My Case For Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2018 by America's Keswick in Freedom Fighters

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” — John 1:4-5 (NKJV)

I’m not entirely too sure how this came about but somewhere around 385 A.D., Pope Julius I declared that December 25th would be for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. He did this as a direct challenge to the celebration of the Roman god, Saturnalia, which was a time of social disorder and apparent sexual immorality. I guess this Pope wanted to flip the script in Roman society since Christianity was gaining momentum at that time period. However, back in 200 A.D., theologians then claimed May 20th was right while others point to April or March. By 529 A.D., Emperor Justinian settles the date and makes Christmas a civic holiday. If you wanna go digging into other references, you’ll find so much thought and opinion on Christmas, your head will explode.

Makes me kinda wonder what the Prophet Jeremiah would say if he were around to speak to all those different opinions. He just might say something like this…

“Don’t take the godless nations as your models. Don’t be impressed by their glamour and glitz, no matter how much they’re impressed. The religion of these peoples is nothing but smoke. An idol is nothing but a tree chopped down, then shaped by a woodsman’s ax. They trim it with tinsel and balls, use hammer and nails to keep it upright. It’s like a scarecrow in a cabbage patch—can’t talk! Dead wood that has to be carried—can’t walk! Don’t be impressed by such stuff. It’s useless for either good or evil.” (Jeremiah 10:2-5)

Now Jeremiah has his point here. As time has gone by, we’ve added a little glitz here and a little glamour there to Christmas and we’ve forgotten that Jesus Christ came to us for the simplest reason. As complex in theology as it is, Jesus came into this world just like we all did…born of a woman. And His arrival came when an entire region of the world was becoming Romanized while a Temple system was becoming desensitized. That needed to change…big time!!

There are two benefits that really should be the focal point to the Christmas story and that in the person of Jesus Christ there is the embodiment of both life and light. John’s Gospel points that out right from the beginning. John also points out that the darkness doesn’t get it. Why? Well basically, without getting into the cosmic struggle of it all, our adversary, who we’ll call Satan, wants to keep folks fumbling around in the dark just to keep them from seeing that the light can pierce itself into their lives. When you can’t see where you’re going your hope becomes diminished, doesn’t it? When hope is gone, life just doesn’t seem worth it either.

So, as being both the life-giver and the light-bearer, Jesus gives us three things…
1…Jesus gives us something we could never get on our own.
2…Jesus gives us something better than we deserve.
3…Jesus shows us where to go when we couldn’t find it on our own.

This is some pretty decent Christmas gifting indeed.

The clearest statement that Jesus made about this gifting is a Sunday school classic, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Isn’t it cool to know that Jesus you give you eternal life? But there’s a twist. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). While you’re here you get to live an enhanced life rich in God’s grace. Finally, Jesus brings us the light that restores us from spiritual darkness. “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness” (John 12:46).

So, my case for Christmas is quite simply this… “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and BELIEVE in heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) All that other stuff that has come with Christmas may not be all that Biblical but there is something the resurrected Jesus Christ will do. It will happen after everything else, that is part of the world system, has run its course and has proven itself unable to have an eternal purpose. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain…And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:4ff, 5a).

When that Day comes it shall be a “MERRY CHRISTMAS” indeed. Amen?

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris, a graduate of The Colony of Mercy (11-2003) has been married for 25+ years (Kathy), has a married son (Kevin) and a daughter in college (Karen). He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008.

The Daily Bible Reading: 1 Timothy 1-6 | You can download our 2018 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here

Daily Quote: “Anyone thinking of the Holy Child as born in December would mean by it exactly what we mean by it; that Christ is not merely a summer sun of the prosperous but a winter fire for the unfortunate.” -G.K. Chesterton

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation,continuing steadfastly in prayer; Romans 12:12