Christmas: An Invasion
“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.”
And so the invasion began.
With the birth of this boy to a young mother in the town of Bethlehem, a D-Day of eternal consequences commenced.
As I study and read more and more about the coming of Jesus to Earth, I am continuously floored by just how earth-shattering this event was. This birth? It was an act of war.
Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He also came to wage war on the Kingdom of Darkness.
Jesus came to reclaim the entire Kingdom of God from the rebellion of darkness which began at the start of humanity (check out Genesis for more on that story). And this reclaiming and healing of what was stolen and broken was why Jesus came to Earth.
This rebellion of darkness unleashed death and brokenness into the world and Jesus embarked on a crazy mission to undo all of that.
And He succeeded.
His life, death, and subsequent resurrection defeated death and darkness for all of us. And for that we can celebrate!
But the war has not come to a close just yet.
While the outcome of the war has been decided (Jesus wins!), it has yet to be fully realized throughout our world and universe.
This is why some people refer to the Kingdom of God as the kingdom of the "now and not yet." God's Kingdom is definitely here on Earth, but not yet in it's completeness.
When Jesus returns again in the future, the war will be completely over, and only the Kingdom of God will exist.
“We are living in the in-between time. Between the now and the not yet of the Kingdom of God.”
And our mission, as the followers of Jesus, is to help further the Kingdom of God in our world. We are called to unleash God's will on this earth, just as it is in heaven.
We do this through helping the needy, restoring God's creation in nature, feeding the hungry, ending pollution, eliminating slavery, healing the sick, living compassion, and - most importantly - sharing the love of Jesus Christ with others.
God's Kingdom is on the move, and we (Jesus' followers) are called to help progress it forward.
And every Christmas we have the opportunity to celebrate the day this reclaiming of God's Kingdom began.
This Christmas, we celebrate an invasion.
Of light. Of beauty. Of love. Of life.
And we are invited to join this invasion and unleash light and beauty and love and life throughout our world.
