Supernaturalism has come to us: thoughts for Christmas

The article regarding “supernaturalism” aimed at strengthening faith.

Hebrews 11:1*¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

The unseen is greater than all that we can see and test by our senses. Life challenges us at so many points. But, virtually every challenge involves the temptation to worship what we see or experience in this material world. That worship may involve desire or it may involve fear; but the temptation is to set our hearts on some aspect of this world. Our hearts may be set on money, not because we crave something new, bigger, or more stylish, but because we fear what will become of us if we do not have enough. Whatever dominates our hearts is our god. Cancer may be our god. No one lusts after cancer; however, should we live in a dominating fear or dread of it, cancer has assumed the place of god to us.

The proper faith in the supernatural casts out both dominating lusts and dominating fears. Nothing in the visible world compares with either the goodness or the power of the supernatural.

Yet, is it proper to speak simply of the “supernatural”? Such talk seems to perceive the supernatural to be some sort of force or power, impersonal and unknowable. The answer to the question is “no”, we should not speak or think of the supernatural in these ways (impersonal and unknowable). God is Person. He alone is supernatural. Thus the supernatural is the Person of God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Our loves and fears must be directed to God only! Yet, in our worship of the Triune God we must think always of the supernatural. He is greater than all these things. Both the things that we think have the power to “make” our lives and the things that we think have the power to “ruin” our lives. The personal God is over all things. He controls all things. He is better than all things. He is more to be feared than all things.

Christmas, properly defined, is the miracle of the supernatural Person of God the Son entering this material world as a real material and spiritual human. The supernatural became natural as well as supernatural. Amazing! When Peter said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”, he was looking into the face of an ordinary young man in His early 30s. For all that Peter’s eyes could see, Jesus was no different than himself. But, when Jesus fed 5000 plus with a few loaves and fishes and then fed 4000 with seven loaves and a few fish, Peter knew there is more to Jesus than meets the eye. When Jesus walked across water to reach His disciples on the lake and enabled Peter to walk on top of the water also (so long as he believed), Peter realized that the supernatural was wedded to the natural in Jesus. He was material, natural man. He was supernatural, invisible God. Both in One.

The coming of the supernatural into the natural declares that we have hope. God is not distant and uninterested in our plight. Neither is He offended at our sin so as to abandon us forever to our misery and death, as deserving as we are of both. God is offended; but, His love for our kind is greater than the offense. He so loves mankind that He became an ordinary man (though sinless and in that sense greatly extra-ordinary) in order that He might resolve His offense toward us at His own expense, not at ours. Thus, Jesus surrendered Himself to capital punishment (undeserved) and coincidental to that punishment endured the angry wrath of God (deserved by us). By the sacrifice of His holy and innocent and natural humanity, Jesus removed from God the offense of all those sinners who believe in His supernatural virtue and power. The resurrection of His natural self from the dead declared that the offense was indeed gone. The supernatural God was reconciled to the fallen natural man.

That is our hope! Nothing can be against us if we are reconciled to the supernatural God through believing in the supernatural-natural Jesus. He is greater than all our sins and all the disease and misery and death that sin has brought into this natural world. He is better than all the glitter and sparkle that so dazzles us in this material world. Jesus is solid. Solid joys and lasting pleasures are His gifts to all who believe in Him. His unseen mercy and strength attend His people every moment of their lives in this world. May we have “eyes” to see His supernatural presence and sufficiency more than we do!

I pray that as you celebrate your family traditions connected to Christmas, you will look beyond all these good things to your very best things which are hidden in Christ. Though you may be hurting through grief or fear, may God enable your faith to behold your safety and blessing in the triumphant Jesus. God has come and He has given Himself for you and to you. You are rich! Enjoy His lesser gifts,  but rejoice most in Christ Himself!

*Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. *

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