Christmas is the beginning.
The thousands of years before it are a prelude, an introduction to the main plot. Those years are filled with the curse. With death, despair, and longings that look forward to something undefined. They are years where God’s people clung to a desperate hope. One day the serpent’s head would be crushed. One day a Conqueror would come. Everyone had ideas on what it would look like. No one guessed the truth. God’s ways always surpass our ideas. All they knew, for year upon long, long, dark year was that Someone would come.
The curse roared and tore and raged through the world. God was there with His people, working His will. But usually His people had to come to Him, at His temple. And even there, they watched as it took death and blood to cover their sins and allow them to step into His presence. It almost seemed as if the curse was too strong to break.
And then Christmas came. One dark night that changed everything. One glorious, awful, unexpected, beautiful moment that turned the world on its head.
The Curse-Breaker broke into the world. God came to us.
The joy of Christmas is seen right there. It is the beginning of the end for the curse. The Serpent-Crusher is now among us. The One stronger than even death. He lived and taught and served for thirty years after the initial breaking-in. And then He did it. In a magnificent blow that used death itself to break death’s curse, the Dragon-Slayer crushed His enemy. The Lamb slain for us rose as the Lion of Judah. And the curse has its death blow.
We just passed a fat, fluffy raccoon on the side of the road. Dead roadkill now. The curse is still with us. All of us feel it. We know we are winding down, and that good things break. Sickness and sorrow are real, the scars they leave are deep. Christmas isn’t denying the brokenness all around us. But it is telling us to lift our heads and look up. Look to the Maker of the Stars Who came, died, rose, and reigns beyond those brilliant balls of fiery light. It calls us to look past the darkness, and remember the blow has already been dealt. Two thousand years ago the serpent’s head was crushed. He is flailing and raging, taking down others as he goes. But it is the flailing of a beast in its death-throes.
We live after the highpoint of the story. The ending hasn’t arrived yet, but the war is won. There are still battles to fight and blows to give and take and brave deeds to sing about. But our business is mopping up the routed enemy. Jesus has come. And He has won. Living where we do in the story, we still look forward with longing in our hearts and souls. All is not yet complete. But we have seen the death blow. And we have God among us. He lives with us, and in us, and has promised He will never leave. This is enough to make us bold and joyful even while wading through the horror of battle with our arms aching from the constant weight of our weapon-wielding. Look up, battle-weary heart. Your King has come, and He is victorious.
Rejoice, o man. Don’t just sing the songs this year. Take a moment to remember why the word “joy” is in almost every Christmas carol. We rejoice even in the very midst of the darkness, because the Light has come. The Curse-Breaker has broken in. God is patient in His wrath, and time is gifted for more souls to come to Him before the final harvest. But the harvest is coming. Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, we draw closer to the final death of death. To the time when even the death-throes of the serpent are stilled. To a time when everything will be made new, and right. Rejoice, friends, in all the joy filling this Christmastide.
Remember what we take joy in. And then rejoice, love, and honor the Dragon-Slayer marching among our ranks.
