The Cosmic Struggle of Christmas--The Sign of the Times

Revelation 12:1-17

With this week we begin the Advent Season. Advent is the beginning of the Church Year and marks the four weeks preceding Christmas.

The Bible contains several accounts of the birth of Jesus. We remember the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem when they found no room for lodging and thus spent the night of Jesus' birth in a cattle stall. That account is in Luke 2 and forms the backdrop for the warm and cuddly Christmas Eve moments many of us hold dear. It is a great story.

Another account occurs in Matthew 1 and 2 where sometime after the birth of Jesus, while he and his family were still residing in Bethlehem, a caravan of strange men appear, coming out of the eastern lands of Persia. They are some kind of kings or astronomers or astrologists, priests in a pre-form of Zoroastrianism, and they worship Jesus as the new King of the Jews. Herod, the current King of the Jews, becomes paranoid and seeks to kill this newborn child, as he deems Jesus a threat to his throne. Mary and Joseph, after being warned in a dream about Herod's plan, take Jesus to Egypt for safe keeping, returning to Nazareth only after they learn of Herod's death (which occurred, by the way, in 4 BC).

Matthew's account lacks the warm fuzziness of Luke's and rather contains fear, evil, violence and tragedy. While we often feature the coming of the Magi in our Christmas narratives, we rarely talk about the murder of the innocent children by the tyrant King Herod. It does not make for good bedtime stories.

The Bible contains a third account of the birth of Jesus, though this one is not well known and rarely used during Advent. It occurs in Revelation 12 and will be the focus of our Advent celebrations this year. This account is more of a look at the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the spiritual realm. What was happening in cosmic struggle between good and evil on the night of Jesus' birth, and how did his coming change the spiritual landscape of our lives, especially from the perspective of the struggle between righteousness and evil. Follow this blog and my Advent sermons as we explore these questions.

Here are some sources you might enjoy. First of all, here is a rather good article (sermon) that outlines some interpretive principles necessary to understand the Revelation, and gives good background on the meaning of this part of John's vision. As always, there are a few fine points in the article to which I would take exception, but overall it is solid. It is written from a Protestant Reformed perspective and sees the woman as representing the entire nation of Israel and her children representing the Church. There is much truth in this, and it is the primary way this symbolism is understood by Protestants.

And here is a blog also works at understanding Revelation 12. This one is written by a Catholic writer and understands the woman as the Virgin Mary. There is also truth in this interpretation. Check it out, if you want to dig in deeper.

Thanks for digging deeper with me.