I was recently rereading the Christmas story as told by the Gospel of John. He is the only Gospel writer that seems to leave out the whole Bethlehem story, or any account of lineage or Mary and Joseph out. Yet he boldly states the “Light came into the world.” This is the best summary statement of the Christmas story.
[9] THE TRUE LIGHT, WHICH GIVES LIGHT TO EVERYONE, WAS COMING INTO THE WORLD. [10] HE WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE THROUGH HIM, YET THE WORLD DID NOT KNOW HIM. [11] HE CAME TO HIS OWN, AND HIS OWN PEOPLE DID NOT RECEIVE HIM.
The very one who made the world was now in it. How was He received? The did not know Him (tragic). Even more tragic and pathetic, “he came to his own and they did not know him”—this is primarily speaking of the Jews (Israel) God’s chosen people.
The source of light was revealed and rejected. Why didn’t God just take the light and leave. If Jesus was rejected, why didn’t God just say, well fine then… we are out of here? He could have easily walked away. We do that, right! When we are rejected, we walk. That’s what we do. But God is not another version of us. He does not act like humans (thank God!). A.W. Pink described the fact Christ stayed like this:
“What blessed subjection to the father’s will, and what wondrous love for sinners, that he remained on earth [despite the rejection] in order that he might later die the death of the Cross.”
He stayed.
He stayed.
He was revealed and then rejected. And he stayed. The entire Old Testament pointed to His coming. He was fulfilling prophecies right and left, yet they refused to see what was so blatantly obvious. Before you are too quick to criticize Jews, then or now, let me point out to you that we do the same thing all the time to God.
How often does God send us the best plan and we say, no, that can’t be it… that is not what I was expecting. Or I think there is a better way. What a sad reaction to God’s best. We (and they) reject Christ because of the darkness in our hearts. We are sinful, selfish people. Jeremiah says our hearts are so dark and so desperately wicked, “Who can know them?” So, when the Light of Christ comes, the dark mind and dark heart reject it.
God doesn’t say, well, let me just fade down the light or maybe I should be more grayscale and not so blatantly light. No, 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” He takes that light and He allows it to shine in our hearts to call us to believe. Then, when the light shines and salvation comes, the perspective of everything changes and…
We will value Christ above all earthly things. We are reborn, given new life. This new birth changes us. It rearranges our motives, desires and attitudes. It also changes our family tree, spiritually speaking. When we become a Christian we’re grafted into God’s family tree. We are now inheritors of His genealogy. Look at v 12 & 13 of John 1:
[12] BUT TO ALL WHO DID RECEIVE HIM, WHO BELIEVED IN HIS NAME, HE GAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD, [13] WHO WERE BORN, NOT OF BLOOD NOR OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH NOR OF THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD.
Suffice it to say, those who embrace the source of Light are embraced by God. Friend, you will not hear anything better today than that line I just said. Listen, if you have faith and embrace Jesus Christ, or perhaps you already have, then you will be or are embraced by a loving, caring, never changing, always forgiving, constantly providing God. The very Creator of the universe knows you. There is nothing greater that can happen to you than to be owned and loved by God. Your greatest dream is feeble compared to being born of God.
A life lived in the Light of Christ will experience God’s perspective and purpose for our story. I am convinced that our perspective on life changes when we realize we’ve been embraced by God. The suffering we experience is seen with a different perspective—God’s plan is greater; His results are different and His timing (though not ours) is perfect. Also, like John the Baptizer, we realize that our purpose is not to call attention to ourselves, but to call attention to the true source of life.
