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Attributes of God

Home for the Holidays

By Attributes of God, Christmas, Evangelism, Salvation No Comments

Of all the things on our wish lists for Christmas each year, being home for the holidays with the people we love ranks at the top for most. So profound is the desire that we sing about it: I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me, Please have snow and mistletoe, And presents under the tree. . . . I’ll be home for Christmas, If only in my dreams. 

Perry Como had the most popular recording of the song that said, Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays, ’cause no matter how far away you roam, When you pine for the sunshine of a friendly gaze, For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home. Our desire to be at home is universal, almost synonymous with our Christmas observances.

But each year as I think about finding my way home during the holiday season, I am quickly reminded of the great, often hidden irony behind the very first Christmas. Namely, Jesus left His home to make the first Christmas possible. Though Heaven was His throne and Earth was His footstool, Jesus left His glory behind in order to make a home in a manger. He left His home in Heaven so that we could one day call Heaven our home.

With festive doxology, the Apostle Paul instructs us to emulate the attitude of Jesus, “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phil. 2:6).” The Jesus who inhabited a Bethlehem crib existed in the form of God because He was, and is, God in human flesh.

Repeatedly, Jesus asserted His divinity with statements like “I and the Father are one (John 10:30)” and “He who has seen Me has seen the Father (John 14:9).” His enemies hated Him precisely because Jesus unapologetically maintained His equality with the Father (John 5:18). Yet, incredibly, our Savior did not seek to hold on to the privileges associated with His identity.

Why does all this matter? Because we cannot truly experience Christmas until we bow before Jesus as God in human flesh. Fully appreciating His cradle requires our first acknowledging His crown. Before revering His manger, we must recognize Him as our Master. The absence of room to house Him at the inn is only remarkable because He made the inn, along with everything else in Heaven and Earth. If Jesus is anything short of the God who came to save us from our sins, the celebration of Christmas is the greatest hoax in human history.

All of this means that the sacrifice of Jesus commenced, not on Calvary’s cross, but under a Bethlehem sky. The first Christmas was far from a step up; it was a dramatic step down for the King of kings. Scripture explains, “[He] emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:7-8).”

A bond-servant is a common slave. God the Father sent His Son to die on a cross, requiring Jesus’ humble submission and obedience throughout His earthly life. Accompanying His appearance as a man were also the numerous weaknesses common to humanity. Jesus experienced hunger, fatigue, and temptation. With the salvation of sinners as His aim, our Savior emptied Himself completely by sacrificing daily.

These realities serve as a somber reminder and a sober warning each Christmas. Unless we receive the forgiveness Jesus provided, our celebrations of His birth are in vain. Jesus was born so that He could die as the one and only way to Heaven; therefore, if we don’t embrace Him as such, we are denying the very reason for which He was born! The baby in the manger and the Savior on the cross are inseparable.

Tragically, hell is full of people who sang Christmas carols, read the nativity story, and shared gifts in the name of Christ. His coming to save means nothing apart from our cleansing from sin. Thus, He was obedient to the point of death on a cross. We can never really be home for the holidays if we don’t have a home reserved for us in Heaven. Thankfully, Jesus left His home to make it all possible.

Think I’m overstating the Bible’s message? The Apostle Paul goes on to laud these truths as the single reason that Christ has been given a name above every other name, which will one day result in every knee bowing before Him and every tongue confessing that He is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11). We can worship by choice or by force, but all will bow before Jesus. Satan will bow. The demons in hell will bow. Unbelievers will bow. The angels in Heaven will bow. Faithful saints will bow. The question is not WILL we bow, but WHEN will we do so? Christmas is a great time to start!

Adam Dooley
December 4, 2024

The Beautiful Symbol of Marriage

By Attributes of God, Faithfulness, Grace, Marriage, Sin, Trials No Comments

The Beautiful Symbol of Marriage

Not long ago I officiated a wedding ceremony that followed the predictable theme of faithfulness. I, groom, take you bride, to be my wedded wife. I promise to love you, comfort you, honor and keep you, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to you so long as we both shall live. Soon, the bride pledged the same loyalty to her new husband.

In one sense these words are unremarkable because of their familiarity. Their implications, however, are not only practically profound but also theologically instructive. Because every groom is a picture of Christ in the home (Eph. 5:25-33) and every bride a reminder of the church (Eph. 5:22-24), marriage clearly and powerfully depicts the faithfulness of God toward His people.

I do. I will. I promise.

Vows such as these are more than a pattern to which a man and woman aspire; they are a picture of the abiding commitment of the Lord toward those who know Him. So great is God’s love for His own that He remains faithful to us even though we sometimes stray from Him (James 4:4-5). These themes reverberate in the Old and New Testaments alike. We are to declare (Ps. 89:1), celebrate (Psalm 89:8), and rest in (1 Thess. 5:23-24) God’s faithfulness for His people.

Seem too good to be true? Need an example from Scripture? Look no farther than God’s reassurance of Israel amidst their Babylonian exile. Remember, they suffered at the hands of a foreign enemy because of their sinful idolatry and wickedness (Isa. 3). Yet, the Lord remained faithful to the Jews and promised to redeem them (Isa. 43:1). In addition, Yahweh insisted that He would be with them (43:2); that He was their God (43:3); that they were precious to Him (43:4); that He loved them (43:4); and that He take care of them (43:5). God was faithful even when His people were not.

Remarkably, through the sacrifice of His Son, God offers the same assurance to us! Like ancient Israel, we are often blind to the heart of our God, deaf to His Word, and oblivious to His ways. Yet, when we are faithless, He remain faithful because He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). Those who call upon the name of Jesus Christ in repentance and faith have the joy of being sons and daughters of the God who is unwavering in His commitment to us.

Beyond God’s expressed love for His children is His explicit plan for those who follow Him. Though often a mystery to us, His agenda is bigger than the immediate needs that press upon our lives.

            What career path should we choose?

            Who should we marry?

            Where should we live?

            How can we ease the common burdens that arise?

Questions and struggles like these are not insignificant, but they are not ultimate either. When God seems silent on present matters that consume us, He remains faithful to His eternal ordering of our lives. He is not less purposeful when we do not understand Him, nor is He less concerned when we do not grasp His ways. But how can we be sure?

Revisiting an exiled Israel again reassures us. God not only promised to love His people, but to work on their behalf by gathering them from the four corners of the earth (Isa. 43:5-7). Most immediately, these verses pointed to the end of Jewish exile and their return from Babylon to their homeland. The fuller implication, though, is that one day God will gather His people from every nation, tribe, and tongue to live with Him in a New Heaven and Earth (Rev. 5:9-10; 7:9-10). In other words, their immediate need and its solution was part of a greater plan and reality that was coming.

The same is true for us.

During our greatest victories, God is working. When we grieve our darkest moments, God is still working. When we battle anxiety, He continues working. When we rebel and when we repent, He is working still. His eternal purposes for the redeemed are more wonderful than you can imagine, more comprehensive than you can see, and more significant than you can fathom. Even when the past is a roadmap for the future, God is always doing something new that can only be described as a faithful expression of His love (Isa. 43:18-20).

God will always be faithful, ultimately, because His name is at stake. The key, however, is that we pledge ourselves to Christ as a bride who adores her groom. How do we do it? By numbering ourselves with the redeemed who call out to God in repentance and faith. Our confidence is in the purifying work of the Savior who sought a people to be His own possession (Tit. 2:14). Then, and only then, can we experience the abundant, abiding faithfulness of the only true God.

Adam B. Dooley

October 12, 2024