"No wonder the dragon wanted to kill the Christ-child!"
(Simple transcript of Harold Miller’s sermon December 6, 1998, Corning NY)
"A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." (Revelation 12:1-6)
When we think of the birth of Christ, we all have a picture in our minds. We’ve seen countless versions of the scene on Christmas cards.
Our text gives another view of Christ’s birth -- one we have never seen this on a Christmas card. No artist could do it justice. Or make it convey holiday cheer!
The scene from Revelation pulls back the curtain to give us a glimpse of Christmas as it looked from somewhere far beyond Andromeda -- Christmas from the viewpoint of the cosmic struggle between good and evil.
In daily life, two parallel histories occur simultaneously: one on earth and one in heaven. Revelation views them together, allowing a quick look behind the scenes at the cosmic impact of what happens on earth.
On earth, a baby was born. In heaven, the Great Invasion had begun --the Ruler of the forces of good is invading the universe’s seat of evil. And of course evil wants to stop the Invader.
So Revelation’s version is quite different from the birth stories in the Gospels! We see an enormous red dragon writhing in heaven -- its tail sweeps a third of the stars out of the sky and flings them to the earth. We see a woman clothed with the sun and wearing a crown of 12 stars and crying out in pain as she is about to give birth. Then she does give birth.
We know who the child is: the Christ-child -- one who will "rule all the nations", who will ascend "to God and to his throne".
Who are the woman and the dragon? The text says they are "portents" or "signs" -- symbolic figures. They don’t represent a literal woman and a literal dragon, but something more. (Note that the child is not called a "sign" but represents an actual human person.)
The dragon is explained beyond doubt in v9 -- the serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver. His heads probably do not mean intellect (in the ancient world one thought with one’s heart) but authority. The crowns are royal crowns--diadems (different word than the woman’s "crown" in v1). Satan does have princely authority. Jesus called Satan "the prince of this world" (Jn 14:30). In his temptation of Christ, Satan said he could give Jesus the "authority and splendor" of "all the kingdoms of the world" (Lk 4:6). Horns in the Bible always speak of strength -- the dragon wields his authority with very great strength.
Since she is called a "sign" or symbol, the woman is not simply Mary, the actual mother of Jesus. She is clothed the splendor of the sun, moon, and 12 stars -- which in the OT Joseph’s dream (Gen 37) represented the whole family of Israel. She continues to exist even after the child ascends to God and his throne. So she perhaps is not simply Israel but is the people of God -- the old Israel and the new Israel of God, the church.
So the picture of the first Christmas that Revelation gives is a dragon crouching hungrily, eager to devour the Christ-child the moment it is born.
What did the dragon have against the baby? Why did Satan want to stop the life of that baby? What difference was this Christ-child going to make in the world? Would it have mattered if Christ had not survived to do his ministry?
Several years ago a group of historians authored a book called "If--Or History Rewritten." Some of the IFS those scholars considered were these:
- what if Robert E. Lee had not lost the battle of Gettysburg?
- what if the Moors in Spain had won?
- what if the Dutch had kept New Amsterdam?
- what if Booth had missed when he shot at Abraham Lincoln?
- what if Napoleon had escaped to America?
Their attempt at reconstructing the past on the basis of these IFS was only a historian’s game. (OUR DAILY BREAD Nov 27 ’94) But let’s apply it for a moment to the Christmas story. What IF Jesus had been killed at birth as Satan wanted?
It’s worthwhile for us to spend time on this because so often we’re oblivious to the meaning of Christ’s coming.
Try to think of a world without Christ. What would history have been without him? And at a personal level, what would your life be without him?
I’m going to suggest areas for you to consider, areas in which Satan -- and all the down-dragging forces of destruction -- lost because of Jesus. I’ll give three things Christ has done, three reasons why that old Serpent would want the Christ-child not to survive.
1. Jesus brought grace and forgiveness into our world.
We make mistakes. We harm others and ourselves. And we do it not just because we are ignorant or clumsy. How many of us have made willful choices to do wrong?
Christ differed from every other religious teacher in the way he responds to sinners like us.
Several decades ago, there was a conference in England on comparative religions. Experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith. The debate was going on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. He asked, "what’s the rumpus about?" Someone told him they were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions.
Lewis responded, "Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace."
The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of karma, the Jewish covenant, and Muslim code of law --each of these offers a way to earn approval. ("WHAT’S SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE?" p 45) Only Christianity dares to make God’s love unconditional, coming to us free of charge, no strings attached.
We have all chosen to do wrong, to harm others and ourselves. With every religious teacher but Jesus, I have to try to make up for those sins by doing all kinds of good works. But I’m never sure I have done enough to outweigh them. And so my good works are frantic and joyless. Or perhaps (instead of trying harder) I give up instead, deciding it’s no use trying to be good, that I will be forever limited to the identity as one-who-sinned.
But with Jesus, I can confess, and he in grace renews and uplifts me, gives a fresh start, clean slate. He gives me hope to try again to live as I ought. And he gives it to me free as I repent (he, the one granting the grace, is the one who pays.) I begin to do good works out of joy and with his strength.
Satan has lost many a battle over the soul of a man or woman because of the grace that comes in Jesus. This message of grace gives even those who have fallen deep into sin hope and courage.
2. Christ also taught love for one’s enemy.
We all have many enemies and broken relationships.
Jesus is the only religious teacher who taught "love your enemy." This ethical teaching is unique to Jesus. And our first reaction is "no wonder!" It’s obvious why Jesus is alone in this teaching -- if someone gives us a black eye, they deserve to find out what it feels like so they won’t do it again. So give them a black eye. Just don’t in anger give them TWO black eyes -- only "an eye for an eye".
But if we only retaliate (teach someone "a lesson" so they won’t do it again) and use force (to prevent them from doing it again), we will not have a long-term improvement in relationships. Force will change their present behavior. The enemy now does what we want him to--because our club is bigger than his. But as soon as the club is removed (or we get tired holding it, or he gets one that’s bigger), he’s too often worse. While waving club, we often -- by accident or through a lapse of judgment -- hit them unjustly (or at least they think we did), adding more fuel to their hatred.
Only as we love our enemies (turn the cheek, go the second mile, pray "Father, forgive"), do we start breaking the cycles of violence that encircle us like iron bands. Only love has the power to turn them into your friend so they WANT to please you, to stop wronging you. Only it is strong enough to really change a person -- from the inside out. Only it can bring positive peace, not just the absence of war.
In the Spring in 1985, Jerry Levin, CNN’s Bureau Chief for the Middle East, was released by his Muslim captors. He had been the first of many Americans taken hostage; had been held for a year. Here are some excerpts from a talk Jerry Levin gave:
While in captivity I had what some call a spiritual awakening, others call being "born again," or what others simply might call coming to my senses. ...
Up to the time I was taken hostage, I had been an atheist--an eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth, very unforgiving, revenge-oriented Jewish-American atheist; but in my lonely isolation I began to talk to myself. I thought that if I kept that up, I would go crazy. Suddenly I began to consider the fact that people for thousands of years had been talking to this thing called "God," and they had not gone crazy. ...
Even more than the idea of God, I had always scorned the ideas of Jesus. His prescriptions for achieving peace on earth I had been sure were unworkable. Forgiveness in particular was an impractical act that only served to leave the forgiver dangerously vulnerable. However, the more I thought about forgiveness, and also Jesus’ idea of love and reconciliation, the more I realized how exactly appropriate they have been and are for creating the only climate in which true tranquility, true peace, and true justice can universally exist. ...killing and fighting [only perpetuate] resentments and hostilities and promote vendettas, retaliations, and revenge. ...
In the twentieth century, our century, more people have become victims of war, [and] tyranny than in any other era. It became clear to me that the absence of Jesus’ teachings as the primary motivating force (in terms of people’s conduct in their lives) has been the root of the world’s most critical continuing problems. (--The Plough, MayJune 95 p7-9)
3. Christ also CALLED PEOPLE TO FOLLOW HIM, to be a community living as he had lived and taught.
Jay Kesler says that if you put a syringe into the world today and pulled from it the influence of the followers of Jesus, the world would implode. Without the good arising from people obeying this Christ, being inspired by him, the world would not have survived as we know it. The Devil’s works of darkness and destruction have continually lost ground because of the church.
You and I can name wrongs done by the church. But consider a list of good. The Church, for all its faults, real and imagined, has been a highly positive force in our world.
Take education. Many schools and colleges and universities were founded by Christians. There’s hardly a senior leader in all of Africa that was not taught to read by missionaries.
Take hospitals. In one twelve year period during the Dark Ages one third of earth’s population from Moscow to Cairo died of the black plague. It was the church picking up the dead and caring for the sick, going out in the name of Jesus Christ to alleviate suffering. During the Civil War, the Christian Sanitation Commission cut the death rate in hospitals in half by providing bandages and nursing care to the wounded. Christians are often accused of being homophobic, but in San Francisco the largest agency helping people with AIDS is Catholic Charities.
Take the abolition of slavery. Christians, like William Wilberforce in England led the fight to abolish slavery. The earliest opponents of slavery in the United States were Christians. (The first public declaration against slavery in North America was signed by Quakers and Mennonites in the Mennonite Meetinghouse in Germantown.)
Christians have built orphanages, worked for the end of child labor, tamed the brutality of mental wards and prisons, marched for women’s rights and civil rights. They have given voice to the weak and a hope for the hopeless.
I’m not saying nonChristians don’t also do those things. I’m saying that the followers of Christ have been at the forefront, have supplied the critical mass that led to action. Why did they do it? The love of Christ inspired and instructed them.
A few years ago, a major Gallup study found that people who are deeply and personally committed to Christian faith are, in Gallup’s words, "a breed apart." Statistics show they are happier, more charitable, more ethical, more likely to help the needy.
Despite what the secular elites may say, Christianity has been and still is the most powerful force for good in Western culture. No wonder the prince of darkness --that great dragon-- did not want this Christ-child to live!
Take the fall of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. In Leipzig, East Germany there was a group praying for peace in a Lutheran church. It grew and grew until tens of thousands packed the church and then spilled outside in candlelight marches. Those marches were the catalyst for Germany’s reunification. After the triumph of democracy the populace stretched a huge banner across one of Leipzig’s streets, which read in big, bold letters: "We thank you, church!" In Romania, a pastor who had spoken out against the abuses of the government sought sanctuary in his church building. The congregation joined him in a vigil to try to stop the authorities from coming and arresting and evicting him. The vigil grew into a human chain that stretched around the church. The dreaded Securitate (secret police) crushed the vigil; hundreds were massacred during the days that followed. But the critical mass had been reached, the church ignited the chain of events which overthrew Ceausescu, Romania’s communist despot. (Christianity Today Nov 11 91 p22,24) Christ gave those Christians faith and hope to take a stand against evil.
Here is another window into the good that comes into the world as people follow Christ. The native groups in the Peruvian Amazon have only known Christ for one generation. Just one generation ago they were fearful, aggressive, and animistic; all their contacts with outsiders were marked by violence. But now there are transformed. One missionary writes that since embracing faith in Christ, the men are more tender with their wives and children. These native believers have problems like Christians anywhere else, but they, more than most, can appreciate the difference between "before" and "after" Christ.
An anthropologist recently visited the Bora people and started criticizing the missionaries. "Christianity is for the white man," the anthropologist said. "You people should go back to your old religion and your old ways." An indignant Bora church leader, remembering the old days, eyed the anthropologist. "Yes, and if we did, you’d be the first one in the pot." (Christianity Today Oct 2 ’95 p29)
So we can understand the picture of the first Christmas that Revelation gives. The dragon was crouching, wanting to devour the child the moment it is born because that Child was going to
- interject transforming grace into the world
- teach the world to begin to love instead of hate
- inspire countless acts of good.
No wonder the great dragon and King Herod did not want the Christ-child to live!
I’m so thankful there are no IFS in the Christmas story. The Christ-child was born, grew, taught us, died for you and me, rose again, and can live within us.
A pastor was preparing a Christmas message and fell asleep in his study at the church. He dreamed that he was in a world into which Jesus had never come. He walked out on the streets, but no church spires pointed to heaven. He was summoned by a weeping child to visit her dying mother, but on arriving found that his Bible ended with the OT. The NT with all its promises of heaven had disappeared from his Bible. He bowed his head and wept in bitter despair, for he could offer her no hope beyond the grave.
Suddenly the pastor was awakened by the choir down the hall practicing the familiar Christmas carols. Joy filled his soul as he realized as never before why we sing "Joy to the World the Lord Has Come!" (Our Daily Bread, Dec 20, 1992)
