Christmas is about family and friends
- The stockings lined up on the mantle
- The ongoing list of presents to purchase
- Attending parties and gatherings with gift exchanges
- Wondering who drank the last of the egg nog and left the empty jug in fridge
- Sitting together in church watching advent candles being lit, singing carols, and reflecting on the message about the hope of the world – is it really for me?
Questions linger not just about Christianity but Christmas…
- For starters, Jesus wasn’t born on Christmas Day – it became a celebrated day probably a two centuries or so after Jesus left our world.[1]
- ~221AD Sextus Julius Africanus wrote a history of the world from Creation to his present year. He calculated that Jesus was conceived on March 25 and simply counted 9-months to Dec25. And he was not alone on this calculation, with Hippolytus a Bishop of Rome.
- 354AD a calendar was produced for a wealthy Christian family that listed Dec25 as Christmas.
- 386AD a pastor John Chrysostom noted that it was a “long time tradition” that Christmas was being celebrated.
- Interestingly, there were several pagan holidays during the winter season
- Brumalia celebrated Nov 24 to honor winter solstice and revelry around idols
- Saturnalia celebrated Dec 17 was 24 days later which stood for each letter in the Greek alphabet; each day celebrated different names of idols and merriment.
- BUT in reality Christians had been celebrating the incarnation for decades earlier, and it is more likely that Roman Emperor moved Sol Invictus to Dec 25 as an add-on to compete with the growing rate of Christianity, as traditional Roman paganism was in decline.
- Yet, Christmas began even further back than Joseph & Mary. Christmas doesn’t start in Bethlehem but in Eden. Christmas began with God’s promise of an offspring even before the beginning of creation.
- From the beginning, it was God’s plan for human beings to have dominion over the earth. We are made in God’s image and were to be God’s stewards of creation.
- But, Adam and Eve stained God’s image when they doubted God’s goodness and disobeyed God’s guidance. In that moment of guilt and shame, God could have destroyed humanity and chose not to relate with us ever again. Instead, God chose not to operate in destruction but development. God used the fall of humanity to lead to the salvation of humanity.
Christmas doesn’t start in Bethlehem but in Eden. Christmas began with God’s promise of an offspring even before the beginning of creation.
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- On Genesis 3:15
- Charles Spurgeon: “This [verse] is the first gospel sermon that was ever delivered upon the surface of the earth… it is as an oak lies within an acorn, all the great truths which make up the gospel of Christ.”[2]
- Gen3 appears as victory for Satan, but the fight was already over before it started. On the darkest day of human existence, God was not in panic mode but pre-decided to operate w/ incomprehensible justice and grace.
God told Adam & Eve in Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you [serpent] and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.”
The Christmas promise has conflict.
- enmity between serpent’s and the woman’s offspring
- “Enmity” has the intensity of hostility experienced among nations in warfare.[3]
- Satan is described as the serpent of old (Rev 12:9). He cast doubt, division, and distortion into God’s design for creation. And Adam blamed God – Eve blamed Serpent… it was a disaster with all creation cursed.
- So, God curses the relationship between animals and people.
- Yes, we have pets and zoos, but animals are caged or have large motes creating distance. Further, we live in a world where dogs bite, crocodile hunters don’t win wrestling matches, and a mouse pretends to be royalty of a magic kingdom but costs us an arm and a leg!
- God intended something far better in the original creation.
- JRR Tolkein, On Fairy Stories: “It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher ore more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the ‘turn’ comes, a catch of breath, a beat and lifting of the heart near to tears… The Gospels contain a fair-story of a larger kind. They contain marvels – peculiarly artistic, beautiful, and moving in their perfect, self-contained significance. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history.” Prophets reference the coming of the Messiah will lead to “The wolf dwelling with the lamb; the leopard lying down with the goat; the calf [dancing] with a lion; and a child playing over the hole of a cobra snake (Isa 11:6-8).Psalm 148 exhorts all creation to praise the LORD – from sea creatures to mountain beasts, and to flying birds and creeping things (148:7-10)
- Jesus initiates the kingdom of God and the Spirit leads him into the wilderness, and Jesus is with the wild animals as angels minister to him (Mark 1:13)
- The serpent’s offspring are not just crawling along the ground but smooth-tongued orators who promote fierce demands and false hope (cf Mt 3:7; 23:15, 33; Jn 8:44). Snakes are all around us!
- you shall bruise his heel
- The snake’s offspring batter/crush the heel of the woman’s offspring; the verb tense is strong and indicates repeated attacks on both sides to injure.[4] But, the serpent’s attacks are at the heel – never fatal.
- We all feel the sting of enmity in relationships and circumstances that life is not what it should be. Something is missing. So, we try to fill that void with greed / or false generosity (giving presents) / or all sorts of vice & substance abuse but none of satisfies.
- The heel healing comes not by concealing our mess but confessing it so that Jesus can love the mess out of us. We have a God-shaped hole that can only be filled with a cross-shaped key. Our faith in Christ brings acknowledgment of our identity as sinner and Christ’s identity as Savior.
- The Christmas conflict is within us. If we hide our sin, we believe God is a liar but if we confess it, we realize how much He loves us and will forgive us from every fault and offense. (1Jn 1:9-10)
- The snake’s offspring batter/crush the heel of the woman’s offspring; the verb tense is strong and indicates repeated attacks on both sides to injure.[4] But, the serpent’s attacks are at the heel – never fatal.
The Christmas promise has confidence.
- and her offspring;
- God’s purpose in Eden did not fail, it moved forward to show the depth of God’s faithfulness from generation to generation. Eve’s offspring would eventually become the final promised seed in Jesus, that would die and still bear fruit (cf Gal 3:16; Jn 12:24).[5]
Yet, Satan is a formidable adversary. He attempts numerous countermeasures to crush the promised offspring…- Cain killed Abel but God gave Adam another son, Seth
- God’s purpose in Eden did not fail, it moved forward to show the depth of God’s faithfulness from generation to generation. Eve’s offspring would eventually become the final promised seed in Jesus, that would die and still bear fruit (cf Gal 3:16; Jn 12:24).[5]
- Men multiplied evil, so God judged world w/ flood but saved Noah & family
- Abraham sought a son thru Hagar but God gave Isaac thru Sarai
- Pharaoh tried to exterminate Israeli babies but God spared Moses
- Saul tried to kill David for about a decade, but God protected him
- Haman plotted to kill all Jews, but Esther speaks to king for protection
- Herod the Great heard of a newborn king and ordered the murder of Jewish male babies, but God warned Joseph & Mary to take Jesus to Egypt.
- Herod the Great heard of a newborn king and ordered the murder of Jewish male babies, but God warned Joseph & Mary to take Jesus to Egypt.
- God’s word is pregnant with promises ready to be born in your life.
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God’s word is pregnant with promises ready to be born in your life.
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The Christmas promise crushes the serpent.
- he shall bruise your head
The promised seed and offspring is Jesus.
- The serpent attempted to destroy Jesus but each one was a heel wound.
- With Herod (Mt 2)
- At temptation (Mt 4)
- Religious leaders (Jn 10:39)
- Roman soldiers at the cross (Mt27)
- Finally, Jesus crushed the head of the serpent through resurrection.
- Thief comes to steal, kill, destroy, but Jesus came for life (Jn 10:10)
- Devil prowls like roaring lion to attack but he’s been defanged (1Pe 5:8-9)
- Death was not possible to defeat Jesus (Ac 2:24-25)
- Death has become Jesus’ servant to open the doorway to eternity (Ro 5)
- Death cannot separate us from Jesus Christ (Ro 8:38)
- The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Ro 16:20)
- Jesus died, and behold is alive forevermore, and has the keys of Death and Hades (Rev 1:18).
Christmas is not Hallmark commercial happiness but God waging war against humanity’s greatest enemy. We celebrate not just a birth but a decisive battle that God has won for us.
So, knowing that Christmas has a hidden conflict, we need a champion.
Heaven’s champion does not come how we want or expect: celebrity prestige, military power, political dominance, financial prosperity, or even physical health. Instead, God’s champion came with the announcement of a baby.
- There’s nothing we can do to earn God’s love
- We win by simply bowing our knees and adoring the new birth
Won’t you make room in your life for Jesus to write His story?
*Take this time for reflection and response to Jesus.
[1] Some of this section referenced from: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/article/christmas-isnt-pagan/, and https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/how-december-25-became-christmas/,
[2] https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/christ-conqueror-of-satan/#flipbook/
[3] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11:26, vol. 1A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 245.
[4] Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, vol. 1, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987), 80.
[5] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-individual-and-collective-offspring-of-the-woman-the-canonical-outworking-of-genesis-315/
Growing Godly Generations 