The Assault of Christmas

There’s a portion of God’s Word that our Christmases may be missing. Not only can it help us get the most out of this season, it may also answer the argument of our age: How early is too early to start celebrating Christmas? Whether you feel assaulted by Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in October or you are the aggressor who offends such Scrooges, there’s an important observation in the Bible that I think settles the matter: God celebrates Christmas earlier than Luke 1. Way earlier, like way back on page 3 of our Bibles! And if God celebrates Christmas early… well…

Either way, the very first promise of the birth of our Savior will help us rejoice! God’s first description of Christmas comes right after sin entered the world, right after death infected the world, right after Satan’s coup—stealing the trust of humanity away from God. In Genesis 3:15, God said to that tempting serpent, Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Now we’re not gonna get very far together if you don’t read Christmas when you read that. The promise is that the woman will have offspring, or a son, who will crush the head of the serpent. In other words, Genesis 3:15 is about a baby boy who will be born to save us!

It’s significant that a main word in the first word about Christmas is “enmity,” or an active hostility against an enemy. God spoke that first word to the Enemy, who tempted Adam and Eve not to trust God’s truthfulness, not to trust God’s goodness! Our parents bought the lie, and thus we all were separated from God. What I’m saying is, there is an aggressive intention in the invention of Christmas. Christmas is,God’s all-out assault on all that separates us from Him!

The Birth of the Baby Is the Beginning of the End of our Enemy

There was a time when the “most wonderful time of the year” was not needed! If there never was an Enemy, there’d be no need for Christmas.

The Enemy started the hostility. And by the time Christmas morning dawned, Revelation 12 says the Enemy had grown into a Great Red Dragon—seven heads, ten horns, seven crowns—he seemed all-powerful. He’s ferocious. You can’t take him; I can’t take him. How possibly could a baby?

Well, that baby grew into a man. The Enemy targeted Jesus, tempting Him to sin, but the Enemy couldn’t get Jesus to fall. When Jesus went to the cross to die for fallen sinners, God used war language to describe what he was doing: God “disarmed” the devil, and “triumphing” over him in Jesus (Colossians 2:13-15).

Christmas is God’s all-out assault—not only against Satan but also against sin.

The Birth of the Baby Is the Beginning of the End of Our Enmity with God

Satan isn’t God’s only enemy. God’s holiness requires death for sin. So we all are born enemies of God. Christmas ushers in God’s all-out assault on the sin that separates us from Him. That first Christmas word of Genesis 3 said that the Son would be bruised in the battle. In order to end our enmity with God, Jesus had to absorb the assault of God’s anger for our sins. But when that assault finished, when the righteous died in place of the unrighteous, Jesus brings us back to God (1 Peter 3:18)!

Christmas is God’s all-out assault on all that separates us from Him! We should jump for joy this Christmas because…

The Birth of the Baby Is the Beginning of the End of our Destiny with Death

The Enemy’s temptation resulted in our willful sin and in a world full of death. Hebrews 2:14-15 describes Christmas as a Search and Destroy Mission—Jesus took on flesh and blood for the purpose of “destroying” the one who has the power of death, the devil. And Christmas at the same time is a Rescue Mission, “delivering” God’s people from the fear of death. Because the Christmas child clothed Himself in flesh and blood and then died for us, when we die and face God we will be clothed in the righteousness of His Son. Because the Christmas child defeated death in resurrection, so we too will be raised from the dead.

Christmas Means War

We should think battle, shock and awe, taking up arms! Kids, if you’re paying attention, I’ve just handed you a better argument than Ralphie had. If your mom’s hesitant about you getting an “official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle,” find a respectful way to say, “Dearest Mother, Christmas is God’s all-out assault.”

Or, adults, when that Ugly Christmas Sweater Party comes, consider wearing camo (“because Christmas is God’s hunting season!”). Maybe a better way to have yourself a hostile little Christmas is to assault the many deceptions of the devil this season. While you’re at it, assault every doubt of God even when things don’t go your way this season.

However you celebrate the Assault of Christmas, remember: God never left the assault in our hands. We rejoice because the Enemy may have started the hostility, but the baby boy finished it!