Unto Us A Child Is Born...

As I sat at Starbucks this Saturday morning, with my weekly dose of Cappucino Grande having now developed into a tradition of its own, I just had to break into a smile while as I read The Daily Mail newspaper sprawled out in front of me with the page edges overhanging the rather small circular table. Smiling at such promises of "...restoration of our institutions to their right places as instruments of self-governance...and to open up oceans of opportunity...as one invigorated nation, one United Kingdom filled with renewed confidence in our national destiny and determined, at last, to take advantage of the opportunities that now lie before us..." - all to happen after Brexit.

And on the same spread, without having to turn over the page, was an article with a headline which read,

Council Tax bills to rise by £70.

So this is the start of this utopian "oceans of opportunities as one invigorated nation" post-Brexit! Not much fun for low-income earners after all.

Wait! This blog was originally meant to be non-political. After all, it's Christmas. Surely, there are other things I can smile about - things that are far grander, far more glorious than the apparent contradictory news.

For many families, Christmas is a time of enforced joy, according to one newspaper journalist who wrote to The Sun, more than a couple of decades earlier. That's rather different from the amusement I felt while sitting at Starbucks. Here, I was genuinely amused. But on Christmas Day, there are always those niggling bits, such as the unwrapping of brightly-coloured paper to reveal an unwanted present and the utterance of Oh, that's what I always wanted, with a pretence which might have impressed Hollywood. 

Children squeal with delight at their newly-unwrapped powered toys, until, that is, realising that Father Christmas had forgotten to include the batteries. Mums are busy in the kitchen, monitoring the slow cooking of the turkey while preparing the roast potatoes and Brussels sprouts. And this despite Mum has already foreseen that this little green vegetable will be the bane of the children, who will be kicking up a fuss over them, and their tearful protests will dampen the joyful atmosphere the festivity is meant to create. Yet to boil up the sprouts is essential for Christmas dinner, simply because it's traditional. Christmas without sprouts? That's unheard of.

In the afternoon, a quarrel could well erupt among the extended family members as Dad and his visiting older brother will avoid the mountain of dishwashing, leaving the task to the already stressed-out Mum, even with Auntie's help, while the grown-up brothers either relax in the armchair and smoke their Havana cigars, filling the room with that aroma - characteristic of Christmas - or with their teenage sons, engage in the board game of Monopoly, where sedate men metamorph into ravenous property-owning monsters whose hotel on Park Lane and Mayfair will guarantee a wipeout of all the teenagers' assets, money and property alike until Uncle has bankrupted all his opponents, Dad included.

Then by nightfall, it's all over. It's rather like a firework. It's made in a faraway factory, then shipped to the store and eventually purchased by the customer, who may store it away for weeks on end until that one evening, Bonfire Night, when the firework is at last lit, only to brighten the dark sky for just a few seconds before ending up as a burnt-out shell, ready for the trash can. Christmas follows the same pattern as the firework. After weeks, maybe even months of preparation (eg, gift purchasing) it's all over after just a day. As for me, it can feel like an anticlimax.

At least not for the children, who would play with their presents for days, weeks or even months until the novelty has worn off. If Mum is lucky enough, Dad might wear that tie she bought for him, at work in the office, at least for a while anyway. Else, I wonder how many ties received at Christmas across the nation, end up forgotten in the bedroom wardrobe, never having seen a shirt collar?

This long wait for a sudden, momentary spark seems to be what the Old Testament of the Bible looks to resemble. For example, around 700 years before the birth of Christ, a prophet wrote:

Even the Lord will give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and give birth to a son, and he shall be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14.)

It's indeed a very long wait - 700 years for an event which probably took no more than a couple of hours, including the start of labour pains following the breaking of the waters. Or even less than an hour altogether. Indeed, giving birth to the Son of God might have been very quick. The Bible doesn't tell us how long the birthing process took. But God took up to 4,000 years to accomplish it! That is, from the Promise delivered immediately after the Fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15) to the moment of conception and birth of Jesus Christ.

But there is a massive difference between the preparation for Christmas (or Bonfire Night) and the preparation for the Virgin Birth. While the first two are annual events which don't change anything except for a short time of euphoria, the long-anticipated birth of the Messiah changes the eternity of all believers, both alive during Old Testament times and in the New, along with the fate of all Creation itself. And that includes the fate of all the stars and galaxies in the Universe. I find it amazing that the entire Universe, made on the fourth day of Creation Week, will be affected by the birth of a baby boy in an insignificant Judaean village of Bethlehem. 

It is the birth of this man-child which will turn death into life, mourning into joy, enmity into friendship. This baby will result in the atonement for sin, the Resurrection from the dead, and the final defeat of the Devil. This birth will bring about the glorious marriage of the Bride, which is the Church, to her beloved Groom. I would venture to say that in the past there were three great redemptive events ever to have taken place in history - the Nativity, the Death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As for the Second Advent, this is still future and therefore not yet recorded in history, except having been foretold in prophecy.

Somewhere in eternity past, before Creation of any kind, the three Persons of one Almighty God were having a discussion among themselves. God the Father asked,

Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

To which God the Son answered,

Here am I, I will go. Send me.

To which all three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rejoiced greatly in full agreement.

And therefore, God the Son, having the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Philippians 2:7) - and chose to be born in a stable rather than in a palace. It is because of this birth having taken place in a stable and not in a palace, that Almighty God, this incarnated Second Person of the Trinity, had the most humble of beginnings.

Eight days after he was born, and keeping with the law delivered to Abraham and to all his descendants, this baby let out a scream the moment his foreskin went under the knife, as circumcision had to be carried out on all Jewish boys. This Jesus, this Son of God, had become familiar with physical pain right from the start of his life as part-fulfilment of the prophecy written by Isaiah:

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgression, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5.

Of course, this prophecy was fulfilled at the Crucifixion, but I venture to say that the pain he had to go through as an eight-day-old infant was part of that fulfilment, as he was without sin, and therefore, during that heavenly council during eternity past, it was agreed that he gave himself to be circumcised to fulfil all righteousness.

It's because this child was born in a stable and then placed in a feeding trough that we as believers are able, through his death and Resurrection, to have the righteousness of Christ imputed into our souls. It's this Nativity marking the beginning of the New Covenant, the Covenant of grace ratified, even though every Old Testament saint was saved by grace, as with Abraham, having the righteousness of Christ imputed into their accounts. There is no other way. It's impossible to work for salvation since we are all tainted with sin. And if salvation can be lost or forfeited, as some Christians believe and teach, then it would be utterly impossible for any believer to enter Heaven, for the Law is already transgressed at the slightest stumble, according to James 2:10.

So special was his birth that he was, and will be, the fulfilment of another piece of Scripture, which reads:

Unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given: and the government will be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

Isaiah 9:6-7.

With the angel announcing to the shepherds that to them this day a child is born, who is Christ the Lord, (Luke 2:11) - this leaves no doubt that at his birth, this baby is already the Christ, the Jewish Messiah. 

Putting it all together, Christmas is a very special holiday for us, it should be celebrated with joy and thanksgiving, and it should not be compromised, such as referring to it as Winter Holiday or anything similar in order not to offend Muslims or of any other faith. Christmas is about the birth of Christ. Christmas is also about Easter, for the primary purpose of his birth was to die to atone for our sins and to defeat death by His bodily Resurrection.

The birth of Jesus Christ is about the birth of a new Government, which will come into power at his Second Advent. So perfect this Government will be, where peace, longevity and perfect health will be the hallmarks no present Government could ever deliver, regardless who resides at #10 Downing Street.

On behalf of my beloved wife, Alex and I wish you all a very merry Christmas. May God bless you richly in the week to come.