Let’s Chat: Pleased to Dwell 13

For Luke, these two great moments in history – the birth of Christ, then His death and resurrection – are too important to let slip into the category of myth or legend.[1]

You can see all posts in this series by clicking on this line.

The Gospel is too important for God to let Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection life slip away into the mists of uncertain history. Our relationship with God is grounded in reality – historical, personal, and spiritual. We can’t miss any of those because that’s where we get the Gospel.

When John writes his Letter to an unsettled church, he grounds his writings in the rock of history (1 John 1:1-3):

we have heard… we have seen with our eyes… we looked upon and have touched with our hands… the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which… was made manifest to us — that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you….

Why? Because the Gospel is the greatest and most certain truth which stands above all other facts we take for granted. It is a reality grounded in history, and so the spiritual and personal realty stays planted deep in God’s revelation of Himself:

so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 

What Jesus has opened up for believers in His incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension is most certain truth of all. It grounds the world in purpose, and ties the believer to the Word of the God who revealed Himself rather than calling us to puzzle Him out on our own. We have a true spiritual relationship with the true God!

At Christmas, it’s easy to view Jesus along with the world. Put on the lenses of myth, and it’s a pleasant cultural story. Let’s not let our perspective of Christmas subtly shift into myth and fairy tale. Today, remind yourself of God’s painstaking effort to reveal historical details of His Son and Gospel to us.

Let’s Chat

What difference does Luke’s standards of reliability and trustworthiness make to how you view Christmas?

---

[1] Peter Mead, Pleased to Dwell,