Maybe there should be! When we think of the nativity scene, we tend to imagine a peaceful and tender setting. The lyrics to “Silent Night” even suggest “no crying he makes.” We tend to sanitize what would have been the real sights, smells, and noises of birth in a stable. But even beyond that, we tend to also ignore the fact that the Prince of Peace came into a world that was completely hostile toward Him. In fact the dragon (Satan) was poised to devour him right at the scene of birth!
“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems….And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness….”
Revelation 12 gives a broad overview of the plight of the church between the two comings of Christ. The woman – though of course she makes us think initially of Mary – is actually representative of the people of God as a personified whole (Gen. 37:9-11, Isa. 54). And the birth of Christ, while yes the joyous moment we had been waiting for, was also the start of an intense millennia-long chase scene that plays out across the rest of the chapter. The dragon was not able to snuff out the life of Christ, who is now ascended to heaven in power. So instead his fury is directed to the woman and the rest of her offspring – us.
So how does this trippy vision impact Christmas? If you’re looking for holiday meaning in nostalgia and a “Precious Moments” sort of creche scene, you’re ignoring the cosmic war that erupted that night in Bethlehem. If we look to Christmas as some sort of escape from the suffering, temptation, and struggle of life, we’re missing the point. The real significance is that the arrival of the Child was the beginning of the end. The dragon’s days are numbered, and he is warring in rage and terror. You can stand and rejoice in the very midst of this tribulation because “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.” So let Christmas this year remind you that there is a dangerous enemy of your soul, but there is also God incarnate on throne, and there is true warmth and security and cheer found in holding to the testimony of Jesus…to the very end.