Christmas Before Christmas
…he had sent a man ahead of them. - Psalm 105:17
The Christmas story is more than a single miraculous event. It follows a divine strategy of rescue that is repeated over and over again. God deliberately positions His chosen representatives in dangerous situations to bring about salvation.
For example, 1700 years before Jesus, a boy named Joseph was sold into Egyptian slavery by his own brothers. But this young man, through many trials and even imprisonment, was positioned by God to find favor with Pharaoh and, in the end, save his family from famine by bringing them to Egypt. What seemed like a personal tragedy was actually a strategic divine placement.
Moses is another example of this divine sending pattern. Born to a people enslaved in Egypt, God preserved him and grew him in the very household of the oppressive Pharaoh. Then God gave him a specific rescue mission that would demonstrate God's power and free the Hebrews from slavery.
In the book of Esther, we see another example of God's sending. Here we have a young Jewish orphan who became queen of a Persian court. But Esther is strategically positioned to save her people from annihilation. Her bold action, however, came when she risked her life.
When God sent Jonah to a city known for its cruelty to outsiders, Jonah did not cooperate. You might know the story. Jonah ran. Yet God's purposes prevailed and Jonah is ultimately used to bring repentance and salvation to an entire city.
The final sending is what we celebrate at Christmas, where the examples of Joseph and Moses and Esther and Jonah and others find their ultimate fulfillment. Jesus came as that final champion, so the pattern is intact. But unlike the previous examples, Jesus' rescue completes the pattern.
His rescue is the eternal saving of sinners. And in this rescue, the one that rescues is the rescue. Remember all the I am statements that Jesus made?
“I am the light of the world.” “I am the bread of life.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I am the way.” In Jesus, the rescue is done and death is no longer a thing.
We are saved by trusting Him – the one who became our sin and absorbed the consequences of it so we could gain eternal life.
In the examples of the Old Testament characters, they were all hesitant or fearful. But not Jesus. He gladly came because He loved us and knew there would be amazing joy after the pain. Where others hesitated, Jesus moved forward.
His sending was not just a mission, but an expression of profound love, a deliberate descent from divine glory into human vulnerability to gain our salvation.
When you think of Christmas, remember, centuries before the birth of Jesus, God was showing His people Christmas before Christmas.
Jesus, you are the perfect one who left your home to come here and save the lost. I'm sorry for often taking your rescue for granted. Thank you so much for coming. Please open my eyes to the glory of what you've done.
I'll leave you with this one verse, John 6:33,
“For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
Song: O Holy Night