Christianity is a Rescue Religion

As Christmas draws near, it's important to reflect on what the holiday is all about. Christopher Ash in his book, Repeat the Sounding Joy, tells us that Christmas is about rescue; that is, Jesus was on a rescue mission!

Christmas is not about sweetness or feeling good in the middle of winter. It is about rescue. Christianity is a rescue religion. Jesus came to save lost people, desperately needy people. The angel gave him that name before he was conceived so there could be no doubt about that. In his great book The City of God, the fifth-century bishop Augustine catalogues at some length the miseries of living as sinners in a world under sin (he also goes to great length to speak of God's kindness!). Then he writes that there is no escape from this life "other than through the grace of Christ, our Saviour, God and Lord. The very name Jesus shows this, for it means Saviour; and what he saves us from most of all is a life after this one which is more miserable still: an eternal life which is more like death than life."

Death can be an eternal life with our without God. Christmas provides the assurance that we can live forever with the Lord. That is good news.

I Am Gospelling You!

Here is another excerpt from Christopher Ash's book on the first two chapters of Luke, Repeat the Sounding Joy. He offers an interesting view on what "gospel" means; specifically, the use of the word in Luke 2:10: "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.'"

Here it is:

Here's the message: "I bring you good news" (v 10) - literally, "I am gospelling you." In the ancient world a "gospel" was the announcement of a new government. When a new king took over a country, messengers went through the land proclaiming the "gospel" of this new ruler. So who's the ruler? He arrives in "the town of David" (Bethlehem); he's going to be a "Saviour"; he is "the Messiah" (or "Christ"), "the Lord" (v.11). So he's a king - the King in David's line, the great Ruler promised all down the Old Testament years. And, precisely because he will be a powerful Ruler, he will be the Saviour of all God's people."

That's a great insight, isn't it? I new "gospel" meant "good news" but didn't know about its connection to the proclamation of a new ruler!

Our Promises Broken, His Promises Kept

This is another excerpt from a Christmas devotional we are reading, Repeat the Sounding Joy, by Christopher Ash. Here Ash talks about the promises of God revealed at Christmas:

Christmas is God keeping a promise. Christmas had to happen, because God had promised that it would....

Plenty of tears will be shed this Christmas for broken promises: marriage vows cast away, business commitments reneged on, pledges of care for elderly parents or young children lying torn up on the floor like discarded wrapping paper. Maybe your life is littered with the debris of a broken promise, and it hurts so much. Perhaps you feel the dreadful guilt of a promise you yourself have broken, knowing that others are hurting. But - most wonderfully - God is utterly faithful and keeps his promises without fail. Christmas - properly understood - brings comfort to the casualties of broken promises.

....

When God redeemed the people from slavery under the Pharaohs, he was remembering his promise to Abraham. When he brought them into the promised land, he was keeping the vow he had made to Abraham. When he gave them David the king, he was acting on his solemn oath. And yet all these little mercies and rescues pointed forward to one great final keeping of the covenant. On that day the "seed" of Abraham - one wonderful man, God incarnate - came to earth and took upon himself a fully human nature in order to live for, love and die for sinners, and be raised from the dead. The astonishing, unique man, whose birth we remember at Christmas, is the seed of Abraham. In him all the promises of God say their resounding "Yes!" (2 Corinthians 1:20) Jesus Christ is God keeping his covenant to Abraham.

And so, amid the misery of broken promises and shattered dreams, when we despair of our own unfaithfulness to our promises, take heart that at Christmas God has kept his covenant promise to Abraham.

Leaping for Joy

For advent season, my wife and I are reading a book by Christopher Ash, Repeat the Sounding Joy. It's a daily devotional that walks the reader through the Christmas story in Luke 1-2. Ash offers great insights into the text; it's definitely worth the $12!

In particular, Ash's perspective on Luke 1:39-45 is very interesting. This passage recounts Mary visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, and as Mary greets her, Elizabeth's baby "leaped in her womb." Elizabeth's baby, of course, would become John the Baptist. Ash finds deep meaning in this reaction. Here is what he says:

John the Baptist will be the last prophet, the final spokesman, of the old-covenant era. In his preaching he will be the summing-up witness for the Old Testament. And everything about his preaching will point to one man, and one man alone. We know this from what the Gospels teach us of his public ministry. But here, even before he is born, his whole tiny being leaps for joy in the presence of the only-just conceived Jesus. In this lovely moment, we learn that the whole of the Old Testament, as it were, jumps for joy in the presence of the One to whom it has pointed, for whom it has longed for all these centuries of waiting. All the longings of the Old Testament feed that joyful jump of John the Baptist!

May our hearts never be slow to leap for joy at the wonder and truth of Jesus. Pray that you would know the thrill and delight of this King more and more this Christmas, and beyond.