christmas is an act of war
by abby Ralph
I love Christmas. It is my favorite time of year, and I anticipate it all year long. The music, the movies, the cold weather, the hot cocoa, it’s all magical. Yet none of this compares to the true joy of the season – the birth of Christ.
When I was young, my parents made Christmas magical. I have always been all about keeping traditions and take it upon myself every year to ensure these traditions continue. As my husband and I start a family of our own, I am excited to keep these traditions going through the generations!
I think about Miracle on 34th Street when Kris Kringle says, “Christmas isn’t just a day. It’s a frame of mind.” This has been my motto for a while – Christmas is so much more than a regular holiday. It is the ushering in of the King of Kings. It is heaven coming to earth.
A pastor at my previous church once shared that Christmas is an act of war. That may sound strange – isn’t Christmas all about cute baby Jesus, barn animals, shepherds, and a star? No, Christmas is much more than that. Christmas is when God declared war on the enemy. He stormed through the earth in the form of a humble baby to reconcile His people to Himself.
As early as Genesis 3, we see God’s plan to redeem His people in the pages of scripture. The fall of man has just occurred. Adam and Eve have just sinned against God as Satan led them astray. Yet in the immediate aftermath, God reveals His plan to reconcile us.
Genesis 3:8-15: “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’
So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,
‘Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.’”
In verse 15, God says to the serpent there will be an offspring of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent, and the serpent will strike her offspring’s heel. This refers to Christ! Christ is the offspring of the woman. Although the serpent will strike his heel, which refers to the crucifixion, Christ will crush the serpent’s head by defeating death and rising from the grave.
What a joyous thing to celebrate! God ensured we would be saved. He knew we could never accomplish righteousness on our own – it would have to be God Himself who sacrificed Himself for us and offer us salvation as a gift. He loved us so much He immediately had a plan for how we could be offered salvation.
Many Christians today debate if Christmas should be celebrated. Some people say it comes from pagan roots or it’s too commercialized. It does not come from pagan roots; it actually replaced a pagan holiday! Isn’t that a wonderful thing when a Christian holiday can replace a pagan one? Christmas has become commercialized, but Christians do not have to fall down this trap. Every believer can center their Christmas celebration entirely on Christ.
What we need to do as Christians is ensure wonderful Christian holidays like Christmas remain on our calendar. As we live in a Christian nation, we must keep our calendar Christian too! And why would we not celebrate such a wonderful blessing as God Himself coming to earth to save us?
I hope this Christmas season brings you joy, peace, and comfort. May we join together and celebrate as the angels did in Luke 1:13-14.
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’”