The whole Christmas story

Once upon a time long long ago, well actually it was before time even was.  And before the earth was and the stars and the moon and all that we know.  There was a Supreme ruler – God – with his Son and with the Holy Spirit together they were before anything else.  And each of the three persons of God had certain jobs: as the ruler, the Father was the one in charge and the Son, he was the creator and the Holy Spirit was the comforter and counselor.  They lived in a place we call heaven and there was nothing but love there. 

Because there was so much love they decided that they needed to share with others.  So first they created Angels to do the chores.  There were lots of angels, one was Gabriel a messenger and Michael the warrior and Lucifer the most beautiful angel who was music and who got to stand beside the Father and worship and make music all the time.  It was a glorious place and all was beautiful and the love just flowed everywhere. 

But one day one of the angels did something that nobody ever thought could happen.  It was Lucifer, the most beautiful angel of all who had music and song and worship as his being.  What did he do?  The most horrible thing anyone had ever heard of.  He decided that he wanted to be God and rule and have others worship him instead of God!  And because Lucifer was so special he was able to talk a third of the rest of the angels into being on his side to worship and follow him instead of God.

So there was a great war in heaven.  All the angels fought against each other because Lucifer could never be the Supreme ruler.  And Lucifer was thrown out of heaven and all of his followers with him and he was condemned by God and stripped of all his beauty and God even changed his name to Satan.  And we call him the devil.

And God the Father was very sad and he still wanted to share his love.  So God decided to create humans to share love with.  And he sent Jesus to create the heavens and the earth and the stars and galaxies and everything that we know, just for us because he wanted us to have a beautiful place to live and lots of fun living there. 

After Jesus made the whole thing he put animals and trees and plants and all kinds of things on the earth for the humans to enjoy.  Then he made the first man whose name was Adam and he breathed life into Adam and he gave him a job to do that he would really love.  He told Adam to be in charge of the earth and rule over it in His place.  Take care of everything and enjoy all that he had created.  He also gave him the job of naming all the animals too.  So while Adam was naming all the kinds of animals he noticed that there were male and female animals - each had a mate to belong to and he asked God about this.  He said “I do not have a female companion for myself.  What’s up with that?”

So God said – I will put you to sleep and I will make a female companion for you out of your own flesh, someone who will be a human like you and she will help you survive here on earth.  So God made Adam go to sleep and he took a rib from Adam’s side and he made Eve from Adam’s rib. 

OK - Now I know this does not sound like the Christmas story, but how can I tell you a story by starting from the middle???   So let me get this history for you so you can see how really really special Christmas really is.

Anyway when Adam woke up God brought him the female that he had made from Adam’s rib.  Adam said, WOAH now that’s what I’m talking about!  And he called her woman.  And Eve was her owe special name that means ‘mother of all mankind’.

Now God had made Adam and Eve to be just like him, like miniature images of himself and made them with a spirit just like the Holy Spirit.  He gave them the ability to love him, or to choose not to love him because love is not real love unless it is given freely.  You see, God did not want robots, he wanted friends and companions to enjoy and who would enjoy him too.

God spent lots of time with them in a special place that he had made called the Garden of Eden.  Everything there was beautiful with lots to eat and everything that they needed.  Nobody needed any clothes because it was nice and warm already, and also because they didn’t even know that they were naked.  But

God gave them one rule: Do not eat the fruit from that one special tree.  Otherwise you can eat anything else you want and run and play and enjoy everything I have made for you.  And they did.

When Satan came to see the humans he got really really mad because God had given Adam and Eve the job of ruling earth.  He decided that if he could not rule everything then he wanted to rule the earth.  And also he was really really really mad that God had made this creature called woman because he saw that she had all the beauty that he once had and that she was even given an ability that nobody else had been given.  She could bring life into the world just like God. 

And Satan was still very powerful and he could still talk others into what he wanted.  So he set out to trick them into breaking the only rule there was, to make them eat the fruit of the forbidden tree in the garden.  One day while God was not there, he came sneaking upon them disguised as a snake and he proceeded to trick them into believing that God was holding out on them by not letting them have that special fruit.  He made them doubt God’s love, the worst possible thing that they could do.

Well Eve took the fruit and she ate it and she gave it to her husband, who was right there all along, and he ate it too and instantly they knew that things were not good.  For one thing, they realized that they were naked so they ran away to hide.   And they knew that they had betrayed their friend God.   When God came to be with his friends he saw that they were hiding and afraid.  And God knew what had happened, and he was very very sad because this meant that their friendship would be changed and that everything would be different.

Because they did not trust God’s heart they had to leave the garden to go somewhere else and they would never be able to go back.  Separation from God meant that now there would be death.  And because they disobeyed God and did what Satan wanted them to do, then that made Satan the ruler of the earth now.  They were his slaves.  What a mess!

Now: As horrible as this was and as bad as it seemed God already knew it was going to happen and he already had a made plan to save humans.  You see he loved the humans so much that he was not willing to just let them be slaves of Satan.   Lots of time went by and lots of things happened while God tried and tried to get humans to love him back, but there were not very many who did.  Satan ruled the world now and he made it harder and harder for people to get to know who God really is.  He made people think God was far away and that he did not care about them.  He even got to the point that he made people think that there was no God even!  And for the ones who were looking for God, Satan made a foul thing happen to them.  He got them so tangled into rules and regulations that God was almost impossible to find through it all.  And they only felt worse and worse because they were told that they had to be good in order to measure up.  Because of all the rules, they were sure to break at least one of them, so all of them thought that they were not good enough for God to love.  This too broke God’s heart, and He tried everything to get them to see the truth that he loved them all along.

Finally it was time for God’s plan!!! 

You see, God had kept it a secret, but gave us hints all along.  A young girl who was not married yet would became pregnant from the Holy Spirit and she would give birth to the Savior – the only one who could rescue us from the hands of the enemy!  So, in the middle of this war zone where people were under the influence of Satan, God sent Jesus to come down to earth, behind enemy lines, and become a human himself!  A secret infiltration into enemy territory in the middle of this war for the hearts of mankind – Jesus came and he was born just like what God had told the people was going to happen! 

God chose a girl named Mary who was to be married to Joseph a carpenter.  He sent one of his angels, Gabriel the messenger, to tell her the good news.  At first she was very afraid, but Gabriel told her that God was with her and she was greatly favored!  He said you will be the mother of the Christ child, the Son of God.  She was confused of course because she was a virgin and had never been married before.  But Gabriel told her that the Holy Spirit would come over her and the power of God would make this happen.  So she said ok, I am the servant of God, let it happen just like you said.  And it did!

When her fiancé Joseph found out that she was pregnant he did not know that it was God’s baby, but he loved her and did not want to shame her so he was going to divorce her in secret so that she would not be killed.  But God came to him in a dream and told him that this was from God and that he was still supposed to marry Mary.  So he did not divorce her and he kept her for his wife.  He would be the step father for the baby Jesus.

Jesus was coming to earth, but not to a castle as a king with a crown, celebrated in the capital of the land.  He was coming in disguise as a humble baby born to a poor couple in a very small town.  God had planned the whole thing from the very beginning of time.  He had even planned for a different celebration of this birth by showing some other people about the wonderful coming of his son with a special star in the sky.  So from far far away three kings came to witness this birth, special kings that were very wise and could read the signs in the heavens, called magi.  So they came to Bethlehem at just the right time to see the true King and witness this miracle of God.  And they brought gifts to give to the new king – gold frankincense and myrrh.  

Meantime the rulers of the country that they lived in made a law that everyone had to go be counted in the city where they came from.  So Joseph and Mary had to go on a long journey to Bethlehem, the city of David because that was his ancestry where he came from.  And while they were gone on their trip it came time for Mary to have her baby.  When Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem there was no hotel or inn to stay at – everyone else had got there first and they were all filled up, so they had to go to the only place that was available, to a stable where sheep and horses and donkeys lived.  And that’s where Jesus came into the world. 

And nearby where some shepherds on a hill with their sheep watching guard in the night.  Suddenly just as Jesus was born angels came from heaven rejoicing and singing about the wonderful news, but they made everyone afraid!  (Because they’re some very fierce things, angels).  But they said oh don’t be afraid, we came to tell you the good news, that everything is going to be fixed, that God has sent his son to save you!  And so the shepherds also went to see the new baby Jesus.  The angels said to follow this special star and you will find the baby in a manger sleeping next to the sheep.   So they went and they found him lying in a manger just like the angels had said, wrapped up in cloths where Mary had placed him.  And the shepherds were very happy singing and praising God for this wonderful news.  And they went to tell everyone that the Savior was here!

And that is why we celebrate Christmas day.

But, this story is really only half over because lots more happened.  Jesus came and lived and was killed and was brought back to life by God the Father and you know what?  That is how he took back the earth from Satan so that we don’t ever have to be slaves again.  All we ever need to do is to love God and love each other and we’ll all live happily ever after.  But wait!  It’s not over.

You see, there is still a war going on.  Satan – the devil – did not give up even though he lost two times to God.  He still fights to get people to follow him.  And he still tries to make us think that God is far away or not even real.  Or even worse, he tries to make us think that all God wants is for us to be good and follow all the rules, to be good enough, when that’s not it at all.  God just wants us to love him and for us to let him love us right back. 

And you know what?  The most wonderful thing happens when we love God.  All the rules just sort of go away because when we love Him He comes to live in our hearts and we just don’t even want to break the rules any more.  Knowing that we are loved makes us want to love everyone else.  And we don’t have to try to be anything or anyone besides just who He made us to be, because every one of us was made so special and unique that we can be the only one to love God the special way we were made to.  And God’s heart is so big that he has room for every one of us to fit in it.

And now you see, Christmas is the day when God gave us the best present ever.  He gave us back our freedom from Satan.  He gave us back to Himself to love! So we celebrate Christmas because it is Jesus birthday, the best gift of all.  Happy Birthday Jesus!   Thank you for coming to rescue us and bring us back to God.