The Whole Christmas StorySample

Day 19 | Death's Defeat

At Christmas time, we understandably think a lot about Jesus as a baby. We marvel at God in such a vulnerable, defenseless form, small enough to fit in the crook of an arm. Carols croon about his sweetness and speculate that "no crying he makes." What match could he be for any enemy? And even as a fully grown man, he was no warrior. His own people turned him over to the Romans for a humiliating and brutally painful death, and he didn’t even try to fight back.

The infant Jesus was born with the cross on his horizon and he walked towards it with laser focus and unwavering determination. In the upside-down kingdom of heaven, the laying down of his life was the only battle plan he needed. Made a man, like all "in Adam," he died. But he did not stay dead. Resurrected, he lives to make us alive – alive in a way that our first death becomes a gateway, not a brick wall. Hope in Christ means hope for more than this life. We believe in a savior fully able to one day crush death itself under his feet.

Grief hits hard at Christmas. Death is an evil enemy. We’re in no doubt about that. But thank God the baby was born – and that he will one day come back.

Prayer

Heavenly father, thank you that one day you will put an end to death and there will be no more agonizing separation from those we love. Help me have hope in what is to come.