“When do you ‘wanna take the Christmas tree down?” Every year my wife and I ask each other that same question. The answer is always the same. “Let’s wait until New Year’s Day.”
Two doors down, our neighbor does something unusual every December. The week after Christmas, he carries his tree to the rear of his backyard and drops it. There, it lies for months, becoming a mound of weeds. Then, he eventually pours on gasoline and sets it ablaze. He could easily haul it off since he owns a truck, but he chooses this slow method of saying goodbye to Christmas.
When the tree comes down some of us frown. When the lights go off, some of us feel left in a fog. Does our world have a commercial love affair with Christmas because it offers an escape from the harsh realities of our real world for something more attractive? Oh, the letdown when the tree comes down.
Thankfully, there’s a deeper reason for the season. God gave His greatest gift on a tree. The life of Jesus was given for you and for me. When Jesus was taken down from that tree, and the tree came down, the innocent blood of the Son of God had already been shed and the debt of sin had already been paid when Jesus said “It is finished” as he hung on the tree called the Cross.
However, that wasn’t the end. Acts 5:30 says, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.”
So if Jesus (God) is not dead and can come into our heart and lives through the indwelling Holy Spirit, if we believe, and ask–then what? Do we have to wait until the Spring (Easter) and next December to celebrate Him again? Of-course not. The story hasn’t ended. There’s a lot yet to happen according to the same Scriptures that foretold Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection.
There are more prophecies to be fulfilled. The test of a prophet back in the biblical days was 100% accuracy. Everything the prophets forecast regarding the first coming of Jesus came true down to the most minute detail.
Therefore, the events yet to be, will be. They’re ‘gonna happen. God made a lot of promises for the future. In Revelation, John wrote: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (21:4, NLT)
That’s the Christmas I’m looking forward to. I know a man who hates the holidays because after his divorce, the courts kept him from seeing his daughter every single Christmas Eve, with limited time even on Christmas Day. One day our pain will end.
That’s our hope for tomorrow. Yes, Jesus is coming back for the second time. If what the Old Testament prophets foretold came true, then what John foretold will also come true! Be hopeful as you face 2020.
