It’s been less than three weeks since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the details of the atrocities committed during the 53 years of the al-Assad rule are just emerging. The road to Damascus, the capital city of Syria, is littered with abandoned military hardware; Sednaya Prison north of Damascus, with its labyrinth of underground cells and mass graves testifies to the horrors left behind by the exiting rulers. It is difficult to imagine that the road to Damascus was where a man named Saul encountered Jesus in a blinding light and a wonderous call to life. It is difficult to fathom that the church in Syria called Antioch grew under the nurturing of Barnabas and Paul to be the very place where believers were first called “Christians” – what some historians call “the cradle of Christianity”. It is difficult to fathom that from Antioch came the three missionary journeys of Paul that brought about churches like Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi, Ephesus, Colosse, and many others. But beginning with the Muslim Ottoman Empire in 1860 (called the Assyrian Genocide) and continuing with increasing cruelty under the Islamic State, severe persecution targeted at Christians have reduced the number of Syrian Christians dramatically. A census conducted in 2011 returned 2.1 million Christians in Syria; by 2022, there were less than 200,000. This is the reason the world is watching. Under the new regime that ousted Assad on December 8, 2024, religious protection had been guaranteed, specifically citing the freedom for Christians to meet and worship. It was an attempt to reverse the history of death that pervaded Syria. Then the Christmas Tree that adorned the central square of the Christian town of Suqaylabiyah was burned to the ground on December 24, 2024. The world mourned and held its collective breath on Christmas Eve.
My mind goes to the Gospel of John that summarizes Christmas in one sentence, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among men” (John 1:14). Then the ominous warning comes, “People loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19). If we gave some thought to it, the Christmas story is not just of angels singing and snow bells ringing. It is filled with Roman politics, maniacal infanticide, and the flight of Joseph’s family as refugees into ancient Egypt. The Apostle John later wrote in the Book of Revelation the vision of Satan as the dragon seeking to devour Jesus at His birth (Revelation 12:4). This is Christmas. The new Syrian rulers have sworn to find the perpetrators who burned down the Christmas Tree and to restore it with another. The world is still watching. But if we understand Scripture correctly, the struggle against Christ will continue till He returns. Our job is not to mourn over Christmas trees, but to share the good news of Jesus whenever we get the chance. There is a dragon waiting for his next opportunity against the Son. Let’s be ready.
Just Church
At Just Church, our message this Christmas is Jesus, only Jesus. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
