Christmas - through Heaven’s eyes
Rev 12: 1-5 (and to end of chapter) "...she bore a male child who was
to rule all nations...the great dragon was cast out...they overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb...".
Earth’s newspapers are used to wrap dead fish. But heaven’s headlines will be
remembered forever.
Some world's headlines this Christmas 2003:
Earthquake in Iran kills 10,000 and still counting (called "Apocalypse" by some
papers);
Suicide bombers in Pakistan and Iraq;
Christmas present bomb in Italy;
Gas leak in China kills 198;
Mad cow disease in US;
Beagle on Mars seems lost;
Son drowns in Hermanus while spreading ashes of father
As we look into the realm of heaven what is the heavenly headline? "Today in the
town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" Now here comes
the realm of heaven (Lk 2:13) "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared
with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth
peace to men on whom His favor rests." "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly
host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests." The glory of God is the
headline of heaven. Jesus is the headline of heaven. The angels were always there, but
this time the shepherds saw it. At that point they were able to see the heavenly realm
praising God but that’s what’s always going on in heaven. After this glimpse of
what is happening in heaven we must also become joyful witnesses like the Shepherds.
We serve the God of little, insignificant people, of little Mary and little Joseph,
Shepherds etc. We’re the ones in the headlines of heaven. When God sees this world
He doesn’t see the political rulers but sees the world through the men and women of
God. Evil men like Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Herod are known in God’s history
because they were there at the same time as God’s people (Moses, Daniel, Joseph and
Mary).
Let’s look at some of Heaven’s Headlines about Christmas. We don’t have
to guess for it is written.
Like Mark, John in his gospel omits the birth narrative and basically begins the story
of Jesus with John the Baptist. He rather chooses to save the birth story for the book of
Revelation (12:1-17). His story has no shepherds, wise men — it has a dragon! It is a
flashback to the first Christmas.
This conflict between Satan and the women began back in Genesis 3:15, after the fall of
man.
Throughout the OT, Satan has tried to prevent the birth of the Redeemer.
There has always been a dragon standing close by.
Pharaoh is called a dragon in Ezekiel 29:3.
So is Nebuchadnezzar in Jer.51:34.
When Jesus was born, Satan used King Herod to try and destroy Him. (Satan had been
preparing Herod for this role. He was already a brutal and bloodthirsty man. Ceasar
Augustus once said that it is "safer to be Herod’s dog than his son"
because he killed 3 of his sons.)
Names Used For The Devil
1. "An enormous red dragon" (verse 3). He is red because he is the
motivating force behind much of the bloodshed in human history.
2. "That ancient serpent" (verse 9). This refers to the first time the devil is
seen in the Bible, in the Garden of Eden.
3. "The devil" (verse 9). This is the name used in the Gospels for this enemy of
God. It means "slanderer" or "accuser".
4. "Satan" (verse 9). This name means "adversary." The devil is the
adversary of all God’s children.
5. "The accuser of our brothers" (verse 10). This indicates his work before the
throne of God today, seeking to discredit the saints before God.
So John shifts the point of view; he tells the story from a Heaven’s perspective.
He tells it from the viewpoint of heaven. Christmas is the reason for the war! God came
into Satan’s domain to face down the dragon on his own turfAll the fury of hell would
be released against the child born on that silent night
Four heavenly perspectives not shown in Matthew and Luke:
1. The birth of Jesus was a declaration of war: We tend to picture the birth of
Jesus as a tranquil, quiet and peaceful event. We picture shepherds in wordless wonder
gazing at Jesus. We picture animals silently milling about in the stable. Even our songs
tell us that when Jesus awakes, "no crying he makes." It’s a silent night,
in which all of creation holds its breath in silent wonder. But in the unseen world all
hell breaks out, as God finally seeks to wrestle back creation from the power of evil. The
birth of Jesus was the launch of God’s assault on the power of evil.
Evil is clearly in the world: examples of abortion, terrorism, family murders.
2. His birth brought the world’s rightful ruler to earth: Jesus was the
rightful king from his very birth, which is why Herod tried to destroy him. Yet Jesus
isn’t just king of the Jews, the rightful heir to King David’s throne in Israel.
Jesus is truly king of kings, lord of lords, the rightful ruler over the entire earth.
3. His birth was an invitation to the human race. Evil has infected the human
race like a deadly virus. This deadly virus is called sin in the Bible, and it’s a
condition of rebellion to God. According to the Bible, all people have been infected with
sin, it’s worked itself into the very fabric of our lives. God is going to destroy
the sin and evil, but first he wants to offer the human race a cure of the virus, so they
don’t get swept away when he destroys evil. Ebola virus is like sin (except, instead
of killing just 90% of its victims, it is totally destructive – "the soul that
sins must die"). The new Ebola vaccine is made up of virus-like particles (VLPs)
which are non-infectious but are capable of triggering a strong response by the immune
system. The vaccine resembles the virus. Jesus "became sin" for us on the Cross.
We overcome the Dragon by the "Blood of the Lamb" (12:11)
4. Jesus has already overcome the power of evil. Although Satan may still be
active on the earth, from the perspective of heaven, he’s been defeated and his days
are numbered. Any opposition he gives in the meanwhile is simply an enraged act of
desperation by a defeated foe. Though we may still suffer and see evil active in our
world, these are merely the desperate convulsions of a defeated enemy. So we overcome in
the midst of such evil, not by striking back with evil ourselves, but by appropriating the
power of Christ to finish what he started. We overcome through Christ’s death, the
blood of the Lamb, and our faithfulness to follow Jesus, even in the face of death.
In fact, you and I are part in this nativity play! The dragon can’t get the child,
and God protects the mother (now a symbol of church). So now the hungry dragon comes
looking for us, "Then the dragon was very angry at the woman, and he went off to make
war against all her other children—those who obey God’s commands and who have
the message Jesus taught" (Rev 12:17). So at the heart of this telling of the birth
of Christ is a hungry dragon seeking to take a bite out of you and me!
Make sure that you’re not on the side of the defeated dragon but that you are part
of those in verse 17: "who keep the commandments of God and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ."
