The commercialization of Christmas even in distant Japan, where special brilliance and impressive displays may be found in Tokyo’s great department stores, is a reflection of the paganized Christmas of the Western world.
There is no reason to marvel that unregenerate men should miss the meaning of Christmas. For many it is just one more occasion for revelry, which is regrettable but understandable. Why? Is it not a holiday? And is the air not filled with a spirit of festivity?
Are not Santa Claus, sleighs, and reindeer symbols of Christmas? Why should not the liquor stores be decorated in honor of the occasion?
If Christmas is a symbol of fleshly desire and satisfaction, its slogan might aptly be: “Let us eat and drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”—but let’s leave off the last phrase to enhance the meaning of the first.
To pagans—cultured, educated, financially secure American pagans—Christmas is a mad swirl of diversions and pleasures; but what about those of us who are Christians? Has the true significance of the day when God came to earth in human flesh been borne into our own souls? Is the reality of his incarnation something which thrills us even as the magnitude of its implication baffles human understanding?
In eternity God, our loving Heavenly Father, viewing the past, the present and the future, as one unending panorama, saw the yet uncreated universe; and with an infinity of wisdom no man can possibly understand, he made his plan for the redemption of sin-sick humanity, and at the center of this plan was his own beloved Son.
Sharing in the glory of the Father, participating in the counsels of eternity, endowed with the authority and power to bring all things into being, Christ saw this panorama of history and his part in man’s redemption.
The Christmas story is one of divine intervention at a particular time in human history. It was an event foretold by the Holy Spirit, speaking through the prophets of old. And it was but one phase of an unfolding drama which led to the Cross, and then the empty tomb, and which will present as another of its earth-shaking aspects the return of the Lord of Glory.
God forbid that we should look on the events of the first Christmas with the coldly calculating eye of scientific or philosophical appraisal. That which took place in Bethlehem was a supernatural event which only a mind surrendered to the Holy Spirit can evaluate. The angelic manifestations were but the natural signs of an event which transcends both reason and experience.
“Fear not” was God’s comfort for men who otherwise would have been overpowered by experiences beyond the natural. “Good tidings of great joy” was the divine estimate of the advent of his Son. “Which shall be for all people” was an affirmation of the universality of God’s loving provision, for he has never been willing that any should perish but that all might come to repentance—the “whosoever” making the way open to all who might accept.
We see in this first Christmas a glimpse of the glory of God: “Glory to God in the highest” is his now and will be the song of the redeemed throughout eternity. But where is the peace on earth, the good will toward men?
Amid the strife and turmoil of the world order, an often unseen but eternally vital force is moving—it is the love of Christ in the hearts of men. It makes for a fellowship, the sweetest thing this side of heaven, a fellowship which transcends Christian divisions, the barriers of race, and the differences of tongue and nation.
That to this day the reign of Christ in the hearts of men is a minority movement in an alien world in no way invalidates the fact, nor does it preclude the day when every knee shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him as Lord.
The celestial manifestations were but forerunners of yet future evidences of the presence and power of the Lord of glory in the universe of his own making. That there was a star in the east which led the wise men to Bethlehem is no cause for wonder. Those who would explain away such evidences of divine intervention may with equal facility explain away other supernatural events in the life of the supernatural Christ—but only some day to discover incredulity to be lack of faith and smallness of vision in the unlimited reaches of God’s revelation to man.
That there were wise men with spiritual insights willing to be led, is but an illustration of the world-rejected truth that the beginning of wisdom has its roots in a reverential trust in God.
Shall we not see a symbol of our own eternal indebtedness to Christ in the worship these wise men accorded him, and were not the gold, frankincense and myrrh placed at his feet but forerunners of the abundance God has given us and which we in turn gladly give for the furtherance of his kingdom?
As the drama unfolds, man’s separation from God, his ignorance and sinfulness, are reflected in the perfidy and cruelty of Herod, but since that day the hearts of unregenerate men have been and are yet capable of similar folly.
For 30 years after the first Christmas, there were only fleeting glimpses of Him who was truly man and truly God. We see him identifying himself with man in the fulfilling of the law; we see him in the temple as a youth whose questions and answers amazed the Scribes. We know that he increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
Then one day, coming from Galilee to Jordan, John the Baptist sees him and makes the statement in which the wisdom and plans of God are combined to make the greatest news in all the world: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Within three years the earthly ministry of the Lord of Glory terminated on a Roman cross, but within three days he emerged from the tomb to be seen by many; and after his ascension (because of his resurrection) unlearned and common men went out with a Gospel which turned the world upside down.
At Christmas, 1958, surrounded by the evidences of the living Christ and his Church, the majority either do not know, or ignore, or reject him. But the Holy Spirit whom he sent into the world continues to speak of the things of Christ and woo men to him.
For the innkeeper in Bethlehem, business was so good there was no room for Mary and Joseph. To Herod, Jesus was but a possible rival. To the average resident of that area, other events and activities commanded their attention.
But to the few who believed, it was the transforming experience of their lives. In their midst and in their hearts was born the Saviour who is Christ the Lord.
