DECEMBER 12 - Christmas: The Defeat of Darkness

DECEMBER 12 - Christmas: The Defeat of Darkness

 

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. — HABAKKUK 1:13

 

 

God permits all sorts of awful things to happen . . . things he doesn’t approve of. God allows others to do what he would never do. At the same time, he hates evil. Please don’t think that God sits back and nods appreciatively at the peddling of drugs to ninth graders. He’s not the one who fired the ovens of Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps. He does not smile when doctors slip up leaving children with crippling defects, or high school linebackers crush the neck of the opposing team’s quarterback. He hates these things.

 

 

God is truly grieved over evil. He is grieved at how we’ve ruined the world and abused each other. This grief is partly why he gave the Ten Commandments: Don’t murder, he says — I hate unjust killing. Don’t commit adultery — I despise seeing families ripped apart. Don’t steal — society will crumble if you do. God cannot tolerate wrong . . .

 

 

This is why he sent Jesus to be born into our dark world. From the day of his birth, the forces of darkness began plotting against the Babe in the manger. Why? Because the adversary and his wicked hoards knew that this was the Child who would ultimately crush Satan and bring an end to wickedness in this world. God is so grieved over evil that he sent his only Son to die in order that righteousness and peace, truth and love would prevail . . . in order that we might escape the clutches of hell and be welcomed into heaven. God permits what he hates to accomplish that which he loves.

 

 

Celebrate the defeat of darkness by singing this verse today from the Christmas carol, “Joy to the World”: “No more let sins or sorrows grow, / nor thorns infest the ground; / He comes to make His blessings flow / far as the curse is found!”

 

 

“God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay, / remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day; / to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. / O tidings of comfort and joy!”

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