I’m not going to lie to you. I may have the ugliest Christmas tree of all time. Collected over the years, my wife and I have this bizarre amalgam of ornaments on our tree. We have ornaments with every cartoon character from the Disney family to the Warner Brothers. We have Batman, Captain America, and Spiderman, protecting our tree from any and all n’er-do-wells and evil-doers. Our tree proudly displays a Starbucks ornament, as well as several Furbees, a hideous alien creature that was the must-have gift a few years back when people clearly had too much money and too little discernment. We have the Three Stooges camping it up on our tree, making sure that our holiday season is filled with eye-pokes and belly-laughs. But quite possibly the most repulsive ornament is one that my wife has had since she was a child. It’s a little boy who is peering around the corner to spy on Santa while the back of his pajamas falls open to show off his rear. It’s a hideous tree is my point.
But did you know that the Christmas tree is, traditionally speaking, a symbol for the cross of Christ? No one knows for sure where the tradition started. Some say it was a symbol of the Garden where man and God walked together as friends. Others say that it is a symbol of the Tree of Life from Revelations. But most scholars believe that the Christmas tree was originally a symbol for what Christ did for us on Calvary. And if you think about it in those terms, my ugly tree makes a lot of sense.
On Calvary, Christ died for our sins. In the Bible, Romans 5:8 says this about it: “God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” At Christmas, we often take that lightly. We think about the adorable baby Jesus lying in a manger filled with fluffy-soft hay. We don’t think about the fact that only 33 short years later that adorable baby would breathe His last breath on a tree for our sins.
We often acknowledge at this time that Christ would die for our sins, but do we take the time to think about what that really means? Despite what some people say, sin is not a mistake, or an accidental blunder. Sin is a willful rebellion against the God of creation. It calls for the death of God. Because of this, God sent His Son, to be born as an adorable baby, to live a perfect life, and to die upon a cross.
But we also glance over the cross. Not only did Jesus die on that crooked tree, taking on all of the sins of the world, but He also took on the wrath for every single sin that the human race had committed, but would also EVER commit. As a result, for the first time in all of eternity, the relationship between the Father and His Son was severed. The Father could not be in the presence of the Sin that the son had become, a curse as the Bible says. That is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Lord, why have you forsaken me?”
Needless to say, the cross was ugly. But because of the ugliness on the cross that Christ endured for us, we have the chance to see the beauty of His mercy for all of eternity. Through this one ugly event, God’s glorious character blazes forth brighter than a billion twinkling lights. Beauty out of ugliness.
And the same thing happens when I turn off the lights in my house and turn on our Christmas lights. My tree looks beautiful. With all of the lights shining out, it really is. Out of something repulsive, comes something gorgeous. It makes me think of the cross. And why, at Christmas, the gift of Christ is the most precious of all.
But did you know that the Christmas tree is, traditionally speaking, a symbol for the cross of Christ? No one knows for sure where the tradition started. Some say it was a symbol of the Garden where man and God walked together as friends. Others say that it is a symbol of the Tree of Life from Revelations. But most scholars believe that the Christmas tree was originally a symbol for what Christ did for us on Calvary. And if you think about it in those terms, my ugly tree makes a lot of sense.
On Calvary, Christ died for our sins. In the Bible, Romans 5:8 says this about it: “God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” At Christmas, we often take that lightly. We think about the adorable baby Jesus lying in a manger filled with fluffy-soft hay. We don’t think about the fact that only 33 short years later that adorable baby would breathe His last breath on a tree for our sins.
We often acknowledge at this time that Christ would die for our sins, but do we take the time to think about what that really means? Despite what some people say, sin is not a mistake, or an accidental blunder. Sin is a willful rebellion against the God of creation. It calls for the death of God. Because of this, God sent His Son, to be born as an adorable baby, to live a perfect life, and to die upon a cross.
But we also glance over the cross. Not only did Jesus die on that crooked tree, taking on all of the sins of the world, but He also took on the wrath for every single sin that the human race had committed, but would also EVER commit. As a result, for the first time in all of eternity, the relationship between the Father and His Son was severed. The Father could not be in the presence of the Sin that the son had become, a curse as the Bible says. That is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Lord, why have you forsaken me?”
Needless to say, the cross was ugly. But because of the ugliness on the cross that Christ endured for us, we have the chance to see the beauty of His mercy for all of eternity. Through this one ugly event, God’s glorious character blazes forth brighter than a billion twinkling lights. Beauty out of ugliness.
And the same thing happens when I turn off the lights in my house and turn on our Christmas lights. My tree looks beautiful. With all of the lights shining out, it really is. Out of something repulsive, comes something gorgeous. It makes me think of the cross. And why, at Christmas, the gift of Christ is the most precious of all.
RSS Feed