On this night, the course of history changed. Earth, hell, and heaven would never again be the same. In a placid Judean town, nestled in the hills, in a simple feeding trough for livestock, a helpless boy-child with an olive complexion was wrapped in rags and laid to rest on fresh straw. God had invaded earth, the seat of the dragon's bastion. All around the spiritual world convulsed with the ebb and flow of combat. The great dragon did signs and wonders, children were murdered, and Joseph and Mary eventually fled to Egypt for safety. Michael and the army of heaven carried them as though on eagle's wings. While the hosts of heaven declared the glories of the Lord and his grace, the dragon dragged the very stars from heaven and flung them angrily about.In Bethlehem, a baby was born. In heaven, a spiritual revolution established an earthly beachhead that would forever change the course of history and reclaim the hearts of mankind. Christmas had come. The angels filled the universe with their songs. God had become a man.We live in parallel worlds, and as Philip Yancey says, "One world consists of hills and lakes and barns and politicians and shepherds watching their flocks by night. The other consists of angels and sinister forces and somewhere out there places called heaven and hell. One night in the cold, in the dark, among the wrinkled hills of Bethlehem, those two worlds came together at a dramatic point of intersection. But the few eyewitnesses on Christmas night saw none of that. They saw an infant struggling to work never-before-used lungs.Unflinching in His determination, God continues to execute His plan of reconciliation. It is His all-out, last ditch effort to once again state in words we can not mistake, in words that echo from the lips of an angelic envoy in the Judean hills, down to the pits of hell, up to the ramparts of heaven, and into the hearts of every man, woman, boy, and girl: "I love you. Merry Christmas."Amen.