The Outlaw Christ-Child: Why Christmas is Still a Revolution (EP 360)

Forget the sanitized nativity—Christmas is a beachhead, an invasion, a sentence of doom upon the dragon. Brian Del Turco unveils Christmas through Revelation 12 and G.K. Chesterton's vision of the cave as an "outlaw's den"—a fortress in enemy territory where the King returned to shake kingdoms from below. This isn't about warm feelings and Michael Bublé—it's about understanding that the incarnation set in motion an advancing process that continues through us today. Discover four practical ways to live in "365 Advent". Pull out the eggnog if you fancy, but remember this: the dragon rages, but you reign in Christ.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: The Outlaw Christ-Child: Why Christmas is Still a Revolution

Hey, dragon, you've been resisting, you've been fighting, you've been raging, but we have a message for you. Ho, ho, ho, from King Jesus.

Well, I have my little Christmas tree with twinkling lights that my daughter so kindly set me up with right here by my podcasting equipment. I'm ready to go. This is the first in a miniseries on Christmas. Welcome to Jesus Smart, the podcast. Brian Del Turco here. Thanks for connecting with me today.

The Central Miracle of Christianity

C.S. Lewis, in his book Miracles, writes that the central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. That's sort of a theological word which simply means God became flesh. Jesus came into the earth in the form of a human being. Lewis writes that they say that God became man. Of course, this is true. Every other miracle prepares for the incarnation or exhibits the reality of the incarnation or results from this, the incarnation.

In the Christian story, Lewis writes, God descends to re-ascend. Now listen to this, because you and I are swept up in this. In Christ, He comes down, down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity. But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him. Isn't that powerful?

Paul put it this way in his letter to the Philippians: "I press toward the mark of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Beyond the Hallmark Christmas

Now, I live with a lot of ladies—one wife and many daughters. We have four daughters, two still at home. So I know a lot about Hallmark. I have memorized the script-writing templates of Hallmark movies. I can predict the outcome of a Hallmark movie.

I don't mind. I enjoy sitting with my wife on a couch during the holiday season while they have a Hallmark movie on, and maybe we're eating a little something. And quite often, I might have, if I can just be honest with you, earbuds in. And I'm listening to maybe a podcast or something like that, kind of multitasking, glancing up at the Hallmark movie once in a while, but then getting some good solid content as well. This is how I—these are my coping mechanisms. This is how I make it with four daughters.

So I don't mind doing that. But I'm always after a deeper, more militant message concerning Christmas. And I know that this may challenge some people. Maybe not. Maybe you're listening, and this doesn't challenge you. I hope not.

The Christmas Story from Heaven's Perspective

Let's consider the Christmas story as told from heaven's perspective in the book of Revelation. You know, we sing "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night, Holy Night," and we think about the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. We put the Charlie Brown special on. We put the music on. If I hear another song by Michael Bublé, I don't know what I'm going to do. But all of these things are around.

But deep down, I'm understanding that Christmas is invasion. And this is how I like to try to keep Christmas well.

Consider from the book of Revelation, chapter 12: "The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child who will rule the nations with an iron scepter." Yes, take that, Michael Bublé.

"And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and his angels fought back, but he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus."

What is this account of the woman and the dragon and the birthing of the Christ child? I was having coffee with a fellow compatriot yesterday, and we concluded—I've done some study on it. Not a deep dive on Revelation 12, not super deep, but I see the woman there as a composite picture of first Israel, then Mary giving birth to the Christ child, and then the church as well, and the dragon making war. But we're overcoming.

The Outlaw's Den: G.K. Chesterton's Vision

Now, G.K. Chesterton—see, we have to read people from a hundred years ago. G.K. Chesterton, just hang with this here. He wrote in his book The Everlasting Man, in the chapter "The God in the Cave," that we need to take the fragrance of what happened in the birth of the Christ child. He calls it an explosion in the Judean hills 2,000 years ago. He sees the cave as an outlaw's den, as an outpost, a fortress in enemy territory. Yes, take that, Hallmark.

Herod's days are marked and the dragon's doom is sealed. Now listen to what he says:

"There is something defiant in this, something that makes the abrupt bells at midnight sound like the great guns of a battle that has just been won. All this indescribable thing that we call Christmas atmosphere." Just like the bells would ring maybe at midnight on Christmas Eve, he hears it as the great guns of a battle that has just been won.

He continues: "This Christmas atmosphere hangs in the air, something like a lingering fragrance or a fading vapor from the exultant explosion of that one hour in the Judean hills nearly 2,000 years ago. But the savor is still unmistakable, and it's something too subtle or too solitary to be covered by our use of the word peace. By the very nature of the story, the rejoicings in the cavern were rejoicings in a fortress or an outlaw's den."

Now this is how to keep Christmas well, right? Especially in our time and what we may face, friends, as we look at this next decade or two.

As an overcoming Christ follower, he continues, there in that image is a true idea of an outpost, of a piercing through the rock and an entrance into enemy territory. Yes. If I could just say, this is like D-Day. This is a beachhead. The King is back.

He continues: "There in this buried divinity, an idea of undermining the world, the world system, of shaking the towers and palaces from below." He sees the Christ child as underground in the cave, in the outlaw's den, shaking even as Herod—Herod the great king felt that earthquake under him and swayed with his swaying palace.

See, everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that what remains is the eternal kingdom of Christ. This is so beautiful.

Actually, give me my eggnog. Go ahead and put Hallmark on, but I'm going to be thinking and praying on these lines, and I'm going to be positively agitating people around me to consider these edges.

The Lord of Hosts

Now, my friends and angels, did you know that the compound name that represents Christ's nature most frequently in the Scriptures—do you know what it is? The compound name in the Bible that represents Christ's nature most frequently? It's "Lord of Hosts."

Get this: it appears nearly 10 times the sum of all the other compound names revealed in the Scriptures. Can you believe that? Do you think that God is trying to say something to us about the primacy of what His nature is, about the priority of what His agenda is?

Now listen, in Luke chapter 2: "In the same region, these shepherds"—and I hope they had their adult diapers on, because they probably had an adult accident—"shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened." I mean, no kidding. The sky unzips, there's like a veil that opens up, and the glory of the Lord manifests in white-hot light.

And the angel says to them, "Don't be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Now, if they didn't use their adult diapers yet, they may have right here in verse 13: "Suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying"—a multitude of the heavenly host, there it is. These were militant angels that manifested in the sky that were escorting, in a sense, the seed of the second member of the Godhead coming into the hostile environment of the...