The Christmas play at church was probably the most unusual Nativity most of us have seen. As this blog post commented on 5th December, ‘Christmas is also an invasion. The kingdom of God striking at the heart of the kingdom of darkness with violent repercussions’, with the author (John Eldridge) also saying ‘I would pay good money to have a nativity scene with this included. Not only would it capture our imagination, I think, but it would also better prepare us to celebrate the holidays and to go on to live the story Christmas invites us into.’
Hopefully, ‘Cosmic Christmas’ did just that, for it looked at the Christmas story from the perspectives of both heaven and earth. The birth of Jesus was a truly momentous historical event, ushering in God’s plan of salvation to the visible arena of earth. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the devil did not want the Saviour to be born. As we heard in the song, ‘he knew that once the Light was born, his every hope was lost.’ (‘Spirit of the Age’, Michael Card) Rev 12:1-11 lifts the curtain on the hidden battle between the heavenly hosts and the devil (here personified as a dragon), reminding us that Christmas is a story played out on two levels: the natural and the supernatural; the visible and the invisible, just as the whole of life is actually played out on two levels.
What we see with our natural eyes is not the whole story. God’s plan of salvation was conceived even before the creation of the world (Rev 13:8), with a Saviour promised even as Adam and Eve committed that first sin which tainted the whole world. (Gen 3:15) The Massacre of the Innocents, a tragic but often ignored part of the Christmas story (Matt 2:13-18), reminds us that Satan tried his utmost to defeat Jesus at his birth and we live in an age where he continues to persecute the church and wreak havoc and destruction, but the truth is that God’s plans cannot be thwarted (see Acts 2:23-24).
Jesus reminded His disciples that though they would face much trouble in this world, He had overcome the world (John 16:33) and told them that He would never leave them or forsake them. (Matt 28:20, Hebrews 13:5) These promises allow us to see with unveiled eyes the hope to which God has called us and the ultimate victory He has gained. Because of this, we celebrate Christmas not simply because we like the idea of the Son of God becoming a baby but because we know that that baby also came to be the Saviour of the world, something which is still relevant today as we receive Him by faith, for ‘where meek souls will receive Him, still the dear Christ enters in.’