The Lodestar

Christmas is a joyful occasion not only for Christians but for everyone. Since it is a great marketing opportunity of the year, commercial establishments deck up weeks ahead. My Hindu neighbours have illuminated their houses, reminding me to pull out last year's lights and stars from the store. 

Though it is a joyful season, some liberal cultures have consciously expelled the central figure of this celebration—Jesus Christ. Many Western cultures, to respect the religious sentiments of non-Christian populations, have taken the word "Christ" out of it to call it "The Holidays." The legendary Santa Claus has displaced Christ in the celebrations, making some people think it is all about him. Many people, as they return to their lives after the celebrations, forget it until the following season.

However, Christmas is not a one-time event. It begins a series of events, with a climax yet to come. 

The climax is that Christ, who came as a babe, will return to assume his royal role. He came as a regal infant to die for the sins of the world. Not all recognised him as king, but the Wisemen, his followers who sang Hosanna, and even Pilate, the Roman governor, recognised him as king. But he postponed assuming the royal authority for a time appointed by God.

Christmas reminds us that in all his glory, he will come again, for those eagerly waiting for him, that would be the second Christmas. He will not be born again in a manger; the angels will not announce his birth, and the Wisemen will not hit the dusty roads looking for the King of the Jews. 

But he would come in the clouds, accompanied by angels and the sound of trumpets, for those who had been waiting for his descent from heaven. "For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord" (1 Thess 4:16—17).

Those who believe Christ has already come as a babe, lived among sinners to save them through his death on the cross, will be with him when he comes in all his glory to take over the reign of this world. The joy of the first Christmas is incomplete without the joy of the second.

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