Christmas Hope
Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor
| But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21 ESV) Sometimes the world feels irreparably broken. As I write this article, I have a friend in his 40s who has been in the ICU for 21 days and on a ventilator for 11 days with COVID-19 related complications and we are uncertain if he will recover. Another close friend is struggling with debilitating depression that he has fought for most of his life. A third friend is going through a divorce as a result of his own foolish choices. Why is the world so broken? The Bible tells us that sin, sickness, sadness, and death entered into the world as a consequence of our first parents’ sin. (Genesis 3) When Adam and Eve chose to rebel and turn away from faithfulness to God the direction of their hearts, and all their future offspring, was turned inward towards selfish desire. No longer were they living for God and others but each one turns to his own way. Additionally, the entire created order moved from order to disorder and dysfunction. The world we live in isn’t the way it is supposed to be. The disorder results in natural disasters and the consequences of “The Fall” affect us every day. Where is the hope? Christmas is a message of hope because our world is so broken! The message of Christmas is that God, in his love and mercy, had determined before he created this world that he would send his Son to be our deliverer who would rescue us from our sin and the brokenness of the world. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:4-6 ESV) God the Son took upon himself a human nature and came to this sin-soaked world to pay the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross in our place as our substitute. He was buried and rose physically on the third day and ascended into heaven. He paid the penalty and redeemed us so that we would no longer be aliens and strangers but his very own children! One day Jesus will come back to right every wrong, wipe away every tear, and establish a perfect kingdom where sin, sickness, sadness, and death will be no more. Maybe now more than ever, in the midst of this pandemic, we need to remember the Hope that entered into this fallen reality that first Christmas morning. |
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