In a Christmas revelation, I saw how my Christmas story this year reflects God’s purpose in our creation, our position in the kingdom, and the gathering to come
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A Special Christmas
In the early morning hours, God forever changed my understanding of Christmas and Jesus’ return. He showed me a flashback of events over the past year as a parable to understand the Father’s love, the Christmas story, and Jesus’ approaching return.
Our kids are growing up, getting jobs, moving out. Our youngest is about to graduate from high school, and we will soon be empty nesters.
As this significant life change approached last year, we wondered if we were living in the best place for this phase of our life. Our kids all indicated that they don’t intend to reside in this area where we have lived for a decade. To them, it didn’t feel like home. My wife and I panicked. Our dream of a house frequently visited by our children and, eventually, grandchildren was endangered. We needed a home base – a central place where our kids would come back to and call home.
One place came to mind: a place where our kids liked to vacation, a place all of our family and extended family would pass through at some point. I sought God’s will and heard that I could accomplish my purpose both here and there.
We put a deposit on a plot of land amid many risks and uncertainties, not knowing how it would work out. There would be a significant cost to get what we wanted. This meant facing job uncertainties, selling our house, moving, and living in a rental temporarily. But this was a price we were willing to pay to have a place where our family could ultimately gather.
Christmas 2022 would be upheaved as we renovated our house for sale, stayed in hotels, and kept our Christmas decorations boxed up. But we hoped to spend next year’s Christmas together in our new home.
The Preparations
The builder completed the house, and we closed on the purchase in late October. My wife and I went ahead of our children and prepared it for our family. There was so much to do. We ordered furniture and appliances, assembled beds, added security, and personalized bedrooms to make it feel like home.
I’m startled at what we accomplished when I think about all the steps we took to get there. It was overwhelming at the beginning, but we held to the hope of the joy that we would have a new house where our family could always gather.
We announced to our kids that we would celebrate Christmas 2023 in our new house and then tried to work out their schedules so they could be with us. God willing, we will have the Christmas we hoped for.
I pictured the perfect Christmas where all of our children would be present. We will give them gifts, not because they were good or bad like the tradition of Santa Claus, but because we love them. We want to see them enjoy their gifts, use them, share them, and express gratitude and appreciation for our thoughtfulness.
I pictured our kids expressing their appreciation and love for each other by giving each other gifts. I am frequently shocked at the thoughtfulness and even humor contained in the gifts they give. Then, of course, will come the feast when we express gratitude to God and celebrate Christ’s birth.
So, in the early morning hours today, as I spent time with God, He showed me that the model of this perfect Christmas is what He also wants.
Could this simple Christmas example answer one of the universe’s greatest mysteries?
A Christmas Revelation
Everyone, at some point in their lives, asks the big question: “Why are we here?“
I realized that our experience over the past year and a half answers that question and explains the reason for Christmas and what is yet to come.
The Bible clearly shows that God wants a family. When Jesus came to visit us in the flesh, He called God “Father,” Himself a “son,” and his followers “brothers and sisters“. Paul referred to believers as “children of God” and explained our “adoption” into God’s family.
And just like us, He wants His family to dwell with Him. Like my Christmas example, He wants to give His family gifts. He feels joy when we show appreciation and gratitude for His gifts and when we use them and share them. He loves to see us giving gifts to one another and caring for each other. This is the heart of a father and the heart of the perfect Father.
Why are we here? The simple truth is that we are here because God wants a family. And He invites us all to be His family and to dwell with Him.
However, there is an obstacle that keeps us from joining Him.
God had a family before He created us. He first created the angels to be with him in heaven. But some of the angels rebelled, seeking their own glory and their own will. A war ensued in heaven, and the Lord’s army threw many rebellious family members down to earth. Those expelled have plagued God’s human family for millennia.
Deceived by fallen angels, the first humans rebelled against God. Separated from God by sin, humans could not dwell in His house.
So, to gather His children to His home, there was a cost.
The Cost
This is where my Christmas story reflects the Christmas story.
Before we could move to our new house, there was a cost. We had to renovate and sell our current home. We loved that house. It had everything we could want in a home to raise kids: five bedrooms, a downstairs master, a large game room, a movie room, an exercise room, a pool, and a private yard bordered by trees. But to secure a place where we could gather in the future, we had to give up our abode.
This situation reminded me of Jesus.
God is just, and justice requires a penalty to be paid for transgressions. Only a human could accept the penalty for human sin, and only the eternal Jesus could pay for an infinite number of souls.
Jesus lived with God in the form of God. Heaven has everything one could want, with many rooms and a great view. But to achieve the goal and bring God’s children to His dwelling, Jesus had to leave His abode in heaven.
Preparing an Abode
We sold our home while the builder constructed our new house. With our new house under construction, we moved to a rental home. It was not as nice as the home we left, but it was a temporary and necessary part of our plan.
Once the property was ready for habitation, we had to pay the price, surrendering the proceeds we received when we left our house. After we purchased the new home, my wife and I prepared it for our kids. We wanted to ensure that when they came, they would not arrive at an empty house but to a furnished home. We set the date of arrival and coordinated schedules and travel plans.
Likewise, Jesus also went to a temporary home. In the account of Christmas, Jesus was born through the virgin Mary in Bethlehem, to the songs of angels and the witness of shepherds. Jesus lived on the earth as a human for only 33 years, ministering during His last 3 1/2 years. During this time, he prepared us. He taught his disciples and other followers how to understand God’s word. He demonstrated His love and compassion through the power of God’s Spirit.
But He could not stay. Before He left, He told His disciples that He was going to His Father’s house to prepare a place for them/us there. And that one day, He would return to bring them/us to their new dwelling. But before securing the future dwelling site, He had to pay a steep price: His blood, body, and life.
But He left us with this promise to return.
The Apostle Paul described this great gathering, telling the church in Thessalonica that Jesus would come down from heaven and call forth the dead believers to rise. Angels will gather the believers alive at that time with our resurrected brethren who passed before us. We will meet Jesus in the air and go with Him to our dwelling place to be with God forever.
We see this result in Revelation 7, where an enormous number of people, that no one could count, stand before the throne of God praising the Father and Jesus. They will always be with him, and He will spread His tabernacle over them.
The Perfect Christmas
I believe we will see God in a different light when we think of our relationship with Him as family. I recently helped one of my sons through a difficult season. Shortly after that, I found myself in this challenging season, and God showed me that as my Father, he would walk me through it just as I did for my son. I can’t describe how profoundly that struck me.
Jesus’ words resonate deeper when you think in these terms. He was describing the family model when he said that we satisfy the law and the prophets by loving the Lord our God with everything we have and loving each other as we love ourselves. In a healthy family, we love our Father (and Mother) and are gracious for what they have given us. We love our siblings and support them. The family extends to our church family and our Christian brothers and sisters on this earth.
It is no wonder that the enemy attacks families. When he succeeds and breaks the family model God established, people grow up broken.
Thankfully, we have a savior whose birth we celebrate on Christmas day. If we believe in Him and His resurrection and give our will to Him as our Lord, we join His family. And we will dwell in His house, with countless brothers and sisters forever.
Merry Christmas!
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