It’s no secret that the secular version of Christmas has been evacuated of any real meaning. But is the version the church is presenting any better?
EDIT: due to being removed from YouTube (probably due to reporting on Steve Kirsch’s analysis of the NZ vaccine data), ONLY available as an audio podcast!
A special Christmas episode. A lot of people have identified in the last 2-3 years that there is a battle going on between good and evil. In this episode we look at 1 John 3v1-10 to see what part Christmas plays in that battle.
Alternatively, check out the audio podcast.
This will be the last Sacred Musings podcast of 2022 – I’ll see you all in 2023. I wish you a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Over the last couple of weeks I have written about Biblical principles and covid (safety and truth). After Christmas I will, God-willing, continue – but for now I just wanted to share a brief thought. This is what it says in John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Jesus, the Word of God, became flesh – a human being, like us – and lived as one of us. What an amazing thing to think about, especially in 2020.
One of my favourite Christmas carols is Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour.
This carol tells the story of how Jesus, who was rich beyond all splendour, came down to us for love’s sake. It begins:
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendour,
All for love’s sake becamest poor;
Thrones for a manger didst surrender,
Sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, could have kept a safe distance away from us. His were ‘Sapphire-paved courts’ – all the treasures of heaven. And yet he exchanged that for the lowly birth – a manger and a stable floor. Why? “All for love’s sake”. Because, out of love, he couldn’t keep away.
In Matthew chapter 8, we read of how Jesus healed a man with leprosy:
When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’ Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Leprosy in those days was a horrible disease – but not just because of its physical effects. It meant that you had to live away from the community, and it even separated you from God (you couldn’t go into the temple). Lepers had to shout ‘unclean, unclean’ to keep people away from them. Lepers, you might say, were doing social distancing before social distancing was a thing!
Jesus, however, did not keep his distance. Jesus even comes up to the man and touches him. But Jesus doesn’t get ill – instead, Jesus’ touch makes the man clean. The leper was healed of his disease, and able once again to enjoy life in the community and life with God.
The leprosy was symbolic of something deeper which is wrong with all of us: sin. Sin separates us from each other, and it separates us from God. But Jesus comes to us in our sinfulness, forgives us, heals us, and restores us to right relationships with God and each other.
Christians are commanded to love one another as Jesus loved. As Jesus said: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Jesus’ love is the model for our love.
One of the things I have found most difficult about the last year is the social distancing and masks etc. It’s changing the way that we see each other: rather than seeing each other as people to love, we are starting to see each other as people to avoid because they might be bearers of an infectious disease. I think long-term this will cause far more damaging effects than covid.
What I want to say, this Christmas-time, is simply this: Jesus could have kept his distance. He could have stayed away from us – it was his right to do so. He didn’t have to, as a hymn puts it, “exchange the joy of heaven for the anguish of a cross”. He could have stayed away. But he didn’t – because he loved us.
My hope and prayer is that covid will not change the way that we see each other. The restrictions may be necessary at times, but fundamentally we are all human beings in need of love. When you look at another person you are seeing someone made in God’s image who needs love. We mustn’t let the restrictions interfere with how we see each other.
Jesus came into a world which had a sickness far worse than covid. He came to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). He came to heal and to forgive. Let’s follow his example.
It’s been a while since I last posted in my occasional ‘hymnology’ series, where I look at the meaning of Christian hymns. You can see the previous ones under the hymnology tag. Seeing as it’s Advent Sunday, I thought it might be worth looking at the popular Advent hymn O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
It’s a beautiful, haunting hymn – but what does it really mean?
If you want to understand O Come, O Come Emmanuel – you need to understand the Old Testament. The hymn draws heavily on the Old Testament, and you can’t talk about the meaning without it.
The first verse of the hymn begins:
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
The fundamental thing to understand here is exile.
Let’s take a very brief history of the people of Israel through the Bible:
In a nutshell, when God’s people were in exile, they were away from the Promised Land. They were awaiting the day when they would be able to return.
All that happened to the Israelites. But what relevance does that have for modern day Christians? And why does O Come, O Come Emmanuel talk about things which happened long ago?
Interestingly, the New Testament book of 1 Peter picks up the theme of exile and applies it to Christians. The book begins: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, exiles, scattered throughout the provinces…”. So Peter addresses Christians as exiles. Why?
It’s all because of a concept called ‘typology’. This basically means that things which happened in the Old Testament prefigure or foreshadow things in the New Testament. Peter is saying that there is something about the Old Testament exile which applies to Christians.
What this means is that the situation of the Old Testament nation of Israel is analogous to Christians today: we, too, are not living in the Promised Land. We’re here because we as the human race disobeyed God – because of the Fall (which happened in Genesis 3).
Of course, for Christians, the details are different: the Promised Land is the New Creation. The one holding us captive is not the Babylonians or Assyria, but Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4). There are differences! But Peter says that, nonetheless, in a sense we are in exile.
The key thing is, does that help us to make sense of the hymn?
Let’s return to the hymn and see if the theme of exile helps us to make sense of it.
The first verse of the hymn finishes off:
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
We are in exile until the Son of God appears. This is what the Bible says: we will not reach our Promised Land – the new creation – until Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. But the good news is, we can rejoice – our comfort in this dark world is that Jesus will return and come to us.
O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save,
And give them victory o’er the grave.
As we’ve already seen, Satan is the one holding this world in slavery to sin. The ‘rod of Jesse’ is a reference to Isaiah 11:1 (‘rod’ is the way it was translated in the King James version; these days modern translations go for a ‘shoot’). It’s basically saying that Jesus, as the descendant of King David, would come and free us from Satan.
Jesus, Son of God, would save us from the claims of hell and death (Hebrews 2:15). Although we are living in exile, we need have no fear of the future because we know that all those in Christ are secure.
The rest of the hymn is basically a variation on the same theme. Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins (Matthew 1:21). He has defeated Satan and death. He rescues us from exile and leads us into the promised land.
Interesting fact: Joshua led the people into the Promised Land in the Old Testament. Joshua and Jesus are basically the same name – Joshua is the Hebrew version, and Jesus is the Greek version. That’s interesting, isn’t it? Like I said – typology!
In a nutshell, then, O Come O Come Emmanuel is saying that Christians today are living in exile. We’re not in the Promised Land. Although Jesus has and defeated sin at the cross, we still await the final judgement, where all evil will be destroyed. Until then, we have to deal with a dark world, where sin and death still exist. And yet, we have hope that one day Christ will return, lead us into the Promised Land of the new creation, and destroy death, sin, and Satan forever.
Here’s a version of the song recorded by Belle & Sebastian:
I’m going to level with you right of the bat: I’m not a fan of Away in a manger. It’s too romanticised, too cute for me. I think I did like it as a child, but as an adult – not so much. However, I have an issue with the carol itself which is beyond merely a matter of style – I think it flirts with heresy. The offending lines are these:
The cattle are lowing
The baby awakes
But little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes
What’s the problem with that? I know a little about babies, and I know that babies do cry. Quite a lot. There’s nothing wrong with crying – in fact, if a baby didn’t cry you’d be more worried. What I don’t like about this verses is that it suggests that Jesus was somehow not a ‘real’ human baby – he wasn’t a proper baby, he was some kind of ‘super-spiritual’ baby. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I do remember wondering as a child whether this implied that Jesus was different to other children.
The idea that Jesus was not a real human being is an ancient one, and it is a heresy known as doceticism (from the ancient Greek dokeo, which means to seem or appear – Jesus only appeared to be human). This is a very early heresy – in fact the apostle John writes about it in 1 John 4:2-3 – “This is how you can recognise the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.” Evidently some in the church John was writing to were teaching that Jesus had not come ‘in the flesh’.
So I’d like to use the opportunity to outline why it’s important that Jesus Christ came as a real human baby and not some heavenly apparition who just happened to look human. Irenaeus, a Bishop of the early church, wrote against doceticism. Here’s an except from one of his writings – Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching:
The Son of God became Son of David and Son of Abraham; perfecting and summing up this in Himself, that He might make us to possess life. The Word of God was made flesh by the dispensation of the Virgin, to abolish death and make man live. For we were imprisoned by sin, being born in sinfulness and living under death. […]
Now, if He was not born, neither did He die; and, if He died not, neither did He rise from the dead; and, if He rose not from the dead, neither did He vanquish death and bring its reign to nought; and if death be not vanquished, how can we ascend to life, who from the beginning have fallen under death? So then those who take away redemption from man, and believe not God that He will raise them from the dead, these also despise the birth of our Lord, which He underwent on our behalf, that the Word of God should be made flesh in order that He might manifest the resurrection of the flesh, and might have pre-eminence over all things in the heavens, as the first-born and eldest offspring of the thought of the Father, the Word, fulfilling all things, and Himself guiding and ruling upon earth. For He was the Virgin’s first-born, a just and holy man, god fearing, good, well-pleasing to God, perfect in all ways, and delivering from hell all who follow after Him: for He Himself was the first-begotten of the dead, the Prince and Author of life unto God
I appreciate this is not a simple passage and takes a little getting your head around. But I think the argument is quite straightforward.
The reason Jesus came was to save mankind from sin and death and to give life. Now, if Jesus wasn’t born – a genuine human birth – then he did not die a genuine human death. If he didn’t die, then he didn’t rise again, and if he didn’t rise again then he has not destroyed death. If death is not destroyed – then how can we gain eternal life?
Jesus had to become like us in order to save us. That’s the whole point. Jesus had to take upon himself human flesh to bring human flesh to God. Athanasius makes a similar point in On the Incarnation – only a man could identify with mankind and be united with them; only God could bring people to God. In Jesus, the God-man, fully man and fully God, we have the only one who is able to bring mankind to God.
So, this Christmas – and, indeed, all year round – it’s good to rejoice that Jesus was really and truly God, and really and truly human. One carol which does do a lot better in this regard is Once in Royal David’s City (apart from having a quibble with the line ‘Christian children all must be / mild, obedient, good as He’…):
For he is our childhood’s pattern;
Day by day, like us He grew;
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.
Jesus Christ was really human, like us. He knew tears and smiles, he can sympathise with us. This is the message which this beautiful video picks up on:
I’d just like to wish all my loyal blog readers a happy Christmas. May it be peaceful and refreshing and full of good cheer!
This term at college I am going to be studying the book of Hebrews, which talks a lot about the supremacy of Christ. I’d like to quote from the opening verses, which it would be worth reflecting on with me over the Christmas break:
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
‘In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son’ – powerful and amazing words. Hebrews talks about Jesus as the word of God the father (c.f. John 1) – God’s word, what he has spoken to us, is Jesus. The incarnation, that little baby in the nativity scene, is God’s word to us. What an amazing truth. Do we listen to Him?
I did say a few days ago I’d try and post again before Christmas. I was planning to write something intelligent and profound, but – well, actually, given it’s me you may be waiting a long time for that! I just wanted to post up a quick “Happy Christmas” to you.
At our carol service on Sunday night we sang “On Christmas night all Christians sing”, and I’d like to post up a couple of the verses from it:
Then why should men on earth be sad,
Since our Redeemer made us glad:
Then why should we on earth be sad,
Since our Redeemer made us glad:
When from our sin He set us free,
All for to gain our liberty.When sin departs before Your grace,
Then life and health come in its place;
When sin departs before Your grace,
Then life and health come in its place;
Angels and men with joy may sing,
All for to see the newborn King.
It’s not a carol I sing very often, but it struck me this year: “Why should men on earth be sad, since our Redeemer made us glad: When from our sin He set us free… When sin departs before your grace, then life and health come in its place.”
I hope and pray this Christmas you may know the life and health which comes of the joy of knowing your sins forgiven and the freedom that comes from that. As Jesus said in John 8:35-36, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Happy Christmas 🙂
I was originally intending to write a little light-hearted ‘review’ of some Christmas Carol lyrics here, but somewhat ran out of steam. Instead, I just wanted to post one or two thoughts about the Christmas Carols which many people (in this country at least) sing year on year. We’ve been to a carol service this evening at Christ Church, Cockfosters which was absolutely packed out – I think this goes to show that the popularity of the carol service is enduring and isn’t going to go away any time soon!
I was struck as we sang ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ – not a carol I’m a massive fan of (it goes on a bit…) – but one of the verses is:
Not in that poor lowly stable,
with the oxen standing round,
we shall see him; but in heaven,
set at God’s right hand on high;
when like stars his children crowned,
all in white shall wait around.
What struck me anew1 was the last line, the clear allusion to Revelation 7: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands … These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
As Richard James (vicar of Christ Church) said in his talk this evening, the Cross hangs over the stable: you can’t have one without the other. It just struck me in a new way that Christ’s incarnation is the most wondrous thing that’s ever happened – the fact that he came down, incarnate as ‘flesh’ – as a man – but that in dying and rising again he defeated death, and in the words of Te Deum ‘opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers’.
I think, particularly in evangelical circles, we’re too keen to brush over the sheer wonder of it all. At Christmas we rightly sing and praise God for the fact that he came as an ordinary human baby, and yet – in the words of ‘Hark the Herald Ages Sing’ ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see’: Christ Jesus – the image of the invisible God, by whom and for whom all things were created – there as a baby, helpless in his mother’s arms. I think perhaps in theological circles it’s easy to say those words without ever stepping back and thinking … “wow. this is absolutely mind-blowing.” And yet, this man died on a cross for us and for our salvation.
This Christmas I’ve been struck by Emmanuel ‘God With Us’ – this is something I’m going to be reflecting on over the next few days and weeks. How amazing it is that God was incarnate among us. How incredible it is that he died for us, and how awesome that one day those who trust in him will be with him, washed in the blood of the lamb, singing ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’. Soli deo gloria.
1 I think the reason it struck me anew was that the verse is different in Mission Praise, looks like it’s been altered from the original.