This short devotional meditation reflects on a pattern Scripture reveals in the birth of Christ. The early chapters of the Gospels invite us to slow down and look again, not merely at familiar scenes, but at eternal realities revealed through them. A manger, angels, shepherds, wise men — these are not sentimental details, but signposts pointing us to the glory and joy revealed in the fulfilment of God’s promises.
Broken Wharfe Editorial
We do not merely read of an event in history, but a revelation from heaven. God does not simply send information, instruction, or inspiration. He sends glory. “The glory of the Lord shone around them” (Lke. 2:9). And where God’s glory is truly received, joy inevitably follows. “I bring you good news of great joy” (Lke. 2:10).
The Scriptures repeatedly testify to this pattern. When the glory of God is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, joy breaks forth. It is as certain as any fixed law. Glory received produces joy.
Yet Scripture also teaches us something equally certain: true glory and joy are never received accidentally. They come only when the heart is rightly placed before Christ.
The Christmas narratives reveal what we might call a divine equation:
I am nothing;
Christ is everything;
Therefore, glory and joy!
This equation, manifest in the lives of those around Christ at his birth, applies to all. Like every equation, each element must be present, and in its proper place. Remove or rearrange one part, and the blessing evaporates. The life that declares “I am something and Christ is something” equates to shame and misery, rather than glory and joy. The same applies to “I am nearly nothing and Christ is nearly everything”, that equally, results in vanity, rather than glory. Christ’s teaching is clear; “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jhn. 15:5).
The glory revealed at the incarnation is no ordinary splendour. Scripture describes it as weighty, substantial, radiant and immutable. This glory fills its subject, brimming it with splendour (Is. 6:3). It is the glory of God himself made visible in human flesh. Heaven comes to earth, not in spectacle or force, but in humility, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jhn. 1:14). The eternal Son of God is conceived by the Spirit, born of a woman, laid in a manger.
This humble birth is the highest manifestation of divine glory the world has ever known. Those who see it in faith do not remain unchanged. They rejoice. This joy is not shallow pleasure or passing happiness. It is not dependent on comfort, circumstance, or ease. It is a joy rooted in something outside self, anchored in the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ. It endures suffering, survives loss, and outlasts death itself.
Every person in the Christmas story who manifests this joy does so by the same path: self-emptying faith.
Joseph relinquishes his reputation as he marries the woman who is pregnant “by another”. Mary yields her future, as she receives the Lord’s purpose for her life, now completely given to the bearing and raising of God’s Son. Zechariah humbles his pride, accepting that he was wrong to question the angel and doubt God. The shepherds abandon their dignity as Judah’s tough-guys, forsaking their livelihoods and putting their confidence in a baby. Simeon waits a lifetime for the Christ. Anna gives up her comforts. The wise men spend their wealth and risk their lives.
Different people, different costs, but the same equation.
Only one figure stands apart: Herod. He clings to his own importance, his own power, his own glory, and in doing so, he sacrifices glory for shame and joy for misery. Where Christ is resisted, there is no glory and joy.
This remains true today.
The glory of Christ is so bright that it eclipses every rival. He cannot be added to our self-importance; he replaces it. This is precisely why he is rejected. We would rather preserve the illusion that we are something, even if it costs us joy, than confess the truth that we are nothing apart from him.
Yet Christmas invites us to a better way. Relinquish your reputation and receive glory and joy. Yield your future and receive glory and joy. Lay down your pride, your dignity, your life, your comforts, your self-rule, your resources, and receive glory and joy.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Js. 4:6).
For if Christ truly is Immanuel, Saviour, Redeemer, King, then he is not merely something. He is everything. In this, we are finally free. Free from the exhausting effort to be someone we cannot be. Free to receive a glory not our own. Free to share in the joy of heaven itself.
This is the Christmas equation; and it never fails.