After thinking about the nativity this year, I’ve come to a conclusion: Christmas is HOPE!
We all know that Christmas is about many things. For most of us, it’s about food, family, tradition …and presents! (Who doesn’t like presents, right?) As the song says, it truly is “the most wonderful time of the year!”
And yet, for some, it’s the most terrible time of the year. If you are having a “blue Christmas,” missing a loved one or being estranged from your family, it can be the most dreaded time of the year.
The bottom line, however, is that Christmas is all about Jesus. It is the celebration of His birth, of God, Himself entering the story as a baby – and that one act has truly brought HOPE to mankind. HE is the HOPE for all of us in every generation, everywhere on the planet, whether our Christmas is full of wonder or full of sorrow. Christmas is meant to bring us HOPE.
If you have ever been hopeless, truly hopeless, past depression to the point of despondency, you will relate to what I am about to say. If you have ever been helpless in a situation with no way out, you’ll get this. If you are an addict, you know what I mean. If you have a terminal illness, you can relate. If you have ever despaired of life, itself, you have been there.
I know. I was bound by the pressures of suicide, when Jesus rescued me and gave me a life worth living. He certainly has become MY HOPE!
But He’s like that… He loves to take hopeless cases and bring them to life. With man it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible! He is actually looking for those who know they are helpless and hopeless, so He can do His thing.
That is nothing new. Bringing HOPE to the hopeless has always been God’s desire…
Thousands of years ago, the Israelites were in a hopeless situation. Generation after generation, for most of their 430 years in Egypt, they were slaves under cruel taskmasters. Oh, at first, it was great. Joseph opened the door, and they prospered in Goshen – until he died…and then that pharaoh died…and then no one seemed to remember that they were honored guests. By then, they had grown in number and become a threat… and the rest, as they say, is history.
Men and women were born and died in bondage with no relief, no freedom, and no hope – apart from GOD sending them a deliverer. And that’s exactly what He did. When He felt the time was right, He sent Moses.
And then, it happened again… There was another 400 years of darkness. The Greeks had invaded the land and oppressed the Hebrews. To make matters worse, much worse, Israel had no prophet, no word from heaven at all. No Moses, no Aaron – no Samuel, no David – no Elijah or Elisha or Isaiah or Jeremiah. No one. No sound, no Word from heaven. For generation after generation after generation, God was silent.
Ever been all alone in the dark? Worse yet, have you ever been in a cave, when they turn out the light? I can only imagine that their spiritual darkness must have been something like that deep, physical darkness.
However, nearly smack dab in the middle of the darkness, God gave them a glimmer of light: Hanukkah. Literally, it was a miracle of light in the midst of their darkness. Judas Maccabees had made a stand in the Temple against a madman of a despot – and the oil that should have lasted one day lasted eight!
It was a sign. Even if you have just one, tiny light, God can illumine your darkness. He can keep you going until you get rescued. He is all about HOPE.
This was also the case the night the sky exploded with angels singing to shepherds. God was announcing the fact that HE, HIMSELF had entered our darkness; Emmanuel (God with us) was here!
Suddenly, when the time was right, HOPE was born – as a baby. What Adam did wrong, He would do right. What we couldn’t do, He would. Like Adam, when he was created, Jesus wasn’t bound by sin. Unlike Adam, He never did – so He was the ONLY ONE who could deliver us. He was the ONLY ONE who could open the scroll. HE ALONE is our only HOPE.
Sure enough, the baby in the manger grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man – and never once succumbed to sin. He had completely unbroken fellowship with His Father – until He willingly entered our darkness on the cross. It was there that He took our sin upon Himself and forever destroyed its power.
It was there that the Baby became Salvation, underscored by His resurrection a few days later! He rescued us from a truly hopeless situation – and that which we HOPED for became a reality. We can now live a life worth living in fellowship with the Father.
Thank You, Father, for the LIVING HOPE born in a stable long ago…
Christmas is HOPE.
