Chesterton, in that chapter of his Everlasting Man entitled "The God in the Cave," sees a "trinity of truths" expressed in the primary symbols of the Christmas story: the shepherds, the kings, and Herod.
The shepherds symbolize that element of the Christian faith which fulfills a "human instinct for a heaven that shall be as literal and almost as local as a home. It is the idea pursued by all poets and pagans making myths; that a particular place must be the shrine of the god or the abode of the blest; that fairyland is a land...."
The three kings symbolize the Christian faith as "a philosophy larger than other philosophies; larger than that of Lucretius and infinitely larger than that of Herbert Spencer. It looks at the world through a hundred windows where the ancient stoic or the modern agnostic only looks through one. ...In a word, there is more in it; it finds more in existence to think about; it gets more out of life."
And finally, Herod reminds us of the warlike element in the Christian faith. While the Faith is "local enough for poetry and larger than any other philosophy, it is also a challenge and a fight. ...It proclaims peace on earth and never forgets why there was war in heaven."
He proceeds to deny the claim that any other religion has any such universal aspects in its spirit. He then ends the chapter with another unique symbol of Christianity: Bethlehem. "...no other story, no pagan legend or philosophical anecdote or historic event, does in fact affect any of us with that peculiar and even poignant impression produced on us by the word Bethlehem. No other birth of a god or childhood of a sage seems to us to be Christmas or anything like Christmas."
Our carols make us long for Home, fill our hearts with joy, and proclaim our battle cry to the world: "Long live the true King!" And the whole world must admit, there's nothing like Christmas. And so says the Spirit of God.
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