Christmas Carol – Saved but not by a trio of ghosts

by Kevin Corbin · Published 19 December 2025 · Updated 25 June 2026

first edition cover of Dickens Christmas Carol

On this day in 1843, Charles Dickens’ now classic “A Christmas Carol was first published. Our image today shows the cover of that edition. It was incredibly popular and sold out by Christmas. By the end of 1844, 14 editions had been published, each selling out.

The story was so popular that in 1849, he began public readings of A Christmas Carol, which proved so successful that he undertook 127 further performances until he died in 1870.

While set at Christmas time, the novella was meant as a social commentary on the world of Victorian London. He couldn’t have known that it would still be a widespread influence 182 years later.

There have been 80-100 English-language movies or television shows that are based on or adapted from this story. No official count is kept. Still, some industry officials say it is likely the most used script in the business.

While not overtly Christian in any form, it is filled with Christian themes of love, generosity, and redemption. There is a worldly sense in which Scrooge was saved by the ghosts. Those were messages that needed to be heard in Victorian England just as much as now.

All of us were self-centered versions of Ebenezer Scrooge before we became believers. Our sin may have been different than His, but we still were stuck in a place we couldn’t get free of.

Our salvation didn’t come in the form of the ghost of a dead partner, followed by the ghosts of Christmas, Past, Present, and Yet To Come.

We need more than the ghosts of a Christmas Carol. We need Jesus.

Our call to the cross didn’t come from fictional ghosts, but from the Holy Spirit pursuing us. Our deliverance came in the form of God made flesh and dying for our sins. It was a gift of grace and mercy.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

That gift was given out of love.

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 4:1-2

For believers, our lives to come will be ones of celebration and peace. Even in our struggles in the meantime, He walks with us. Non-believers will realize that Jacob Marley got off easily, compared to eternal separation from God.

Praise God for His love gift.

Be blessed,

Kevin

Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.