Are You Still Going Down?

When we lived on the east coast I once read about a serious coal mining accident that occurred in the Allegheny mountains many years ago. Although most of the miners escaped, three remained trapped somewhere deep in the earth. No one knew whether they were alive or dead. As the hours passed, intense heat and noxious gases filled the subterranean passageways. Two days elapsed before a search expedition was finally allowed to enter the mine. Members of the local news media interviewed the three-man rescue team as they prepared to enter what could become their grave. A reporter asked one of the men if he was aware of the deadly fumes and the extreme danger of their expedition. The man said, "yes." The reporter then followed up. "Are you still going down?" The man replied, "YES, OF COURSE!" Then without another word of explanation, he put on his gas mask, climbed into the elevator and descended into the mine.

As I read that story I couldn't help but wonder if a similar discussion took place in heaven before the first Christmas, when our Lord was still in His exalted position with the Father. Perhaps there was an angel who may have asked Him, "Are You still going down? Knowing that You will be despised, rejected and will finally die the most cruel of deaths, skewered on a Roman cross with nails in Your hands and feet, and with a Centurion's sword thrust into your side, are you still going down?"

And His answer? "YES, OF COURSE!" And what took place on that star-spangled night some twenty centuries ago, on into the wee hours when the sun would rise on a Bethlehem morn, is now history - and has literally changed the course of humanity. "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light," the prophet Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 9:2). "For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given" (Isaiah 9:6). And the Apostle John adds, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). He came down! Then and there, in time and space, Almighty God invaded and penetrated our world in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, a tiny babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid to rest in a feeding trough in an innkeeper's stable. He came down!

Incredible as it may seem, He came down! The Apostle Paul describes the miracle of the incarnation and the spectacle of God's humiliation with these words, "Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:6-8). He came down! He came down to save us from our sin. To lift us from the pit, as it were, and to set our feet on solid ground. He came down to give to us eternal life.

"Are You still going down?" That question may or may not have provoked a good deal of discussion in heavenly hallways. But Christ's answer was certainly direct and clear: "YES, OF COURSE!"

He came down. And now, some 2000 years later, the most important question that remains is this one: Are YOU going up? In other words, have you received from God the gift of eternal life that is offered to you through faith in Jesus Christ His Son? I hope you can say, without a question and without any hesitation, "YES, OF COURSE!"

Win and I hope that you will have a wonderful holiday as you CELEBRATE the "coming down" of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the good news of God’s free grace in Jesus shine through every part of your Christmas celebration this year. And, from our hearts and home to yours, may the Lord bless you and yours with the light of His love and grace in 2009. We pray for God's richest blessing on you and yours as we ANTICIPATE a new year of knowing, loving and serving the Lord here on earth - if He doesn't call us up first! Maranatha! Even so, quickly come, Lord Jesus!