Have you noticed how the words and phrases we use get slightly twisted to be something it wasn’t intended? Or the word, phrase, and idiom is shifted to develop a hidden purpose? An example is the word ‘abortion’, which used to be called: ‘taking a life’ or even ‘murder’. Satan has been switching, shifting, and changing words and their meanings since the garden. If you can change the usage and meaning of a term or phrase, you can shift an entire culture’s way of thinking. Christmas is upon us, and the subtle, yet not so subtle shifts, are even in this. Christmas has been an embattled front my entire life. Believers have been up in arms about the “X” in x-mas, as if the X takes Christ out of Christmas. But historically it does not. In fact the X was the symbol of the cross, the true meaning of Christmas. Emmanuel with us… but for a purpose.
I would definitely concede that for the most part, it’s a bunch of pointless arguments, distracting us from what it’s really all about… God came in the form of a human, in order to rescue humanity from the eternal consequences of our sin. It’s love in a baby, a boy, a man, a teacher, a prophet, a friend, then a savior. He was a real man, 100% a man! Which is perfectly necessary to redeem humanity. A man had to die, a perfect man, a man with holy blood. This was always the plan. Everything that ever happened all built up to the singular moment in time, as the scripture says “in the fullness of time”. Again: Emmanuel with us… but for a purpose.
By the architectural design of Satan himself, even this has been twisted and shifted from its real meaning. Even to believers today it is something it actually is not. Believers say things such as: ‘Christmas is about family.’ Maybe you’ve heard how ‘Christmas is all year long’. When either one of these things are actually the truth. It’s Satan robbing a very important celebration, and time of remembrance, from our theology. It is not just a cultural thing. It is not just a re-hashed pagan holiday, as some would say. It is the pivotal point of humanities destiny. I wonder if we should even call it a ‘holiday’? It is indeed a holiday, according to Luke’s Gospel. Even that has it’s own slight twist, doesn’t it? We now call it a holiday, versus a ‘holy day’.
I’m sure I lost some of you at the beginning of this post with the ‘abortion’ comment. I may have even lost a few others along the way thinking I’m splitting hairs. And I know there are a few that think I, and those like me, are conspiracy theorist. If I was one, I assure you I’m a terrible one. I stay too busy, and too studied, to pay attention to all the changes around us. I don’t see how anyone can. I am not a political commentator, nor an expert in nearly any field, or would I even consider myself a Bible scholar. In all actuality, I am a very simple man. I see what I see, hear what I hear, and read what I read. I see the scripture simplistically demonstrating the manifold majesty of God’s redemptive plan, through Himself, in the form of a human, the Son, Jesus Christ. Without this centricity theology, our gospel is still “hid to them that are lost”.
Emmanuel, God with us, is the Christmas story. That purpose… because of His death on the cross, He is still with us in the form of His Holy Spirit. One day He will be physically with us, on the Earth, and on the new Earth. These are the results of the Christmas story, to those who have received the free gift of salvation. If you intend to celebrate Christmas this season, do so with an eternal purpose.