Darkness and Hell at Christmas Time

For some reason Christmas has become too angelic, all lights and glitter and shining cherubs on gaudy Christmas cards. There is some truth to this, of course. When Christ came as a child the true light shineth. But Christmas is also about demons and hell and darkness. It is about the darkness of eternal fire. It is about the terrors of death. It is about the dragons that live in our own hearts. There is nothing wrong with rejoicing in the light, but if we forget the darkness the light loses its potency.  It is easy at Christmas time to take the light for granted. To forget what Christ actually came to do.

It may come as a surprise that many of the Advent and Christmas songs we sing mention this darkness and hell. I thought I would quote a few lines from these songs to give some perspective on what exactly Christ came to do. 

O Come, O Come Emmanuel is one of the best carols to show who we were before Christ came. It views God's people as in exile and  bondage to Satan and in need of rescue. Verses 3 and 4 clearly bring this out.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free
Thine own from Satan's tyranny
From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o'er the grave

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.

The fourth verse of the song Savior of the Nations, Come has these lines in it:

From the Father forth he came and returneth to the same
Captive leading death and hell, High the song of triumph swell.

The final verse of Good Christian Men Rejoice, says, "now ye need not fear the grave."

Of course, Joy to the World, talks about Christ coming to make his blessings flow "far as the curse is found."

Let All Mortal  Flesh Keep Silence, says that Christ descends 'from the realms of endless day, that the powers of hell may vanish."

Lo, How a  Rose E're Blooming, states that Christ "dispels with glorious splendor/the darkness everywhere."

Of the Father's Love Begotten says in verse 3:
He is found in human fashion death and sorrow here to know
That the race of Adam's children doomed by law to endless woe
May not henceforth die and perish In the
dreadful gulf below evermore and evermore.

I am sure there are some I have missed. Numerous Christmas songs speak specifically of Christ's victory over sin, which means his victory over death and Hell.

And of course, the Scriptures speak to this as well. In Matthew Jesus' birth is not follow by peace on earth, but by Herod killing the children and Joseph fleeing with his family to Egypt. The battle begins at the Incarnation. Herod knew this. Unfortunately, we often do not.

In Luke the power of Christ's birth is sung about. Mary states that when God sent Christ he:
Showed strength with his arm
Scattered the proud
Put down the mighty
Filled the hungry
But sent the rich away empty.

Zacharias says that Christ came so:
We should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us..
That we will be delivered from the hand of our enemies.

So Christmas is not just about a child born in a manger. It is about a King who came to banish all the powers of darkness and Hell. When the angel came to Mary and the angels sung to the shepherds the end of our enemies was already at hand. Christ came to destroy all our enemies. So don't forget darkness, Hell, Satan, Herod, death, and sin during this Christmas. If we forget these things we forget what Christmas was really about.