When Life Appeared 生命已显现
Dexu Xia
The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it. 1 John 1:2
In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine dominated the world’s attention. As the magnitude of the catastrophe became apparent, officials scrambled to the critically essential task of containing the radiation. Lethal gamma rays from highly radioactive debris kept destroying the robots deployed to clean up the mess.
So they had to use “bio robots”—human beings! Thousands of heroic individuals became “Chernobyl liquidators,” disposing of the hazardous material in “shifts” of ninety seconds or less. People did what technology could not, at great personal risk.
Long ago, our rebellion against God introduced a catastrophe that led to all other catastrophes (see Genesis 3). Through Adam and Eve, we chose to part ways with our Creator, and we made our world a toxic mess in the process. We could never clean it up ourselves.
That’s the whole point of Christmas. The apostle John wrote of Jesus, “The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us” (1 John 1:2). Then John declared, “The blood of Jesus, [God’s] Son, purifies us from all sin” (v. 7).
Jesus has provided what His creatures could not. As we believe in Him, He restores us to a right relationship with His Father. He’s liquidated death itself. The life has appeared.
How might you trying to clean up your own mess? How will you give your struggles to Jesus today?
Loving God, thank You for sending Your Son into this messy world to restore the broken relations caused by our sinful nature.
这生命已经显现出来，我们也看见过，现在又作见证。—约翰一书1章2节
在1986年，乌克兰车诺比核电厂爆炸，成为全世界关注的焦点。随着灾难的严重性加剧，官员们纷纷着手执行控制辐射的重要任务，使用机器人清理现场。然而，这些机器人都被来自高放射性碎片的致命伽玛射线所摧毁。
在这种情况下，他们不得不派人前往灾难现场！数千名英雄人物成为核爆清理者，以九十秒或更短的时间“轮班”清除危险物质。这些人冒着生命危险，完成机器人做不到的事。
在数千年前，人类始祖对上帝的悖逆引发了一场灾难，使世界从此陷入灾难之中（参阅创世记3章）。因亚当和夏娃所犯的罪，人类就有了悖逆造物主的罪性，将这个世界变得一团糟。对于这个乱糟糟的世界，带着罪性的人绝对无法靠自己来清理。
这就是耶稣降世为人的目的，也是圣诞节的意义。使徒约翰这样描述耶稣说：“这生命已经显现出来，我们见过了，现在也作见证，并且向你们宣扬这本来与父同在，又向我们显现过的永远的生命”（约翰一书1章2节，新译本）。约翰还宣称：“[上帝]儿子耶稣的血也洗净我们一切的罪。”（7节）耶稣完成了祂的创造物做不到的事。只要我们相信祂，让祂来主宰我们的生命，治死我们的罪性，我们就能与天父和好，并且恢复上帝原本设定的人与人之间的关系。作者： 葛庭墨
你曾如何尝试清理自己造成的烂摊子?
今天你要如何把这个难题交给耶稣?
来到这个乱糟糟的世界，清理人的罪性造成的人与神、人与人之间破碎的关系。