I'm in a fighting mood this Christmas.
We celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus our savior as we quote passage about Christ bringing peace on earth. And rightly we should because it is the most amazing event in the history of man up to that point. But I can’t celebrate Christmas without anticipating Easter. The reason we can celebrate and announce peace on earth and sing joy to the world is not just because of the birth of Jesus. I propose it is because Jesus came to wage war.
Matthew 10:34 “ Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Jesus came into the world for the purpose of destroying the works of satan.
1 John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus was a warrior and never got distracted from the fact that He was engaged in the war of the ages. This is the war that has been raging from the time that satan thought of himself on equal terms with his creator and tried to seize the throne of God as recorded in Isaiah 14.
Isaiah 14:12 ”How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 ”But you said in your heart,‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 ’I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ 15 ”Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.
Jesus came to rescue us from the cruel clutches of the enemy of our souls who took rulership of the earth away from Adam. Jesus prophetically speaks of His mission to gain back rulership of the earth in Isaiah 61.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
Because the LORD has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
When the disciples came back to Jesus out of breath with excitement from a spiritual, special forces move into enemy territory, Jesus declared that the ultimate end goal of all believers wagging war on behalf of their commanding general was to join Him in annihilating the enemy.
Luke 10:17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” 18And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
The real story of Christmas for me is how Jesus entered the strong man’s (satan’s) house (earth), bound him, and carried off his property (us).
Matthew 12:29 Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
I will celebrate Christmas with all like-minded believers as a most amazing thing God has done by putting on our skin and walking among us. But I can’t separate it from the fact that the sole reason He did so was to defeat my enemy and give me the battle tools necessary to personally experience the adrenalin rush of satan getting crushed under my grace oriented, obedient feet.
Romans 16: 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.