The Ancient Roots of the Christmas Story
- Mark Lauterbach
- Dec 11, 2007
I have not seen the survey, but I wish someone would take it, with this question - "Tell me, where did the Christmas Holiday come from?"
No doubt, there would be many answers, and the most correct would seem to be those who said it was a celebration of the coming of Jesus into the world. But even that would be wrong.
Christmas has its roots in the beginning of time. It is a story told over generations and ages. Christmas was not an innovation by God. It was his purpose in eternity.
The Bible tells us that the first promise of the Coming of the Savior was given by God immediately after the ruin of humankind by sin. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and sinned against God. They called their Creator and Provider a stingy liar. They decided they would decide what was right and wrong and wise. Self-reliance would take the place of faith in God.
God's response was gracious interrogation - an opportunity to come clean. Adam and Eve, now twisted in soul, cannot do so - they would rather go down to hell justified in their own eyes than admit to wrong before God or each other.
God's righteous response was judgment. He cursed the tempter. He cursed the soil on which man would live. He cursed childbirth and made it painful. He cursed the man and the woman with disorder and competition in their relationship.
Then God did the unthinkable. Righteous in his judgment, God showed mercy. He promised a war between the righteous children of Eve and the evil children of the serpent. Then he promised the end of the war when a child of the woman would crush and kill the serpent. The work of the tempter would be undone. His kingdom would be stripped from him.
Christmas is a message about mercy and a message about war against sin. God has kept his promise. He has acted in Jesus to put down the Evil One and to put an end to sin by the sacrifice of his Son.
This is what we proclaim at Grace Church in San Diego. This is the Good News of Christmas.