Dear Friends,
Do you like a good mystery? I remember when I was a kid, I enjoyed reading Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Hitchcock always included a variety of good short stories, each one providing an unexpected twist.
There have been many great mystery writers through the years. Agatha Christie, best known for her Murder on the Orient Express, continues to be read by many long after her death. Many mystery writers today dominate the best-seller charts with their books: Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, P. D. James, and David Baldacci to name a few. Yes, many of us really enjoy a good mystery.
Do you want to know of another great mystery? Christmas! Christmas is itself a mystery.
There’s the mystery of the virgin birth in Christmas: “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20b.)
We are baffled with the mystery of the “Word become flesh” (John 1:14) in Christmas.
We have the mystery of “God with us” in the baby Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem at Christmas: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’.” (Matthew 1:23.)
And we have the mystery of Christmas in the pronouncement of what Jesus’ birth means for us: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16.)
Philip Yancey in his book, Rumors of Another World, writes that there are two ways of approaching God. One approach takes God apart. We make God manageable and measurable. We attempt to take the mystery of God out (as if that were even possible), and reduce God to one who “never surprises us, never overwhelms us, never astonishes us, never transcends us” (A. W. Tozer.) When people do this they refuse to believe in the virgin birth, refuse to accept that God could take on human form in Jesus, and fail to accept that God loves them even to the point of sending them a Savior.
The truth is, Christmas is a mystery. It is beyond us to really comprehend a virgin birth, the Word become flesh, a God who loves us just as we are, and a God who sends a Savior to save us. These are great mysteries! I like Albert Einstein’s perspective on mystery: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious…he to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”
Christmas is a mystery that brings great wonder to our hearts and souls. We may never understand it, but we can be blessed by the beautiful gift it is to us. Mark Batterson writes, “Experience the mystery of Christmas – the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of all creation, born as a helpless little baby in Bethlehem.” I concur. After all, there’s nothing like a good mystery, especially when God is the author.
Merry Christmas!
-Pastor Jim
Do you like a good mystery? I remember when I was a kid, I enjoyed reading Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Hitchcock always included a variety of good short stories, each one providing an unexpected twist.
There have been many great mystery writers through the years. Agatha Christie, best known for her Murder on the Orient Express, continues to be read by many long after her death. Many mystery writers today dominate the best-seller charts with their books: Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton, P. D. James, and David Baldacci to name a few. Yes, many of us really enjoy a good mystery.
Do you want to know of another great mystery? Christmas! Christmas is itself a mystery.
There’s the mystery of the virgin birth in Christmas: “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:20b.)
We are baffled with the mystery of the “Word become flesh” (John 1:14) in Christmas.
We have the mystery of “God with us” in the baby Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem at Christmas: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’.” (Matthew 1:23.)
And we have the mystery of Christmas in the pronouncement of what Jesus’ birth means for us: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16.)
Philip Yancey in his book, Rumors of Another World, writes that there are two ways of approaching God. One approach takes God apart. We make God manageable and measurable. We attempt to take the mystery of God out (as if that were even possible), and reduce God to one who “never surprises us, never overwhelms us, never astonishes us, never transcends us” (A. W. Tozer.) When people do this they refuse to believe in the virgin birth, refuse to accept that God could take on human form in Jesus, and fail to accept that God loves them even to the point of sending them a Savior.
The truth is, Christmas is a mystery. It is beyond us to really comprehend a virgin birth, the Word become flesh, a God who loves us just as we are, and a God who sends a Savior to save us. These are great mysteries! I like Albert Einstein’s perspective on mystery: “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious…he to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”
Christmas is a mystery that brings great wonder to our hearts and souls. We may never understand it, but we can be blessed by the beautiful gift it is to us. Mark Batterson writes, “Experience the mystery of Christmas – the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of all creation, born as a helpless little baby in Bethlehem.” I concur. After all, there’s nothing like a good mystery, especially when God is the author.
Merry Christmas!
-Pastor Jim
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