December 24, 2024 • 9 mins
Once again you and I find ourselves perched on the eve of the annual Christmas day celebration. And as such, we do well to remember our Lord’s words concerning the reason He condescended to cloak Himself in human flesh. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). This Christmas Eve may you and I not trivialize the Christmas celebration but rather be transformed by the greatest cleavage in human history. That of a Second Adam who clothed Himself in fallen humanity and in doing so returned fallen humanity to the life of Eden. “To him who overcomes,” said Jesus, “I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). Merry Christmas from Hank Hanegraaff and the staff of the Christian Research Institute!
- Listen to Hank’s podcast and follow Hank off the grid where he is joined by some of the brightest minds discussing topics you care about. Get equipped to be a cultural change agent.
- Archived episodes are on our Website and available at the additional channels listed below.
- You can help spread the word about Hank Unplugged by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hello, dear friends. Just a small handk un plug short
to wish you and your loved ones Merry Christmas. But
I don't want to use that phrase Merry Christmas in
a glib way. I want to contextualize what I mean
(00:34):
when I say Merry Christmas. Again, it's not a trite cliche.
As once again you and I find ourselves perched on
the eve of the annual Christmas Day celebration. There's a
lot that is entailed in this remembrance, and as such
(00:56):
we do well to recognize our Lord's words concerning the
reason he condescended to cloak himself in human flesh. The
son of Man, the scripture says, came to seek and
to save that which was lost. And therefore, when we
(01:20):
think about Christmas, we think about salvation, the salvation which
Jesus Christ himself embodies. The Greek form of the Hebrew
Joshua literally means that it means yahweh is salvation. And
(01:41):
so we see that salvation means far more than being
saved from sin. We are saved for sonship. We are
saved to be divinely adopted sons and daughters of God.
Forgiveness is of course the precondition for God's greater gift,
(02:07):
the gift that will last beyond our death, the gift
of divine life. And therefore it may well be said
said with a certainty, that for we who were shipwrecked,
the port of salvation is not the goal. The goal
(02:31):
is resumption. It is to resume a journey whose sole
goal is union with God, fellowship in the Holy Trinity.
And that's what we are destined for, Fellowship in the
Holy Trinity, sharing in the life of God. This is
(02:52):
the life that I so often say, the life that
matters more. The reason we rejoice this Christmas Eve is
that the baby born to marry on that first Advent
was no ordinary child. As Saint Matthew records, this baby
(03:17):
was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of a manual
of God with us. In order to achieve the salvation
for which we are destined, it's necessary to break through
a triple barrier, the triple barrier of which Nicholas Cabasalis,
(03:41):
a contemporary of Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century, of
which he wrote in a remarkable work titled Life in Christ,
where he said that the Lord allowed men separated from God,
separated by the triple barrier of nature, sin, and death,
(04:04):
to be fully possessed of him, and to be directly
united to him by the fact that He has set
aside each of these three barriers in turn, the first
barrier that of nature by incarnation by his coming and flesh,
(04:25):
the second barrier of sin by his death, and the
third of death by his resurrection. And so perhaps in
all of the noise and distractions surrounding modern day Christmas celebrations,
you might still hear that feigned echo of Isaiah's earth
(04:48):
shattering pronouncement, The Virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son, and will call him a Manuel,
and he will save his people from their sins. Isaiah's
(05:10):
prophetic words foreshadowed the first broken barrier, the barrier of nature,
forever shattered by his coming in flesh by his incarnation. Furthermore,
as Christ set asign the first of the triple barriers
by his incarnation, so too he set aside the second
(05:33):
by his death. As the anthropos, as the god Man,
the spotless lamb of God, lived a perfectly sinless human
life and then died a sinner's death. Why to sufficiently atone,
once for all for the sins of humanity. I've said
(05:56):
this often, but without both Nature's Christ's payment would have
been insufficient. As God, his sacrifice was sufficient to provide
redemption for the sins of humankind. As man, he did
what the first atom failed to do. For as an atom,
(06:18):
all die, So in the second atom, Jesus Christ all
will be made alive. Therefore, it is through his death
that the second barrier, the barrier of sin, is forever
set aside. And then, finally, and this is where you
(06:38):
probably ought to say, last, but not least, the sting
of death itself, which is the third and the final barrier,
was forever voided through resurrection. Through the resurrection, the sting
of death has been swallowed up in victory. Well here
(07:03):
as was the first of the two barriers. Isaiah prophetically
looks forward toward the resurrection of a man of sorrows
and familiar with suffering, a man who is the earnest
of our resurrection. On the very last day, For after
the suffering of his soul, says Isaiah, he will see
(07:27):
the light of life and be satisfied. One like fashion,
our bodies will be resurrected from the dust of the earth,
the mortal will be clothed with immortality. And so this
Christmas Eve, may you and I not trivialize the Christmas celebration,
(07:54):
but rather be transformed by the Christmas celebration by that
great cleavage in human history, that of a second atom,
who clothed himself in fallen humanity, and in doing that,
(08:16):
returned fallen humanity to the life of Eden. In Revelation
chapter two, Jesus says to him who overcomes, I will
give to eat from the tree of Life, which is
in the midst of the paradise of God, to experience
(08:40):
everlasting union with the one who spoke, and the universe
leapt into existence with the one who came in the
fullness of time, took on our humanity, lived the life
that we could never live, and offers us his perfection
(09:04):
in place of our imperfections. This Christmas season, we are
celebrating the greatest event in the history of humanity, and
therefore Merry Christmas is impregnated with meaning for time and
(09:28):
for eternity. Merry Christmas, dear friends, and a happy New Year.
Hello, dear friends. Just a small handk un plug short
to wish you and your loved ones Merry Christmas. But
I don't want to use that phrase Merry Christmas in
a glib way. I want to contextualize what I mean
(00:34):
when I say Merry Christmas. Again, it's not a trite cliche.
As once again you and I find ourselves perched on
the eve of the annual Christmas Day celebration. There's a
lot that is entailed in this remembrance, and as such
(00:56):
we do well to recognize our Lord's words concerning the
reason he condescended to cloak himself in human flesh. The
son of Man, the scripture says, came to seek and
to save that which was lost. And therefore, when we
(01:20):
think about Christmas, we think about salvation, the salvation which
Jesus Christ himself embodies. The Greek form of the Hebrew
Joshua literally means that it means yahweh is salvation. And
(01:41):
so we see that salvation means far more than being
saved from sin. We are saved for sonship. We are
saved to be divinely adopted sons and daughters of God.
Forgiveness is of course the precondition for God's greater gift,
(02:07):
the gift that will last beyond our death, the gift
of divine life. And therefore it may well be said
said with a certainty, that for we who were shipwrecked,
the port of salvation is not the goal. The goal
(02:31):
is resumption. It is to resume a journey whose sole
goal is union with God, fellowship in the Holy Trinity.
And that's what we are destined for, Fellowship in the
Holy Trinity, sharing in the life of God. This is
(02:52):
the life that I so often say, the life that
matters more. The reason we rejoice this Christmas Eve is
that the baby born to marry on that first Advent
was no ordinary child. As Saint Matthew records, this baby
(03:17):
was the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of a manual
of God with us. In order to achieve the salvation
for which we are destined, it's necessary to break through
a triple barrier, the triple barrier of which Nicholas Cabasalis,
(03:41):
a contemporary of Gregory Palamas in the fourteenth century, of
which he wrote in a remarkable work titled Life in Christ,
where he said that the Lord allowed men separated from God,
separated by the triple barrier of nature, sin, and death,
(04:04):
to be fully possessed of him, and to be directly
united to him by the fact that He has set
aside each of these three barriers in turn, the first
barrier that of nature by incarnation by his coming and flesh,
(04:25):
the second barrier of sin by his death, and the
third of death by his resurrection. And so perhaps in
all of the noise and distractions surrounding modern day Christmas celebrations,
you might still hear that feigned echo of Isaiah's earth
(04:48):
shattering pronouncement, The Virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son, and will call him a Manuel,
and he will save his people from their sins. Isaiah's
(05:10):
prophetic words foreshadowed the first broken barrier, the barrier of nature,
forever shattered by his coming in flesh by his incarnation. Furthermore,
as Christ set asign the first of the triple barriers
by his incarnation, so too he set aside the second
(05:33):
by his death. As the anthropos, as the god Man,
the spotless lamb of God, lived a perfectly sinless human
life and then died a sinner's death. Why to sufficiently atone,
once for all for the sins of humanity. I've said
(05:56):
this often, but without both Nature's Christ's payment would have
been insufficient. As God, his sacrifice was sufficient to provide
redemption for the sins of humankind. As man, he did
what the first atom failed to do. For as an atom,
(06:18):
all die, So in the second atom, Jesus Christ all
will be made alive. Therefore, it is through his death
that the second barrier, the barrier of sin, is forever
set aside. And then, finally, and this is where you
(06:38):
probably ought to say, last, but not least, the sting
of death itself, which is the third and the final barrier,
was forever voided through resurrection. Through the resurrection, the sting
of death has been swallowed up in victory. Well here
(07:03):
as was the first of the two barriers. Isaiah prophetically
looks forward toward the resurrection of a man of sorrows
and familiar with suffering, a man who is the earnest
of our resurrection. On the very last day, For after
the suffering of his soul, says Isaiah, he will see
(07:27):
the light of life and be satisfied. One like fashion,
our bodies will be resurrected from the dust of the earth,
the mortal will be clothed with immortality. And so this
Christmas Eve, may you and I not trivialize the Christmas celebration,
(07:54):
but rather be transformed by the Christmas celebration by that
great cleavage in human history, that of a second atom,
who clothed himself in fallen humanity, and in doing that,
(08:16):
returned fallen humanity to the life of Eden. In Revelation
chapter two, Jesus says to him who overcomes, I will
give to eat from the tree of Life, which is
in the midst of the paradise of God, to experience
(08:40):
everlasting union with the one who spoke, and the universe
leapt into existence with the one who came in the
fullness of time, took on our humanity, lived the life
that we could never live, and offers us his perfection
(09:04):
in place of our imperfections. This Christmas season, we are
celebrating the greatest event in the history of humanity, and
therefore Merry Christmas is impregnated with meaning for time and
(09:28):
for eternity. Merry Christmas, dear friends, and a happy New Year.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!