God With Us

It is Christmas time, a time of year we strive so hard to make magical. Yet the simple truth is that it doesn’t need all the manufactured hoopla we try to engineer, because it is really about the greatest miracle we could hope for, the greatest wonder: That God would come to us.

That long-foretold but utterly surprising event- the God-Child lying in a manger- is the bookfold of the Great Story of human history, a magnificent story which was tragically derailed and could only be set right by God himself coming down into it, in the flesh, to put things right again.

So He did.

Now you’d think that the most important event in the most important story written by the Author of Life Himself would be announced with a great preamble. That the Messiah would be given an elaborate introduction to the world. But nothing about his arrival was what we expected. It was far more lowly than was decent for a king, for God himself. Indeed, the sky was filled with a multitude of angels that night, but the announcement they sang out was surprisingly simple:

“Glory to God in the highest! And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

Really? That’s it? I mean, it sounds nice and all, but the guest speaker at the actuaries convention is given a more thorough introduction than that.

And yet, what more is there to say? That God Himself would come down to earth in such a humble form in order to rescue humanity makes him so incredibly worthy of the highest praise. Glory to God in the highest! And this very best news – the birth of the Savior we so desperately need- gives us the key to what otherwise would always elude us: peace. Peace with God, peace within ourselves, and peace among people is only possible because of what Christ came to do. Our culture will try to make us think that peace on earth is attainable through human effort, if we can all just be kind enough, but intuitively we know this is not the case. We can’t even make it work for a few hours in our own homes, let alone in our cities or among nations. But Jesus can. No, not people off on some self-serving crusade under His name. And not people manufacturing an empty kind of altruism apart from Him. Jesus himself offers us peace.

“He Himself is our peace.” (Ephesians 2:14a).

Only Jesus makes it possible to have peace with God, and only then can we have peace in our hearts. And when he truly reigns in our hearts and begins transforming us with his love, then we are able to be true agents of peace to the world. But the angels’ proclamation was not about world harmony. It was a declaration that the God of the Universe has goodwill toward us! He is for us, and he is with us. It was the ultimate expression of love.

 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ” -John 3:17

When we felt lost and hopeless, wondering if God was there and if he cared, our True and Good Heavenly Father showed up and declared to his children living in a dark world that not only had he never left us, but he would give up his privilege and power and even his life to come as close to us as he possibly could. Into the dirt. Into a womb. Into our pain and darkness. He would be Immanuel: God With Us, and he would redeem the whole thing, like a father who scoops his child up out of sadness and danger and makes everything alright again. This news was to be a healing balm for the ache of the world.

“Glory to God in the highest! And on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

The angelic proclamation also hints at the simplicity of what Jesus would later tell us was all we really needed to know and do- The Greatest Commandments: To love God with all we are, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It was a sneak peek to the answers we needed and what this child would grow to teach us with his words and with his life and with his death: Love. Not the romanticized or artificial greeting-card type of love. The true kind that looks to God first because he is goodness and truth and is the one who loved us first and can show us what love really means. A love like that won’t be fighting for its rights in the streets, it will be quietly binding up the wounds of the broken, unseen but quietly changing the world because He changed our hearts. It’s out there, I promise you, working behind the scenes, because he hasn’t left us. Those who have received him, we have him. He is still Immanuel- God with us- every day.

“We love because He first loved us.” -1 John 4:19

If you’ve ever wondered if God really cares, take the time to read the nativity story, and then keep reading to hear the rest of the good news. It’s a true story, and it’s incredible that God would go to such great lengths to show us his love in such a completely unfathomable way. His love truly is the greatest gift. But the thing about a gift is that you have to receive it. You need to take it and unwrap it and accept it as your own, or it’s not really yours. Most modern translators agree that the most accurate translation of the angels’ song is actually “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” God’s favor is a favor that doesn’t have to be earned. The angel had already declared that this good news was for all the people. But it will rest like a garment on those willing to don it. It will not rest on those who shirk it off, unwilling to own it. May we be among those who receive the most important gift, offered freely to us by the God who loves us immeasurably.

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” -2 Corinthains 9:15

So go make your magic this Christmas, but see it for what it is, and don’t neglect the true gift of Jesus, who actually gives the hope and light that the gifts under the tree never will. I know it’s hard to see the light, to believe it’s there when the world still looks so dark, but friend, the work was accomplished at Christmas and at the Cross. The Light has come! We are but holding our breath until the page turns and we can finally see with our eyes the blazing glory of his light and love…