For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

-Isaiah 9:6-7, ESV

As much as I love Christmas carols, they often paint an idyllic—and thus ironically less-than-ideal—picture of what happened two thousand years ago in Bethlehem. Lines like “O little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie” and “silent night…all is calm” paint a picture of a serene and perfect night undisturbed by the reality we face every day. It’s not that they are wrong, just incomplete. The idyllic image of a tiny, helpless baby lying in a manger a half a world and two thousand years away offers little comfort to real people: those grieving recent loss, those who are helpless and oppressed, or all of us who struggling under the weight of sin, failure, and mortal weakness. Yet after proclaiming this resting child is Christ the King, one carol dares to ask “why lies he in such meek estate?” We need not guess, as the Old Testament is filled with the answer. Immediately after the Fall, God promised that a descendant of the woman would be bruised but ultimately crush the head of Satan. Various Messianic prophesies continue the theme of conquest. The sign of virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 comes in the context of fearful and self-righteous king Ahaz fearing a coming invasion. That same context undergirds Isaiah 9-11, which is full of combat language. Make no mistake, the birth of Jesus was an invasion. The Kingdom of Heaven invaded the earth. Jesus Christ—the second person of the Trinity, very God of very God—took on flesh and dwelt among us, as Shai Linne said “becoming what He wasn’t while never ceasing to be what He was.”

The Invasion

Why? To destroy the works of the Devil and reverse the curse of sin that has stained every aspect of life. Two thousand years ago, the stronger man (Jesus) bound the strong man (Satan) and ransacked his house. Through His perfect life, atoning death, and inevitable resurrection, Jesus won the decisive victory against Satan, sin, and death, freeing us from slavery to sin. This theme undergirds Isaiah 9:6-7, becoming very clear when we look at the verses that precede it:

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

-Isaiah 9:1-5, ESV

This passage speaks of a nation expanding through conquest. Along with language of freedom from oppression that implies the vanquishing of the oppressor, there is talk of the spoils of war and the utter annihilation of the foe. This is no mere child, but the conquering King. The hope of Christmas is much more than merely the birth of some important person from long ago. The hope of Christmas is the birth of the King of Kings who not only frees us from our slavery to sin but also conquers Satan and even death itself. At Christmas, we rest in the strength of Jesus Christ, not the helpless baby in a manger but the King who is steadily placing everything and everyone in subjection under His feet.

But He was the baby in a manger as well. We must pause to reflect on just how astounding the incarnation was. Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, being of the same substance and nature of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, became human. Jesus did not merely appear in human form, nor was He a human that was adopted by God. These are just two of the many heresies that have come about as people have tried to explain the Incarnation. Jesus also did not cease to be God or lose any of His divine attributes, but instead added humanity to His divinity. Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus in His humanity was conceived in the virgin womb of a poor girl named Mary. We should not overlook how scandalous that would have been, nor how remarkable it was that she responded to this by proclaiming herself a servant of the Lord and therefore trusting in Him and His plan despite the pain and scorn it would cause her for her entire life. Next, God caused Caesar Augustus to decree a census so that Mary and Joseph would travel to the tiny yet suddenly overcrowded town of Bethlehem so that Jesus would be born there in the lowliest of placed. Yet in all this, the birth itself was surprisingly normal. Jesus was born the same way we all were. Just as He had to be divine to accomplish salvation and establish the new humanity as the Second Adam, so He had to be human just like is in every way (yet without sin) in order to both save us and empathize with us. Jesus both knows our plight and is powerful enough to both help us in our trials now and deliver us from them in the end.

Our Hope in His Victory

While we still live in a fallen world and continue to groan under the effects of the Fall, we can be confident that the same Jesus who won the decisive victory two thousand years ago will win the final victory in the end and right all wrongs. That is the only way that the news of Christmas can bring comfort and hope to the hurting. As the sovereign and omnipotent God, He rules over everything and works all things (even and especially trials) for the ultimate good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, because He is both perfectly sovereign and perfectly good. But He is also near to the brokenhearted. As the Wonderful Counselor, He intimately knows our pain and sustains us through it. And for those who trust in Him, the pain of this world will one day be but a memory, when He wipes every tear away and at last slays death forever. S.M. Lockridge beautifully described this King:

“I wish I could describe Him to you but He’s indescribable. He’s incomprehensible, He’s invincible, and He is irresistible….the heavens of heavens cannot contain Him, let alone a man explain Him. You can’t get Him out of your mind. You can’t get Him off of your hands. You can’t outlive Him and you can’t live without Him. The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him, but they found out they couldn’t stop Him. Pilate couldn’t find any fault in Him. The witnesses couldn’t get their testimonies to agree about Him. Herod couldn’t kill Him. Death couldn’t handle Him and the grave couldn’t hold Him. That’s my King. He always has been and He always will be…He had no predecessor and He’ll have no successor. There’s nobody before Him and there’ll be nobody after Him. You can’t impeach Him and He’s not going to resign. That’s my King!”

-S.M. Lockridge, “That’s My King”, ca. 1976

So for all those who trust in Jesus Christ the King of kings who can never be thwarted, we can confidently sing despite our trials: “God rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay, remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray, O tidings of comfort and joy.” But for those who do not yet trust in Christ, the promises of God point only to judgement. That same section of Isaiah talks of “judgement overflowing with righteousness”, which is just as sure as Christ’s victory. The only way to escape that judgement is to trust in Jesus Christ and thus have your wrath from God absorbed by Christ, so that God can be faithful and just to forgive you. So, “come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”