Christmas Eve 2025

The Philosopher’s conundrum: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

There once was a man who said, ‘God Must think it exceedingly odd If He finds that this tree Continues to be When there’s no one about in the Quad.’
‘Dear Sir: Your astonishment’s odd.
I am always about in the Quad
And that’s why the tree
Will continue to be,
Since observed by,
Yours faithfully, God.’

-Ronald Knox, God in the Quad

What is this God really like?

We know by pure logic that God exists.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

-Romans 1:20 (NIV)

Illustration: Debate with Tim Douer Good Friday NewsTalk ZB

There may be overwhelming evidence to believe in God, we want to know what God is like. We want revelation! We want heaven to open and allow me to have a look inside!

Illustration: Model T. Ford and Henry Ford

The Christmas Story in the Gospels

Each writer attempts to open the heavens and introduce us to God, Jesus, Emmanuel: God with us.

Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us the facts surrounding the Christmas story.

John tells us the meaning of the Christmas story.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

-John 1:1–5, 14 (NIV)

If Christmas is true—are we looking into the face of God?

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

-John 1:14 (NIV)

‘Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’

-John 1:51 (NIV)

Jesus ties His coming to the story of Jacob.

Jacob is conniving, egocentric, and self-centered.

He steals his brother’s birthright, tricking Isaac into putting the youngest before the oldest, giving the second son his blessing.

This the ultimate shame in an honor/shame culture of primogeniture.

The results are devastating to Jacob.

Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

-Genesis 29:11 (NIV)

Then Jacob said to Laban, ‘Give me my wife. For my time is completed, and I want to sleep with her.’

-Genesis 29:21 (HCSB)

There are many listening to this message who have been wrestling with God their entire lives.

The real problem: You have been fighting with God! The common denominator in all of your problems is YOU!

Imagine how insane it is to snub your Maker and attempt to use Him as a means to get what you think you can’t live without.

Jacob’s Encounter With God:

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’

-Genesis 28:12–15 (NIV)

What is God saying? “All the things you are chasing I have already determined I will give them to you. I have opened up heaven to you!”

I am the Lord your God.

I am the one who will bless you.

I have descended to you.

I have opened up heaven to you.

So, Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, ‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.’ But Jacob replied, ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’

-Genesis 32:24–26 (NIV)

Jacob has finally discovered TRUTH: “I don’t need all this stuff. I need you!”

Jacob ceases to fight with God and begins fighting for God.

Jacob said, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he replied, ‘Why do you ask my name?’ Then he blessed him there.

-Genesis 32:29 (NIV)

Jacob says: ‘I want you to bless me and I want your name.’

John’s Christmas Story: Do you want to know who answers the door when you knock on the door of the universe?

Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.

-John 1:51 (NIV)

What a remarkable statement! Because if Jesus had said, “I can show you the gate of heaven,” He'd be claiming to be a prophet.

But Jesus was saying much more than that!

Jesus is saying, “Heaven and earth intersect upon me.”

He is the gateway.

He is the doorway into heaven.

He is the passageway into everything for which you have been searching.

Even the “Jacobs” of the world can have the glory and power of God in their life.

What is the Christmas story according to John?

Everything about the Christmas narrative tells you that over and over again!

Why was Nathaniel so skeptical about Philip's proposal that this one was the Messiah?

“Nothing good could come out of Nazareth.”

God would never go there, and God could never come from there.

But He did.

And this is one of the great themes of Christmas.

Jesus is not only from a backwater place, He came from the poorest part of the backwater place.

‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’

-Isaiah 57:15 (NIV)

There's two places where God's power dwells:

1. In the highest of highest heaven

2. In the heart of a humble person

God's salvation was achieved by humbling, and it's received by humbling!

God's salvation came into the world as a humble baby.

Not only was he humbled in his birth, He was humbled in his life.

Most of all, he was humbled in his death.

Yet, He triumphed through defeat.

What is the greatest, most inexorable, most unstoppable power in this world today?

Everything is stoppable except one thing. Death.

You can't stop death. But Jesus did.

Because he owns death.

Jesus defeated death.

He put sin and death in its place.

His defeat of sin is credited to your account.

Therefore, sin and death have no hold on you.

Lazarus laughed… Death is Dead!

-Eugene O’Neill, “Lazarus Laughed”

One: Heaven has been opened.

Two: Those who humble themselves receive it.

There is a major problem with the gift Jesus gives you.

First: Have you looked into your heart far enough to see that you're a sinner?

You have to admit you are a sinner in need of a Savior.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

-Matthew 5:3 (NIV)

Second: Is God humbling you now? Are you aware of the context in which Jesus speaks these words to Nathaniel?

‘You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.’ He then added, ‘Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’

-John 1:50–51 (NIV)

People who have known God the longest will always tell you it's the lonely places, the humbling experiences that drive you to God.

So, what’s the message of Christmas?

God tells us: I have opened heaven to all who would humble themselves, admit their sin, fall on their knees and seek me above and beyond anything else.

No matter what you have done, where you have been, Jesus came for the unrighteous, not the righteous.

And on this Christmas night, heaven opens up to you.

Make a Decision