In the last two weeks, we’ve dived into how Christmas is a “divine disruption” in history and in our lives.

In weeks one and two, we looked at the truths:

Christmas is God’s intervention in our story of rebellion 

and

Christmas is God’s invitation to repentance and relationship

Today, we’re wrapping up the series with the third truth:

Christmas is God Including us in His Story of Restoration

I’ve always maintained that “Christmas is my jam.” I get excited about Christmas decorating and planning parties and singing carols and the whole shebang. 

But recently God showed me that Christmas is not my jam. It’s Jesus’ jam.

This is ultimately God’s story. Not ours. 

Earlier in the series we talked about how God, in His radical grace, wrote Himself into our story of rebellion. (I borrowed the sentiment of God writing Himself into our story from Tim Keller)

But through His redeeming work on the Cross, He writes us into His story of restoration.

In the Bible we see the meta-narrative or the big picture that God unfolds in four major themes:

Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. 

These four themes form the overarching story of the Bible.

Because of the Fall, God intervened in our stories and rescued and redeemed us. And one day His plan will be complete with the restoration of all things as He intended. Paradise lost will become Paradise regained.

Five years ago, the world watched as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was engulfed in flames. It was a horrific sight as the beautiful medieval church billowed with smoke. By the time the fire was extinguished, the cathedral’s wooden spire had collapsed, most of the wooden roof had been destroyed, and the upper walls were severely damaged.

But in the last five years, about 2000 people came together to restore the Notre Dame to its former glory. I was watching a New York Times reel about the restoration work and the journalist in the reel mentioned that the original architecture of the cathedral had been restored down to the last detail. 

Even the irregularities of the original wooden beams were recreated and the mark of the medieval craftsmen was restamped onto the wood. And here’s an interesting statement that the New York Times journalist made about the restoration. He says, “It was more than just faithful. There was something about it that was almost devotional.” 

President Macron of France had promised to restore the Notre Dame to its former glory. And he did. The Notre Dame reopened about a week ago. He kept his word. How much more can we trust the Creator and Sustainer of this world? To adapt the words of the journalist, He is “more than faithful” to His Word and He is more than powerful to deliver on His promises. 

We catch glimpses of the restoration in the book of Revelation. When Jesus returns He will usher in a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness and justice will reign. There will be no more tears, no more sickness, and no more death. His shalom will fill the earth. 

Jesus came into the world at Christmas so that, ultimately, He would rule again. 

And here’s the extra cool part: God includes us, the redeemed, in His story of restoration. Revelation 22:5 says that one day, we will “reign forever” with Jesus. 

I read recently in a Desiring God article that the beloved song “Joy to the World” was composed by Isaac Watts keeping in mind the second coming of Christ. Today, of course, we sing Joy to the world, the Lord has come to celebrate that Jesus entered into our world. But when we sing “Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns,” it is because of what we look forward to: His forever reign.

The call for us is not to play it safe this Christmas and hold only to this romanticized, sanitized, whitewashed version of the Christmas story. Yes, this is the story of a baby in a manger. But it is more. This is a cosmic story that God is writing with Jesus at the Center of it all. The God who was, and is, and is to come.

Christmas is God intervening in our story of rebellion. 

Christmas is God inviting us to repentance and relationship with Him.

Christmas is God including us in His story of restoration.

This Christmas, may our hearts be disrupted by God’s radical grace.

Merry Christmas! 

 

PS: I’ll be on a break for the next couple of weeks so I can spend time with family. See you in 2025! Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and a wonderful new year! 

 

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