When Christmas Came: Christmas Is About Hope

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

Christmas
is about Hope.
That we shall not perish.
Earthquakes
Floods
Storms
Wars
Persecutions
Famines
Death
But we who believe have hope.
All will be made alive!
All things will be made new!
All will see Him face to face,
the anchor
of our souls,
firm and secure.

In June of 2008 my sweet precious granddaughter, Molly Ann Mutz, was born full term with congestive heart failure, due to a serious malformation of blood vessels in her brain. Molly, who was beautiful and perfectly normal on the outside, lived only seven days.

What comfort was there for my daughter and her husband who were so quickly separated from their first-born child? Would they have joy again? More to the point: Would their heart-wrenching longing to see Molly again ever be quieted?

If Christmas had not come, the answer would be “No.” The end of life would be the end of everything.

But Christmas did come! Jesus was born! And He gave the world many promises: new life in Him today, forgiveness for our wrongs today, and the assurance of heaven where all things will be made new forever. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new’” (Revelation 21:3-5).

These are words of hope to a young couple who had to plan a funeral instead of a homecoming. They are words of hope for me, for I wanted with all my heart to rescue my daughter and son-in-law from such pain. Though I had no power to rescue them, Jesus does. He alone can redeem our pain and turn great sorrow into joy.

This is the hope of Christmas—Immanuel, God with us—even when our hearts are broken and we feel we will perish in the flood of grief and loss and all that appears meaningless.

In The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote, “I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage ... that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts.”

Christmas is about hope. I, too, believe and have hope because Christmas has come.