Jesus, Auschwitz and the Spiritual Combat of Christmas

SOMETHING TO GNAW ON:  Christmas: The Divine Counter-Offensive (REBOOT)

We are neck deep in the holiday season, and I say Merry Christmas to you and your family!  I had the high honor of being a stage hand for our Christmas play this past week, for the first time EVER!!!  It was a blast, and it’s crazy the work that goes into such events….. so if you are working at your church on something like this…..  Thank you!!!  It’s hard work, but keep after it, and have a great season.

Now that we have completed the history books of the Old Testament, I am going to take a bit of a break from the “Crash Course Through The Old Testament” for the holidays and have a few special episodes.   

This week I went back to the archives and dredged up last years Christmas episode.   I love this story, and the reality of it – really sets the season in context.  How often does anyone begin their Christmas story in Revelation?  Well, frankly …. They should!!

I hope and pray that this podcast, and this episode in particular, is a blessing to you and your family, especially this season!

Merry Christmas to you and yours…….

Now, here is “Christmas:  A Divine Counter Offensive” from 2022.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, I’m Nate Vainio, and this is SOMETHING TO GNAW ON, a short podcast for those with a short attention span or just short on time – designed to give you something to mentally and spiritually chew on throughout your day, a bible study in bite-size form if you will. 

This episode is “Christmas: A Divine Counter Offensive”

What would possess any human being to break into prison.  Maybe “break-in” is a bit over the top, but what about stealing someone’s identity, and positioning yourself to be arrested and thrown into prison for all of HIS offenses.  Especially during a large scale war.  

I would love to have been a fly on the wall at that strategy session:   ‘Gentlemen, we need a volunteer for secret mission’ raise a hand if you are willing to volunteer:

It’s A Counter-Offensive – several hands go up
 You will assume a secondary identity –hands stay up
 You will sneak into an enemy Fortress – a few hands drop
 It will encourage your countrymen – hands stay up
 You will organize a revolt – hands stay up
 And if you are caught you will most likely be executed on the spot…. No trial is likely 
 Oh, BY THE WAY….   THE FORTRESS WE SPEAK OF….IS AUSCHWITZ…. All hands drop, all except one.   

The man who raises his hand, steps forward, and volunteers is Witold Pilecki.  

Pilecki was a Major in the Polish Army until the Nazi’s invaded, and overtook Poland in late ‘39.  At that time the nation split (ideologically at least) into those who became Nazi puppets, and the resistance – those who refused to bow a knee to Nazi ideology and rule.  Pilecki became an intelligence officer in the resistance.

Pilecki volunteered and assumed the identity of a man be sought by the Nazi’s for his political views and allowed himself to be captured and imprisoned.  Within days he graced the gates of Auschwitz with 1800 other political prisoners, and the way history tells the story, the resistance officer is the only one to have entered intentionally.  At this point in time, Auschwitz was used primarily for political prisoners, prior to the arrival, and genocide of 11 Million Jews (not withstanding victims from other social and ethnic groups).  

Within the first month he got his first report out on the treatment of prisoners, but it took nearly 6 months to get it to Polish leadership exiled in London.  It doesn’t appear that he planned it this way, but he beat most Jew’s to Auschwitz and, as the Nazi’s began the genocide of Jews in the gas chambers, Pilecki had a front row seat and reported the atrocities through a radio that had been smuggled in piece by piece, as well as by written communique’s that were smuggled out.  If not for the efforts of Pilecki, and other Polish prisoners, the Allies would not have had any first-hand intelligence regarding the genocide at Auschwitz.

Pilecki spent nearly 3 years in Auschwitz, eyeball to eyeball with evil; he endured lice, starvation, bouts with pneumonia and typhus before escaping.  Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland, said that Pilecki was “an example of inexplicable goodness at a time of inexplicable evil…” While we need to applaud the heroic and selfless acts of a man like this, I am still left with the question,….   what possess a man to volunteer for this?  

When it would be easier to hide, the man leaves the comfort of home, subjects himself to the rules and regulations of his enemy, conducts a counter-offensive mission under their nose - under penalty of death, and his intelligence (his body of work in prison) is responsible for many eventually being set free… So, I ask again, what possesses a man to do this?

At the same time, isn’t this the story of Jesus, the story of Christmas?  A divine counter offensive against an evil empire? 

Let’s take a look at Christmas, but not primarily from the Gospels, not from the Law and The Prophets of the Old Testament.   Have you ever looked at Christmas from the book of Revelation?  Buckle up… it’s about to get a little ……. interesting!

Let’s dive into Revelation at chapter 12.  This is a crazy chapter.  It’s almost as if the Apostle John had some day-old pizza with too much garlic butter the night before and had one of those dreams that takes little snippets from multiple situations - mashes them together  -  and you wake up wondering how it is that you played in the Super Bowl alongside your grandfather in 1948, wearing the newest nike cletes, and you drive away from the game in your hybrid vehicle while drinking ovaltine, listening to Little Orphan Annie on the radio so you can get the last clue for your secret decoder ring.  And, as if things couldn’t get any more weird…. You stop your hybrid at the edge of the parking lot to pick up YOUR grand children… each one dressed as Ralphy in his pink bunny suit from a Christmas Story.  How’s that for a bad pizza dream?

This is how John’s vision reads to me…, when I read it too quick at least…   but if you take time and break it down, it does make complete sense.  

One possible error people make when approaching Revelation, is to think that, as a book of prophecy, it is all about future events.  Not true with regard to Revelation 12, which is historical in nature, but from a spiritual perspective.

In short, it’s about WAR.  SPIRITUAL WAR.  It’s the history of the SPIRITUAL ATTACK HUMANITY HAS BEEN UNDER SINCE GENESIS 3. It records the Devil’s rage and vengeance, an attempted coup, and an all-out assault on the innocent and most vulnerable…. A baby, and anyone who wants to follows Jesus!.  It also records snap-shots of victory and angelic celebration.  While hitting the highlights of history, it’s a bit mixed up chronologically… in that bad pizza dream kind of way. 

DISCLAIMER…A short podcast like this may not be the best format for digging into this, but we’re gonna take a swing at it! 

·         Verses 4,7-12 records a “battle” in heaven when Satan/the DRAGON, after his attempted coup,  was cast out, and its followed by an angelic worship set celebrating the event.   

o   Keep in mind that if Satan is doing his thing in Genesis 3, then this event pre-dates creation.   And when the Sore Loser hits the earth…. verse 12 ends with  “… terror will come on the earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing he has little time.”  

o   This is a snap-shot record of Satan and his demons being cast out of heaven.

o   He loses his first Military Offensive.

·         Verses 1-6 records Heaven launching  it’s counter offensive.  It records Jesus being born to save the world, and quite literally “Rule” or “SHEPHERD” the world.  

o   SIDE NOTE:  There is an interesting word study to do here in the Greek, I don’t have the time to elaborate now, but I have included some of the particulars in the show notes at SOMETHING TO GNAW ON. BUZZSPROUT. COM.  In short, this word “Rule” has more to do with the manner a shepherd would care for his herd, than any type of political or military rule over people, which the Greek language seems to draw significant distinction.

o   Back to verses 1-6, and using the imagery of a dragon… he stands “in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born.”  But the child was taken away.   “She gave birth to a Son, a male Child, who is destined to Shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and His throne.” It is widely accepted that this is a clear reference to Jesus, coming to earth in the form of a man…. From fetus, to infant, to toddler, to child, to teen, to young adult, to man.  

o   This verse is the parenthesis, or the brackets, between which the Gospel rests…   Matthew Mark Luke and John happen between the birth mentioned here, and the Jesus’ ascencion.  Christmas on one end – the ascension on the other.

o   The record of Jesus birth here becomes a Divine, behind enemy lines, counter offensive that lasted 33 years, and began with the birth of a baby in the company of sheep herders, and just as an angelic choir celebrated after casting Satan out of heaven, they celebrate in overwhelming fashion the victory in the fields of Bethlehem with the least likely group of people… shepherds.

·         One last reference in the chapter worth mentioning.    Verse 17 takes a look into the future… from Christ forward to us now… and it says….  “And the Dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children”  … and WHO ARE THE REST OF HER CHILDREN?    Keep reading “ALL WHO KEEP GOD’s COMMANDMENTS AND MAINTAIN THEIR TESTIMONY FOR JESUS.”

Christ’s arrival in a Bethlehem manger was a calculated counter offensive.  A divine move in a spiritual war.  So often, Christmas is portrayed as a soft and gentle, peaceful time where good feelings, angelic choirs, golden gifts and general joy & happiness abound, and certainly you can find those elements in scripture, but Revelation 12 doesn’t paint it that way… IT IS WAR! and if you re-read the gospel account, you will find elements of war and conflict:  Jesus assumed the identity of a human, broke into a prison called humanity, as a child he survived a hit-squad under orders of King Herod, he escaped to Egypt, and spent the better part of his life dodging assassination attempts by the Pharisees.  And eventually he is captured and killed for socio/political gain (at least in the minds of the Pharisees).   And what would possess someone to do this?

It may seem to be an odd passage to read at Christmas, but look at the Apostle Paul’s perspective in Philippians 2:6-8  “Though he was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.  Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position as a slave (can we say “PRISONER” here) and was born as a human being.  When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” 

Jesus, Himself, expands on his purpose  behind the bars of earth, when He reads from Isaiah 61 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” Luke 4

In short, this is Christmas.  That Jesus set aside his freedom, his comfort, the life of a divine ruler, an eternally secure throne, and voluntarily became a prisoner in a world of ignorant, ungrateful, hateful, and sinful people….  But unlike Pilecki, Jesus didn’t only come to free prisoners, he came to heal and give hope… and bring us peace… all under penalty of death.

That first night in a barn, behind enemy lines, Baby Jesus is surrounded by shepherds.  A necessary, but nasty occupation; often looked down upon in the socio/economic pecking order of the time.  And frankly, they stink, there is no way they are getting in at the local hospital… no nurse in her right mind would let crew in the maternity wing….if they even got that far.  In the field day and night. Sleeping with the herd, stepping in who knows how much dung; herding, carrying, poking, prodding, sweating, and defending the ignorant little fur-balls… and who know’s their bathing schedule!!!  I’m guessing the average American long-haul truck driver showers more frequently.

And who are these shepherds?  Usually the youngest members of the family, like king David had been.   And this is who greets Jesus?   Not the king, not the governor, not the politicians, or the ruling class, not the Israeli Defense Force or the resistance fighters, but those IMPRISONED on the low end of the socio-economic pecking order.  

His eventual ministry would mirror this, this is who he gravitated to.  The Samaritan woman at the well, the lepers, the demon possessed and oppressed, and those caught in sin.  His disciples would consist of grubby, hot-headed, fisherman like Peter, Andrew, James, and John… an IRS Agent – a political renegade and a theif and traitor, to name a few.  All of whom, except Judas, eventually assume the title of shepherd – but in a spiritual sense…  Looking after sheep like you and me, that Jesus has set free... 

Solidifying this term of “SHEPHERD”, in His ministry, and recorded mostly in the book of John, Jesus refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).   It’s a beautifully parodoxical thing really.  A spiritual war from the beginning, being won by the Shepherd of Revelation 12, not a General.  A counter-offensive being led by the Shepherd who doesn’t enter this world asserting his divinity, but embracing humanity in the prison of earthly life as a helpless baby… surrounded by his type of people… a bunch of sheep herders.  

And again I ask,  what would possess someone to do this?  The answer is simple:   “For God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Son That Whosoever Believes In Him Shall Not Perish, But Have Everlasting Life”  John 3:16.  

The message of Christmas is that a savior, the great shepherd, has come, he has injected himself to the spiritual battle of this life to set you free because HE LOVES YOU, HE LOVES HUMANITY.  The spiritual battle is for your soul (and make no mistake about the intensity of Revelation 12:17… Satan is raging against God, and you, and me, BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT… God’s intensity is greater still, and you are LOVED, you are WORTH IT,  and  you are important enough for Jesus to leave His secure and peaceful place in Heaven so that you could be saved and set free.  This is the Christmas gift…  And this Christmas gift is free for the taking.  All you’ve got to do is accept it! 

What a beautiful way to respond to the Christmas story, surrendering your life to Christ.

If you need to do that today, would you pray this with me?   Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to come and save me.  I know I am a sinner and I accept you and thank you for dying on the cross to pay the price for my sin. Please come into my life and set me free! AMEN

As I wrap up this episode, I want to acknowledge that I have spent considerable time here talking about the dynamic of spiritual war and conflict behind Christmas, and some of you may really feel this intensify in this season in tangible and practical ways – whether you just prayed that prayer, or if you prayed that prayer 30 years ago, but one of the other titles Jesus has (that is a part of this Christmas gift), going back to Isaiah 9, is that of “PRINCE OF PEACE”.   He came to win a battle, that not only sets us free, not only brings healing, but it brings peace.  Remember his words later in his ministry “Peace I leave with you; My (perfect) peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give you.  Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. (Let my perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge).”  (John 14:27 Amplified)  If salvation is the ultimate Christmas gift, let His Peace be the ultimate stocking stuffer.

I’m Nate Vainio and this has been Something To Gnaw On, 

Lets Pray………