If He’s Not the Reason, Then…
A number of years ago the phrase, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season,” became popular for Christmas cards, plaques, ornaments and the like. It has now been around long enough to become trite to some, and to receive only casual nods from others. Spiritual detractors of Christmas argue that Jesus wasn’t born in December, and that many of our Christmas symbols are pagan adaptations. I don’t believe God cares so much about the particular inaccuracies, as He does about the spirit of the celebration.
When I was small, my parents tapped into my imagination with stories of personal interactions with Santa Claus. While it seemed harmless to them, I was extremely disappointed when I discovered the ruse, and the fact that my parents had lied. But it also caused me to refocus my imagination on something almost as improbable as Santa Claus – God as a baby, born like a human, lacking decent accommodations, but celebrated by an open Heaven with thousands upon thousands of angels in deafeningly beautiful chorus. The wondrous thing about this focus was that it was not a fairy tale, but a historical event that connected the reality of the spiritual world with our physical world.
To learn more of what Jesus left to come to Earth, I have poured over Ezekiel’s description of the glory of God (Ezekiel 1), and Daniel’s encounter with an unnamed being that I believe could have been Jesus. “I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. 6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.” (Daniel 10:5-6) The mere presence of this being sapped every ounce of strength from Daniel’s body, which was restored only through the being’s spoken word to be strong. Science fiction depicts such things as an alternate universe. But the evidence of Heaven obliterates naysayers’ claim of fiction. Heaven existed before Earth was created, and will continue forever after this world is gone. Jesus left all that glory to connect us to the Father and an eternal reality far beyond our greatest imagination.
Apart from Jesus, there really is no reason for any kind of celebration. Even though the world is attempting to replace the beauty of what God did for man with myths and materialism, those of us who know the Truth, must celebrate the truth. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) “But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins. And in Him, there is no sin.” (1 John 3:5) As Jesus came to abide with us, so His sacrifice for us makes the way for us to abide in Him – and in that abiding place, there is no sin. Imagine!!