Judah was overcome with the Lord’s sorrow...and he began to cry. “Lord, why does Jesus have to die? Will You ever get to hold Him again?”
“O. little Judah. yes. I’ll hold Him again. You see, I will send my Holy Spirit to hold Him and comfort Him for Me. And even though He will die, He will rise up from the grave and leave all man’s sin there. So, yes, I will get to hold Him again!”
“O, You should be so happy then, Lord! But You still seem very, very sad to Me. Why?”
“Listen very closely, little Judah, and I will tell You what makes Me so very sad. Remember when I told you about all mankind being separated from Me by their sin?”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Judah, many men will choose not to receive Me. They will choose not to love me. They will choose not to let Me hold them. And Judah, I want them to receive Me. I want them to love Me. I want them to let Me hold them.
And Judah...”
“Yes, Lord?
“I do not want to lose you! Judah, you are the reason I sent Jesus to die. You are the reason I’ve built this beautiful city. You are the delight of My heart. I made you especially for Me...because I want to be with you and I want you to be with Me-forever! I love you, Judah, and I want you to know that you do not have to be separated from Me. I have called you here to this dream today to tell you these things. And remember, I will be as near as Your heart if you will receive the things I have shown you this day.”
With those words, Judah found himself flying back to the stable. And in the stable, he found himself holding baby Jesus very close to his heart (It seemed more like the baby was holding him!). And the next thing he knew, he was riding a sheep across his bed!
Riding a sheep across his bed?
It took him awhile - remember, he was only three-but he soon realized that he had been asleep. Quickly he ran down the hall to the living room to tell Mom and Dad what he had seen in the dream. But his words were drowned out by the shouts of glee and laughter as Dad brought in the Christmas tree. For a moment, Judah became so caught up in all the excitement that he forgot all about his dream. It wasn’t until bedtime later that evening that Judah remembered what he needed to tell his Dad.
After all the hustle and bustle of decorating the tree and filling the house with the sounds of carols and laughter, it was time for the family to head for bed. All the older children had made their way to their rooms as Dad carried the younger ones to theirs. When it was Judah’s time to be tucked in, his Daddy picked him up and asked him if he had had a good day. Of course Judah began to tell him about his dream. He went through the whole thing - from the part about the stable and sitting on the animals to being in the field with the shepherds - from being in the sky with the angels to touching the baby - from touching the baby to being held by the Lord in the city of gold - and from the hands of God to holding the baby Jesus! He didn’t leave one part out. And then he asked his Daddy, “Dad, how can Jesus hold me? I want Him to hold me.”
Judah’s story had touched Dad’s heart...but this statement took him by surprise. He waited for what seemed a very long time to Judah before he answered him.
“Son, just as in your dream, Jesus-our heavenly Father-can hold you when you get to heaven.”
Judah said, “But Daddy, how can I get to heaven?”
“Well, Judah-” Dad hesitated before he spoke...but he felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to answer Judah by saying, “You have to die before you can be held by Jesus.”
“Daddy, if I die can I come back?”
“No, Son. Once you die you can never come back to your old life.”
“Daddy, I don’t think I want to die. But I do want to be held by Jesus. Daddy, Jesus was beautiful-and I really liked it when He held me. In my dream, the Lord said He would send the Holy Spirit to hold Jesus for Him. Would He do that for me...would He, Daddy?”
Again, Dad just waited for a few moments before answering. In many ways he was overwhelmed with the depth of little Judah’s question. How do you explain death and salvation to a little boy? Just then the Holy Spirit began to speak to the heart of Judah’s Daddy and said these words, “Truly I say to you, unless your heart is turned and you become like a little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me. Do not cause the child to stumble. Tell Him the truth-and of the depth of My love. You have the Father’s heart- you are his “father”-but let the True Father have his heart. The heart of a man is the heart of a child, Tell him of My love.”
Only by the grace of Almighty God did Judah’s Dad begin to speak. He was truly humbled by his son’s innocent and sincere longing to be held by Jesus. And, if the truth be known, this earthly father was overcome by the arms of his Lord surrounding him-yes-bathing him in love. Because Judah’s Daddy knew first hand what it was like to be held by Jesus, he could tell him these things with great confidence. And so he did.
“Judah,” said Dad, “You do have to die to be held by Jesus. But the kind of death I’m speaking of is a death to the things of this world and all the earthly things we desire. To be held by Jesus we have to let go of everything else we are holding onto so that He can pick us up. When we let go of our desires for things that don’t last or really satisfy, our Heavenly Father is able to pick us up and satisfy our deepest need-the need to be loved and accepted. Because we have all sinned (or done bad things) we have become separated from God. That is why Jesus came-to take all our sins upon Himself and to die in our place. When we confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, God’s Word says that we will be saved. And that is when we get to be held by Him.. Because at that instant we die to our sins and to who we used to be-and we become someone brand new. And no matter what, Jesus will hold us whenever we need Him to. Does any of this make sense to you, son?”
Judah thought for a few seconds about what his Daddy had said before he spoke. And this smile came over his face and he said,”Daddy, Jesus is holding you now, isn’t He?”
“Yes,Judah, He is. How could you tell?”
“Because you are a little boy inside-just like me. I can tell. And Jesus loves to hold little boys. He told me so.”
Judah’s Dad could not speak now for tears of joy and brokenness streamed down his face. And Judah just sat there resting in his Daddy’s arms and enjoying his embrace as he said,”Daddy, I don’t understand everything. I just know it’s good. Jesus is telling my heart that I don’t need to worry about it now. He says He will just hold me in your arms ‘til I understand. I think I’ll just let Jesus hold me through you.”
And the little boy fell asleep in his Daddy’s arms. And outside the snow began to fall...and the little boy dreamed about Christmas all year ’round as he rested in the arms of Jesus.
The End