Apocalyptic Christmas (Week 2): Stop Chasing Shadows and Come Home
This week we’re continuing the conversation we began last Sunday - Apocalyptic Christmas.
I know… it sounds mysterious. Maybe even ominous - unless you were here last week, in which case you already know what we mean.
Because “apocalypse” isn’t destruction. It isn’t the end of the world. It’s not even “life after the end.”
Apocalypse means unveiling.
Something hidden is being revealed. Something that has always been true is finally being seen clearly.
And that matters, because when we understand Scripture as unveiling, we stop treating the Bible like a book that simply gives us information…
…and we begin seeing it for what it is: God revealing His heart.
The Lens You Read Scripture Through Changes Everything
In our team meeting this morning, we talked about the reality that there are different “lenses” we can read Scripture through - ways of approaching the Bible that shape what we think it is doing.
And my hope for you (and for us as a church) is that when you open your Bible, you begin to see it through a different lens than maybe you have before.
Here are three common lenses we often drift into:
1) The Historical Lens
We can read Scripture as a valuable historical record - humanity’s past, ancient cultures, and the story of what happened “back there.”
And honestly, that’s not wrong.
It’s just incomplete.
Because if we only read Scripture as history, it may inform our minds, but it can miss what God intends: the transformation of our hearts.
2) The Moralistic Lens
We can also read Scripture as wisdom-only - like Proverbs is simply advice for better living (and it is full of wisdom).
But when we read Scripture only as moral guidance, we drift into asking questions like:
“How can this make me better?”
“How can I apply this to succeed?”
“How can this help me improve my behavior?”
Those aren’t always bad questions… but they are incomplete.
Because Scripture isn’t mainly about making a better version of you.
Scripture is about surrendering all of you to all of God.
When Scripture becomes moral guidance alone, it can shape what we do without reshaping who we belong to.
And that’s how cultural Christianity forms: behavior modification without heart transformation.
3) The Self-Help / Utilitarian Lens
This is when we treat Scripture like a tool to fix problems, reduce anxiety, give peace, or justify decisions.
The question becomes:
“What can I get from this?”
And when we read Scripture only through a self-help lens, Scripture becomes useful and helpful…
…but not holy and life-giving.
Revelation vs Information
Here’s the difference:
When we don’t read Scripture as revelation, we read it as information.
Information can educate you.
Information can improve you.
Information can even inspire you.
But information alone cannot resurrect you.
Because the gospel in a sentence is this: Jesus came to make dead people alive.
Only revelation, through Christ, gives life.
Genesis Isn’t the First Moment Creation Existed
This is where the “apocalyptic lens” becomes powerful.
Genesis is not the first moment creation existed.
Genesis is the first moment God revealed Himself to us through creation.
Creation existed in the heart of God before it ever existed on a page. So Genesis is not merely the invention of God’s desires unfolding - Genesis is the revelation of God’s heart, unfolding in real time.
And what does it reveal?
God’s heart has always been intimate relationship with His creation.
Not distance. Not separation. Not disconnection.
The Deepest Desire in You Is Belonging
No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what your story is - there is something deep inside you that drives so much of what you do:
You want to belong.
We change jobs because we don’t feel like we belong.
We change friend groups.
We change environments.
Sometimes we even change churches - because we’re chasing the ache of belonging.
And Eden was the first place on earth where that need was fully met.
Eden Was Heaven and Earth Overlapping
Eden was the first place where heaven and earth overlapped.
It was the first answer to the prayer “Let heaven come to earth,” before anyone ever prayed it.
God walked with humanity there. God dwelled there. God ruled there.
And biblically, you could say Eden functioned like a temple before the temple ever existed.
Later temples would have walls and veils and altars…
Eden had none of that.
Because Eden had no separation.
Heaven and earth were not divided.
God and humanity were not distant.
Humanity wasn’t created only to be gardeners…
Humanity was created to be priests - image bearers commissioned to expand God’s presence and rule throughout creation.
“Be fruitful and multiply” wasn’t just agricultural language.
It was priestly, kingdom language.
Eden wasn’t meant to be contained.
Eden was the starting point for the Kingdom expanding into all the earth.
Then Genesis 3 Happens… and It’s Bigger Than “Sin Entered”
When we get to Genesis 3, we usually reduce it to: “this is where sin entered the world.”
That’s true.
But the deeper storyline is separation.
Genesis 3 is where humanity loses its sense of belonging.
Where they lose home.
For the first time ever humanity experiences:
Exile
Displacement
The ache of not belonging
Those are deeper than guilt. Deeper than shame.
To feel displaced is to feel like everything in life is unsettled.
Grace Shows Up Immediately
Before the curse fully unfolds… before the ache settles…
God speaks a promise.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
This is what theologians call the proto-evangelium…the first gospel.
It’s the first whisper that a Deliverer is coming.
And it’s important for your faith to know this:
Jesus was never Plan B.
The Seed was never Plan B.
God was declaring from the beginning: I will not abandon what I created. I will restore what was lost.
From Genesis 3 forward, the Old Testament becomes a long unfolding of longing—humanity living with the ache of what they were made for.
Littlefoot and the Ache of Belonging
I showed a video this week (yes, another one).
It was from The Land Before Time.
Littlefoot loses his mother—the one who gave him identity, safety, belonging.
And in the scene, he’s reaching for something familiar. Something that reminds him of what he lost… but it isn’t the real thing.
And honestly? That’s humanity.
We were never made to chase shadows…
yet we do.
We grab at things we think will give us belonging—things that promise identity, value, purpose…
…and the end result is often the same:
This isn’t it.
Shadows in the Old Testament
The rest of the Old Testament is full of what theologians call typology.
The Bible usually calls it something simpler: shadows.
Today we focused on two:
1) The Veil
The first time the veil shows up is in Exodus 26:
The veil separated the holy place from the Most Holy Place - the place of God’s presence.
That veil was a physical representation of what happened in Eden.
Humanity once lived naturally in God’s presence, but after the fall, separation was needed - not because God was cruel, but because humanity was no longer whole enough to stand in God’s presence.
And woven into the veil were cherubim.
Just like cherubim guarded Eden…
cherubim guarded access again.
But here’s what’s important:
The veil was not God choosing distance.
The veil was God choosing nearness.
The tabernacle was God dwelling with His people when He could have chosen absence.
It was grace.
2) Sacrifice
Hebrews 9 shows us that the high priest could only enter behind the veil once a year - and never without blood.
Sacrifice is a repeated shadow throughout Scripture:
God covers Adam and Eve
Abel offers a sacrifice
Abraham hears “God will provide a lamb”
Passover blood becomes the difference between life and death
Lamb after lamb after lamb…
Every sacrifice told the same story:
Separation is real.
Belonging has been broken.
Restoration is costly.
But sacrifices were temporary.
They covered, but they could not remove.
Hebrews 10 says those sacrifices could never take away sin.
Then John 1:29 declares what the shadows were pointing toward:
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Not covers.
Takes away.
What This Means for Us Today
I believe people today are still doing what humanity has always done:
Searching far and wide - turning over every rock, flipping every page - trying to find where they belong.
And we say things like: “You belong here.”
But the truth is:
You don’t ultimately belong to a church building or a church brand.
The place you belong is found only in the presence of God.
Career isn’t your belonging.
Money isn’t your belonging.
Safety nets aren’t your belonging.
They aren’t always bad - until they become the place you’re trying to get identity from.
Because humanity has perfected the art of chasing shadows.
Even churches can train people to chase shadows.
But you were never created for shadows.
You were created for the presence of God.
So if you recognize you’ve been chasing something that gives you a sense of belonging but was never meant to fulfill it…
I want to invite you:
Come home.
Not home to a church.
Home to the heart of God.
A Closing Prayer
Holy Spirit, continue to work in our hearts and minds. Continue to unveil Your heart to us through Scripture. Help us measure our lives against Your truth. Let the things that are not true fall away. Help us stop chasing the shadows of this world and run to Your presence.
In Jesus’ name, amen.