Have you ever tried imagining a movie without a problem?  You can sit there all day and never come up with one.  I bet if you could, it would be the most boring movie you’ve ever watched and I can’t imagine it would be nominated for many Academy Awards.  The idea of brokenness is so engrained into our world that we can’t imagine life without it.  In order to tell stories we must have a plot and without a problem, a plot is just impossible.  Even jokes have some problem in them that drives them towards the punch line.  It is a product of our fallen world.  Without problems there wouldn’t be diseases to fight, poverty to triumph over, relationships to mend, or even a place for Christian missions.  That would be bad news for doctors, social workers, therapists, and missionaries!

A life without conflict is beyond our imaginations, which probably explains why we can’t grasp the concept of Heaven; a world without broken relationships, death, pain, disease, or fear.  A distance has existed between the Creator and his creation for so long that we don’t understand life absent of such a tragedy.  The only story in the Bible that properly displays the ideal relationship between God and man is the first one – the creation story.  After God creates the heavens and the earth, the fish and the birds, light and darkness, night and day, animals and plants, he places Adam in the middle.  God creates everything around Adam to show him his majesty.  When he sees that Adam is alone, he creates for him a helper, Eve.  But there is more to Eve than that.  She is Adam’s companion.  For three chapters in the Bible we see the perfect balance of a love relationship with God and a love relationship between man and woman.  There is balance, intimacy, joy, peace, and rest.

As beautiful as this picture is, the Bible is like any other piece of literature.  There is a plot driven by the greatest problem in all of history.  Eve eats of the forbidden tree, Adam follows her lead, and the heart of God is grieved.  A new element enters the picture and we know it as evil.  Disobedience breeds imbalance, loneliness, agony, worry, and hard labor.  Where the Garden of Eden was laid out for the first man and woman, now Adam must labor for a land that ravishes against him.  While God gave the two a blessing to be fruitful and multiply, now Eve will experience pain in childbirth. The blessing now comes with a curse.  In Eden, Adam and Eve experience harmony in their love for one another.  Now Eve will desire power over her husband.  And in the greatest of all the curses, a distance now develops between the Creator and his most beloved creation.  As evil enters this finite universe, life is forever changed. 

In the midst of all the curses and tragedies, God speaks one final word of hope and it is manifested in his cursing of the serpent.

“ I will put enmity
       between you and the woman,
       and between your offspring and hers;
       he will crush your head,
       and you will strike his heel. (Gen. 3:15)"

It may seem like any other curse but there is a subtle nuance in the text.  That “he” is singular.  God is not talking about Eve’s offspring in general terms.  He is promising a deliverer.  In the earliest piece of Scripture stands a statement of hope.  In a world now controlled by evil, a redeemer is coming. 

An ideal has been set. 
A tragedy has taken place. 
A rescue is coming. 
Our story has begun.

In order to restore and regain what was lost, God chooses a group of people who will be his ambassadors to the world.  They will serve as mediators or priests that will demonstrate God’s power and grace to all other nations.  He chooses a man named Abram and through him blesses the future nation of Israel.  His promise is for many descendents, a land to call their own, a personal relationship with God, and the privilege of blessing other nations.  After many years of multiplying in an enemy’s land, he breaks them free of their oppressors and leads them into a promised land of their own.  He gives them rules and guidelines for holiness that will ensure God’s presence among them.  In other words, God is seeking back his creation to establish harmony again.  This loving Creator will not stand to see his people lost to sin and his world ravished by evil.  He lives among his people, delivers them into Canaan, and blesses their land. 

However, just as Adam and Eve disobeyed and gave evil a foothold, Israel does the same.  They ignore God’s laws, turning to other figures and promises.  After forgiving them over and over, he has no choice but to remove them from their land.  Kings and kingdoms from afar seize the land and disperse the Israelites.  But just as all hope seems lost that God has not forgotten his people, the prophets begin proclaiming a new message of hope.  One of them is the prophet Isaiah.

The people walking in darkness
       have seen a great light;
       on those living in the land of the shadow of death
       a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation
       and increased their joy;
       they rejoice before you
       as people rejoice at the harvest,
       as men rejoice
       when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
       you have shattered
       the yoke that burdens them,
       the bar across their shoulders,
       the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior's boot used in battle
       and every garment rolled in blood
       will be destined for burning,
       will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:2-6)

In this poetic fashion, Isaiah is proclaiming a single message – rescue is coming!  The hopes of Israel are revived as more prophets begin speaking of this redeemer who will take back what was lost. 

For the Israelites, they will return home.
For the cosmos, the days of evil are numbered.

However, as hopes are revived God grows silent.  The prophets’ mouths are silenced and although the people of God have returned home, their land is still occupied.  Four hundred years pass with no words from God and no sign of the redeemer.  Has God forgotten his chosen people?  Has the Creator left his creation?

Finally it comes and Luke tells us the story.  In the small town of Bethlehem, in the feeding trough of an inn-keeper’s livestock, a child is born.  A son is given.  There is no pomp or circumstance, no king’s welcome.  The mother claims to be a virgin and the father is a lowly carpenter.  They are from Nazareth of Galilee, a forgotten and unimportant land.  Their lineage contains three sexually-compromised women and another who isn’t even of his people.  By the world’s standards, this child’s birth could not be more insignificant and his claim to royalty no more of a joke.  But as this young Jesus would grow older, he would proclaim this message:

“ the people living in darkness
      have seen a great light;
   on those living in the land of the shadow of death
      a light has dawned. (Matt. 4:16)"

In the same familiar poetry, Jesus is proclaiming a new message – rescue is here!  The long-awaited King has arrived.  Through the humblest of circumstances, the Creator is executing a landed invasion on the forces of evil holding his creation captive. It is a spiritual D-Day as God once again engages in the rescue of his people, no matter how apathetic or unaware they may be to their captivity.  The war has begun and it is not led by one of his angels but by his only Son.  God incarnate has come to earth to take his people back for himself.

Even though 2000 years have passed, we regularly celebrate this landed invasion when our King crossed enemy lines into our broken world, ate of our food, walked our streets, and felt our pain.  However, this day would be nothing to celebrate if it weren’t for his victory 33 years later.  He lived in our world but did not partake in our captivity.  When his message was too much for the religious leaders to handle, they crucified the very deliverer they were waiting for.  The fate of all mankind fell on even the rescuer.  Even if it ended there, we would not celebrate.  If Jesus’ final words, “It is finished” completed the last page of the story, our celebration would be a time of mourning. 

But it wasn’t over.  The one who came to rescue us from death entered death’s doors and conquered it.  Three days after it seemed evil had prevailed, the Messiah came out alive!  Death has been defeated and victory is for those who wish to take part in his freedom.  Before Jesus left our earth to be with the Father, he gave one final command.  Go spread the word and keep fighting!

It is no secret that evil still exists and although victory has been declared, insurgencies still take place.  People are still murdered, relationships are still broken, and pain still overpowers.  Through fear, manipulation, temptation, and deception our enemy still prowls the earth until the day that our rescuer comes back for us.  Although the Bible gives us a picture of the end, the story is not over and we get to be a part of it.  As the new people of God, we have been given the chance to live in victory and be a part of the fight.  We serve as his representatives to the world and have been charged with the task of inviting others in.  Although life is filled to the brimming with pain and failure, we can hold fast to the truth that victory is ours.  The enemy may attack but his days are numbered.  And with that…

Merry Christmas.
Victory is ours.
Fight with confidence.