Finding Christ in Christmas—Literally

As our society has become increasingly intolerant of any reminders of the reason Christmas is even a holiday (all in the name of tolerance, mind you), a counter-movement so-to-speak has emerged with t-shirts and bumper stickers urging us to “Keep Christ in Christmas.” But more than a statement of social activism, this phrase also serves to remind those of us who do know why Christmas exists not to forget Him in the midst of the hectic happiness or lingering loss of the season.

So, much like we did a few weeks ago with our Thanksgiving exercise, let’s use another acrostic to help us focus our minds for a moment on who exactly Jesus is.

Let’s find Christ in “CHRISTMAS.”

C: Christ - “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” ~ Luke 2:11*

“Christ” is the Greek word for the title “Messiah,” meaning “Anointed One.” Essentially, in recognizing that Jesus is the Christ, we understand that He is the one promised throughout all of the Old Testament, even from as early as Genesis 3:15, the one who was God’s appointed way of breaking the curse we are born into.

H: High Priest - “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” ~ Hebrews 4:14

The significance of Jesus’ being the High Priest is perhaps not as poignant for us as it would have been for the Jews of His day, but it should be. Because Jesus is fully human, because He lived a perfect life, because He rose from the dead, and because He ascended back to God the Father’s right hand, He is able to be the mediator between us and God. No longer do we have to go through priests who are merely human to talk to or hear from God; we can come straight into God’s presence ourselves because the ultimate Human (who is also fully God) is interceding on our behalf.

R: Redeemer - “‘And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,’ declares the Lord.” ~ Isaiah 59:20

According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary[i], a redeemer is “one charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his wrongs.” Jesus avenged the wrongs we have committed against God and restored God’s creation (including us) to Him. He has paid our debt by taking our punishment upon Himself, allowing us to be free from bondage to sin, Satan, and self and making a way for us to be restored into fellowship with our Creator.

I: Immanuel - “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’” ~ Matthew 1:23 quoting Isaiah 7:14

The meaning of “Immanuel” is linguistically simple but packs a mighty punch: “God with us.” By calling Jesus Immanuel, we are acknowledging that He is God and that He came to be with us, both of which are incredibly profound and important. Jesus isn’t just a good example, a good teacher, or a moralist. He is God. That’s why his sacrifice on the cross can be enduringly efficient for us. And He is the means by which God actually entered into His creation instead of merely abiding over it. Instead of making us come to Him, He came to us.    

S: Shepherd - “'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’” ~ John 10:11

Jesus Himself identified himself as a shepherd—and not just a shepherd but the shepherd, and the good shepherd on top of that. As the good shepherd, He cares tenderly for His sheep (those people who believe in Him), providing for their needs, pursuing them when they wander, and protecting them from destruction. His care extended even to the point of giving up His own life. We can find peace and comfort in the thoroughly good care our Shepherd gives us.

T: Teacher - "‘You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.’” ~ John 13:13

I mentioned earlier that Jesus isn’t just a good teacher, but that doesn’t mean He isn’t a teacher at all. Yes, He is much more than a teacher, but He’s still a teacher. And what better teacher could there be than one who has infinite knowledge and wisdom, one whose mind conceived every single design we see in flora and fauna, every law of science, every standard of morality. He authored and spoke life-giving words, and we—if we can humble ourselves enough to realize that we don’t know even close to everything—have the opportunity to learn from Him in His creation and through His Word by His Spirit.

M: Master - “And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.” ~ Luke 8:24

We like to think of Jesus as our Shepherd, as our Redeemer, as God with us, but we are often quick to skim over the fact that He is our Master as well. He is the ultimate authority in our lives, the one to whom we must give an account for every word, thought, and deed. Our very existence is meant to bring Him glory, and our lives are best lived in service to Him.

He is not a cruel master, though, for everything we’ve already seen about Him is concurrently true. Just as He is the best Teacher because He is all-knowing, He is the best Master because He is all-powerful. He has the power to command even the wind and the waves, yet He does not force us into His service. He lovingly draws us and gives us a light and easy yoke to wear (Matthew 11:30).

A: Alpha and Omega - “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ~ Revelation 22:13

Alpha is the first character of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last, so by calling Himself “the Alpha and the Omega,” Jesus is saying that He is both the dawn and the fulfillment of creation. From the beginning of time to its end, Jesus is there and is holding it all together. He is the reason our universe exists and the one who will bring everything to its completion. And because He was there at the beginning and will be there at the end, we can find comfort and stability from His never-changing presence in our ever-changing world. He is the constant amid chaos. In short, everything is about Him, and that’s a good thing.

S: Savior - “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” ~ 1 John 4:14

In case you haven’t noticed, this world needs saving. Famine, natural disasters, disease, wars--all of these are symptoms of creation’s brokenness. Plus, at a more granular level, each of us need saving. We are desperately lost and without hope, even if we are happy and think everything is totally fine—unless, that is, someone saves us. How can that be? Because we’re selfish, prideful, and rebellious. Basically, we’ve tried to make ourselves God instead of worshiping the God who made us, and for that we deserve death. That’s how holy God is. Our lives aren’t about us, but we think they are. We live for ourselves and ignore God. That’s simply not acceptable in light of an all-powerful, perfectly righteous Sovereign.

But the good news—and indeed, the whole reason Christmas is something to celebrate—is that our need has been met. We have a Savior. And His name is Jesus. For ages, humanity has loved stories of heroes who sweep in to save the day, and I’m convinced that our affinity for such tales is because of our own deep need to be saved. And the best part is that there is a true story of a true Hero who swept in, not as a handsome conqueror but as a humble infant, and who would grow up to sacrifice His life to save the world.  

I hope these last few minutes discovering the treasures in the letters of “Christmas” have reminded you of the truth of who Christ is. And if you don’t know Him personally, I pray that these truths have given you a taste of His goodness and have whetted your appetite to seek after Him until you come to know Him for yourself. For when you do, the merriness of Christmas is so much richer and lasts all year long.  

*All Scripture quoted is taken from the English Standard Version

[i] https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/eastons-bible-dictionary/redeemer.html

Major Truths from a Minor Prophet

Micah, one of the minor prophets (so-called because of the book’s short length), is best known for two of its verses, Micah 6:8 and Micah 5:2. The first is the oft-quoted rhetorical question telling us that the Lord desires us to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly” with Him. The second is the prophecy that specifies Bethlehem as the birthplace of the coming Savior. But as I was reading through Micah recently, another verse jumped off the page—Micah 7:9. And it’s this verse I’d like to dig into today.

In the beginning of chapter 7 Micah is lamenting the fact that “there is no one upright among mankind” (verse 2). He is overwhelmed with the weight of the world’s depravity where even the most stellar example of humanity has become so warped as to be a tangled, twisted mass (verse 4). No one within can be trusted (verses 5-6), and the enemies without sit ready to delight in Israel’s demise.

Micah is understandably distraught, but he makes a conscious choice to lift his eyes from the chaos of his environment to the One who sits enthroned over it all. He writes, “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (7:7). He then reminds his enemies that although Israel’s situation might seem dismal, they will not have the satisfaction of seeing it defeated for long. He says in faith, “When I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness the LORD will be a light to me” (7:8). And then he continues in verse 9:

                I will bear the indignation of the LORD

                                because I have sinned against him,

                until he pleads my cause

                                and executes judgment for me.

                He will bring me out to the light;

                                I shall look upon his vindication.

This passage is packed full of profound truth. While its immediate application was for the people of Israel and Judah who would soon be taken into captivity, as prophecy it speaks to larger realities as well. Let’s dissect it to get a closer look…

“I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him,”

First, we see that sin incurs the wrath of God. God, the perfect, holy, supreme Being, is righteously angry with us because we have wronged him, and we live under that indignation . . . period? Praise God, no! The period of finality is absent, and instead we have the promise of a comma and the little word “until.” But how will that promising comma be followed? Will it be “until we are utterly destroyed”? Again, praise God, no!

“until he pleads my cause”

Take a moment to think about how unexpected that ending to the sentence is. The perfectly righteous and just God, instead of taking out His justified anger by requiring the punishment of death from each of us, doesn’t simply decline to punish us but actually speaks out on our behalf. Say what? How is that possible? Crimes have to be punished, don’t they? Indeed, and let’s look at the rest of the sentence. God pleads our cause…

“and executes judgment for me.”

So He does execute judgment, which should be no surprise given the fact that He is a just God. But again, we’re met with a surprise. Micah just finished saying he/Israel has sinned against God, so we should expect God to execute judgment against him/them. Instead, Micah says that God executes judgment for him/them. So who does God execute judgment against, then?

In the immediate context, He judged the nations who were Israel’s enemies. In the bigger picture, though, the answer to this question is given in glimpses throughout the entire Old Testament but comes into focus hundreds of years after Micah writes these words in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the God-man. He, an innocent, takes the punishment for all the guilty by dying on the Cross.

In short, God executed judgment against Himself. And He did it for us, the ones who owe our very existence to God yet spit in His face every day through our pride and self-centeredness. That’s how merciful and loving of a God He is. But He doesn’t merely absolve us from having to pay what we owe (our lives). Let’s keep reading…

“He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.”

God doesn’t just save us from something. He saves us for something. He brings us out of darkness, yes. But in bringing us out of darkness, He brings us into the light. From the very moment we turn from our sin and believe in what God has done for us, we are in the beautiful, glorious, peaceful light of a right relationship with God.

Does this mean that everything will be smooth sailing the rest of our days or that we’ll never dabble in darkness again? Not hardly. We still live in a fallen world, after all, and our growth in holiness will not be complete before Jesus returns. We will still stumble in sin and suffer the fracturing of fellowship with God that results. But the light is still there, and it’s still our home. The fellowship can be restored because the darkness no longer has a legitimate claim on our lives.

And one day, we will have the surpassing blessing of watching as God’s final vindication is carried out and we can behold Him in His righteousness. In that day, as we witness the judgment of God against the Enemy and stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, I imagine we will praise Him as Micah does in closing his book (7:18-19):

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

because he delights in steadfast love.

He will again have compassion on us;

he will tread our iniquities underfoot .

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

But instead of future tense, we’ll be using past. No longer will we be fighting to keep the faith, to choose to look upward instead of around at our circumstances. We’ll be literally looking at Jesus. Our faith will have become sight. Our lives will be forever and only filled with light and love. 

What a beautiful day that will be.