I love everything about Christmas. The white snow, the cheerful music, the rainbow of lights and the dawn vision of presents piled under the tree. It is a happy time for my family, a time of great joy, even in the absence of those with whom we would very much like to celebrate the holiday. Some of my most cherished memories stem from this time of year; what would I not give to arrive at the old manse to be greeted by my grandfather bearing a hot buttered rum in hand just one more time? But we also remember the inspiration for the celebration, a truth both wonderful and grim.
We remember that Jesus Christ had to come into this fallen world because it was, and is, under the rule of a cruel and malevolent prince, who tempted Him, who slew Him when He would not submit, and who watched in helpless horror as He rose again in power.
The world is still under the rule of that cruel prince, the results of which can be seen every day in the news. Murder, war and tyranny continue to oppress many millions throughout the world, the spectre of economic collapse now threatens the livelihoods of even more, but we who refuse to submit to the ruler of this world are no longer bound by him, for we claim that truth that sets us free, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Man’s true monarch, yet I remain convinced His Father is a libertarian at heart. For not only did He send His Son to set us free, but He allows us, no, He forces us to decide between acknowledging His Son as Lord or seating ourselves upon the throne of our own lives. And that freedom of choice, in the end, is the central liberty; indeed, it is the only liberty that truly matters.
A friend once asked how I could be so cheerful while America rots from within and endures attack from without. Others have wondered how I can be so personally optimistic even as I morbidly chronicle one debacle after another in this column and on my blog. The answer is that despite my love for America and my passionate allegiance to the ideas upon which it was constructed, I know that its fate is immaterial. Our country, our homes and even our lives are all things of shadow which will one day disappear in the light of the glory of Jesus Christ.
Despair is the natural state of the thinking man. This is why intellectuals grasp so readily at even the feeblest straw promising hope for heaven on Earth. It is why people irrationally turn to the very corrupt and evil men responsible for the current crises in the hopes that they will somehow be spared the awful consequences. But they do so in vain, as there will be neither peace nor harmony until the revolution begun in a Bethlehem manger is complete, until the murderous ruler of this world is finally deposed. Then, at long last, there will be peace and goodwill to men.
Merry Christmas. And may God bless us, every one.
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