Why has the light shone?

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.

This child, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, has come to establish and to uphold his kingdom - his restored reign over all of his creation (which is both seen and unseen). He has come to bring "peace" - the shalom that was shattered at the fall - and this is the greatest news to some and, as we said before, a great affront to others. To the worldly kingdoms, the ones who struggle for power, the entry of Jesus is the greatest of threats - because Jesus' power will not be opposed. But to those who are oppressed, the victims, and any who will humble themselves before him, this is the greatest news!

N.T. Wright has said:

The Christmas story, like Isaiah’s prophecy, isn’t about an escape from the real world of politics and economics, of empires and taxes and bloodthirsty wars. It’s about God addressing these problems at last, from within, coming into our world – his world! – and shouldering the burden of authority, coming to deal with the problems of evil, of chaos and violence and oppression in all their horrible forms. And only when we look hard at those promises and come to grips with what they really mean are we able to grasp the real comfort and joy that Christmas does truly provide. Otherwise we are purchasing a spurious private comfort at the inflated cost of allowing the rest of the world to continue in its misery.

This is just so much bigger than "peace" in middle-class living rooms in front of Christmas trees! It's much more vast than appreciating our children! It's so humongously much greater than a season of treating workmates nicely! It's about the overturning of all oppression, the end of all wars, the wiping away of every tear, the end of darkness, the abolition of every injustice. It's about a great redistribution not just of wealth but of opportunity, of happiness, of blessing.

If, like me, you've had years of being taught that "the kingdom" is synonymous with an earthly institution, some bounded set of people, then this passage probably makes very little sense. But when you see that "kingdom" is as much about "reign" as about "realm", that it's all about God ruling over his creation (that was created to bring him glory), then the meaning of the coming of Jesus, the Christmas story, starts to make some sense. As Luke tells us in chapter 2 (ESV):

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

There's an old cliche that says that Jesus came to "disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed"; that saying takes on so much weight in light of the Isaiah passage, and increasingly as we come to grips with the entirety of the Gospel according to Luke. In Luke we see Jesus as the incarnated presence of the kingdom of God - the reign of God has broken in to our fallen world, and it brings untold hope to the broken and it clashes head-on with the institution, the empire, the powers that be.

Next, we will consider the application of this Christmas meaning to our lives.