Forgiven, Healed, And Set Free

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  Revelation 1:4-6 NASB

In the book of Revelation, Jesus is described as the warrior King who rides on His white horse, leading the armies of heaven - His mission did not end upon His arrival in Bethlehem or at the cross, for Jesus did not come to pardon us and leave us with warm feelings of happiness. He came to redeem us, to reclaim us, to reconcile us, recruit us and invite us to walk out our days with Him. He is Jesus, the Warrior King, and may He say one day to each of us that we were His faithful soldiers in this great war. 

Revelation 17:12-14 NASB The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of Lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”

Christmas by a commercialized example is nostalgic movies, moments filled with parties, gifts, and decorations - we have created an ideal of Jesus Christ that pits God of the Old Testament against Jesus of the New Testament as if the Old Testament version of God is mean and the New Testament version of God (Jesus) is good and by His goodness would never enact judgment on the earth. That my friends is not the truth. Reading the entire Bible prayerfully from the book Genesis through Revelation will forever eradicate the unbiblical depiction of Jesus as some flower child Who’s coming was only to bring peace (by accommodation) to the earth without exerting His sovereign, kingly rule, without expressing His divine wrath against disobedient sinners and nations.  He is God Jesus Christ Holy Spirit and He will not be silenced, thwarted, ignored or erased. 

And so while some circumstances we want out of won’t change until God has completed their purpose in our refining, (like those wounds from the past that won’t automatically mend), this Christmas know that He came for your rescue. He came for me. He came for the guy passed out in the alley. As confounding as this year may have been, God is sovereign and infinitely greater than any and all. 

We owe glory, praise and honor, gratitude and worship to Jesus the risen King.  with all that we, along with the brothers and sisters in our communities and across all nations have gone through the past several months may we find Him n our darkest hours.  I know that maybe this Christmas we feel that we just don’t have it in us to celebrate. Maybe this past year has been overshadowed by a heaviness that refuses to budge, like the joy has been sucked out of you.

But Scripture teaches us that Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day for all of humanity! those who are broken, hurt and disappointed. Those who are celebrating and joyful. Those who have strayed so far from God, and those who rest under His covering. Jesus came for the messy and the forgotten. He came to heal the brokenhearted. He came to restore the wholeness that comes from a relationship with God. He came to flood our hearts with peace that just doesn’t make sense in todays’s world. 

Like a warrior goes to battle to protect a kingdom, Jesus came not merely to wash away our sin but to conquer sin, to conquer death. 

As we celebrate this season, lets not forget: We can only be forgiven, healed, and set free because Jesus Christ was born, Christmas.