“You will never know what prayer is for,
Until you know that life is war.”
John Piper
The answer to those questions may be the same. Because there is war, Christ came to restore hope, peace, justice, love, and give power to overcome an evil enemy. Because Christ came, the evil enemy is stirred up to inflict as much pain, destruction, and havoc as possible because he hates Christ, Christ’s followers, and humans in general. He also knows his time is short—the King has come, the King’s Spirit is here, and the King’s powerful, personal second coming is near.
The King
I grew up a Baptist, and I grew up in the United States of America. Both are strikes against me coming to see Jesus as King. As I’ve lived, continuing to read the Bible and study history, it’s clear that the Bible story and human history is the story about a King and His Bride—Christ and the Church, God and Israel. Read Psalm 2, Psalm 24, Isaiah 9:6, Micah 5:2-4, Numbers 24:17, Zachariah 9:9, John 18:33-37, John 19:19, Luke 1:32-33, and The Apocalypse also called The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Christ means “anointed one,” “Messiah,” “King”), or my first book, A Friend of the King.
Understated
God, our Creator, is so understated in how He chooses to mysteriously move in history and in the individual lives of men and women compared to what He obviously could do, and has done a few times in history, e.g. The Exodus from Egypt. Why the mystery? Have you ever pondered that? I think it’s to give us plenty of room to believe what we want to believe, without overly influencing our decisions or desires—in a word, “choice.” I love what A W. Tozer said about God’s ways, “They are secret, but it’s an open secret.”
The Magi
The most loved and complete Christmas story is recorded in Luke chapters one and two. It’s filled with love, beauty, simplicity, mystery, destiny, and joy. But my favorite story from Jesus’ birth is that of the king makers from the east.
Their mysterious story is only recorded in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 2:1-12). Why would they come from Persia, modern-day Iran or Iraq? It’s over 500 miles away, a journey taking months to complete. The best conjecture is that Daniel, a gifted Hebrew prophet, and the chief of the Magi in Babylon after 605 BC, told them. The magi were an ancient college of king makers, training young princes from antiquity in the sciences, politics, and how to rule. It’s surmised that Daniel told them a secret they treasured and passed down for centuries, “If you see these signs in the heavens, follow the star and it will lead you to the King of Kings.
They knew the stars well. They studied them nightly and recorded their movements for what could be learned about nature, about the future, and about God. The movement of the stars are like the hands of a giant clock, predictable and mathematically precise. That God would arrange the planets and stars to signal the coming of His Son the King and cause these prestigious and powerful people to be aware of the occurrence, making a sacrificial trip to honor Him with extravagant gifts as a toddler in Bethlehem overwhelms me.
Every year I watch a documentary The Star of Bethlehem by Rick Larson to refuel and add to my wonder of that happy event. Larson is a lawyer who became interested in these things, taking clues from Matthew and then using modern astronomy software to “puzzle it out.” I highly recommend it. In the same vein, I recommend this short YouTube video remarkably capturing some of the mystery, humility, and majesty of what happened in Jerusalem and Bethlehem 2025 years ago.
Christmas shalom to you all.
Christ, the King is born…
Noel!
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“The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble,
And He knows those who take refuge in Him.” (Nahum 1:7)
“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57)
