Every good story has a hero and a villain. Would you agree with that? They always come together. And we can see many heroes in the Christmas story: Mary and her willingness to accept God’s will for her to give birth to Jesus, even though it was going to make her an outcast in her community; Joseph and his determination to show his trust in God to Mary, even though it was going to hurt his reputation in the community. There were the wise men. They were heroes. They dared to defy the request of King Herod to report back to him where the child was.
But overall, here’s your question: The hero of the Christmas story is who? Jesus Christ. Jesus, God in the flesh, who obeyed the will of God the Father. Jesus left the glory of heaven, and he humbled himself to be born in a stable to a poor couple. And he did this so that he could become the hero of the entire world story.
In order to understand the magnitude of Jesus’ hero status, we’re going to look tonight at a different character in the Christmas story. We’re going to look at the villain. Because whether it’s a movie or a storybook, the bigger and the badder the villain, the bigger and the better the hero. And Jesus Christ came to defeat a large villain in our life; that is Satan, the dragon. He’s the serpent of old.
We’re going to start with a short video tonight, and then we’re going to go to God’s Word to see what the Bible has to say about it. The intent in showing the video tonight is to better engage the children. I want to encourage you to make it a matter of discussion when you go home with them tonight and tomorrow. What did the video mean? Why is it that Jesus came? Why is he the true hero of the story?
Let’s watch the video, and then I’ll be back up to share.
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There’s a dragon in my nativity, dreadful and immense. The shepherds quake, the wise men shake and spill their frankincense. The cattle are alone, and the baby is awake while Joe and Mary tremble. Oh, this must be some mistake.
There’s a dragon over Bethlehem. I don’t know how he came. I didn’t think a donkey could have borne the dragon’s frame. I don’t believe the senses had been called for such as him. And I’m certain that when the dragon knocked, no room was at the inn.
There’s a dragon by the stable. I don’t know why he’s there. He hasn’t bought a present, and he only seems to glare. He hovers over David’s town that still beneath him lies, yet no one sleeps underneath his piercing eyes.
This dragon isn’t visible with ordinary sight. You cannot snap a selfie or televise his flight unseen. He stands for every power that stands against the earth: the death, disease, and darkness overshadowing each birth.
This dragon is an enemy of all that’s good and true. This monster lies and steals and kills. He’s coming after you. Above each crib, the dragon hovers, sure to swallow whole rulers, empires, beauty, joy—a flesh and blood black hole.
But dragons always meet their match. They always meet their doom. The hero rises to the fight to cast them into gloom. And so at this Nativity arose another player, the baby wrapped in swaddling cloth. He was a dragon slayer.
He’d come to fight through Herod’s plots, through dangers big and small. He took on evil, sickness, death, and triumphed over all. A dragon or a baby, just who would win the fight? It wasn’t really fair, you see. The child was a knight from high above. And long before he knew what must be done, he knew the dragon waiting here. And still, he chose to come.
There’s a dragon in my Nativity, a fierce, monstrous danger. But fierce is still the bravery and love within the manger.
In Genesis 1:31, we read that God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. The story of Christmas naturally starts at the beginning. It begins back in Genesis chapter one, and then it unfolds throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
The plot develops, characters are introduced, there is much action. There are defeats and there are victories; there are failures and there are achievements. Our eternal, pre-existent God had made the world out of nothing, and he made everything totally good for mankind. There was nothing lacking in this world. But most importantly, there was no evil in the world. There was no disease, no hatred, no deceit, no guilt, and no death.
God had a very special relationship with Adam and Eve that we could describe as an intimate relationship. This was demonstrated that each night he would come when the breeze was gently blowing in the garden to walk with them. But in Genesis 3:6, we read that the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
The intimacy with God at one point came to an end. You see, there was a tree in the garden that God had commanded them not to eat from. God knew that eating from it would bring sadness, sickness, and hardship to them. More importantly, God also knew, and sadly to him, that it would sever his special relationship with mankind.
Here, God’s Word introduces the villain of the story. You see, there was a serpent in the garden that spoke to Eve and convinced her to eat of the forbidden fruit. This serpent, we find out, is the devil. He is known by many names in the Bible: the devil, the deceiver, Satan, the serpent, or the dragon. He is against God in every way, and he is against everything and everyone that God creates and loves.
God wanted an intimate relationship with us, but Satan wanted to sever that relationship. He wanted everyone to suffer and to be enslaved to him. And he wanted to take the place of God in the world. He was extremely convincing. Even Adam and Eve both made the choice to listen to the villain instead of listening to God.
When we come over to Romans in the New Testament, we read that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. We find out that because of Adam and Eve’s disastrous choice, they now had a deadly condition that they passed on to all of mankind. That deadly condition is eternal spiritual death, separation from the intimacy with God that he desired to have with us.
This deadly condition causes us to habitually, instinctively, and naturally think bad thoughts, to speak bad words, and to do bad things. Eventually, it leads to us being separated from God and death throughout eternity. We read back in Genesis 3:15 that God, however, was not surprised that Adam and Eve had made their choice. He gives them this promise: “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
God already had a plan in mind to send a hero who would defeat the villain. He says that the villain is going to hurt the hero someday; he’s going to strike his heel. But the hero, Jesus Christ, the one that is going to come, is going to crush your head. We know from the text that the serpent is the villain, but the name of the hero isn’t yet mentioned here.
So Adam and Eve, at the very beginning, began to look forward to the arrival of the male child that would fulfill the promise that God had given them to be the hero. From that point on, some people in the world story began and continued to look forward to the arrival of the hero that would defeat the enemy, the villain, the dragon. Then in the New Testament, we finally find that he is revealed.
We skip many chapters in God’s Word and jump to the Book of Matthew, where we read about the birth of the hero and the events surrounding his birth. If we jump to the very last book in the Bible, we read about the dragon, who is the serpent from Genesis. Here we read from Revelation 12:4: “The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth, it might devour her child.”
Here is where we learn that Satan was there at the Nativity. He had been waiting for the arrival of the male child who would be the hero sent to defeat him. He must have heard the proclamation of the angels that announced his arrival. I just presume that he was aware of the message that had been given to Mary, the testimony of Elizabeth and others, and the circumstances that pointed to this very child, that he would be the hero, the Son of God.
Revelation tells us that he was there waiting to devour the child. He was the dragon. In our Nativity, we go to Hebrews 2:14, where we read this: “Now, since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these so that through his death, he might destroy the one holding the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.”
Jesus became a baby so that he might share with us every experience that we go through. He knew what it was to be human. He knew what it was to struggle. He knew what it was to see sin and its effects in the world. But he also became human so that he would be able to even experience death on a cross, because it was through his death that the dragon, the devil, would be destroyed and we would all have the opportunity to be free of Satan’s control.
By his death on the cross, we could once again have the restored intimacy with God that he lovingly desires to have with us. Jesus began his attack on Satan at the cross. We learn from Scripture that he will complete his defeat of the dragon one day by throwing him into the lake of fire for eternity.
We read from Revelation 20:10, “The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are. They will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.” Then it tells us in Revelation 13 that “the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world.”
And we stop and ask, “Well, wasn’t he slain? Didn’t he die on the cross after he was born?” Yes, that’s when our world experienced it. But God knew when he created the world, in his mind, in his understanding, he saw that Jesus was going to die on the cross.
This is a wonderful truth that God shares with us, that he knew in creating the world and its inhabitants that it would lead to the death of his Son, Jesus Christ, at the foundation of the world. God knew that he would suffer great anguish in sending Jesus to die for us.
So why in the world did he create the world? Why did he create us knowing that it would cause him such agony and pain? It’s because the Bible tells us that he loves us. He wants us to have an intimate, eternal relationship with him, and his desire is to be friends with us for eternity.
In his mind, having this relationship with us was more valuable to him than the pain that he would endure in sending His Son to die on the cross for us. John 3:16 says, “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Jesus is the hero of the story, and he, therefore, is the greatest gift of Christmas. God, in this gift, offers us eternal life that’s purchased for us by Jesus’ death on the cross. The gift is waiting for each and every one of us. It has our name on it, but it has to be received, and it has to be opened so that we can enjoy it.
Scripture tells us that the way to receive the gift is to believe in Jesus, to believe who he is, the Son of God, and to believe that he died on the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead. In Romans 10:9, we read, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
So as we give a recap of the message: the villain, the dragon in the Nativity, is our enemy. He controls right now our eternal destiny, and we are unable to defeat him and free ourselves from his control. But the hero is Jesus Christ. By his birth, his sinless life, his death on the cross, and resurrection, he is able to free us from Satan’s eternal control over us.
We have to accept him as our hero. We have to allow him to fight our battle with the great dragon. Scripture tells us that we do this by confessing and believing. Therefore, tonight we offer you the gift that God has laid out and paid for you. We invite you to accept the gift of God tonight.
In order to do that, I’m just going to ask that we all bow our heads. If you’ve never accepted the gift of salvation, this is what you would say to the Lord: something like this: “God, I have a problem that I cannot solve. I’m an imperfect person who thinks, speaks, and does evil things. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead so that I can have a restored relationship with you. And tonight, I’m giving you control of my life.”
Amen. If you sincerely told God this in your heart, you are now part of God’s forever family. You are a new creation. As a church, we’re here to help you grow in your restored relationship with God. We encourage you to look for somebody with a name tag tonight. Let them know about the decision that you’ve made. We are here for you, and we invite you to join us in worship this coming Sunday as once again we’ll spend time thanking God for what he has done and growing in our faith.
We’re about to have a song of invitation now, and during this time, we just ask that you reflect on the message and think about what God is trying to say to you tonight. Maybe you need to talk to God in your heart as we sing the song.
The third thing is we’re going to have our annual benevolence offering. It’s a tradition that our church takes up an offering every year on Christmas Eve to help those in our community that are in difficult situations. None of the money going in the plates tonight is used by our church for operating expenses. So we invite you to join us in this tradition.
I invite the ushers to come forward as I have a word of prayer over our offering time.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that Jesus Christ is the hero, that he came to defeat Satan. We celebrate this Christmas season. We thank you for the pain that you were willing to go through so that we might have eternal life. As we come into this time of invitation with multiple things to do, impress upon our hearts anything that we need to speak to you. Show us how we can live our lives in a different way to reflect your Son.
As we take up this offering, we ask that you will guide our church in dispersing it to those that need help, but also need to hear more about you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.