Introduction

Now today is like a story time, and Christmas is full of symbols, right? You see symbols everywhere. Now most of the time, spiritual Christians like to say, ‘Aiya, so commercial. Christians, Christmas become so commercial.’ You know, classic complainers, that's what Singaporeans are, even Christians must sound spiritual in their complaining. Now, when we go around and see all the symbols of Christmas, and there are plenty of them, don't complain, be thankful. Be thankful that everything has a purpose, including those symbols. And those symbols, if we think carefully, are actually signs. And those signs, if we think carefully, help us to know the true story of Christmas. All right, so let's go into some of these symbols that you see everywhere around you.

Christmas symbols

You see a tree. You know it's like, What in the world? Everywhere, trees pop up all over the place. Singapore is a garden city. You drive on the road, suddenly there's a new tree there, overnight. But on Christmas, there are hundreds of trees pop out overnight, strange looking trees. Then you see an overweight, fat guy with a ridiculous outfit. If he were to wear this any other time, he would be put in jail. He’s a weirdo, all right. But on Christmas, he looks quite okay, right? And a few other symbols. And today, we're going to talk about five common symbols. At the end of the message today, you're actually going to be a bit more informed. You are going to be smart. ‘Hey, I tell you, I know why this Christmas tree. I know why the guy is so fat, you know.’ And you will actually be informed, but hopefully you will be transformed. Okay, so sit back and just watch through. You may know some of these things, some of these things may be new to you.

Christmas Tree

And let's look at the first symbol, the tree. Everywhere there's a Christmas tree, right? Where in the world did this tree pop up? Israel? Not likely. Bethlehem? Not likely. The Bible? Not likely. Where in the world did this tree come from? Where do you think it came from? Why this tree? What's the big deal about this tree? Why everywhere has got this stupid tree? What's it about? See, true Singaporeans, stupid tree, right? Must complain, right? What is this tree called? Christmas tree? Good. I love people with common sense, all right, because that's so rare in Singapore, right? What's this tree? All blur. Someone say, ‘Christmas tree’. First class, all right. Maybe a bit more botanical, what is this tree? What color is this tree? Pine Tree? Good. What color is this tree? Green, always green. Is this tree always green? Yeah, it's an evergreen. Good job. All right, now you're allowed to talk, because it's family time all right. It’s not church okay, family time you can answer, all right, even stupid answer also okay. All right, it's an evergreen. Why evergreen trees?

A girl from the audience answers because it stands for eternal life. Come ah, come and preach, you are better than most people here okay. Absolutely correct, that is a symbol of eternal life. Imagine if you live in the north, right? This is basically a tree in places where there's super cold weather, and you watch trees turning first orange. You go Japan, wow, you see autumn color. You go Boston, you see, wah, so shiok (it means very enjoyable) right. Then they turn brown, and then botak (it means bald). All the trees, all the trees look dead, but this fellow don't seem to die. Goes on and on through the winter, still green. Next year is still green. Go on and on. It's called evergreen. This girl is correct. It's a symbol of everlasting life. That's why the tree is there.

Now, when did this first appear in Christmas? All right? This one I don't think you know okay. Not 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, this actually became a Christmas tradition only about 500 years ago. Bethlehem, sorry, is 2000 years, right? So for 1500 years, no Christmas tree at Christmas time, all right. It only appeared about 500 years ago in Germany. Okay, some of you may have heard of Martin Luther. Martin Luther was so excited about eternal life, he was one of the first promoters of this tree as a symbol of eternal life. You know, Germany trees turn brown and trees get botak, but this tree was always green. So he was one of the first, he was actually a social influencer. Did you know that? You thought social influencers only nowadays is it? Martin Luther was one of the first social influencers. He didn't use social media. He used pamphlets, and he was the one that propagated, or I would say, popularized the tree. Okay, so this tree became popular in about 500 years ago as a symbol of Christmas, because Christmas is about eternal life.

Okay, so next time you walk down Orchard Road, you see Christmas tree, say, now I know, it's eternal life. Aiya, so stupid, Christmas tree everywhere right. Now, you're quite smart already. Okay? You can even say 500 years ago, it started. Okay now eternal life, what's the big deal about eternal life? It's the biggest deal of all. You know, for most people, they think death is part of life. For many people, they say death is a cycle of life, just part of life. Really? Was it meant to be part of life? You know we see the cycle of life, right? A baby, these diapers, poo, poo, everywhere. Then grow up, we accept all those things and look quite happy, we accept that. See an old man go into second childhood. It's part of life. We love our parents. We take care of them. But you know, when it comes to death, it's a very sad moment, in any culture. Now, I've been a doctor for many years, all right, over 40 years, and I've never had a single person come up to me and say, ‘Wow Doc, thanks for the cancer diagnosis. Wow, now I can sleep forever Doc.’ I never had that. You know, everybody's dream is to don't work so hard and sleep, right? True or False. No, you all like to work very hard and struggle through life is it? No, everybody dreams every night go to bed and sleep nice, right? In fact, what's the most popular prescription medicine? Wah, you all don't know. Sleeping pills? Wah this kid so smart. All right, now, sleeping pills. But I've never had a patient say to me, ‘Wah Doc, thank you, man. You mean I just die and I can sleep forever?’ You know all the Yaya patients? You know how Yaya patients are, they walk in the room, ‘Wah, die die la, why worry?’ But when you tell them, they got cancer, their eyeballs pop up. Why? Nobody ever thinks death is part, a nice part of life. Nobody ever says death just sleep. You say, ‘Well, you are wrong, Pastor. What about the one who want to commit suicide?’ Suicide people don't want to lose death you know. They don't want to die you know. They don't want to escape life you know. They want to escape pain you know. Don't ever think a suicide patient wants to end his life. He wants to end his pain. Understand? There's a world of difference.

Everybody hangs on to life for dear life, because it is so clear to man, it's scary. Death is terrifying, all right. Now, death was never meant to be part of life, but some guy brought it into the world. Bible tells us Adam, Adam was made a human being, and he sinned, and some smart people here will say, then why God don’t make him in such a way he cannot sin. Then he'll be a robot. Ah, alright. If God can program you and tell you to do this, do that, then you're not even a human. The sacred thing about being a human, unlike a tree, like an evergreen tree, or a chicken or a duck, is that you can make choices. You don't just work according to the program in your brain. You make choices. And Adam made a choice. He made a choice to sin, and when he sinned, death intruded into the world. So death is not part of life, death is an enemy, an alien, if I may put it, an intruder into this life. If an alien will come to this world, we say, let's get rid of this alien that will destroy us. Death is an alien, but we just don't know how to get rid of this alien that came into the world, right? ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (1 Cor 15:55-57) So Christmas is about a victory. A victory, not over little things, over challenges of life, over the challenge of life, which is death, right? And so the Christmas tree is the biggest symbol of Christmas everywhere, because it speaks of everlasting life. Okay, so, next time you see a Christmas tree, symbol becomes a sign, sign becomes a story. Alright?

What's this? Who can tell me what time of the day is this? Girl answers. I know why you know, you were in the first service right? Okay, so you top market already. She was right. That's afternoon, afternoon where? Around the North Pole, all right. Around the North Pole, it's almost a perpetual night around December 25. It's called the winter solstice, shortest day of the year. In fact, there is almost no day, it's all night. Now, do you know why Christmas is on December 25? Was Jesus born on 25th? No, you cannot answer (the girl). I give you a prize now for not answering. Okay, why is Christmas on December 25? Was Jesus born on Christmas Day, December 25? No ah, no cheating, alright. This one you know the exam quiz before right? Jesus was born, probably not in winter, because the Bible tells us shepherds were out with their flocks by night when Jesus was born. All right, typically, a shepherd takes care of his sheep, not kills his sheep. All right. Butchers kill the sheep. Shepherds take care of the sheep. If you take care, you bring all your sheep out at winter, they die. They freeze to death, you get frozen mutton straight away, right? But the Bible says the shepherds were out with their flocks by night. So probably Jesus was not born on Christmas Day. In fact, frankly, we don't know when Jesus was born, but very unlikely December 25, but December 25 was chosen about 300 years after Christ as the day, because it was the shortest day of the year. It seems like death had come in, darkness always speaks of death, and it looks like the world is dying. The sun is dying. We are dying, right? And then after Christmas, December 26, 27, 28, the day gets longer, and there seems to be hope. Alright? So December 25 is not the actual date of Jesus birth. Frankly, we don't know, but unlikely to be. But it was chosen because it's a picture of death that opens the door to life. All right, as the day gets shorter, then it gets longer, after December 25. Is that clear? Alright? So that's the first symbol ah, makes a bit of sense to us now, when you see Christmas tree and we say, ‘Ah, Christmas Day, December 25’. Now, I hope you have a little bit of grasp on that.

Christmas Santa

Next one, Santa. We say, where did this fellow come from? Is he from Lazada? Is he from Shopee? Wow. This guy, influencer for Lazada, make people buy rubbish all the time. Oh, terrible ah Christmas, spend money, waste money. You know, there are people who go around saying this kind of things, which is to some extent true. But let's go a bit beyond that alright. Why gifts? Why this fat guy who is linked up to the gift? All right. Now, where did it all come from? Okay, it tells us about wise men who brought gifts to Jesus. Okay, the Bible tells us, ‘And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary' his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.’ (Matthew 2:11) And there were three gifts mentioned. You see that? Three gifts which, again, are symbols, which give signs, which tell a story, right?

Gold, gold is usually linked up to a king. King's crown is usually made of gold, not copper or other things all right .Gold is usually the metal of kings, so they brought a gift symbolizing a king. Incense, Frankincense. Frankincense is usually a symbol of? Cut out the word, ‘Frank’. What is incense? Usually a symbol of worship. You go to different religions. Commonly, you enter, you see, wah, what's the smell? The smoke, right? Usually there is incense burning. People buy, you know, they use incense. Why incense? Incense is fragrant, and not fragrant on your body, but fragrant that rises up. You know, when you light fragrance, it lights up, and the incense floats up. And so typically, it's a symbol of man worshiping God. Men looking up, praising, adoring God. That's why incense is commonly used in many religions. All right? So they brought incense. So King, God, it's a child, God? Okay. But the third gift is the most interesting, myrrh. What in the world is myrrh? Gold I know. Incense I think I know. Myrrh? I scratch my head. But many of you have it on your body today, without realizing. Usually the girls, not the guys. Myrrh is used as a fragrant perfume, all right? You know Joe Malone, most of you is not so materialistic, right? You buy only from Shopee, right? You see most perfume is made from essential oils. Essential oils give off a nice smell all right. Now we use perfume so that we can smell good. But in the time of Jesus, myrrh was often used for something quite different from bodily perfume, quite different from trying to cover BO (Body Odour). It was trying to cover CO. What are you saying, what is CO man? Pastor, you're so deep, alright, you'll see that in here very clearly. ‘Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds in weight.’ That's a lot of myrrh. ‘So they took the body of Jesus.’ He was dead for three days’ and ‘bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews’. (John 19:39-40) So myrrh was used as a anointing oil or shall we use the word perfume to cover the smell of a decaying body? Now, I know most of you never smell a decaying body, but as a medical student, sometimes bodies are found. You know, dead for a few days brought to mortuary, it is unbelievable, the smell, all right. The smell of a rotting body is unbelievable. Now, bodies rot very quickly in hot weather and in the Middle East, they often had to wait for the funeral rites to be done, and bodies began to smell, so myrrh was used as a anointing oil for corpses. All right, so now that’s a very strange gift. You bring a gift to a baby. The baby is just born. You bring a gift for his death. What's up, man? You don't think of death with a baby, right? So the three gifts are very interesting. Just keep that in mind, a king, God and death. Oh, you don't link kings with dying. You don't just link God with dying. What's these three gifts? We'll come to it in a moment.

Alright, so remember the three gifts were the origin of giving at Christmas. Okay, so we say, what's all this? Why is there so much giving at Christmas? Okay? The main reason why is there giving at Christmas is Christmas is about the gift of everlasting life, right? So people say, What is Christmas about? Everlasting life? What? How do I get everlasting life? It's a gift. All right. So I hope these two symbols will help you a little bit understand all the packages and packages you see wrapped around it, everywhere, under every Christmas tree, wrappings and so on.

Okay, how about the fat guy? Where did he come from? Where did Santa Claus come from? Does that help you? The name Saint Nicholas was a real guy, but the Germans who don't understand English very well, and all Germans like the name Klaus, Klaus, Klaus, right? So, from Santa Nicholas, Saint Nicholas, it became Santa Claus. Very German, right? Klaus, right? Okay, the German name, so Santa Claus is a corruption of Saint Nicholas. Okay, who was Saint Nicholas? He’s a real fellow who lived about 300 years after Christ, about 300 years. He was a bishop in somewhere called Turkey. He wasn't German, he was Turkish, all right. And he was a very good pastor, I would call it, the word ‘Bishop’ was basically just a pastor, a kind of leading pastor in the city of Myra, which is renamed but is still there somewhere in Turkey. And you know what he would do? He would, during times of hunger and sadness, would often go to the windowsill of poor people and bring gifts of coin and put it there, at the windowsill, or bring a bit of food and put it in the windowsill. So when people open the window in the morning, I thought going to be hungry today, but there's a coin there. There's some food there. And later they found it was Saint Nicholas who left that food there.

Alright, that's why you see Santa Claus comes at night and leaves presents in the bed for your children. When you got present in the morning, you thought, who came? Oh, Santa came last night. You better be good. You better not shout. You better not pout. Santa Claus is coming to town, alright, so be good, right? So the story of Santa Claus is basically from a real fellow. But when he was transported to become a custom in Germany, 1000 years later, he became Germanized. Germans a bit heavier, alright, you mean Paja? Alright, of course, the white beard, most pastors had beard those days. People didn't shave their beards, and they were old, they had white beard, so normal. And how is red, this funny red dress, where did it come from. You see today, pastors wear this funny black thing, right? In those days, what do you think pastors wore? Often, they wore red clothing, all right, and often a red hat. You know, you go Roman Catholic cardinals, they still wear the red stuff and the red hat. So it probably came from the custom of those days that said Santa Claus ridiculous outfit was the modification of this.

Okay, now, you know, when you transfer traditions from one place to another, things get different. When I was in India, I was shocked. I went to a museum, and I said, Who's this guy? This little statue. He say, that's Buddha. He looks Indian. And the guy said, of course, Buddha is Indian. I said, okay, and he's so skinny. Yeah, Buddha was skinny. He never eat very much. But then when he went to China, he became very fat and very fair. You see how things get changed over years. But the origin, so this skinny guy a bit darker, became very fair and very fat, so no surprise, right? Okay, corruption of the ages. All right. So Santa Claus, now you know, was just a good guy who had a good heart, because God gave him a good heart and he cared for others. That's all it is, alright. So when you see gifts, it is about Christmas, the gift of eternal life. Okay, so that is interesting. So we have two symbols.

Lights/Star

What about this one, the lights and the star. You go to Orchard Road. How many of you have not gone to Orchard Road yet? Not bad. About 20 dare to put up their hands. All right. Most people are like, Sotong (meaning blur), you know, the lights are there, they will go, all right. You see light must go one, alright? Lights attract. Right, right? It attracts Sotong, it attracts fish, attracts mosquitoes, attracts insects and humans, right? So lights at Christmas and the star, it seems everywhere, huh, alright. So every time you see that big green tree, somehow there seems to be a star there and lots of light. Okay, what is the story of the lights and the star? Okay, now, let's get it. ‘Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.’ (Matthew 2:1) Where did they come from? From the East, Japan is it? Where do you think the East was? Again, just giving trivia, where's the east from? East of Jerusalem? Iran. They were Persians. All right, the Persians were very ancient kingdom. It's still one of the few civilizations still around. And the Persians were a lot of people who studied the skies, all right. And these men studied the skies, and they came to Jerusalem, ‘saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him.’ (Matthew 2:2)

Now, nowadays we study microscopes, we study all kinds of things. In those days, the wise people studied the sky and the stars. All right, the stars gave them direction. They knew how to travel by the stars like GPS in those days, wise men don't get lost. You're wise because you don't get lost, right? You can travel at night and you know where you're going, because of the stars. In fact, I think soldiers learn how to do that too I was told. You know, once there was a colonel in this church, he came and said to me, ‘Hey, Pastor, Pastor, we have to learn and teach our people how to travel by the stars. So we look at the star, we know we will never get lost.’ So I say, ‘Okay’. I went with him one night, but only one problem: Singapore, the star is still there, but cannot see. Alright? Too much pollution. So we stand there stare stare stare, we'll see one or two stars only, all right? But in the Iranian sky or the Persian sky, the stars were clear, and they spent time looking at the stars and knew the stars. And one day they saw this unusual star. You see, God speaks to people in a channel they can understand. If you have a Bible, God speaks to you through the Bible. If you don't have a Bible, illiterate, God can speak to you through miracles, alright? And so on. God has his means of communicating. So God communicated with these wise men through the star. And they saw this star and said, ‘What in the world is that? Why is there this star?’ And they said, ‘There must be God trying to show us something important, something great.’ And in their mind, because they were wise men, they said, ‘This is something very momentous.’ And I don't know how we figure out it was something like they came and believed there was going to be a king, because maybe they heard the Scriptures, the Old Testament, that there would be a king in Jerusalem, and they came to look for a king, alright? That's wise men. Wise men see symbols. They see a symbol as a sign, and they see a sign as a direction. So that's why they're wise, okay?

And so the Bible tells us, ‘after listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.’ (Matthew 2:9) Now, can you imagine that you're the wise man in this great civilization or kingdom called Persia? And the wisest man saw this and said, ‘Wow, this is a sign from God.’ And, you know, they started probably looking at the Old Testament and say, ‘I think this is about the King of the Jews who would come.’ So they prepared the expedition, and they were led to prepare these three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. And they journeyed, and the star led them and led them, and they were expecting, wow, we come to a palace, the King of the Jews, we will come to a palace, but they came to a humble house, and they said, ‘We will see a king’. But they didn't see a king, they saw a child. Can you imagine you were one of the wise men. You made this great effort to come for miles, saved, prepared for this expedition and expecting to see the King of the Jews. And you come to a humble house and see a little child. Now I don't know, the Bible doesn't tell us exactly what they discussed after that, what they did we don't know, but I can speculate. What in the world is this child got to do with us? This child, I bring gold, I expect a king. He's a little kid. I bring frankincense, I expect some religious thing. He's a kid in a humble house, not even a church, not even a religious place, and I'm asked to bring myrrh, they probably went back pretty confused.

All right. Now, the next symbol, so you got eternal life, first symbol, the tree. Eternal life is a gift, second symbol. Third symbol, the gift is a child. Okay, how does the child be a blessing to us?

Wreath

Fourth symbol of Christmas, a wreath. Looks very simple. There's a lot of symbolism. Circle, what does a circle always stand for? All of you got married in a Christian ceremony? What does a circle stand for? Your ring? Every time I officiate, I say, “Ladies and gentlemen, the groom will now present a ring to his bride. The ring is a circle symbolizing" what? Wah, you all got married, never listen to me? How many of you were married by me? You don't even know what the ring you're wearing for. The ring symbolizes something has no end. Right? Round, round, round. Where's the beginning? Where's the end? No, round. Triangle got ending, got beginning. Square got, rectangle got. Circle don't have right? So it's a symbol of something that has no end.

What else is about the wreath? It's green, everlasting. What else about it? Those leaves, or the holy leaves have berries. They're red. Red is usually a symbol of what? Blood. Oh, okay, interesting, right? There's one more symbolism I'll tell you later all right. So when you see this wreath everywhere you go down Orchard Road, on the lamp post, got all this wreath. What in the world think who's wasting money, put all these stupid things up, right? No, it is a sign for you. All right? This child came to wear a wreath on his head. What kind of wreath?

“And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail King of the Jews!’ And they spit on him and took the reed, struck him on the head, and when they mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.” (Matthew 27:29-31)

Now, you understand what that wreath is, right? A wreath was put on his head, but it was not a wreath like the Christmas wreath. It was a wreath of thorns. You see, the Roman soldiers were so sick and tired of the Jews. You know, Jews are tough, arrogant people, all right, up to today. The Romans were so tired. ‘And this is a king of the Jews. You're a king. You need a crown, man, but I'm going to give you a real crown you deserve. I'll make a crown of thorns and slam it on your head. You're a king. You need a scepter man.’ So they put Jesus on a mock throne, put a mock crown on his head, gave him a mock scepter. A scepter is like, you know, Kings go tong tong tong to tell you, listen to me. All right. Put that on his head. They took the thing and whacked his head, the crown of thorns went to his head and spit and said, ‘You are the King of the Jews. Ha.’ You see, Kings usually come with pomp and power. Kings have armies to die for them. In fact, Kings don't die for people. Armies die for their kings. But this king was different. ‘You are a king, you're going to die you know that? if you're the king of the Jews,’ they shouted at him, ‘Come down from the cross.’ They didn't realize this king came to go to the cross. You see, Kings normally let others die for them. This king was different. He was going to die for others. Wow, that's weird. Let's look at the continuation of this funny wreath symbol.

“But he was pierced for our transgressions.” That's a big word, for our sins. “He was crushed for our iniquities,” our sins. “Upon him was chastisement.” These are big words, judgment. “That brought us peace, and with his wounds, we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Wow, this king came not to conquer us, but this king came to die for us that he might do something greater. Wow.

The Bible goes on to say, he went on that cross. So this is story of the cross, right? And it goes on to say, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Listen carefully. The word, “it is finished” is one word in the Greek language, simply means, fully paid. Debt settled. What in the world is Jesus saying? He is hanging on the cross, and he said, “Debt paid”. What in the world is he doing? All right, and he died.

You see, this little child came with one goal. I think when the wise men came, they expected to come to a little child who would teach them commandments, how to have eternal life. I mean everybody, every wise man knows the greatest enemy of life is death. Maybe we come to this king who teach us life, give us some commandments. Did Jesus come to give you commandments? I just give you one simple commandment, “Thou shalt not lie.” How many of you have never lied in your life? At least, we have an honest crowd here. All right. Another simple commandment, “Honor your father and your mother.” How many have honored your parents? I tell you, I don't know how many hundreds of times I dishonored my parents, too many times. Jesus didn't come to give us commandments, we can't follow them. He didn't give us rituals and stuff, which is all form. Jesus came to wear a wreath on his head, die for our sins. Now you see the three things, gold, the king, the king came, frankincense, God, God came down to die, but God cannot die. So God became man, 100% God. Listen carefully and 100% man. God came down, born of a woman to be 100% God, 100% man in one. You say, how do you get that? I don't know. That's a miracle. There are many things I don't understand, this is one of them. But on the cross, as God-Man, listen carefully as God-Man. As God, He knew all of us. We were not born 2000 years ago when Jesus went to the cross. But God can see the future and the past and the present. That's God, and He, as God, saw all of us. God knows all my sins. I don't know your sins. In fact, frankly, I don't even know many of my sins. God knew all. God doesn't forget anything. I forget all the time. And as God on that cross, He took all our sins long before we were born He knew us. He knew what we would do. He took our sins, but as God, He cannot die, He cannot bleed, He cannot suffer, but as Man, He suffered and died for us. And when he had paid the penalty for all our sins, He said, “Settled”, then he died.

Well. Is that everlasting life? Is that death? But three days later, the Bible says, He rose from the dead. How do you know when He said, “Your sins are paid”, and He is still dead? Well three days later, he rose to prove to you your sins are settled. It has been settled.

Now you know why the wreath is used. What else is the symbol? Wreath is a symbol of what? Anyone knows? Ancient Olympic Games, what do you get when you win the games? A medal? What do you get? Ancient Olympic Games? A Wreath. That's right, young man. They put a wreath on your head. So you see that silly little wreath symbol, it’s a circle, no end. It's green, everlasting life. It's blood, the berries, and it's a wreath of victory. Death is conquered. The alien is conquered. Someone paid the penalty for our sins. Wow, I like that. There's a lot of symbolism in that little wreath hanging in Orchard Road lamppost. I don't know about this year, but every year I see a lot of that.

Shepherd

The last symbol today is shepherds. Somehow, always you see the manger scene, somewhere there is shepherds around. Most of us never seen shepherds. We don't even know what they do. Well, basically, shepherds take care of sheep. Most of us never seen sheep, so we don't understand sheep either. Sheep are really the most gong of all animals. Blur, no camouflage, white, everybody can see the sheep, cannot run also, cannot bite back also, very blur. All right. If sheep got no shepherd, sheep are dead, they become mutton straight away, all right. But thankfully, even when sheep face danger, there is a shepherd, and that's the symbol of the shepherd in the Christmas story.

All right, let's look at this verse. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” I like that. All of us will walk into the valley of death sooner or later. This one, he didn't walk into the valley, he walked through the valley, and he didn't go into the valley of death, he went to the valley of the shadow of death. Got it? Shadows can look very terrifying, even at night. You see shadows get scared, right? Hello, what was that? Shadows cannot harm you, right, but it can be very scary. Imagine the sheep walking around. Sheep are very, very timid animals, and they see shadows, and they get frightened, but thankfully, the shepherd is there, and they realize the shepherd is there. All these dangers are just shadows. We have a protector. Now I tell you this, right, however tough you are, however strong, however smart you are, when you enter the valley of death, you are helpless. No king, no emperor, no nothing can say no scared death, conquered death. Death is terrifying. But you know, for a believer, we don't go into the valley of death. We go into the valley of the shadow of death. What do you mean by shadow of death? Looks like death, but it's not death. Let me give an example. Let's say I'm preaching here, I'm 77 years old, alright? Suddenly I get a heart attack. Alright? What are we all to say? Pastor die already? Pastor die already? You know, and all the medics will start running up, you know, a lot of doctors here, all on E, quick quick quick, CPR, or whatever, whatever, you know, and I'm dead. Do I look dead? Very dead. Question, is it a shadow, or is it real? When I take my last breath here, let's say I'm preaching now, I take my last breath. What happened to me? Where's my next breath? Can we explain to you? This is what happened okay, if I get a heart attack, don't get scared right. Next breath, ‘Hallelujah’. You won't hear it, but I will hear it.

Are you with me? Do you understand English? What is everlasting? No end. Everlasting means no end. A believer will never experience death. You will experience a lot of things in the new heaven, new earth. You will never experience death, because when you take your last breath on this earth,
you take your next breath in eternity. That's why we can, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” As a doctor, I can tell you this, I've seen lots of people terrified of death, and I've seen lots of people looking forward. Story, some of you know, my cousin, Chin, Dr Choo Chin Hin passed away about a week ago. His wife passed away a month before him and his joy was to say, I live long enough to take care of my wife, now I want to go. And a month later, he went, singing as he went. Why? He knew he was 93 years old, and he was in great peace. Some of you were at the wake, you heard the story. And he just said, ‘Though my spirit cloth immortal, wings its flight to realms of day’, and then he looked up to heaven in his hospital bed and smiled and went. What did he do? He went to the valley of the shadow of death.

Now, you know, my friends, that's real. That is so real, the reality of life is death, and death is frightening. Nobody ever says, die, sleep la. Nobody. It's terrifying. Every culture, everything. They hope that things will go well, but they never know. You can be sure when Jesus said it is finished. All right, I hope that this message will help you.

Some of you will say, Pastor, talk about die, die. I'm only 17 years old. I'm only 12 years old. Shepherd, bring me through death. I'm 12 years old. You talk about death for what? Right? Well, a shepherd takes you through the valley of the shadow of death, also takes you through life. Many of you here will say this message is not for me. Talk about dying, dying, dying. I'm tired of you, pastors. Can you talk something relevant to me? I'm a young guy. Let me tell you this, in life, we struggle through life, all of us. Don't kid yourself. Every one of you, struggles through life. We struggle through life because we have some DNA issue. We have an unthankful heart. We have a selfish heart. We have a heart that does all kinds of stuff we know we shouldn't be doing. It's called our conscience tells us that and we can't do a thing about it. Well, there's a shepherd who can guide you through life. Bible tells us, “if you're in Christ, you're a new creation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Young people, you can get a heart transplant today. Trusting in Christ, you get a new DNA in your heart, to be more thankful, to be less anxious, to look up rather than look around and look inwards and commit suicide. Let me tell you that friends, if you think you don't need a shepherd, you're kidding yourself. There's a shepherd for life who will not only give you a new heart, young people, who will be your partner, who lives in you and guides you. “Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20) My friend, the symbol of the shepherd, to guide us, to protect us, to help us.

Conclusion

Five symbols, go home today, everlasting life. Then gifts is a gift. Then the gift is not a religion, religion is nonsense. It's a Savior who paid the penalty for your sins, who is a shepherd that when you go through the valley of the shadow of death, you can say, I can say before my God, you know me, God, you've seen every sin of mine, too shocking, too stunning. If other people knew my sins, I won't have a friend left, but you saw it all. But I thank you, God, you who are holy, who hate sin, also paid the penalty for me. Thank you, God. And so today, on Christmas Day, May I hope and encourage all of you, leave with a gift. “For God so loved the world he gave”, the gift is free. Don't ask me what I must do. When someone gives you a Christmas gift, like your auntie gives you a Christmas gift, how much Auntie, must pay you or not? Your auntie say you're mad, right? When someone's give a gift, what do you say? Thank you la, alright, take and say thank you. Take first ah, okay, you don't take, you got no present, alright. When someone gives a gift, take and say thank you. God gives you a gift, you take. A gift of everlasting life. The alternative is everlasting hell. Everlasting hell. We know the soul doesn't go. We know that, unlike pigs that die, become barbecue and history, humans don't become barbecue. Humans don't become meat and don't become dust. Humans go somewhere, two places, everlasting life, a gift. If you reject the gift, it's everlasting hell. I'm serious. I am very serious. I won't even want my worst enemy to be there. But there's a gift, free. God loved you. God gave His Son to die for you. And what must you do? Acknowledge I need the gift. I am a sinner. Thank you Jesus for dying for my sins. Believe in your heart, that's it, and you have everlasting life, a new heart, a new DNA and a guide to guide you through life. So for all of you, I hope today, you leave not with symbols, signs or a story, but a gift of everlasting life. For Christians who already know this story, I hope you will remember this. You have a duty. “This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” (Matthew 24:14) Who is going to do the proclamation? You, it's your duty. On this Christmas day and this year and this life, share the good news. God doesn't want us. He never created death. He created life. He offers life, take it. Never refuse a good offer. Never refuse a good offer from a good God, that is dumb. May God bless you, may every one of you not leave informed, but say transformed. I will go through the valley of the shadow of life. Thank you, God.

Prayer

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time, that we can come with a Christmas story, story of everlasting life, of a good gift, of a Savior who died and rose from the dead, that we all may have this everlasting life. Lord, you didn't invent death. You don't want us to die. You don't want us to be in hell. It's a choice we make, a choice to reject Christ or receive Christ. Lord, you give us free will. We are aid humans with the free will. Today I pray you will touch hearts of people to realize it is foolish to refuse a good offer from a good God. Many things are free in life. Life is free, air is free, sunlight is free, rain is free. And so is eternal life. So help us, God, we commit Lord, everyone here to your loving hands. We thank You. May this Christmas be a wonderful Christmas forever and ever. We thank you in Jesus's name, Amen.