Across the years I have been asked a few questions repetitively, such as “where did God come from?”, “where do our pets go when they die?”, and “when will the ‘end of time’ occur?” I have learned to quickly but kindly respond that there are NO dogmatic answers to these inquiries.
However, this is one I hadn’t considered before, “Do they celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas in heaven?” While this question fits in the same category of “does not have a dogmatic answer,” I have reflected on this question within the framework of my imagination, and realize that my proposed response may be MORE pastoral THAN theological.
Whatever heaven is like, I tend to think that the residents do celebrate Christmas. Now, I am aware that there are theological problems with such suppositions. For example, inhabitants of the earth operate on linear time, and are subjected to aging and deterioration. Residents of heaven seem to live in the realm of eternal time, which has NO beginning, NO end, and NO lapse.
The fact that December 25 is our designated day to celebrate, and not the actual date of Jesus’ birth, is also problematic for those who are not willing to make the imaginative leap toward envisioning a Yuletide celebration in heaven. Nonetheless, my hunch is that they LIKELY celebrate Christmas in heaven. Here’s why:
FIRST – I think there is a perpetual atmosphere of celebration in heaven. So why not celebrate Christmas? The gospels tell us that the angels in heaven rejoice when a single “lost sheep is found” (Luke 15:6). Therefore, the inhabitants of heaven must receive a least a few news flashes from earth. And IF Christ followers on earth are celebrating Christmas, it seems that to some degree a corresponding celebration would occur in heaven.
SECOND – heaven is a place of ultimate worship. The Bible indicates that believers from across the ages are singing, “Worthy, worthy is the Lamb!” (Rev. 5:12). When believers around the world gather locally to worship, I envision that we are not alone but are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1). Especially during Christmas, WHEN we worship, I can imagine that the great host of witnesses joins us, “O come let us adore Him when we sing.”
THIRD – (and I know this sounds a little hokie to some) Christmas would be a great time for a REUNION of the original cast of the nativity. Can you IMAGINE Mary, Jesus, wise men, shepherds, angels, other visitors who were not specifically named in the gospel accounts, gathering to recount that historic night?
FOURTH – reason I think they celebrate Christmas in heaven. Although the SON is said to have been present with the FATHER before the foundation of the world, Jesus was physically born into the world on the first Christmas. I grew up singing, “The Birthday of the King.” I can envision Christmas in heaven being the ideal time to gather around a huge cake and celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
FIFTH – Christmas would be a great time for a reception for NEW residents in heaven. Maybe that perspective is influenced by my Baptist upbringing…you know, we Baptists will host a fellowship for almost any occasion. BUT, think about this: We have our Blue Christmas service every December for the families of those who lost loved ones this past year. I would like to think that on the other side of the bridge leading to eternity, the Hospitality Committee in heaven is hosting a party for THOSE who have recently arrived.
YES…I know it is theologically speculative to suppose that they celebrate Christmas in heaven. However, the Bible does affirm that heaven is a place where all things are made new. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4).
There are other biblical clues that indicate heaven is a place of social interaction, familiar acquaintance, and festive rejoicing. But most importantly, if heaven is indeed a place where there is no more sadness, then our loved ones who have preceded us in death are NOT looking over the guardrail of heaven, overwhelmed by the grief of their departure from earth. OF COURSE, it is not that they don’t miss us. It is more like they now have a new perspective on the eternal reality that “is,” while WE live more with the longing for “what shall be.”
OKAY…so this year, WHEN you see that empty chair at the table, or miss that familiar voice around the Christmas tree, it’s okay to grieve and think fondly of the one who is missing. Just don’t stop there. Imagine the chair they now occupy and the PLACE where their voice is now heard. Go ahead and dream of what it must be like to celebrate your first Christmas in heaven.
All over the world churches spend much of December in preparation for pageants and plays on Christmas Eve. Our church began a Christmas pageant that lasted for years. I always found it amazing how much went on backstage before the curtain ever rises in a Christmas presentation. There are props to be made. There are costumes to be sewn. There is childcare to be provided for the cast. There are faces to be made up and platforms to be constructed. There is music to be rehearsed and lines to be memorized. It can be near chaos backstage.
But on THIS Christmas Eve when everything is focused on Bethlehem and the manger I would like for us to think a moment about what it must have been like backstage…backstage in heaven, that is. Backstage in heaven our Lord was speaking a farewell to the Old Testament saints, to the angels and to the Father. He, then, laid aside HIS GLORY, stepped over the portals of heaven and into the filth of a Middle Eastern stable.
What would He say to the Father as He departed? Before the curtain rose on the greatest event in all of human history, WHAT was the conversation backstage in heaven? Fortunately, the Bible has recorded it for us.
All of heaven was now looking over those portals. The “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4) had come. Even though those on earth were mostly oblivious to this remarkable event, those in heaven were waiting, watching and worshipping.
Abel was looking over those portals. He had brought, not a work of his hands, but a sacrificial animal to the altar of worship and God had accepted it. “Now, I see it clearly,” he declares.
Abraham was looking over those portals. He had left the land of his father and NOW he watches Christ make ready to do the same. Isaac was peering over the portals also on that Christmas Eve. He had put the wood on his back and carried it up Moriah to be sacrificed himself. NOW, he too, sees it more clearly.
Moses was watching. He had taken the Passover Lamb and spread its blood over the doorpost and lintel of the home and found out what it meant to be delivered from death and slavery.
Rahab leaned over the portals that Christmas Eve also. Centuries earlier, she had hung the scarlet thread out her window, a picture of Christ and His deliverance for us.
Isaiah he was certainly attentive. It was he who had prophesied that “a virgin would conceive” and would give birth to a Son who would later be “wounded for our transgressions.”
Backstage on Christmas Eve, the Lord Jesus turned to the Father and said, “A body You have prepared for me….I go now to do Your will.”
OKAY…so this year, WHEN you see that empty chair at the table, or miss that familiar voice around the Christmas tree, it’s okay to grieve and think fondly of the one who is missing. Just don’t stop there. Imagine the chair they now occupy and the PLACE where their voice is now heard. Go ahead and dream of what it must be like to celebrate your first Christmas in heaven.
All over the world churches spend much of December in preparation for pageants and plays on Christmas Eve. Our church began a Christmas pageant that lasted for years. I always found it amazing how much went on backstage before the curtain ever rises in a Christmas presentation. There are props to be made. There are costumes to be sewn. There is childcare to be provided for the cast. There are faces to be made up and platforms to be constructed. There is music to be rehearsed and lines to be memorized. It can be near chaos backstage.
But on THIS Christmas Eve when everything is focused on Bethlehem and the manger I would like for us to think a moment about what it must have been like backstage…backstage in heaven, that is. Backstage in heaven our Lord was speaking a farewell to the Old Testament saints, to the angels and to the Father. He, then, laid aside HIS GLORY, stepped over the portals of heaven and into the filth of a Middle Eastern stable.
What would He say to the Father as He departed? Before the curtain rose on the greatest event in all of human history, WHAT was the conversation backstage in heaven? Fortunately, the Bible has recorded it for us.
Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said: You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You did not delight in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then I said, “See— it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, God.” (Hebrews 10:5-7 CSB).NOW…that for which heaven had been waiting was coming. NOW…that One to whom the prophets had been pointing was coming.
- Way back in the early verses of Genesis the sun of His revelation began to rise casting its shadow for all to see.
- He was there pictured in the skins that clothed Adam and Eve, Isaac’s sacrificial lamb, in the Passover lamb of Egypt and in Isaiah’s fifty-third chapter.
- NOW…on Christmas Eve, it is high noon on God’s clock of revelation. No more shadows. It is NOW “the fullness of time,” and God was sending forth His own son.
- God, Himself, now clothed in human flesh, was stepping out of heaven and into human history. HOW? With “a body You have prepared for me.” WHY? “To do your will O God.”
All of heaven was now looking over those portals. The “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4) had come. Even though those on earth were mostly oblivious to this remarkable event, those in heaven were waiting, watching and worshipping.
Abel was looking over those portals. He had brought, not a work of his hands, but a sacrificial animal to the altar of worship and God had accepted it. “Now, I see it clearly,” he declares.
Abraham was looking over those portals. He had left the land of his father and NOW he watches Christ make ready to do the same. Isaac was peering over the portals also on that Christmas Eve. He had put the wood on his back and carried it up Moriah to be sacrificed himself. NOW, he too, sees it more clearly.
Moses was watching. He had taken the Passover Lamb and spread its blood over the doorpost and lintel of the home and found out what it meant to be delivered from death and slavery.
Rahab leaned over the portals that Christmas Eve also. Centuries earlier, she had hung the scarlet thread out her window, a picture of Christ and His deliverance for us.
Isaiah he was certainly attentive. It was he who had prophesied that “a virgin would conceive” and would give birth to a Son who would later be “wounded for our transgressions.”
Backstage on Christmas Eve, the Lord Jesus turned to the Father and said, “A body You have prepared for me….I go now to do Your will.”
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, CSB).
Jesus told Him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 3:16, CSB).
