We are surrounded in the Christmas season by heartwarming stories, movie favorites, snappy tunes and beloved carols that have been woven into our hearts over the years.
But as we read these tales, I make sure to point out to the kids that the Christmas story -- as fantastic and mind-boggling as it is -- is REAL. Because nobody could have made this up.
As Timothy Keller emphasizes in his book Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ, the Biblical account of the birth of Christ does not hold the elements of fiction, but the gritty details of truth from all the begats to a cold messy stable because there was no room for them in the inn.
"Then we come to the Christmas story. And at first glance it looks like the other legends. Here is a story about someone from a different world who breaks into ours and has miraculous powers, and can calm the storm and heal people and raise people from the dead. Then his enemies turn on him, and he is put to death, and it seems like all hope is over, but finally he rises from the dead and saves everyone. We read that and we think, Another great fairy tale! Indeed, it looks like the Christmas story is one more story pointing to these underlying realities.
"But Matthew’s Gospel refutes that by grounding Jesus in history, not “once upon a time.” He says this is not fairy tale. Jesus Christ is not one more lovely story pointing to these underlying realities – Jesus is the underlying reality to which all the stories point."
This is not just another bedtime story. And it doesn't end there between the covers of a book.
The gospel is the good news that Jesus came to change not just the course of history, but He came to save us in all our brokenness.
By this we know love,
that He laid down
His life for us...
1 John 3. 16
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