but the brightest light shines not from his lantern but from the Christ-child, illuminating those who have gathered close to Him.

Seven centuries before Jesus’s birth, Isaiah used an image of light and shadow to foretell the coming of a Savior for Israel: “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. . . . For a child is born to us, a son is given to us” (isaiah 9:2, 6).

Each person may see a different story in Rembrandt’s painting, but perhaps each of us is represented somewhere in that stable. Are we kneeling in worship, standing back in hesitation, or hiding from the light that has penetrated our darkness?

Christmas invites us to step out of the shadows of darkness and to allow the light of Christ to shine into our hearts.

Faith in Christ is not a leap into the dark; it’s a step into the Light.

Hope in Him

Part 3

The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel. -Isaiah 7:14

As we drove home from a Christmas party one evening, my family and I approached a small country church nestled between glittering snowbanks. From a distance, I could see its holiday display. Strings of white lights formed the capital letters: H-O-P-E. The sight of that word shining in the darkness reminded me that Jesus is, and always has been, the hope of humankind.

Before Jesus was born, people hoped for the Messiah—the One who would shoulder their sin and intercede with God on their behalf (isaiah 53:12). They expected the Messiah to arrive through a virgin who would bear a son in Bethlehem and would name Him Immanuel, “God is with us” (7:14). The night Jesus was born, their hope was fulfilled (luke 2:1–14).

Although we’re no longer waiting for Jesus in the form of an infant, He is still the source of our hope. We watch for His second coming (matthew 24:30); we anticipate the heavenly home He is preparing for us (john 14:2); and we dream of living with Him in His celestial city (1 thessalonians 4:16). As Christians, we can look forward to the future because the baby in the manger was, and still is, “our Savior and Christ Jesus, who gives us hope” (1 timothy 1:1).

The key word of Christmas is “Immanuel”—God with us!

Christmas Wonder

Part 4

Remember the wonders he has performed. -1 Chronicles 16:12

After my first semester in seminary, my family was given airline tickets to fly home for Christmas. The night before our flight, we realized we had less than $20 for the trip. Parking, transportation, and other incidentals were certain to cost more than $20. Heartsick, we resolved to pray about it. Though our children were small (six and two), we included them in the prayer time.

As we were praying, we heard footsteps in the hallway of the apartment building, and then “whisk”—the sound of an envelope sliding under the door. Inside the envelope was an anonymous gift of $50.

The wonder reflected on our six-year-old daughter’s face matched the wonder in our own hearts. Here was a mighty God writing His name on a little girl’s heart by hearing and answering our prayer in the same instant. And so we, like the psalmist David, could “tell everyone about his wonderful deeds” (1 chronicles 16:9). So it was that first Christmas night, when a mighty, all-knowing, all-powerful God wrote His name on the heart of humanity, stunning us with the generosity of forgiveness and the joy of unconditional love. The birth of Christ is the answer to our most fervent prayers for love and forgiveness.

Can you feel the wonder?

A wonder-filled life is ours when we know the Christ of Christmas.

Stones Cry Out

Part 5

If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers! -Luke 19:40

Every year it seems that Christmas becomes more and more commercialized. Even in nations where the majority of people call themselves “Christian,” the season has become more about shopping than worshiping. The pressure to buy gifts and plan elaborate parties makes it increasingly difficult to stay focused on the real meaning of the holiday—the birth of Jesus, God’s only Son, the Savior of the world.

But every holiday I also hear the gospel coming from surprising places—the very places that so commercialize Christmas—shopping malls. When I hear “Joy to the World! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King” ringing from public address systems, I think of the words Jesus said to the Pharisees who told Him to silence the crowds who were praising Him. “If they kept quiet,” Jesus said, “the stones along the road would burst into cheers!” (luke 19:40).

At Christmas we hear stones cry out. Even people spiritually dead sing carols written by Christians long dead, reminding us that no matter how hard people try to squelch the real message of Christmas, they will never succeed.

Despite the commercialism that threatens to muddle the message of Christ’s birth, God will make His good news known as “far as the curse is found.”

Keeping Christ out of Christmas is as futile as holding back the ocean’s tide.

The Smells of the Stable

Part 6

They will call him Immanuel, which means “God is with us.” -Matthew 1:23

A stable? What a place to give birth to the Messiah! The smells and sounds of a barnyard were our Savior’s first human experience. Like other babies, He may even have cried at the sounds of the animals and the strangers parading around His temporary crib.

If so, they would have been the first of many tears. Jesus would come to know human loss and sorrow, the doubts His brothers and family had about Him, and the pain His mother experienced as she saw Him tortured and killed.

All these hardships—and so much more—awaited the baby trying to sleep that first night. Yet from His very first moments, Jesus was “God is with us” (matthew 1:23), and He knew what it meant to be human. This would continue for over three decades, ending at His death on the cross.

Because of His love for you and me, Jesus became fully human. And being human allows Him to identify with us. Because of Him, we can no longer say that no one understands us. Jesus does.

May the Light that entered the world that night cast its brilliance into the deepest corners of our souls this Christmas, giving us the peace on Earth of which the angels spoke so long ago.

Jesus understands.

Remember the Wrapping

Part 7

[Jesus] took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. -Philippians 2:7

At our house some Christmas events are the same each year. Among them is my wife Martie’s appeal to the kids and grandkids as they attack their gifts: “Save the paper, we can use it next year!” Martie loves to give nice gifts, but she also appreciates the wrapping. Presentation is part of the beauty of the gift. It makes me think of the wrapping Christ chose when He came as a redemptive gift to rescue us from our sinful selves. Jesus could have wrapped Himself in a mind-boggling show of power, lighting up the sky with His presence in a celestial show of glory. Instead, in a beautiful reversal of Genesis 1:26, He chose to wrap Himself “in human form” (philippians 2:7).

So why is this wrapping so important? Because, being like us, He is no stranger to our struggles. He experienced deep loneliness and the betrayal of a dear friend. He was publicly shamed, misunderstood, and falsely accused. In short, He feels our pain. As a result, the writer of Hebrews tells us that we can “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (4:16).

When you think of the gift of Jesus this Christmas, remember to keep the “wrapping” in mind!

Don’t disregard the wrapping of the best Christmas gift of all.

Lasting Peace

Part 8

Christ himself has brought peace to us. . . . He broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. -Ephesians 2:14

On Christmas Eve 1914, during the First World War, the guns fell silent along a thirty-mile stretch of the Western Front. Soldiers peered cautiously over the tops of trenches while a few emerged to repair their positions and bury the dead. As darkness fell, some German troops set out lanterns and sang Christmas carols. Men on the British side applauded and shouted greetings.

The next day, German, French, and British troops met in no man’s land to shake hands, share food, and exchange gifts. It was a brief respite from war that soon ended when the artillery and machine guns roared to life again. But no one who experienced “The Christmas Truce,” as it became known, would ever forget how it felt and how it fueled their longing for lasting peace.

In Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming Messiah, we read, “He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (isaiah 9:6). By His death on the cross, Jesus removed the “no man’s land” between us and God. “For Christ himself has brought peace to us” (ephesians 2:14).

In Jesus we can find lasting peace with God and harmony with each other. This is the life-changing message of Christmas!

Only in Christ can true peace be realized.

Christmas Lights

Part 9

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. -Matthew 4:16

In December each year, a neighborhood of thirteen families near where we live sets up a dazzling display of 300,000 Christmas lights. People drive for miles and wait in line for hours to see the flashing, colorful lights and hear the music that is programmed to go with it. The sound-and-light display is so elaborate that it requires a network of sixty-four computers to keep everything synchronized.

When I think about these holiday lights, I am reminded of the Light that makes Christmas a holiday for many—a single Light so bright that it illuminates the whole world with truth, justice, and love. This Light—Jesus—is everything that the world is longing and looking for (isaiah 9:2, 6–7). And He has told His followers to display His light so that others will see and glorify God (matthew 5:16).

Imagine if Christians worked as hard at shining and synchronizing the light of God’s love as the families of that neighborhood work when they illuminate their street with Christmas lights. Perhaps then the people still living in darkness would make an effort to see this great Light. When Christians work together to display God’s love, the gospel will shine more brightly and attract more people to Jesus—the Light of the world.

Our witness for Christ is a light in a dark world.

Rejected Light

Part 10

I have come as a light to shine in this dark world. -John 12:46

In the early hours of December 21, 2010, I witnessed an event that last occurred in 1638—a total lunar eclipse on the winter solstice. Slowly the shadow of the earth slipped across the bright full moon and made it appear a dark red. It was a remarkable and beautiful event. Yet it reminded me that while physical darkness is part of God’s created design, spiritual darkness is not.

Scottish pastor Alexander MacLaren said: “Rejected light is the parent of the densest darkness, and the man who, having the light, does not trust it, piles around himself thick clouds of obscurity and gloom.” Jesus described this self-imposed spiritual eclipse of heart and mind when He said, “If the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” (matthew 6:23).

The great invitation of Christmas is to open our hearts tothe Savior who came to end our darkness. Jesus said, “Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light. . . . I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark” (johm 12:36, 46).

The way out of our spiritual night is to walk in the light with Him.

When we walk in the Light, we won’t stumble in the darkness.