The following was previously posted in December 2020. It includes some revisions.
It is the time of the year when movies with a Christmas theme fill the TV schedule, and one of the most beloved is It’s a Wonderful Life starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Stewart plays the character of George Baily, who as a child and young man had great ambitions to get out of the fictional Podunk town of Bedford Falls, travel the world, and make a name for himself. He ends up sacrificing his dreams and ambitions, giving himself and his resources to emergent family needs and town crisis’. Due to circumstances beyond his control, (truth be told they all are) he finds himself despairing of life, ready to commit suicide, and stating (like Job) that he wished he had never been born. In response to prayer, God sends an angel in training, Clarence, to help George. Clarence does so by showing George what life in Bedford Falls would have been like if he had never been born, and conversely how his life had greatly helped and enriched so many. George comes to his senses and continues with his wonderful life (and Clarence gets his wings).
Have you ever wondered what this world and life in it would be like if Jesus Christ had never been born? What if the skies over Judea that first Christmas were truly silent that night; no cosmic light show, no angelic choir singing “Glory to God in the Highest and peace to men of good will,” no announcement by the angel to the shepherds of the birth of the long-promised Savior, and thus no directing of the shepherds to the stable in Bethlehem to see the miracle child in a manger, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin (Luke 1:34-35) (Luke 2:1-20).
What if Mary, out of the shame of being pregnant outside of marriage and fearing the potential consequences of being rejected by Joseph, her friends and family, or even worse being stoned to death for adultery, (the penalty under the Mosaic Law) had aborted the child within her womb?
What if God the Father said no way to having His eternally beloved Son come into this sin cursed world in the form of a man, only to be ignored, rejected, ridiculed, tortured and placarded on a Roman cross to die a shameful and horrifically agonizing death on behalf of men and women who had willingly defied His righteous laws, denigrated His majesty and slandered His infinite glory?
I would suggest the answer to these what ifs is that this world, absent Jesus’ birth, surprisingly might not be much different than the world we live in today, which is not much different than the world was prior to Jesus’ coming that night in Bethlehem – minus the technology. It would be a world in which we enter through the pain of childbirth, and within a relatively very short time (70+ years) we exit through the weakness, helplessness and hopelessness of physical death, living in the fear of that death throughout our life (Hebrews 2:14-15).
In between these two events, the universal afflictions of life in this world; namely sickness, disease, crime, injustice, war, poverty, addiction, domestic violence, child abuse, natural and technological disasters would continue unabated, bringing misery into our lives, frustrating our best efforts to know true and lasting joy and happiness.
So, you might be asking, if Jesus’ coming into this world would result in little if any change to this world and our life in it, what was the point of His coming? I would note that there is no doubt that Jesus’ first coming 2000 years ago, which we celebrate every December 25th, has enriched the lives of multitudes and brought a greater quality of life in nations where He has been embraced, at least for a season. However, the Apostle Paul comments in 1 Corinthians 15:19, that “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable“. This becomes most clear when we realize there are an incalculable number of our faithful Christian brothers and sisters presently living far from their best life now, living under severe persecution, (Open Doors Link) as were the Apostle Paul and innumerable Christians since (2 Corinthians 11:23-28) (2 Timothy 3:12).
Despite this, Paul would encourage his fellow believers then and now, by assuring them that the sufferings and hardships they experience while in this world are not worthy to be compared with the glorious life that God has prepared for those who love Him above all else in this world (Romans 8:18) (1 Corinthians 2:9) (Luke 10:25-28).
This glorious life is referred to in Titus 1:1-2 as eternal life, a term representing the life and relationship with God mankind was created to enjoy with Him in the beginning as objects of His infinite love, the life that was lost because of man’s sin (John 17:1-3). Sin is the term used throughout the Bible to represent mankind’s rejection of God’s purpose for and rule over our lives that displays itself in words and actions that oppose God’s righteous nature and design for human flourishing (Romans 1:28-32). The Bible makes it clear that all of mankind is guilty of sin and thus subject to God’s just penalty for sin which was and is death (Romans 5:12) (Romans 3:23).
The term death in the Bible represents our being separated, cut off from life. Because of Adam’s sin and our continuing in sin, even though physically alive, we are all spiritually dead, separated- cut off from the glorious life with God for which we were created (Genesis 2:16-17) (Ephesians 2:1-4), resulting in all of the pain, sorrow and suffering that marks life in what the Apostle Paul refers to in Galatians 1:4 as this present evil world or age. Life in this world ends for each of us at the time of our physical death wherein we will each face God’s judgement for our sin, and apart from God’s saving grace received through faith in Jesus Christ, we will be sentenced to eternal punishment in Hell, the lake of fire, which the Bible refers to as the second death, wherein we will never again be the objects of His love, but objects of His unending wrath (Hebrews 9:27) (Ephesians 2:8-9) (Romans 6:23) (Revelation 21:7-8).
Over 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the divine trinity, beloved of the Father, the creator of all things, full of grace and truth, voluntarily leaves the glories of Heaven, taking upon Himself a human nature and form to enter this sin-corrupted world (Philippians 2:5-8). He does not come to make this world a better place for us to live, but to save sinners from the judgement noted above and to restore to them the glorious world and wonderful life with God for which man was created (1 Timothy 1:15-16) (John 10:10). The term save refers to the state or experience of being rescued from peril or danger, protected from harm or kept from calamity, loss or ruin – deliverance from destruction. It includes the preservation of something of value or the restoration of something that has been lost or damaged.
In Luke 2:11-12, Jesus, as a baby, is identified as savior, Christ the Lord, the suffering servant and eternal king prophesied in Isaiah 53:1-12 and Isaiah 9:6-7. He comes into this world as one of us, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15), that through His life of perfect obedience to God the Father, His agonizing death on the cross, wherein He takes upon Himself the full penalty for our Hell-deserving sins, and in His victorious resurrection from the dead, He would accomplish everything necessary for Him to rescue from Hell and grant eternal life to men and women who would repent of their sin, trust Him as Savior and submit to Him as Lord (Philippians 2:8) (Isaiah 53:5-6) (1 Corinthians 15:54-56) (Romans 10:9-12) (John 3:16).
In Jesus’ saving work, believing men and women are forgiven of all their sins, counted as righteous and reconciled and restored to intimacy with God while in this world as His beloved children (Ephesians 1:7) (1 Peter 3:18) (John 1:12)). Thus, while living in the turmoil of this world we can know peace of mind, ease of conscious, rest in our soul and joy in our heart, being assured that our names are written in Heaven and that nothing in this world can ever separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39) (Luke 10:20).
And as we center our hope and ambition for a wonderful life around our Lord Jesus, we look forward with great joy and anticipation to being with Him in Heaven, and to His second coming into this world when we will be fully restored to the glorious beings God had created in His image and likeness in the beginning, fully able to share in the unimaginable joys and ever diverse pleasures to be found in the new heavens and new earth Jesus will create at His second coming (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) (1 John 3:1-3) (Psalm 16:11) (Revelation 21:1-5).
I pray that it is this wonderful life in Jesus Christ, our savior, a life of joy unspeakable and full of glory that you will joyfully celebrate this December 25th and beyond (1 Peter 1:8-9). Amen.
Grace and Peace x