America's Christmas Miracle

Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. -CS Lewis

On that first Christmas night glad tidings were announced…"The rightful King has landed!"

More accurately,  “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with joy. Today your Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in David’s city". 

In other words, that evil authoritarian regime of sin which suppresses all hope in our fallen world and which stems from the wicked plot of the serpent and all the demonic forces of hell, now trembles as its power is certain to be reversed. With the first coming of the baby Messiah, cradled in the Virgin's arms, the tide in the war between good and evil had finally turned! 

The whole story of the Bible led up to a definitive momentum change, a dramatic turnaround. And the pendulum, which had pushed hard in the direction of darkness,disorder and destruction, finally reached a still point on that first Christmas night. The arc of history began to swing back toward the light, from tyranny to liberty. 

The Gospel, the Glad Tidings, the Good News was this… this innocent, adorable Baby Boy brought about the beginning of the end of all tyranny, all oppression, all liars, all corrupt monarchs, all who seek to squash the hope that men may be free and have a chance to freely choose God’s will for their lives through basic human rights with which their Creator endowed them. That was Christmas night 2023 years ago.

On a much smaller scale, on the anniversary of the arrival of the Redeemer who ransomed us from the power of tyranny and who brought ultimate liberation, something strangely similar happened. It was another dramatic turnaround.

On Christmas night, two hundred forty seven years ago, two thousand patriots landed on the shores of the Delaware River for a surprise arrack on the Hessian mercenary forces hired by the British tyrants to suppress that rare spark of freedom that flickered perilously that night in the cold Christmas air. At the Delaware river nine miles from Trenton, New Jersey,  one of the most daring raids in American history began.

On the night of December 25 1776, General Washington, with his small army of teenage farmer conscripts whose term of service was about to expire and who had stayed loyal and true to him through very dark days at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, managed to cross the Delaware River.

In roughly 20, sixty foot long, Durham boats (and any other boats they could find) they crossed boat by boat. With all thei men, cannons, and horses floating across the icy waters, they managed to keep their gunpowder dry. Then the rag-tag, exhausted and unproven army then marched in the early dawn nine miles to Tenton.

While other generals were already giving up, General George Washington knew it was his last chance and one final desperate gambit to save the American Revolution which up until that night had been a lost cause. 

It had to be done for the sake of regaining supplies and boosting morale. If Washington waited longer the river would have froze enabling the enemy to attack and ultimately take Philadelphia and end the uprising and the hopes of the Patriots. Furthermore, the leaders of the revolution, our country's founding fathers would be hanged for treason. 

In what some call a Christmas miracle, Washington pulled off the Revolutionary War's most logistically challenging and dangerous clandestine operations. Due to the danger of spies tipping off the enemy, the uncertain thickness of the ice on the river and the darkness of night, it was a daring and brave leap of faith. It paid off as they managed to keep the element of surprise.

The American army encircled the Hessians and took 900 prisoners and much needed supplies. Amazingly, they lost no soldiers in the battle itself and the booty gained in the raid saved Washington’s army from further desertion due to starvation and the cold. It kept them a viable fighting force and it provided confidence going forward as they now had a victory under their belt and the continued backing of the Continental Congress.

What the Red Sea was to Moses and what the Jordan was to Joshua, what the Rubicon was to Caesar, the Delaware was to George Washington and to all American patriots. No crossing, no victory. No crossing, no freedom.  No crossing, no nation. The crossing of the Delaware was for the American nation like passing through baptismal waters of life and liberty.

On the birthday of the rightful King who also came in a surprise attack to overturn tyranny totally and forever, Washington and his men, for the sake of sovereignty, turned the tide against the tyranny of that time. The hope of political and religious liberty and spiritual freedom, the hope of a free nation was born. The American experiment in freedom had already been declared at the risk of the signers’ lives. What was left was the hard part, the military defeat of the strongest military force on earth, the 18th century British empire. 

Shortly after this Christmas victory in Trenton, Thomas Pain brought all of the Americans glad tidings with these famous words

“These are the times that try men's souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

If you love freedom and despise political, economic or religious oppression by foreign powers, or any authortitarian overlords, remember to give thanks for the Christmas Miracle of 1776. When it seems hopeless and all is lost that's when grace is most likely to break in. May God continue to bless our nation with the bravery and daring that Washington and his men showed in the face of tyranny.