The Greatest Story Ever Told

Christmas is here again. And it is time for my annual Christmas blog. Through finishing the first term of my youth internship, I have seen how faith has changed so many people’s lives and how, if it wasn’t for the birth of Jesus Christ, mine and their lives would be so much different. So, many of my youth are often confused with where the Christmas story begins, as they often start in the wrong place.

They often start where all the advent calendars start in Luke 2:1, where it says;

“And it came to pass in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.”

But that really isn’t the beginning. Some people may even start earlier in Luke 1, opening with an elderly Zechariah and the birth of John the Baptist. But that still isn’t far enough. We don’t need to flip back a chapter to find the true opening of the Christmas story. We need to go back an entire Testament. The story doesn’t start with the virgin Mary. It doesn’t even start with the New Testament. The Christmas Story starts right back at the beginning of the Bible. Also, we can’t even truly call this the Christmas story, for that is already far too small. This isn’t the Christmas story. This is the Reality story. The Story of Everything. The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Because if we begin in Luke, we miss the whole reason for the Story. So, let’s flip back the pages and begin this Story properly.

“In The Beginning…”

There was a God. And God was three-in-one, perfect and holy, complete and beautiful. The one day, He spoke and His words painted existence itself. Light and waves and hills and trees and elephants and polar bears – and us. And it was good. It was beautiful and it was perfect, like jewellery. But we shattered it. We threw it on the ground, demanding our way and our own wants. We took the glory of the incorruptible God and traded it for corruptible things. And so we were cut off. We were shattered. All the world went wrong and it was our wrong which did it. Cut off from Him who is life, hope was extinguished, our purpose destroyed, our being twisted into raw brokenness and loss and fear and anger and rebellion and – shatteredness.

But

A Rescuer was promised. A Rescuer would come. All the earth waited for Him. A coming King who would rule His people rightly. A coming Conqueror who would destroy our entangling bonds. A coming Healer who would lean down, gather our broken shatteredness and somehow, put us – put the entirety of reality – back together again. And so they waited. Years passed and God picked out a family and the image of the Rescuer became clearer. He made them into  a nation and gave them a king. The picture became a bit more focused. He sent prophets, talking about the newness of hearts, the cleansing of souls and becoming children of God – and they still waited. They started to grow tired. “Surely, He must be here now,” they thought, “Could we have missed it? Or maybe He isn’t coming at all.” Despair started to sink in.

But then, and only then, did Caesar Augustus declare a tax on all the world. Then and only then, there was no room at the inn, a stable and a sky exploding with the thunderous praise of thousands of angels.

You see, this baby isn’t just the one promised to Mary by Gabriel. This baby is the one who created all things that are and have their being – including Gabriel. This Baby is the one promised to Eve – the one who will crush the head of sin and death forever. This Baby is the one who did the promising throughout all of history, knowing precisely what He would do, how humbly He would be born – and how wretchedly He would die. For not only is Christmas not the true beginning of our story, it isn’t the end either. Don’t go and close the book after the wise men from the east bearing gifts. Because that baby goes on to become a Saviour bearing a cross.

This is the Greatest Story Ever Told.

Happy Christmas

Nick