CHRISTMAS: LAUNCHING THE NEW EDEN

Christmas is a season of excitement and life-giving joy. Carols filling the airwaves and shopping centres announce its arrival, while familiar lines like “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” remind us that something special is in the air.

For billions of Christians, it is the crowning season of the annual calendar—an interlude when wonder interrupts routine, and the story of Christ breaks in upon the mundane world we know so well. It is the celebration of a God who stepped into mankind's darkness with redeeming light.

God refused to abandon the world He made or the people He loves. He stepped into the creation shattered by sin to redeem it and restore Eden.

The Bible tells us that “creation was subjected to frustration… and groans as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:20–22). Injustice, decay, and death have cast their shadow across every generation since Adam. But the message of Christmas is this: God refused to abandon the world He made or the people He loves. He stepped into the creation shattered by sin to redeem it and restore Eden.

Isaiah foresaw this momentous event: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end… He will establish it with justice and righteousness” (Isaiah 9:7). God put on human flesh to restore the justice, dignity, and righteousness that sin had torn away.

The child born to Mary would confront the most profound injustices of the human heart—including the prince of darkness, himself, satan. He would heal the sick, elevate the oppressed, cleanse the guilty, and ultimately defeat sin and death through His death and resurrection. But even more than that, it is the next step in God’s plan to complete his redemption program.

John writes, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). That phrase echoes Eden,

where God once walked with humanity in perfect fellowship. In Jesus, God steps back into the garden of His creation, assuming our humanity so He might completely heal it. In Bethlehem, the Gardener has returned, and in Christ, heaven touched earth again.

• He restored the image of God in the broken. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1:4).

• He welcomed the forgotten. “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53).

• He defeated the powers of evil. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

• He opened the way back into God’s presence. “Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…” (Hebrews 10:19).

His Kingdom will be established on the earth again, and the same glorious reign of God that Adam and Eve witnessed in Eden will once again be enjoyed by every person who places their faith in Jesus Christ.

Every life transformed by Christ is a seed of Eden planted in a broken world. Every injustice we push back against in Jesus’ name is a sign that His kingdom is advancing. Eventually, His Kingdom will be established on the earth again, and the same glorious reign of God that Adam and Eve witnessed in Eden will once again be enjoyed by every person who places their faith in Jesus Christ.

The Spirit assures us of this through Habakkuk: “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (2:14), and again through Isaiah: “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (11:9). Ezekiel 47 gives us a vivid picture of that future—waters flowing from God’s presence, transforming everything they touch, bringing life where there was death, and healing to every place the river goes.

Today we live between the manager and the coming glory. Christmas reminds us that the work God began in Bethlehem will one day be completed in a redeemed world: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). This is the Miracle of Christmas.

• God came near to confront the sin that enslaved us.

• God came near to heal the world that grieved us.

• God came near to restore the Eden we lost.

Christmas is the beginning of the New Creation, and Jesus is its King.