The Christmas Key 4: The Key to Division

Intro

Big Idea: The coming of Christ is the key to dividing those who belong to God from those who belong to Satan and this current world order.

Luke 2:25–35 NASB 2020

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him in his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now, Lord, You are letting Your bond-servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples: A light for revelation for the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and as a sign to be opposed—and a sword will pierce your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Sometimes the only way to bring ultimate peace is through a bitter conflict.

Matthew 10:34–36 NASB 2020

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a person’s enemies WILL BE the members of his household.

We often refer to Christmas as a time of light and peace, but that light and peace can only come through the subjugation and banishment of the kingdom of darkness along with all sin and death.

Think of WW2. Remember those who though they could appease Hitler rather than fight him? They wanted to avoid war at all costs when the truth was, a dark force like Hitler and the Nazis could only ever have been dealt with properly by fighting. In order to get to peace, the world had to battle through horrific conflict.

The same is true of the peace on earth which is promised in the Christmas story.

Tension

There is a battle for ultimate affection raging in the heart of each person. In the end we will either choose Christ, or this current world order of sin and death. There can be no middle ground.

So while Christmas is the season of light and peace, that light means to vanquishing of darkness and that peace means the defeat of all of God’s enemies.

Intense? Sure.

Christmas isn’t just about feeling good about ourselves. It is about God going to all out war against wickedness and anything that stands between Him and restoring this world that He created.

Truth

This last section of Simeon’s proclamation over Christ tells us a lot about the purpose, content, and context of Christ’s ministry which His Advent inaugurates for us. There are five specific truth claims about Christ’s ministry which Simeon delivers here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

I. That He was appointed by the father for a specific purpose. (33-34)

The word we translate as “appointed” here is the Greek word “κεῖμαι.” This word is a fascinating word to me because it is one of those Greek terms which is very multi-faceted.

This same word is the word we translate as “lying” in Luke 2:12

Luke 2:12 NASB 2020

And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

And this usage of the word helps us to get at the idea Luke is going for also when He uses the word in verse 34.

In this context, it means that Christ has been firmly laid out, set forth, and established by the Father.

Clearly, scripture wants us to be clear that Jesus is no ordinary child.

II. That He was appointed for the fall of many. (34)

This word “fall” quite literally means a lowering of status, or a state of change for the worse.

Some will have a hard time digesting this idea, but while Christmas is indeed the season of light and it means future joy and redemption for Christians, it means quite the opposite for those who reject Christ.

It’s no wonder that as our culture gets darker, so also comes with it a growing opposition to Christmas.

Darkness has always hated and resisted light.

Light certainly means freedom for captives, sight for the blind, and adoption as family for those who were once called God’s enemies.

Light also means exposure for darkness and an inability to sweep wickedness under the rug.

You see, as long as light is far off darkness can flourish but as soon as light enter our space darkness is immediately threatened.

There will be a great many who, rather than embracing Christ, will stumble over Him to their own detriment but it won’t be because Christ has not attempted to save them.

It’s just that in their sin they cannot help but to see the hand of the savior as a threat and so they pull away from Him and He can do nothing for them but to let them run fully into darkness.

Ultimately, this means that those who stumble over Christ will simply fall completely into spiritual and physical death for good. The natural course of sin will be allowed to complete itself.

III. That He was appointed for the rise of many. (34)

On a much happier note, the word “rise” literally means resurrection, or the result of coming alive from death.

Whereas those who reject Christ and stumble over Him will fall permanently and completely, those who receive Christ will rise permanently and completely through repentance and belief in the Gospel.

John 10:27–28 NASB 2020

My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

Don’t you love that the emphasis here is on Christ and not on us?

At the end of all things what will matter most will not be how well we measured up, but how well Christ measured up to the Father’s standard and whether or not we are in Him.

This is what Peter was referring to in 1 Peter 3 when he said that corresponding to Noah’s ark baptism now saves us. He made it clear that it was not about the actual bath itself, but what the bath of baptism symbolizes; that we have passed through the floodwaters of sin and death but because Christ is our true Ark we are delivered through that flood to the paradise on the other side.

John 5:25–29 NASB 2020

“Truly, truly, I say to you, a time is coming and even now has arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this; for a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come out: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

IV. That He was appointed as an opposed sign. (34)

The coming of Christ is literally the sign that signifies the coming of the age of God’s kingdom of light, and the diminishing and eventual destruction of Satan’s kingdom of darkness and gloom.

It makes total sense that those who are with the enemy would oppose the coming of God’s kingdom.

In C.S. Lewis’ classic “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” he captures this sentiment well. Only those who are enemies of the Lion are threatened by the coming.

The kingdom of darkness and those who are of it, will speak against, contradict, and do all that they can to oppose Christ and His kingdom of light.

As such, it is really never too surprising when cultures oppose light. It may catch us off guard, particularly in a culture which was once less hostile to light, but opposing light is the way of the world under Adam.

Light, resurrection, and glory are words which describe the way of the new world order under Christ the King.

Those who receive Christ and King and Savior will know this new world and will never be the same again.

V. That He was appointed for the revelation of the hearts of people. (35)

There is and always has been a clear line of distinction between those who accept who Christ is in earnest, and those who reject Him, His message, and His mission.

The way people respond to Christ will prove whether they ultimately belong to God’s flock or to the goats outside of His pasture.

Matthew 25:31–34 NASB 2020

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Application

We need to be aware that Christ’s Advent truly marks the beginning of a new age which is unfolding and that no one can stop.

We need to be aware that although the light cannot be stopped, darkness has not conceded that yet and so it fights back.

As those who are rising in Christ, we have been given a mandate by Jesus to proclaim His triumph, to shine His light through our lives, and to call others out of darkness and into light that they may rise with Christ also rather than falling with Satan.

Christmas reminds us that God has finally come into the world to settle the problem of sin and death once and for all. Anyone who comes to the light that is Christ will be set free for good, and raised to life in Him.

John 3:16–21 NASB 2020

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”

Christ came not to judge, but to save. If anyone ends up in condemnation it will be because they chose that path for themselves by not believing in Christ.

As for you and me, let us chart our course firmly on Christ and with the Spirit’s help let us run headlong into Him and all who He has freed us to become.