Christ

Revelation 12:1–6 NLT

Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth. Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky, and he threw them to the earth. He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born. She gave birth to a son who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days.

From the beginning of human history, there has been a cosmic war raging. The enemy of God has been working and scheming to keep God’s people from fulfilling God’s will for them and for His creation. Through scripture we see the embodiment of this evil, this wickedness, take the form of a reptile - a serpent, snake, dragon.

The first humans were created into a garden of perfection. They got to walk with God in intimate conversation. They were given dominion over all of God’s creation - called to steward the created order. They were given freedom to eat of everything - except for one tree - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This one prohibition became the point of inquisition by the dragon. So Satan took the form of a serpent and began to plant doubt and suspicion into the minds of these first humans. Essentially, he asked them……

Did God really say you’ll die if you eat this?

Is God truthful? He knows that you’ll be like him if you eat.

Is God good? A good God wouldn’t keep knowledge from you.

And so they ate of the forbidden fruit.

Their eyes were opened. They were immediately filled with shame and regret.

With that initial confrontation, sin’s corruption infected God’s good creation.

For the next great period of time, people who followed God wrestled against the forces of evil as if they had one hand tied behind their backs. The direct assaults of the enemy on God’s people came in the form of battles from enemy armies. Enslavement. Attempted destruction.

The subtle attacks - the subversive attacks - practically tied the hands of God’s people as they wrestled against the sinful corruption within and the direct assaults from without. The enticement to lie, to steal, to lust, to dishonor, to idolatry became like shackles binding the hands of God’s warriors as they succumbed to the attraction of the dragon’s lures.

Every child born from those first humans would suffer from sin’s disabling disease.

Until one glorious night - several millennia after the first failings, and over 2 millennia ago - a child was born. This was not any normal child. Sure, he looked like a normal child. He was born like any child - well except for the fact that he was born in a stable and had a feeding trough for a bed.

This child was unique in that he had a human body but he was also fully divine.

As the video suggested, he was a knight. He was royal. He was a prince. He came to defeat the corrupting work of the dragon. He didn’t do this through overwhelming strength - though he could have. He didn’t do this using the dragons subversive tactics. Instead, he did this through humility.

This child, Jesus, proved that he could withstand the direct assaults - the temptation in the wilderness. He proved that his hands were not tied by sin’s corruption as he lived, loved, and lectured in the ways of God.

When people were threatened by Jesus’ ways, he did not fight or retaliate, but instead allowed his holy, perfect, immortal life to be killed. He took on his body the sins of all of humanity. He paid the eternal price so that sins corrupting impact would not have eternal effects.

He made a way for God’s people to be unshackled from the binding effects of sin. He shined light on the darkness of sin’s stain - on the darkness of the dragon’s reign.

As we read a few moments ago, this baby was taken up to the throne of God. He finished his initial work here on earth and will return at another time to reign and rule. Between his ascension and his return, God’s people get to live unshackled from sin’s eternal corruption. Sure, we still fight and wrestle against the wiles of the dragon of the devil - but now we get to fight as people who are truly victorious.

The question is, whose side are you on? Are you with the dragon? Are you living corrupted by sins effects? or are you with the child, Jesus, and with God? Have you been redeemed from your sin? Have you been set free from sin’s bondage? Have you been charged to go forward with the banner of love that Jesus expressed here?

Here on Christmas eve, we often use the light of candles to display the hope of eternal life, the hope of the healing message of Jesus, the hope of victory over the darkness of the dragon’s reign. As people who respond to the salvation that Jesus offers, we get the joy of shining the light of Jesus’ message into the world.

His message is one of

forgiveness and freedom from sin.

new life.

grace

mercy

peace

joy

reconciliation

service

healing

hope.

Following Jesus requires us to deny ourselves - to lay down our desires for sin and the dragon’s deceptions - which is exactly what Jesus did. He laid aside the glories of heaven to take on our earthly flesh. He laid aside his majesty and honor in order to be the human that God created us to be.

The Apostle Paul challenged us to follow Jesus’ example:

Philippians 2:5–11 NLT

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Will you lay aside your allegiance to the dragon’s reign?

Will you repent of your sin?

Will you receive the salvation that Jesus offers?

Will you go forth proclaiming by how you live and love and speak the hope Jesus Christ?

Will you share the gift of eternal life that Jesus offers to you?