BP 181
I love the Christmas season for one primary reason and dislike it for another reason. I’ll begin with the dislike.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of Santa—and not because the letters in that name, if re-arranged, spell Satan. No, not that. Do I dislike Santa because he is a fictional character? No, not that, either. I’m not the Grinch. I approach the whole North Pole story from a different angle.
There are many fictional characters over the centuries we can admire due to their grit and intrepidity. Some totally random characters that come to my mind in this instant are Odysseus and his wise handling of the Sirens. Also consider the Wild West cowboy characters of Louie L’Amour who modeled the courage to stand up against evil men and the challenges of beasts and bad weather. Witness the resolve and heroic bravery of Frodo, Samwise, and Strider in Tolkien’s book, The Lord of the Rings.
Santa is such an empty candy-cane character when set alongside such three-dimensional people like Odysseus (yes, he did make some poor choices), Jim Flint, and Aragorn, Ranger of the North, heir of King Isildur, and confidant of Gandalf the wizard.
What I dislike about Santa the most is not who he is portrayed to be—a friend of children (except naughty children) and a giver of gifts–but rather who he distracts children and adults from, namely, the newborn King who is historical, real. How many people over hundreds of years have made Santa the primary focus of Christmas when the loving God who created the universe is largely ignored or at least marginalized? We know we’re living in fallen world when the Savior who died for you is eclipsed by a man who lives with elves.
So, there you have it—why I dislike the man in the red suit and white fur.
Since this post is not about beating up a fictional character (based on Saint Nickolaus) who lives at the North Pole but about exalting a different man (the God-man), let’s go to the primary reason I love this Advent season.
What amazes me about Christmas is the Incarnation–God becoming human and entering our material world to reveal Himself to us and show us the Father. Sadly, I usually take the Incarnation for granted, the truth that one person in the spiritual Trinity condescended to wear our skin and walk on this planet with us humans. What a miracle! God did not leave us alone. He came for us.
Do you remember Isaiah 57:15? I have shared it many times before because it is so powerful. It says:
“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
‘I dwell in the high and holy place,
and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”
The Triune God who created everything in the universe and everything beyond it is holy. He lives in a place totally separate from our earth. He is in a high place we can never reach. But . . .
But does God only dwell in a high and holy place? No. Isaiah says that He also dwells with the man or woman who is contrite and lowly in spirit. “Dwells”—that sounds like someone living in your house with you. Close. Intimate. Loving. The Creator of the universe has come to walk with you in this broken world.
What does John 1:14 say? “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The second member of the Trinity who has lived for an eternity in a high and holy place chose to come to live with us. On this planet. In the dust. Jesus left heaven and entered this world as a baby. He was formed in a virgin woman’s womb and came into the world through a birth canal. What god in the history of mankind has come to us in such a fashion?
Hebrews 2:14, 15, 17, 18 tells us, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. . . Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Jesus experienced the same things we do and was made like us in every respect. He suffered like we do, He helped us, and He delivered us from death and Satan. As Hebrews 4:15 says, He also suffers with us when we are weak in the face of temptation and sin: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
So, what is the takeaway from all this truth about Jesus at Christmastime? Let me summarize it in one word and then briefly expand on it.
Immanuel.
God with us. God could have left us alone as I mentioned earlier. But He didn’t. He came for us. He left the amazing, unimaginable glory of heaven (where He had experienced unbroken joy with the Father and the Spirit for eternity) as an act of obedience to His Father and out of love for us.
God the Trinity knew that sin and death had separated us from Him and so He came to rip open the Temple curtain that symbolized that we had been shut out from God’s Presence. He came to restore the friendship by delivering us from the kingdom of darkness we languished in and transferring us into the Kingdom of His Son.
So, what does that mean, that Jesus came for you and is your Immanuel? It means that the Father loves you, that Jesus is the Door that permits you access to the holy God, and that the Holy Spirit now lives in you. You are not empty, like Santa. Immanuel did not come to give you nicely wrapped toys and fleeting material pleasures that only distract you from what will last for an eternity, namely, an abiding relationship with your Designer.
Immanuel came to rescue you from death. He delivered you from slavery to sin. He defeated Satan, the boxer who mercilessly punches the broken rib of your shame. He came to take the punches for you and to give you His righteousness. He came to adopt you into Heaven’s family forever.
Why showcase Santa at Christmas when Jesus is the main event? He is the reason for the season, as we say. The only reason. So, major on the majors and minor on the minors.
One day, you will fully experience what it means for God to be with you. For now, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” ~ Hebrews 12:1ff.
Jesus came to be with you. Choose to be with Him—today and then one day in that high and holy place where He now dwells. Some call it eternity. Some call it heaven.
I call it home.
“He was created of a mother whom He created. He was carried by hands that He formed. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.”
– Augustine
“If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: ‘God with us.’ We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!”
– John MacArthur