Joy and Loss

 ~ Christmas Eve ~

From Christmas to the cross

Such joy and such loss.

From the cross to the grave

Jesus died; Jesus saves.

From the grave to the skies

Jesus lives- He is alive.

I penned these words earlier today, as I thought about Jesus’ profound sacrifice – leaving heaven’s glory, stooping to become a baby in a virgin’s womb, and giving His life as a ransom for many. I thought about all the important questions surrounding His birth, and how they were all answered centuries before He came.

Who – God with us. "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)

What- a son. (Isaiah 7:14)

When - "Seventy weeks, (490 years), have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place." (Daniel 9:24)

Where - "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." (Micah 5;2)

Why - He shall save His people from their sins. “Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12)

How - By a virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14)

I am ever so thankful that the Christ of Christmas is also the Christ of the cross. That cross may have slain Him but the grave could not hold Him. Perhaps you think it strange that I would believe in Jesus Christ; that I believe he is God. Mythology would have men becoming gods- instigating a glorious, self-indulgent rescue, only to be repeated again and again, cyclical and without hope. Religion would have men grovelling for the favour of a god they cannot know.

But it is not so with Christ. God became man. He humbled Himself and identified with us to the point of death. I, for one, cannot even imagine a more humbling act of love- selfless, powerful, and sufficient for the forgiveness of sin.

At our Christmas Eve church service, Pastor Pernell spoke about the paradox many of us encounter at Christmas time: the joys of celebrating Jesus’ birth and the poignant sorrows of remembering those who have died. I am grateful for his reminder that we have Jesus, the Light of the world; that we celebrate a constant, a certainty in a world full of change and uncertainty. “In Him was life and the life was the light of men,” (John 1:4).

The words of my little poem also came from a heart that knows loss. This Christmas, I have been thinking of so many of us who know Loss on a first-name basis. We can take heart, my friends. The God of heaven understands our grief. His loss, when Jesus died, was deeper than what we will ever know.  I am comforted by the knowledge that He knows the depth of our sorrow and the breadth of our pain. God knows. God cares. He will comfort, if you ask Him. And for those who come to know Him, there is not only “Christ in you the hope of glory,” for the rest of your days here on earth, there is also heaven waiting to welcome you home.

This God whom I know is worth knowing. This Saviour born is a Saviour worth worshiping. Our children sang this evening, to the tune of: ”O come let us adore Him.”

For he alone is worthy

For he alone is worthy

For he alone is worthy

Christ the Lord.