The Promised Hope

I love the Christmas Season as probably all of you do too. One of the things I love about it is the stories that surround the holidays. We some of our better angels at play. My all time favorite story comes from World War 1. It goes like this…

In 1914 at Dawn on December 25th, some German troops along the front lines on the Western Front stepped out of their trenches and crossed in to no man’s land.  Their mission was not to destroy the Allie soldiers just a few hundred meters away from them, nor was it to capture troops for much needed intelligence.  Instead, the Germans were crossing no man’s land to wish their enemy “Merry Christmas.” 

At first the allies thought it was a ruse, but they shortly recognized that the short truce was sincere.  For that brief moment in time, the hell of war had disappeared and peace had arrived as the competing soldiers shared stories, traded smokes and sang Christmas carols.  The peace was short lived and soon the troops would war with one another.

The greatness of Christmas cannot be understated.   Immanuel (God with us) came to bring peace, hope and love to the world.  While there are troubles that come to us on this earth, they are light and momentary compared to the glory that awaits the Christian.  Christ has given us a promise that we will one day have a lasting peace that can never be taken away from us.  We do not have a short lived peace like the soldiers in World War I, but it is a peace that can never be taken away from us.

This is the promise of Christmas.  This is why there should be a perpetual joy in our hearts.  Christ came to earth as a baby to give us everything.  This is the hope in which our heart’s rest.  When we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate with joy this promise.  We will rule and reign with Christ in an eternal peace that words can never describe.