The best nativity sets are the ones that aren’t fancy, but handmade. The ones you couldn’t get $10 for at a yard sale. The ones no one would call glorious, but are made of crude wire and plaster and chipped paint. These are the best because somehow they are an appropriate depiction of the first Advent of the root of Jesse (Jesus). It seems only angels and shepherds cared about the birth of Christ, the night it happened. There was the signal in the form of a star that a few men from the east took interest in, but other than that, the celestial signal was largely ignored by the world. And yet lying in a barn in Bethlehem was God wrapped in flesh. This resting place was not glorious, and the world did not inquire of him.

Christ riding on the cloud will not be a signal you can dismiss. And the nations of the world will be called home to the place Jesus left to prepare for us. Not a home of mangers, but of heavenly mansions. A home without sin, death, or the devil. A home where all our strength and joy come from resting in the finished work of Jesus for us. The resting place of God is indeed glorious, and it is yours in Jesus Christ.

This year, as I look at the humble nativity at my grandmother’s house, I will be reminded that Jesus came just as he said. That he has forgiven my sins and will come again to take me to the rest of his home. And it will be glorious indeed.