“The Search Of The Wise Men”
Following an exhilarating performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, celebrated classical cellist, Yo-Yo Ma, went home, slept, and awoke the next day, exhausted and rushed. He called for a cab to take him to a hotel on the other side of Manhattan and placed his cello (handcrafted in Vienna in 1733 and valued at $2.5 million) in the trunk of the taxi. When he reached his destination, he paid the driver but forgot to take his cello out of the trunk. After the cab had disappeared, Yo-Yo Ma realized what he had done and began a desperate search for the missing instrument. Fortunately, he had kept the receipt with the cabby’s ID number. Before the day ended the taxi was located in a garage in Queens with the priceless cello still in the trunk. Mr. Ma’s smile could not be contained as he spoke to reporters. But of far more importance than the search for a musical instrument is the search for a matchless Saviour (“The Search for a Priceless Possession” the Chicago Tribune, 10-17-99, cited by Greg Assimakoupoulos).
Many people searched for Jesus Christ from the time of his birth to the time of his death. Some searched for him to serve him, others for what they could get out of him. Some searched for him out of genuine interest, others out of idle curiosity. Some who searched for him were rich, others poor. Some were Jews, others Gentiles. Some were religious, others heathen. Some searched for him because they cared for him, others because they hated him.
The title of this message is: “The Search for the Saviour,” specifically, “The Search of the Wise Men” (Matt. 2:1-12). In this text, the overall message is that wise people search for Jesus until they find him and worship him.
First, notice that …
“1 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, 2 saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’” (1-2a). The text doesn’t tell us anything about these “wise men”, who they were or where they came from (except that they came from the east). So, let’s try to answer some of those questions.
The term magi is used both negatively and positively. Negatively, it describes one who works magic, spiritism, divination. Positively, it describes one who seeks and possesses supernatural knowledge or ability. Simon Magus was one who used magic (Acts 8:9, 11). But Daniel was one who possessed supernatural knowledge and was made the “chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon” (Dan. 2:48) after he successfully interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
So, what sort of magi were these men in our passage? Could it be that men associated with spiritism or even the occult would have been among the first to seek, find, and worship the Messiah? Hardly! No, these men were probably political and religious advisers to the king, or philosophers and scientists, who undoubtedly made a study of the skies - through astronomy, that is, not astrology. These were “wise men” in the same sense that Moses was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). They were men of learning and obviously deeply religious. So, we have a bit of an understanding of who these men were but ...
Wise men “from the east” (2:1) came to Jerusalem. Some scholars think that they were Median priests from Persia, who conducted sacrificial rituals and had magical abilities to interpret dreams and special signs. Some think that they were astrologers from Mesopotamia. Others think that they were three kings from Persia, Sabha, and Sheba. But, there’s strong evidence that they were, in fact, from Arabia (this research adapted from “Were the Magi from Persia or Arabia?” Bib-Sac. 156, Oct-Dec., 1999, 423:442).
First, there’s the evidence from geography. The term “the east” refers to the Arabian desert, east of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. And it was “in the east” where the men saw the star - i.e. in their land to the east of Jerusalem.
Second, there’s the strong evidence of close Arab-Jewish relations at that time. Jews from either the captivity in Babylon or from Israel were settlers in Arabia. There were many Jews in Arabia before the rise of Islam. On several occasions the Arab tribes of the Nabateans assisted Antipas, father of Herod the Great, in military conflicts. In fact, Herod the Great’s mother was of Nabatean descent. Thus, by the time of Jesus’ birth, Arab-Jewish relations were very close culturally, socially, and religiously. This, of course, gave the Arabians access to the Jewish Scriptures and, as a result, the messianic hope was common among them.
Thirdly, there is evidence that the gifts of the magi were natural products of Arabia. Arabia was known for its supremacy in the spice trade, especially for frankincense and myrrh. A South Arabian tribe (Sabaeans) dominated the incense trade for centuries. Heroditus records that “the whole of Arabia exhales a most delicious fragrance.” According to Josephus, the incense used in the temple was from the Arabian desert. Also, the gold of Arabia was much sought after for its purity and abundance and is recorded in many biblical references (E.g. 1 Kings 10:10; Ps. 72:15; Isa. 60:6; Ezek. 27:22; 38:13).
This is compelling evidence that the wise men came from Saudi Arabia. But of more importance than that ...
The text says they came asking the question, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” (12:2a). Why would Gentiles want to find “the King of the Jews?” Because they had come “to worship Him” (12:2b). We could understand it if they were searching for a Persian or Arabian king, but to worship the King of the Jews?
The answer to this question may be another reason why these men probably came from Arabia. God historically used the wealth and strength of Arabia (the East) and Egypt (the West) for the protection and development of his servants. Notice these patterns in Scripture. Where did Abraham dismiss the sons of his concubines? To the East, to Arabia in order to protect his seed (Gen. 25:5-6). Who bought Joseph from his brothers when they threatened his life? Arabian traders. Where did they take him? To Egypt. When Moses’ life was threatened the first time as a baby (Ex. 1), where was he protected for 40 years? In Egypt. When Moses’ life was threatened the second time (Ex. 2), where was he protected for 40 years? In the Arabian desert. Where did Mary, Joseph, and Jesus flee for protection from Herod’s wrath? To Egypt (Matt. 2:13-15). Where did the apostle Paul go to learn the truth of God when he was converted? To the Arabian desert (Gal. 1:17).
And now, these magi from Arabia were called from the East to Israel “to worship Him”, the long-awaited Seed, the Messiah. And they brought with them the wealth of Arabia - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Frankincense was a sacred oil, incense for religious rituals and for medicinal purposes. Myrrh was also sacred oil, incense for religious rituals, and it was also used for medicinal purposes and embalming. These costly substances would probably have provided the means for Joseph’s poor family to travel where? To Egypt, for protection from Herod’s wrath against the new-born King.
So they came to worship him but…
This is perhaps the biggest question of all. “For we saw his star when it rose (in the east) and have come to worship him” (12:2b). Was this a temporary star? Was it a coincidental confluence of planets or a meteor? No! This was a special star for a special purpose. This was “his star”.
How did they know it was “his star”? Not by astronomy or any natural learning. They probably knew Balaam’s prophecy: “A star shall come out of Jacob” (Num. 24:17). But how would they link that to this star? Most likely, they knew by direct revelation from God, the same way they knew not to return to Herod.
So wise people ask pointed questions about Jesus. And…
A search is much easier if there are signposts…
It doesn’t seem that the star lit their entire journey. If it had, then why did they rejoice greatly when they saw it again after leaving Jerusalem? So, it must have disappeared during their stay in Jerusalem. But even though it seems that it didn’t light their entire journey, it certainly induced them to come in the first place and it gave them a fix on the general direction to travel. Evidently, they had learned how to navigate by the stars.
Incidentally, since the Middle Ages, camel caravans have navigated north from the fabled city of Timbuktu, in Mali, West Africa, to Taudenni in search of salt - the gold of the Sahara desert. Still today, the Tuareg nomads of Niger trek in huge camel trains through the Sahara carrying loads of salt from the salt mines of Taudenni. Salt is still made into blocks for transportation, reminiscent of the fate of Lot’s wife. My wife and I have seen a documentary of these camel trains. They walk for days and days through the wasteland of the Sahara, guided by the stars, until they reach small villages on the edge of Niger or Burkina Faso (where I have been privileged to teach pastors over the last 10 or so years), where they sell a huge block of salt for $5 if they can find a buyer.
And so, these wise men, navigating by the stars, headed for Jerusalem. After all, where else would the Messiah be born than in the capital city of the Jews? Their journey to Jerusalem probably took four months or more. It wasn’t a matter of getting in a car for a few hours. Travel was hard, long, dangerous, tiring, and expensive. So, as they approached the city, you can imagine their excitement as …
All the way there they must have talked about what they expected. I think they expected to find festivities. Perhaps streets closed for parades, people lining the streets, flags flying, shops and schools closed for a national holiday, roads jammed with crowds wanting to enter the city, special editions of the Jerusalem Post on every corner, hot air balloon rides and free popsicles and popcorn for the kids. I think they expected special services in the synagogue with special cantatas from the choir. But instead they arrived in Jerusalem to find just an ordinary day The women were probably buying their groceries in the street markets. The kids were in school, the banks were open, the mail was being delivered – everything was going on as usual.
And I can just imagine what they might have done. One of them might have asked one of the women on the street: “Can you tell me where the King of the Jews has been born?” only to receive a cold stare in return. Another might have gone up to one of the city policemen: “We heard that the Messiah has been born. Can you tell me where He is?” only to receive the rude reply: “You’re strangers around here aren’t you? If I were you, with your accent, I would keep quiet about that kind of thing.” I can see them going in frustration perhaps to the mayor of Jerusalem, who knows nothing. Finally…
When they arrive at the steps of the palace of King Herod, I think the butler wasn’t very friendly, but they talk him into letting them see Herod. After all they are important, high ranking officials visiting from a far country. Surely Herod would know where the king of the Jews was born. But instead we see that Herod is troubled. “When Herod the king heard this (i.e. what they were searching for), he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (2:3). I can understand Herod being troubled, because if what they were inquiring about was true, this might mean an end to his dynasty. If this wase true, he might lose the loyalty of the Judean people
But why was “all Jerusalem” troubled with him? Wasn’t this what they had been looking for all these years? Jerusalem wasn’t troubled because of any sympathy for Herod or because they didn’t want the Messiah to come. Probably Jerusalem was troubled because when Herod wasn’t happy, nobody was happy; because they knew that inquiries like the magi’s would result in more cruelty as this murderous king hung on to power.
So, Herod consults his own wise men. “…assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born” (2:4). He didn’t know the answer to the magi’s question, but surely “the chief priests and scribes” of Jerusalem would know. And indeed they did know that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2 (2:5-6). But they didn’t know when it would happen and they didn’t know who the Messiah would be.
As a result, Herod devises a shrewd plan to uncover the perceived threat to his kingdom. It is a two-pronged plan – we’ll call them plan “A” and “B”.
Plan “A” was designed to determine the age of the child. “Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared” (2:7). This was a clever trick to determine the time when the child was born. Because if he could find out when the star appeared, then Herod would know how old the child was. And once he knew how old the child was, Herod could get rid of him through mass murder by killing all the children born around the time the star appeared.
But there was also another plan. Plan “B” was designed to determine the location of the child. “And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him’” (2:8). This is the second part of Herod’s devious plan. Plan “A” would uncover the age of the child, but how much better if he could find out the exact location of the child.
But unwittingly, Herod was an instrument of God. His own wise men gave the magi the clue from the Word of God as to where the Messiah should be born. What more could they ask for? So they respond to it in belief. Thus, their search in Jerusalem led to Herod’s palace and…
“After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them…” (2:9a). It’s as though God said: “I’ll give you my sign again - the star.” “And the star they had seen… went before them until it came and stood over the place where the young child was” (2:9b). Now they had double confirmation - the sure Word of God (Mal. 5:2) and the sure sign of God.
This was no ordinary star, you see. Its first appearance gave them general directions to Jerusalem and now its second appearance led them to the exact place where Jesus was. No wonder that “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (2:10). The star was like an old trusted friend that they hadn’t seen for a while but now appeared again. Their search was successful. Any doubt they may have had in Jerusalem was banished. Revelation has resulted in discovery. God had revealed the truth of the Messiah’s birth to them in their own country and their months of search have now come to fruition. Everyone likes to be successful in what they set out to do - the wise men were no different.
First, wise people ask pointed questions about Jesus. Second, wise people follow the signs that lead to Jesus. And…
I don’t know what they expected to see when they arrived in Bethlehem. Would he be a young prince arrayed in costly robes? Would royalty be lying in a gold lined bassinette? Would the King of the Jews be waited on by royal nurses? Would there be a line of people waiting to pay their respects? How would they prove who they were so that they would they be allowed in? But look …
“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother” (2:11a). Was it a shock to them when they entered the house? Did it take them by surprise to discover his lowly birth, his isolation, his ordinary parents, just the child and his mother? Did they wonder if this was all a hoax when they saw no royal surroundings?
Something tells me that it was no shock. It seems to me that they were prepared for what they found. They already knew the indifference and ignorance in Jerusalem. If Herod hadn’t come to pay his respects, why would anyone else? If the news was so unknown, the circumstances must indeed be strange. I think they were prepared for what they found and their preparation is shown in…
2. How They Responded (2:11b-12)
They entered the house “and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh (2:11b-c). Adoration follows discovery. True worship involves these two components – discovery and adoration. This is why they had come.
True worship is to “fall down” before him. It is to recognize his superior position by taking an inferior position, to prostrate ourselves in humility before him.
And true worship is to bring to him our very best - to surrender to him our very costliest possessions. The wise men brought the very best gifts they could, gifts fit for a King – gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
By the way, the myrrh and frankincense were probably of greater monetary value than gold at that time. Though they probably didn’t realize the symbolism of their gifts, for us, however, “gold” represents the wealth and splendour of royalty; “frankincense” (the incense used by the priests in temple worship) symbolizes divine worship; and “myrrh” (that fragrant gum used to embalm the dead) foreshadowed Jesus’ death and burial.
They had done what they came to do – find the One who was born King of the Jews and to worship him. “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way” (2:12).Herod might be able to deceive the people of Jerusalem, but not these wise men for they were instructed by God himself.
This, then, is “The Search for the Saviour”, specifically, “The Search of the Wise Men.” This search by the wise men is a search of contrasts…
a) There is the contrast of the kings: Herod the Great vs. Jesus, the King of the Jews. Both were kings over a kingdom – but what a difference! Herod, a powerful murderer, ruled his kingdom through fear but he died and disappeared from the face of the earth. Jesus came to be our King, not through power and fear, but love and kindness, lowliness and gentleness. He died a sacrificial death on the cross and rose again. And He’s coming back, the all-powerful King, to rule the world.
b) There is the contrast of the people: Jews of Jerusalem vs. Gentiles of Arabia. The wise Gentiles from the east were eager to find new hope and salvation in the Messiah. They rejoiced at his birth and worshipped him. The foolish Jews were careless and apathetic, unconcerned that the very hope of all the ages had come and they ignored him. As J.C. Ryle puts it, “It isn’t always those who have most religious privileges who give Christ most honour.” As Jesus said, “the first shall be last and the last first” (Matt. 20:16).
c) The contrast of the wise men: Herod’s wise men vs. the magi. Herod’s wise men were the chief priests and scribes in Jerusalem. They were in the right place, had the right answers, knew the Scriptures since birth, but rejected their power and truth. The magi were men from the wrong country, far away from the centre of God’s dealings. Though their upbringing would not have included training in the Holy Scriptures, they recognized and bowed to their authority and message. Again, J. C. Ryle says: “There may be knowledge of the Scripture in the head, but no grace in the heart.” So, don’t put your confidence in your head knowledge.
d) There is the contrast of circumstances: Jesus’ poverty vs. the wise men’s riches. Jesus was born in a stable with nothing, only swaddling clothes. His parents were ordinary people with no wealth or fame. The wise men came with the richest resources of their land - gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Here is a forerunner of the scene at the cross. At the cradle, the wise men found Jesus as a helpless baby - they witnessed no miracles, heard no teaching; they saw no evidence of outward deity, power, or riches, and yet they said: “We have come to worship him.” At the cross, the thief saw Jesus dying - he witnessed no miracles, heard no teaching; he saw no outward evidence of deity, power, or riches, and yet he said: “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Lk. 23:42).
The search for the Saviour is a contrast of people. And…
A king asks questions about him but fears what may transpire. Religious people can answer questions about him but they have no interest in a relationship with him. Disloyal followers betray him with a kiss, but loyal followers weep over his grave.
Wise men, you see, still worship him. At the cradle, there were wise men from the east with its mystery. They searched for him, found him, and worshipped him. Just before the cross, there were wise men from the west with its culture and progress, Greeks who said: “We wish to see Jesus” (Jn. 12:21), but we don’t read of any interest in worshipping him.
The search for the Saviour is a contrast of people, a contrast of motives, and …
Some people search for God when they are in trouble but they don’t want God in their lives. As Proverbs 1:27-30 says: “When distress and anguish come ... then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.”
Some people search for God because they hate their sin and need a Saviour. And surely the message of our text is that wise people search for the Saviour until they find and worship him. The word of God says: “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me” (Prov. 8:17). “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:6-7).
Well, I don’t know why you are here today or where you are in your spiritual search. Perhaps you’re curious but with no genuine interest in finding the Saviour. Perhaps you’re here because it’s the thing to do at Christmas. Or, perhaps you’re a genuine seeker for the Saviour. Perhaps in a certain sense, you have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. If so, the promise and exhortation is that wise people search for Jesus until they find and worship him.
When you search for something it’s easier if you have a clue to guide you. Treasure hunts are based on signs. If you follow them, you find what you’re looking for.
The wise men searched for the Saviour by following the star and the Word of God, and they found him. But they weren’t the only ones to search for him. The shepherds also searched for the Saviour.
This sermon is part of our series: “Christmas Searches: The Search for the Savior.” And the title for this sermon is: “The Search of the Shepherds” (Lk. 2:8-20).
The angel had told the shepherds of the birth of a Saviour in the city of David, who is Christ the Lord. But what good would the news be if they could not find him, for to not find him is to not know him. His birth is the start. To find him is the challenge. And to know him is the goal.
How then could they find him? They knew that he was born, and they knew when he was born (today), and they knew where he was born (in Bethlehem). But where exactly in Bethlehem was he born? It was census time and the town was full of strangers, so much so that there were no vacancies in the inn. So, how could they hope to find him? What they needed was a sign!
What we learn from this passage today is that “God provides a sign for all who search for the Saviour.” First notice…
8 “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.”
Shepherds were the lowest echelon of that society. Perhaps we might think of them as “homeless people”, street people, despised people of society. People who smelled badly and dressed in worn out, dirty clothes, whose habits were not attuned to a sophisticated society. Here they were, just doing their lowly job, “keeping watch over their flocks by night.” No one knew who they were or where they were. Frankly, nobody cared. But to them was made the greatest announcement the world has ever heard.
Jesus’ birth was not announced to rich men, but to poor shepherds; not to wise men, but to uneducated shepherds; not in the capital city by The Jerusalem Daily Post, but in the country somewhere outside the insignificant town of Bethlehem; not by the king, but by an angel; not to the highest government officials in their ivory towers, but to the lowest of society on a lonely hillside; not to famous or prominent people, but to unknown, unnamed shepherds; not at noonday to the entire city, but at nighttime to a few shepherds.
There was no fanfare in the city, but there were fireworks in the countryside. There were no lights in the city, but “the glory of the Lord shone” in the dark countryside. No special editions of newspapers in the city, but “good news of great joy” in the countryside. No singing in the city, but a “heavenly host praised God” in the countryside.
Doesn’t this remind you of what the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians?
18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:1:18-21)
Well, no wonder the shepherds were “filled with great fear”! The brightness of the Lord’s “glory” that broke through the darkness of that Judean night terrified them. The word “glory” means the weight or significance or excellence of something or someone that generates a response of awe and wonder. The shepherds’ response to this supernatural occurrence was “great fear.”
A number of years ago, our family went to Banff, a tourist town in the Canadian Rockies, to attend a relative’s wedding. After the wedding, some of us stayed around for a few days’ vacation. One day, everyone wanted to go skiing. After all, that was the big attraction in that area. To not ski at Banff would be like going to Vail, Colorado, and not skiing. That’s just what you do when you go to Banff. The trouble was that neither I nor my daughter had skied before. So we decided to rent the equipment and take a lesson before venturing up a ski lift on our own. When we arrived at the pro shop, we were told that all the ski lessons had been booked for that day and had already left. So, we said, “Ok. We’ll just rent the equipment anyway and go up on our own.” The man looked at us with one of those “can’t-believe-what-I-just-heard looks.” He said, “I don’t recommend that, sir.” I said to my daughter, “Well, what do you want to do?” She replied, “We didn’t come all this way to not ski.” So, I said to the man, “No problem, we’ll rent the equipment and go up on our own.”
So that’s what we did. Once we started up the side of the mountain in the ski lift I knew we were in trouble as the base of the mountain slid from view. Not only that, but when the ski lift stopped and we thought we were at the top, we actually had to get out and enter another one! We reached the top and upon getting out, I promptly fell flat on my back. There I was staring straight up into a beautiful cloudless blue sky at the top of Sunshine Mountain. Almost immediately I saw a little old lady looking down at me and she said: “Would you like me to give you a quick lesson before I take my last run for the day?” So that’s what she did. She showed my daughter and me how to snow plough in order to slow down, and how to crisscross sideways across the mountain in order to control your speed etc. And then, as quickly as she came, she was gone. I’m convinced to this day that she was an angel.
But then we were on our own. And as we started down the ski slope, I realized just how scary this was. The bottom of the ski slope seemed like miles away, the slope was so steep, and there were trees on either side. My heart almost beat out of my chest. So with trembling knees we proceeded very slowly down until after 40 minutes we reached the bottom, where we joined my wife and her friend who were sitting waiting for us. Evidently, our faces were white with fear and exhaustion. But after about 15 minutes of resting, my daughter said, “We didn’t come here just to take one run. Let’s do it again!” The second time, we made it down in 20 minutes. A great improvement.
All that to say, that skiing down Sunshine Mountain at that time was without doubt the scariest experience of my life. The shepherds also were “filled with great fear” when the glory of the Lord shone around them. You see, fear is the natural response to divinity – it’s startling, unsettling.
So, Jesus’ birth was announced to ordinary people in an ordinary place, to the “whosoevers” of the gospel, to the “least of these” as Jesus described them. God’s good news is declared to ordinary people in the most ordinary circumstances.
That was the situation of the announcement of Jesus’ birth. Then there were…
There were three signs for the searching shepherds…
10 “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
The shepherds’ fear was soon assuaged by God’s grace, which was extended to them through the angels. For the angel did not come to instill fear but to announce “good news of great joy for all people.” The angelic sermon was one of “good news.” Good news is characterized by “great joy,” therefore they need not “fear”. And it was declared to “all people,” specifically “to you,” the shepherds, who represent “all people.” In fact, the shepherds represent us.
The good news is that “unto you is born this day…a Saviour.” It’s a present reality not a future hope. He is born in the “city of David” – that’s Bethlehem. You may wonder why Bethlehem is called the city of David. Well, Bethlehem has always been a place of great significance. Originally it was called Ephrata (Mic. 5:2); later it was called Ephrata-Bethlehem or simply Bethlehem. The first time Bethlehem is mentioned in the Bible is when Rachel, the wife of Jacob died there (Gen. 35:19-20; 48:7). It’s mentioned again when Ruth travelled to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi (Ruth 1:19, 22). And there Ruth eventually married Boaz and gave birth to Obed, who would become the grandfather of David. Bethlehem was the birthplace of King David and it was there Samuel anointed him as the future king of Israel (1 Sam. 16:1).
“Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ, the Lord.” The good news is that the Messiah, the Anointed One has come! The One who delivers us from our enemies has come! The One who rescues us from peril has come! The Royal One, the Davidic king has come! “The Lord,” the absolute sovereign, God himself, has come in flesh!
That was the sign of the angelic sermon. Then there was…
12 “And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
The wise men’s sign was a star: the shepherds’ sign is a stable. They wouldn’t have to search through every house, motel room, or campsite. Their search was for a stable, where they would find the Baby.
This is a most unusual sign isn’t it? A baby in a feeding trough? Could this be the confirmation of the angelic announcement? Who would look in a place like this for a new born baby? And especially one who was supposed to be the Messiah child! If the angel had not directed the shepherds and if the star had not guided the magi, then, neither would have searched for him nor found him.
If you were looking for a King, where would you look? Not in the best hotel, nor in an inn, and certainly not in a stable, but in a palace. In a good hotel you might find dignitaries. In an inn you might find tourists and visitors. In a stable you might find horses and cows. But you would never find a King there - especially the Saviour of the world!
If you did find a baby in a stable, what would you think? You might pity the baby or try to help its mother. You might report it to the Children’s Aid Society. Or, you might just pass by on the other side. If someone told you that the baby is the King of the Jews, the Saviour of the world, the Messiah, you might ignore them, scorn them, or, you might consider them a little daft. Probably you wouldn’t believe them.
The sign for the shepherds was a baby in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes. The sign was so unlikely that it had to be given by an angel or else it would have been dismissed out of hand. We would have expected pomp and glory fit for a King, but that is reserved for Jesus’ second coming, not his first coming. His first coming was in humility and isolation. If his birth had been glorious, the humble shepherds would not have come near. But in a stable, the poorest people on earth may come to him, alongside dignitaries from a far country.
In his best-selling book, “The Jesus I Never Knew,” Philip Yancey contrasts the humility that characterized Jesus’ birth to a visit from the Queen of England. Yancey was attending a performance of Handel’s Messiah in London. During the performance he looked toward the auditorium’s royal box where the queen and her family sat, and, he said, “I caught glimpses of the way rulers stride through the world – with bodyguards and a trumpet fanfare and a flourish of bright clothes and flashing jewelry. Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the Unites States and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved – her 4,000 pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, 40 pints of blood plasma, and white kid-leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, 2 valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost $20 million. In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendant present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feeding trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. A mule could have stepped on him.”
The sign of his birth foretold the story of his life and death. The humble shepherds are given a sign of a humble Saviour. At his birth he was bound in the stable with swaddling clothes, at his death he was bound by nails to a cross, and in the tomb he was bound with grave clothes. At his birth he lay helpless in someone else’s manger and at his death he lay in someone else’s tomb. He was born with animals and died with robbers. He was born in a manger and died on a cross.
Humble as the sign was, we must take Christ as we find him. How do we find him here and what is the sign? The first sign is humility. We find him in a stable not a palace. Solomon built a temple for God but God came to earth in a stable, “made lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:9). The second sign is love. He left heaven’s glory and stooped down to earth because he loved us (Jn. 3:16).
There was the sign of the angelic sermon. The sign of the earthly stable. And…
13 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’”
An unusual sign is confirmed by an unusual occurrence. An angelic sermon is followed by an angelic song. A stable of humility is accompanied by a celestial harmony. An angel preached a great message to the shepherds and a heavenly host sings a great anthem to God. An inglorious sign is followed by a glorious song.
The stable and the song - one balances the other. The stable speaks of earthly poverty. The song speaks of heavenly riches. The stable speaks of humility below and the song speaks of glory on high. The stable presents a little helpless baby. The song presents a great and all-powerful God. In the stable the shepherds find him. In the song the angels glorify him. In the stable, the animals “low” a lullaby. In the song, the angels sing a sweet melody. The sign of the stable points the way to Christ. The song of the angels points to the glory of Christ. No angel ministered to Jesus at his death, but multitudes sang at his birth. The angelic multitude bears authoritative witness that the sign and the Saviour are true.
The choir sang: “Glory to God in the highest.” The heavens rejoice and praise God for salvation’s plan, that there is a remedy for sin, that there is “peace on earth among those with whom he is pleased.” The result of Jesus’ coming is that peace has been made possible between God and man (Col. 1:20). Those who know His peace are those who are the recipients of God’s favor, God’s grace. And the One who perfectly embodied all God’s favor was this Baby. He is the One in whom God is well pleased and all who follow him benefit from God’s good pleasure.
That was the meaning of Christmas to the angels. They sang not only of the One who was born but of the grace that had come.
The situation of the announcement is confirmed by the signs from the angels which initiated…
15 “When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’”
1. The shepherds acted in faith (2:15-16). They gave no thought to who would watch over the sheep. For a shepherd to leave his sheep, especially at night, was unthinkable, irresponsible. All their livelihood may be wiped out by this single act. But nothing would stop them in their desire to find the Messiah. Nothing would stop them from acting in obedience and faith.
16 “And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.” They searched for a baby and found the whole family. What they saw was exactly what the angel had promised - a baby lying in a feeding trough. Their faith was honored. The angels’ testimony was true.
The shepherds acted in faith and…
2. Their search was successful (2:17-20). Their success was evident in the responses.
There was the response of the shepherds’ “testimony” (2:17). “And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.” The sequence of faith is this: God’s Word prompted them to take action and their action gave rise to their testimony. They heard the Word from the angel and they acted in faith. They confirmed the sign and they testified to everyone about what the angel had said.
There was the response of the people’s “wonder” (2:18). “All who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.” They were amazed at what they heard. But there’s no evidence that it affected their hearts or that it stirred them to action.
There was the response of Mary’s “reflection” (2:19). “Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” She reflected on the events, attempting to understand them. She “treasured these things” because they were of inestimable value - they confirmed all that the angel had told her (Lk. 1:26-38). She “pondered them in her heart.” She reflected on everything that had happened.
There was the response of the shepherds’ “praise” (2:20). “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” What they had heard agreed with what they saw and they praised God just as the angels had.
Remember our thesis: “God provides a sign for all who search for the Saviour.” So, what is our response and duty?
1. Our duty is to find Him, so that the news “unto you is born” culminates in the declaration “we have found the Messiah” (Jn. 1:41).
To find Christ is to bring glory to God, to acknowledge that we are sinners and that we need a Saviour, to respond in obedience to God, to bring honour to what God has done.
To find Christ is to have peace with God: (1) to have peace through his person (“He himself is our peace,” Eph. 2:14), (2) to have peace through his work (“He has made peace through the blood of his cross,” Col. 1:20), (3) to have peace through his justification (“Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Rom. 5:1).
To find Christ is to be well pleasing to God. God has declared: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” When we find and delight in Jesus Christ, we are well pleasing to God.
So, our duty is to find him. And…
2. Our duty is to worship Him, so that the song “Glory to God” culminates with adoration, “Worthy is the Lamb.” He has put a new song in our mouths even praise unto our God.
In this article, I am continuing my four part series on “Christmas Searches.” The first two sermons were titled “The Search for the Savior” - (1) “The Search of the Wise Men” (Matt. 2:1-12) and (2) “The Search of the Shepherds” (Luke 2:8-10). Now, in the next two sermons in this series, we move to “The Search of the Savior: Why Jesus Came” (Parts 1 and 2). The text for this sermon, “Why Jesus Came, Pt. 1” is Luke 19:1-10.
Our passage is the third of three episodes (vignettes) in a row: (1) The young ruler who was rich (Lk. 18:18-30); (2) The beggar who was blind (Lk. 18:35-43); and (3) The tax collector who was a thief (Lk. 19:1-10).
These three men paint a spiritual picture for us. The rich young ruler is proud of his religion and riches. But there is an emptiness that neither his religion nor his riches could satisfy. Specifically, he yearns for the possession of eternal life – the one possession that his money can’t buy. He sees in Jesus someone who can offer what he wants but, in the end, his riches are more important to him than eternal life. He decides to keep his possessions rather than follow Jesus. He chooses riches on earth over riches in heaven. As a result, Jesus teaches the crowd how extremely difficult it is “for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Lk. 18:24). To make his point Jesus resorts to hyperbole when he says that it’s about as hard for a rich person to enter heaven as it is for “a camel to go through the eye of a needle” (Lk. 18:25), because riches make people feel self-reliant and self-centered – they don’t think that they need God. Their riches have such a grip on their lives that they can’t give them up, not even for eternal life. In response, the people ask Jesus, “Who then can be saved?” (Lk. 18:26). And Jesus says: “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God” (Lk. 18:27).
The blind beggar, by contrast, is dirt poor and helpless, at the bottom of the social scale, a man with absolutely no power whatsoever and no social influence, other than being a nuisance perhaps. He believes that Jesus can give him back his sight and begs Jesus to “have mercy” (Lk. 18:38) on him. Nothing will keep him quiet. Recognizing his cry as an act of faith, Jesus heals him.
So, after the rich man and the poor, beggar man, we come to the thieving tax collector, Zacchaeus, in our passage (Lk. 19:1-10). Zacchaeus is an example of Jesus’ principle that “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Lk. 18:27). Indeed, the overall theme that Luke is emphasizing in these three portraits is that the purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world is to save lost people.
As a tax collector, Zacchaeus collected public taxes or tolls for the Roman Empire. Because of his position, he was a rich man, influential in society, powerful. He is rich precisely because “he was a chief tax collector” (19:2). He misused his power to collect from the people more taxes than they owed, keeping the difference for himself. Thus, he was a rich thief. Though he is powerful he is hated by the people, who were powerless to do anything about his mistreatment of them. That’s why tax collectors were the epitome of corruption in that day.
I think what Luke is trying to tell us in these three vignettes is that it doesn’t matter what your economic status is or your social standing or your religious zeal, everyone needs Jesus as Savior. The rich young ruler knew his spiritual need but wasn’t prepared to pay the price to obtain the solution. The poor, blind beggar knew his spiritual need and he had no economic barriers to hinder him pursuing and obtaining the solution. Though Zacchaeus, the thief, had no economic need, yet he seems to recognize his spiritual need. “ 3 He was seeking to see who Jesus was but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree to see him” (19:3-4). He is so earnest about seeing Jesus that he doesn’t care what others might think about this desperate act.
His desperate desire to see Jesus amidst the crowds reminds me of the time when my wife and lived in Ottawa, the capital of Canada. One time we went to Rideau Hall where the Governor General lives to try to catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II. We expected to have to jostle through crowds of people to see her, but to our surprise, hardly anyone was there. And to our delight she drove by within a few feet of us. That was my first and only time to see her, despite having been born and raised in England.
Well, to his great surprise and delight, Zacchaeus not only got to see Jesus, but Jesus stopped and spoke to him. “ 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.’ 6 So, he hurried down and received Jesus joyfully” (19:5-6).
No sooner had Jesus and Zacchaeus gone to Zacchaeus’ house together, than you can almost hear the murmur go through the crowd: “He’s gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner!” (19:7). In the people’s minds, tax collectors and prostitutes were quintessential sinners, the most despised people in society. Why would anyone go to be a guest with someone like that? In Jesus’ day, tax collectors were despised because of their misuse of power and their utter corruption. Zacchaeus was known as an unscrupulous tax collector, demanding more from the people than they owed to the government, extorting money from people so that he could enrich himself.
Zacchaeus’ activity was not unlike what we might experience today. Many of us here in Canada have received scam phone calls from people pretending to be Canada Revenue Agency, demanding payment for taxes we do not owe. In fact, I know someone who, through such fear and intimidation tactics, was cheated out of $6000. What a shock, then, to find that Zacchaeus not only knew their complaint against him but actually agreed with it.
The true sign of repentance is to change your way of life. “Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold’” (19:8). Zacchaeus spontaneously offers to make recompense to those from whom he had extorted money falsely. Here, then, are the evidences of genuine repentance…
1. Confession. Notice that Zacchaeus acknowledges Jesus as “Lord.” This man, who previously did not bow to anyone, now readily submits to Jesus’ lordship over him. This man, who previously did not take orders from anyone, now willingly obeys Jesus.
2. Humility. Zacchaeus now expresses concern for “the poor.” The lowest level of society with whom he did not previously associate, now becomes his priority. The very people whom he previously despised and defrauded, now become his concern. The same people who hold a special place in Jesus’ heart, now have a place in his heart. And he pledges half of his wealth to improve their plight.
3. Restitution. He will give back his ill-gotten gains. He will not live off the avails of sinful activity nor keep what rightfully belonged to others. Anything that he had taken fraudulently he would “restore fourfold.” Effectively, he imposes on himself a fine for his previous illicit behavior.
This was unheard of from tax collectors. They didn’t submit to anyone. They had no compassion for anyone. They didn’t give to anyone, they just took away. They didn’t confess wrong-doing because they considered themselves to be above the law and everyone else.
Now we come to verse 10 which is the centre of our attention in this sermon. In response to his confession and evidence of genuine repentance, Zacchaeus hears...
“Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham’” (19:9). Jesus gives the clear assurance of salvation. “Today!” There is no delay in Jesus’ granting forgiveness to this incorrigible sinner. Jesus did not tell Zacchaeus to do works of penance. He did not tell Zacchaeus that he would review his behavior after a certain length of time to see if he deserved salvation. No, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come this house.” Zacchaeus had already given clear and convincing proof that his heart had been changed, that his conscience had been reached, that genuine repentance had taken place.
You see, God looks right into our hearts. He knows those who are genuine seekers after him. He knows those who are genuinely repentant. He knows your heart. He sees your every action, hears every word, and knows every thought. So, when you turn to him in faith he grants instant salvation. That’s what happened to the thief on the cross. He didn’t have opportunity to do anything to earn salvation. But he called upon Jesus out of his utter need and recognition of his sinfulness, saying to the other thief, “ 40 Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 43 And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’”(Lk. 23:40-43).
“Salvation has come to this house,” Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “since he also is a son of Abraham.” What did Jesus mean by this: “He (Zacchaeus) also is a son of Abraham”? Well, in contrast to those who observed what was happening, who accused Jesus of being the “guest of a man who is a sinner” (19:7), who were children of Abraham by birth but not by faith, Zacchaeus, on the other hand, despite his previous conduct, was by birth and now by confession a man of faith, a “son of Abraham.” The old had gone and the new had come.
So, not only does Jesus give Zacchaeus a clear assurance of salvation, but also Jesus gives a clear declaration of his advent: “... for the Son of Man has come” (19:10a). The word “for” indicates Jesus’ explanation of how and why salvation could come to anyone, even a thief, even to someone as far from God as rich, powerful, and corrupt Zacchaeus. Over the course of his ministry, Jesus stated many reasons why he came into the world. He said...
“I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Lk. 5:32)
“I have come not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn. 6:38)
“I have come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly” (Jn. 10:10)
“For this purpose (the cross) I came to this hour” (Jn. 12:27)
“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth” (Jn. 18:37)
“I have come a light into the world that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness” (Jn. 12:46)
“I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (Jn. 12:47)
But surely this statement in Luke 19:10 of why Jesus came into the world outshines them all. “Salvation” is only possible because “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost” (19:10). The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world was to save lost people – that’s why “the Son of Man has come.” This is what Christmas is all about - the coming of the Son of Man, whose coming changed world history.
What, then, does this title “Son of Man” mean? “The Son of Man” is the title Jesus used most often in the gospels to refer to himself. Since its meaning is never explained, the title must have been well known and understood.
1. It’s a title that indicates Jesus’ deity. That’s why Jesus called himself “the” Son of Man (a) when He claimed the authority to forgive sins (Lk. 5:24), because only God can do that; (b) when He claimed authority over the Sabbath (Lk. 6:5), because only God is lord of the Sabbath; (c) when He claimed authority over the harvest (Matt. 13:3), because only God as creator is God of the harvest; and (d) when He spoke of the redemptive aspect of his mission in the world (Mk. 10:45), because only God can redeem sinful human beings.
2. It’s a title that identifies Jesus’ humanity. The Son of Man is the incarnate God who in his humanity identifies with the human race (a) by associating with publicans and sinners like Zacchaeus (cf. Lk. 7:34); (b) by being totally accessible by human beings; (c) by experiencing all the things we experience like sadness, weakness, suffering, disappointment, hunger, temptation, and even death.
The Son of Man is the incarnate God who in his lowly humanity demonstrated his love for sinners when He “ 7 emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:7-8).
3. It’s a title Jesus used to prophesy of his sufferings as in: (a) “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Lk. 9:22); (b) “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men” (Lk. 9:44); (c) “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Lk. 24:7); (d) “‘31 See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’” (Lk. 18:31-33).
4. It’s a title that connects Jesus to his future coming. The O.T. prophets foretold that the Son of Man was coming, and now the “Son of Man has come.” Prophecy has become reality. Not only has this prophecy about the coming of the Son of Man already been fulfilled at his first coming, but it is yet to be fulfilled at his second coming for the Son of Man is coming again. This time not in lowliness and poverty and rejection but in power and glory: “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Lk. 21:27).
The Son of Man is coming again. At that time his coming will be sudden and unexpected, not to save but to judge. “You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Lk. 12:40). “For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all - so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Lk. 17:24-30).
So in Luke’s gospel Jesus is presented as the universal Savior, the Son of God and yet the highly accessible Son of Man. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is “the Son of Man” who feeds the hungry, exalts the humble, reaches out to the disadvantaged, the unlovely, the poor, the outcasts. But he is also the One who condemns the rich and powerful.
As someone else has pointed out, in Luke’s gospel, “the Son of Man” emphasizes that Jesus’ humanity was at the same time ordinary but also extraordinary; it was normal but also abnormal (Ken Carson, “The Son of Man Comes,” Grace Institute for Biblical Leadership, Spring 2008). He was born like any normal human, but his conception was highly abnormal, extraordinary. He was born as an ordinary baby to a poor family in a stable, but the birth announcement was extraordinary, made by angels to astonished but adoring shepherds. He matured like a normal boy but had extraordinary wisdom and knowledge. He was baptized like any other person, but his baptism was accompanied by the audible affirmation of God from heaven. His genealogy goes back to Adam like everyone else, but it goes through king David, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So, from Luke 1:1 to 4:13, Luke announces the fact of the coming of this extraordinary Son of Man to earth. It is announced by angels, by prophets and prophetesses in the temple, by John the Baptist, and by God the Father himself.
Then from Luke 4:14 to 9:50, Luke describes the purpose of the coming of the Son of Man to earth. The purpose of the coming of the Son of Man was to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to give sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and downtrodden. That is, He has come to the rejects and outcasts and despised of society, like the lepers (Lk. 5:12) and tax collectors (Lk. 5:29) and women (who figure prominently in the life of Jesus in Luke) and Samaritans (Lk. 9:51-56).
This then is his glorious declaration that “the Son of Man has come.” And then we see…
“ The Son of Man has come, to seek… the lost” (19:10b). This is why the Son of Man has come into the world – to search for lost sinners.
Who are the lost? What does it mean to be spiritually lost? Every human being comes into the world in a lost spiritual condition, with our backs turned against God in rejection of God’s love, with our wills rebelling against God in rejection of God’s law. We come into the world like the rich man – self-sufficient, independent, and self-willed. “For all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23). That is our condition by nature (birth) and by practice (behavior). We are “lost” sinners. To be “lost” means to not know where you are, to not know how to return home, to not know which way to turn, to be helpless and hopeless. Perhaps there are some reading this who know you are lost spiritually. Well here’s the good news: “The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.”
That’s the essence of Christmas – the coming of Jesus to search for lost sinners. Jesus seeks “the lost,” like those in Luke 15 – the woman who tirelessly searched for the lost silver coin; the shepherd who tirelessly searched for the lost sheep; the father who tirelessly searched the horizon day after day for a sign of his lost son. Just so, the purpose of the coming of the Son of Man was to search for lost people.
He did not “come to call the righteous” (Lk. 5:32) - those who think they don’t need God; those who do not admit they are lost - but Jesus came to call “sinners to repentance” - those who acknowledge their need of him; those who confess their sins; those who know and admit they are spiritually lost.
Note that no one ever sought after Jesus unless Jesus first sought after them. He initiates the process of salvation. Those who call on the name of the Lord do so precisely because he sought them out and found them. Salvation is all because of his sovereign grace and mercy.
Here we see then Jesus’ glorious declaration that “the Son of Man has come,” his glorious compassion in searching for lost sinners. And thirdly we see…
“The Son of Man has come to... save the lost” (19:10c). The Son of Man has come not only to “seek” lost sinners but the Son of Man has also come to “save” lost sinners. What good would a search party be if, upon finding a lost person, they merely informed them they were lost? No, the purpose of searching for lost people is to save them.
Having found those who are lost Jesus does not destroy their lives, but saves them (Lk. 9:56). Jesus does not cast them out, but draws them in (Jn. 6:37). Jesus does not let them perish in their sin, but brings them to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Jesus does not expose their spiritual nakedness, but covers them with robes of righteousness (Isa. 61:10; 2 Cor. 5:21).
That’s why Jesus came – to seek and to save the lost, to bring them home to God, to reconcile them to God through faith in him, to provide a way of escape from the judgement of God. And he did that by paying the penalty for our sin through his death on the cross. God declared that the punishment for sin is death, for, He said, “the soul that sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:20). And Jesus died our death, in our place, so that we could escape God’s judgement for our sin. That’s why the Son of Man has come – “to seek and save the lost.”
It all started with Jesus’ birth that ultimately led to his death. By coming into the world, Jesus showed us that He is God, dying and then rising from the dead and ascending back to heaven from where He had come. And now he is waiting for lost souls to accept his offer of mercy.
That’s the substance of Christmas. That’s why Jesus came. Remember our thesis: The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world was to save lost people. “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.” What a glorious declaration, glorious compassion, and glorious redemption - praise be to God!
That’s what we celebrate at Christmas. That is the essence of the Christmas message. We focus on the circumstances of his birth and we wonder at it, and rightly so. But the wonder of his birth is the precursor to the wonder of his death – the one points forward to the other. When Jesus came to earth and was born as a baby in a cattle shed he knew that his life would end by crucifixion on a cross. And he willingly endured all that so that you and I might be saved from our sins.
If you have not already repented of your sins and turned in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, will you do so today? And if you are a Christian, are you diligently following him, seeking to serve him, waiting for him to come again? May it be so for the glory of God and for your blessing.
Most of us try to organize our lives around a schedule. You schedule appointments, schedule your school work, schedule time with your friends etc. Soon you find that your week is all filled up.
Some people don’t make plans at all. Or, if they do, they don’t stick to them. Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler, is reported to have once said: “I’m constantly amazed by the number of people who can’t seem to control their own schedules. Over the years, I’ve had many executives come to me and say with pride, ‘Boy, last year I worked so hard that I didn’t take any vacation.’ It’s actually nothing to be proud of. I always feel like responding, ‘You mean to tell me that you can take responsibility for an $80 million project, and you can’t plan two weeks out of the year to go off with your family and have some fun?’” At this time of year everyone’s schedule seems to be full with Christmas family gatherings to attend, Christmas concerts to enjoy or perhaps be part of.
Sometimes, unscheduled events occur. Cliff Barrows served as Billy Graham’s lifelong associate and crusade song leader. The story is told that in 1945, before he met Billy Graham, Cliff and his fiancée, Billie, had scraped together enough money for a simple wedding and two train tickets to a resort. On arrival, however, they found the hotel shut down. Stranded in an unfamiliar city with little money, they thumbed a ride. A sympathetic driver took them to a grocery store owned by a woman he knew. The newlyweds spent their first night in a room above the store. The next day, when the lady overheard Cliff playing Christian songs on his trombone, she arranged for them to spend the rest of their honeymoon at a friend’s house. Several days later the host invited them to attend a youth rally where a young evangelist was speaking. The song leader that night was sick and Cliff was asked to take charge of the music for the service. The young evangelist, of course, was Billy Graham, and the two became lifelong partners. You can’t schedule such unplanned events.
Sometimes, timing is everything. The plans we make don’t always work out. Unexpected interruptions come up and the timing of our plans has to change. When an unscheduled event occurs, you usually scramble to figure out how you can reorganize your life quickly. Perhaps it’s a health issue, or a death in the family, or a paper at school you forgot was due this week. Or, perhaps it’s the birth of a baby - sometimes babies do what they’re supposed to do and come into the world on time and sometimes they come unexpectedly. Herod hadn’t planned on the Messiah being born. This was certainly an unscheduled event for him and he began to scramble. That’s why he “summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star appeared” (Matt. 2:7). Mary hadn’t planned on Jesus being born that day. But all of sudden, “the time came for her to give birth” (Lk. 2:6).
When things don’t go the way you plan, God’s timing is always the best. He may have plans for you that you know nothing about. The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven” (Ecc. 3:1).
We’re going to see today that God’s plan is perfect. All the details are fixed and certain. He made his plan in eternity past and he is carrying it out perfectly. His plan isn’t late, nothing is unscheduled, and it won’t change because it’s a perfect plan, God’s Perfect Christmas Plan.
God’s plan was determined before the world was made and spans throughout the entire history of the human race. His plan was so enormous that we can’t fathom its complexity. Yet, smoothly and surely his plan continues to unfold. Just as surely as his Word is eternally trustworthy so his plan for the human race is coming true. The point of the passage we are studying in this sermon is that the purpose for Jesus’ coming into the world was to fulfill God’s perfect plan.
A perfect plan has three components: (1) The perfect time; (2) The perfect person; (3) The perfect purpose. First, then…
When the fullness of time had come… (4a)
1. The fullness of time was planned from eternity past. God has an eternal calendar, a schedule for human history, a plan concerning human beings and the earth. Throughout human history God has been unfolding his plan for the world. But throughout human history people have ignored God’s plan. They turn a blind eye to his plan and turn their backs on Him. Adam and Eve disregarded God’s plan for their bliss in Eden. The nation of Israel disregarded God’s plan for their blessing in Canaan. So, God has repeatedly warned, cajoled, and pleaded with people to repent, to be reconciled to Him, to trust him.
First, the fullness of time was planned in eternity past. And second…
2. The fullness of time was revealed throughout the O.T. It was revealed in Genesis 3:15, when God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and he offspring: he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” It was revealed through the time of the patriarchs, judges, kings, and O.T. prophets (cf. Heb. 1:2-3). And the years passed until the perfect time came, “the fullness of time,” when God intervened in history to execute his plan of redemption.
So, the “fullness of time” was planned from eternity past. It was revealed throughout the O.T. And third…
3. The fullness of time came when Christ was born. Christ’s birth was “the fullness of time” because it was exactly at the time of our greatest need. Human beings had shown themselves to be utterly incapable and unwilling to keep God’s law. Over thousands of years, the human race had proven that we are sinners in need of a Savior. “While we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). Indeed, “At that time, you were separated from Christ … having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12).
It was the “fullness of time” because it was exactly according to God’s timetable. That was the time for God to effect his eternal plan of redemption. This was the culminating revelation of God’s plan. This was the apex of his unfolding drama of redemption. This was the zenith of all God’s ways with man. This was the perfect time when God himself was going to intervene in human history by coming to earth. The task was too great for any mere mortal to speak or act on behalf of God – not the prophets nor the kings or judges or patriarchs. So that was the time for God’s one and only Son to be born.
It was the “fullness of time” because it was exactly the right time for God’s plan to be put into action. The time had come to which all redemptive history had pointed. The right moment had come for God to disclose to the world how he would effect his plan of salvation, a plan that he had made known through the prophets, but a plan that the human race had ignored. That’s why, when Christ was born, no one seemed to realize what was happening. The people of Jerusalem and Bethlehem didn’t know, even though their own Scriptures had predicted it long before.
When Christ was born nearly 2000 years ago it was the perfect time for God to initiate his plan of redemption. And the perfect time for God to complete his plan will come again in the future. He acted once at Christ’s first coming and He will act again at Christ’s second coming. At Christ’s first coming, God revealed his grace; at Christ’s second coming, God will reveal his judgment and wrath. There is a limit set for God’s plan of grace. Yes, “God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). And so, God pleads with people today: “Behold, now is the favorable (acceptable) time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). And He warns everyone: “Surely I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:20). There is a limit set for God’s plan of grace. The question is: “Are you ready?”
God awaited the perfect time. And…
…God sent forth his Son (4b)
This reminds us of the man in the parable who “planted a vineyard and put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.” (Mk. 12:1). First, he sent a servant to receive the fruit if his vineyard, but the servant was beaten by the tenants and sent away empty-handed. Then, he sent another servant who was shamefully treated, stoned, wounded and sent away. Then, he sent another servant who was killed, and many others, some of whom were beaten and some killed. After all that, “He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’” (Mk. 12:1-6).
Jesus, the perfect person, was “born of a woman” (4c). In God’s perfect plan, he sent forth Jesus, his beloved Son, who was “born of a woman.” He did not come the first time in the way he will come the second time. At his second coming he will come in power and great glory. Then, “he will come in the clouds and every eye will see him” (Rev. 1:7). And then every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10-11). But at his first coming, Jesus came in weakness and obscurity, “born of a woman.”
Because he was born of a woman, Jesus was fully human. But Jesus was also fully divine. Though he was fully man, Jesus was no ordinary man. He was no ordinary man because his conception was different than any other - the woman to whom he was born was a virgin. He was not conceived through the natural union of a man and a woman. He was conceived through the Holy Spirit: “That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” the angels said to Joseph (Matt. 1:20). His conception guarded his deity. And his conception guarded his holiness – he had no sinful nature. He was fully human and yet perfectly sinless as Scripture attests: God “made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). He was “holy, innocent, unstained, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26). He was “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
Thus, Jesus was the God-man. He was fully and perfectly God and fully and perfectly man. He was God “manifested in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). This is a foundational, non-negotiable truth of Christianity (cf. Heb. 2:14). “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14).
So, Jesus had two natures - human and divine (cf. Phil. 2:6-7). It was necessary for our salvation that the Savior of men should be a perfect man. As John MacArthur puts it: “He had to be God to have the power of Saviour, and He had to be man to have the position of Substitute” (Galatians, 108). The debt of our sins had to be paid and it could only be paid by a sinless, perfect person. This idea is echoed in Cecil Alexander’s old hymn (“There is a Green Hill far away”)…
There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.
To satisfy the justice of a holy God, there had to be a perfect sacrifice. And the perfect sacrifice had to be a perfect person. Jesus, the perfect person, was “born of a woman.” And Jesus, the perfect person, was “born under the law” (4d). He was born under the same conditions as those who were finding it impossible to be justified by the law. Like any other person, he had the obligation to obey and be judged by the law. But unlike any other person, he perfectly kept and satisfied the law of God, because he was perfectly sinless.
So, in putting his plan into action, first, God awaited the perfect time. Second, God appointed the perfect person. And notice third…
Every plan has to have a purpose, a goal.
God’s purpose was to change our standing before God. And He did this by sending forth his Son “to redeem those who were under the Law” (5a). To redeem something means to buy it back, just as slaves in Bible times were sometimes bought back from slavery. Because Christ was born under the law and perfectly kept the law, he is able to “redeem” all who were born under the law and were held in bondage by it, being unable to keep it themselves. We could not meet the holy demands of God’s law. We stood before God condemned, our mouths were shut. We had no defence before God, no advocate. We were guilty and enslaved with no hope of freedom until “God sent forth his Son” into the world “to redeem those who were under the Law.”
That’s what God revealed to Mary, “You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). That’s what God revealed to the shepherds, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Lk. 2:10-11). That’s what God, through Paul, revealed to the people in the synagogue, “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses” (Acts. 13:38-39).
God sent forth his Son with the express purpose of redeeming us, redeeming us from our sinful flesh. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). If we believe in him, the condemnation of sin in the sacrifice of Christ prevents our personal condemnation. It changes our standing before God. That’s why Jesus came into the world.
By faith in Him, we are redeemed from the curse of the law, bought back from the power of Satan to the power of God, ransomed from death to life. Our standing before God changed. That was God’s purpose, to change our standing before Him. And also…
God’s purpose was to change our status before Him. God sent forth his Son “so that we might receive adoption as sons” (5b). That’s a change of status. Adoption in this context doesn’t mean what it does today in our society. In the Greco-Roman culture, a certain time was set when the male child in the family was formally and legally “adopted.” The word used here for adoption literally means “to place as a son.” So, at this pre-appointed time, the male child was placed in the position of a legal son and given all the rights and privileges of that position. This legal ceremony did not make him a member of the family, for he always was a member of the family. Rather, it gave him legal recognition as a son under Roman law.
There are two Greek words that are both rendered simply as “son” in our English translations, but they are, in fact, different. One word refers to a child by natural birth (teknon) and the other refers to the same child who has been legally declared a son in the eyes of the law (huios). Here in Galatians 4:5, Paul uses the term “huios” to describe this legal “adoption as sons” with full rights and privileges.
Paul’s point here is that, as adopted sons (and daughters), we have a new status before God. We who were slaves to the law have been redeemed from its grip and now, as free men and women, we have been adopted into God’s family with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities of sons and daughters.
This new status brings with it a family intimacy, the like of which we could never have had with God before. Our status has been changed from slavery under the law to redeemed children adopted into God’s family. And now, because we are God’s children, “God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father’” (6). Notice this beautiful sequence. Not only did God send forth his perfect Son into the world to change our standing before God by redeeming us (marvellous as that is), and to change our status before God by adopting us (marvellous as that is), but also He has sealed our new standing and signified our new status by sending “the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (6a). Thus, we are brought into an entirely new relationship with God, a relationship of intimacy and security that a slave could never have with his master, but which we enjoy with God as his children. Now we know God in an entirely different way. Now we can call God “Abba! Father!” - “Daddy, Father.” Now we are “no longer slaves but sons” [and daughters] (7a). Now we enjoy a paternal intimacy with God of security, warmth, comfort, confidence, affection, joy, peace. We have a brand new relationship with God through Christ. That’s why the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world.
This new status not only brings with it a family intimacy but also…
This new status brings with it a family inheritance. Because of Christ’s redemption and our adoption into God’s family, we have become heirs of all that his children are entitled to inherit. If we are sons and daughters of God, “then (we are) heirs of God through Christ” (7b). We are brought into the family inheritance. As it says in Rom. 8:17, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” When we become part of God’s family through “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24) we receive the family inheritance. God has appointed his Son the heir of all things (Heb. 1:2) and now through faith in Him, all that is Christ’s by right is ours by inheritance because we are God’s adopted children (cf. Col. 1:16).
What, then, is the nature of our inheritance? Our inheritance is that we have been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5). Or, as Eph. 1:11-14 puts it, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
What we see in this passage is that God’s Perfect Christmas Plan is at its core the plan of redemption. And if you trust him, you can be a part of his redeemed family. This is why Jesus came into the world, to be our Saviour and to bring us into this new relationship with God, our Father. To implement his plan (1) God awaited the perfect time; (2) God appointed the perfect person; and (3) God achieved the perfect purpose.
I can’t think of any better Christmas plan than that. The timing was perfect, the person was perfect, and the purpose was perfect. As a result the unsolved riddle of the previous 400 years before Christ is solved. The unsolved riddle was: “How can a man be just with God?” Now the solution is clear: “God sent forth his Son... to redeem (us).”
Remember our theme statement: The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world was to fulfill God’s perfect plan. The question today is: Have you received the redemption that has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you ready to meet Him? Don’t let other plans hold you back so that you miss him when he comes again. Many things in our lives can distract us from what’s important.
During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur called one of his Army engineers and asked, “How long would it take to throw a bridge across this river?” The man immediately responded: “Three days, sir.” Gen. MacArthur snapped back, “Good. Have your draftsmen make drawings right away.” Three days later Gen. MacArthur sent for the engineer and asked how the bridge was coming along. The engineer reported, “It’s all ready. You can send your troops across right now if you don’t have to wait for the plans. They aren’t done yet.” What was important was getting across the river, not drawing the plans. Don’t wait until some other time to make your own plan to meet God. What’s important is to follow God’s plan. What’s important is being ready now, to get across the river, if you will. If Jesus were to return today, would you be ready to meet him? Don’t think that you have to stop doing this or start doing that first. Don’t say you plan to attend to it when you’re older. Don’t say you’ll think about it after you’ve sown your wild oats, after you get married, or when the kids are grown up.
Are you ready for the second coming of Christ in accordance with God’s perfect plan? Have you made peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ? The One for whom there was no room in the inn will one day declare: “Come, for everything is now ready” (Lk. 14:17). Are you ready? There is still room in God’s house but it is filling fast. Soon the last soul will be saved and the door will be shut (Lk. 13:25). For those of us who have made peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, this reminder of why Jesus came - God’s perfect plan through Christ - should warm our hearts, fill us with hope, renew our commitment, cause us to watch and be ready, for the coming of the Lord draws near.
In this Christmas sermon we will see that the virgin birth of Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 9:6-7. Our thesis for this sermon is that the truth of Messiah’s birth should conceive in us an appreciation for the sovereignty of God. Notice here the contrast of places where and people to whom the birth announcement of Jesus was made…
First, the birth announcement of Jesus does not take place where you would expect. It takes place in the region of Galilee - not in Judea, the centre of the promised land. Galilee was a territory overrun by Gentiles and was governed by Herod under whose government pagan temples were erected. Galilee was, therefore, despised by Judea, but it was to Galilee that the angel Gabriel was sent.
It takes place in the city of Nazareth - not Jerusalem, the city of the great king. Nazareth was set on a hillside at the foot of which ran the highway from Tyre and Sidon to Jerusalem, carrying Greek travelers and merchants and Jewish priests, many of whom would have lodged in Nazareth. With such a transient population, Nazareth became a corrupt town, a despised town. The contempt with which Nazareth was viewed was expressed by Nathanael when he asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46).
It takes place in the privacy of Mary’s home. This was the place to which “the angel Gabriel was sent by God” (1:26) with the good news of the birth of the Son of God - not to the temple, the very dwelling place of God.
So, the birth announcement of Jesus does not take place where you would expect. And…
Second, the birth announcement of Jesus is not delivered to whom you would expect. The person to whom the angel Gabriel declared this good news was “a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph... The virgin’s name was Mary” (1:27) – not to the high priest, or to the governor of the land.
In summary, the contrasts between the birth announcement of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25) and the birth announcement of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38) could not be more obvious as to the places where they were made and the people to whom they were delivered. John’s birth announcement was in a public place, whereas Jesus’ birth announcement was made in private. John’s birth announcement was to an aged priest, whereas Jesus’ birth announcement was to a young woman. John’s birth announcement was in the revered temple, whereas Jesus’ birth announcement was in a despised town. John’s birth announcement prophesied of his greatness and power (1:15, 17), whereas Jesus’ announcement was marked by lowliness and meekness.
“The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary” (1:26-27). Mary was a virgin who was engaged (betrothed) to Joseph. Betrothal was as binding as a marriage contract in that Mary had entered into a formal, witnessed agreement with Joseph, and he had probably paid a dowry (financial gift) indicating his sincerity and commitment, but they were not yet married. Mary legally belonged to Joseph, which is why she is referred to as his wife, but the wedding would not take place until 1 year after the betrothal, at which time she would go to live with him.
Notice now the intimacy, manner and content of this momentous birth announcement…
“The angel came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you (1:28a). Mary was the recipient of God’s gracious favor. She is highly favored for the Lord was with her – i.e. she lived in the presence of God. Such is the high privilege and divine intimacy of the virgin Mary.
This is a word of encouragement and comfort that God was with her now and throughout what the angel is about to reveal. She lived in a corrupt, despised town but she kept herself from its impurities. Thus, because of her character, the favor of God was on her.
While we do not agree with the Roman Catholics’ veneration of Mary (1) that she was conceived without sin, (2) that she is held up as an object of worship, (3) that she is to be prayed to as a mediator between God and man on a par with Christ himself. Yet at the same time, we must admit that she was favored by God above all other women to be the mother of the Messiah. This was arguably the most coveted role of all for all Jewish women of all time, to be chosen by God to be the mother of our Lord.
Many women were in the messianic line, like Ruth and Rahab and Tamar and Bathsheba, but Mary was the “favored” one. One woman brought sin and death into the world at the beginning and one woman brought eternal life and light into the world at the birth of Christ. No wonder Mary is called a “favored woman”. But let us also remember that to the woman who said to Jesus: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you!” (Lk. 11:27), Jesus replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk. 11:28). That is a far greater blessing, for it has eternal reward. To “hear the word of God and keep it” means that you repent and believe the gospel, that you become a disciple of Christ, that such a relationship is more intimate and enduring than any family relationship, for Jesus said, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk. 3:35). To become a follower of Jesus is to enter into a saving and eternal relationship with God.
Following the angel Gabriel’s announcement, Mary “was deeply troubled by this statement” (1:29a) - not troubled at the presence of the angel but at what he said. She is perplexed as she tries to grasp what is happening. She is perplexed specifically about the angel’s greeting. She is “wondering what kind of greeting this could be” (1:29b). What is God about to do?
Why would God bestow his gracious favor on her? God would bestow his gracious favor on her simply because that was His sovereign choice. Oh, we recognize Mary’s humble simplicity and selfless character, which undoubtedly were prerequisites for God’s favor. But ultimately, it was God’s sovereign choice to bestow his favor on her. Remember our thesis: The truth of Messiah’s birth should conceive in us an appreciation for the sovereignty of God.
Mary was chosen by God to be the mother of our Lord. Eve was the mother of all living; Mary was the mother of the Messiah. Eve gave birth to a murderer; Mary would give birth to the Redeemer. Hidden in the recesses of despised Nazareth, this beautiful young woman was set apart by God for this very purpose.
“The Lord is with you” (1:28b). God has always had his chosen servants, often the least likely in the most obscure places. And in the town of Nazareth, God comes to this simple, humble woman who evidently was walking in communion with God.
Such is the angelic salutation of God’s sovereignly bestowed favor. Then...
The angel addresses Mary’s evident fear with a repeated word of encouragement: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (1:30). This is why she can be calm, at peace, unafraid – because she has been graciously-favored by God. “Favor” is God’s gracious choice of someone through whom God does something special. “Favor” is what God does for someone out of his good pleasure. God’s favor is sovereignly bestowed - you can’t earn it and you can’t buy it. But why does the angel state this fact in 1:28 and also in 1:30?
First, the angel surely knew that the amazing news he was about to deliver required that he affirm Mary in her special place of God’s grace and favor. There was no other way to explain what he is about to say.
Second, the angel seems to anticipate Mary’s unspoken question, “Why me?” The answer is, “Because you have received God’s gracious favor. God has sovereignly set you apart for such a time and purpose as this. God has sovereignly chosen you. You are graciously favored by God.”
There is third reason why the angel repeats this statement. Here in 1:30, the favor of God is not on Mary because of who she was (as in 1:28), but because of what she would do. She had found gracious favor “with (lit. alongside, by the side of) God.” It wasn’t simply that God was with her as in 1:28, wonderful as that is, but that she had found grace “by the side of God” – i.e. in the fellowship of God, in such intimacy with God. She was in step and in communion with God. Thus, his gracious favor rested on her.
Then, the angel announces the birth of Jesus (1:31-33). This is the most glorious, yet mysterious, news ever declared. It is the purpose for which Mary had been chosen: “Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son” (1:31a). The long-awaited fulfillment of Isaiah’s declaration has come: “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us” (Isa. 9:6). God is sovereignly fulfilling his promise made 700 years before.
“…and you will name him Jesus (1:31b). He would have the same name as the Hebrew name, Joshua. The connection with Joshua of the O.T. is clear. This Jesus who is to be born to Mary would be the fulfillment of the O.T. type in Joshua. Joshua was born in Egypt to save God’s people from slavery. He was born to bring hope to the hopeless, freedom to the slaves.
The angel now explains the person of Jesus: “He will be great” (1:32a). He would be inherently great; none like him before or since. He will sit on the throne of a great and eternal kingdom (1:33). John would be “great in the sight of the Lord” (1:15) but Jesus would simply be “great” in his own right. “He will be great” because he will be a great Saviour, because he has wrought so great salvation, because he is our great High Priest, because he will reign as our great King. “…and will be called the Son of the Most High (1:32b), just as Isaiah said, “a Son will be given to us.” He always was “the Son of the Most High” before he was born - one in essence with the Father (though distinct in person), the eternal Son of God, the one who enjoys an eternal relationship with God. But now he would also become known as such on earth among those who believe. He is to be recognized and worshipped in the church as “the Son of the Most High,” the Son of God himself. This phrase described a regal figure – a king was to be born, a regal son, the Messiah himself.
So the angel announces the birth of Jesus, explains the person of Jesus and ...
Then the angel explains the mission of Jesus. “32 The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end” (1:32c-33). Isaiah also said, “The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever” (Isa. 9:7). God is about to sovereignly fulfill his promise made to Isaiah. Not only is Jesus a potentate in his person but he will be majestic in his mission.
The time to which this prophecy relates is still future when Jesus, the great King, will take his rightful place over his people. Here there is a strong allusion to 2 Sam 7:12-16. In Jesus God sovereignly fulfills his promise to David – the promise of an eternal throne. Jesus’ kingdom would not be limited to the people of Israel, to the house of Jacob, to the nation who served under king David. His kingdom would be so much greater in scope and power and it would be everlasting in its duration. This is the kingdom rule of the promised Davidic son, great David’s greater Son. Jesus will be the fulfillment of all the Jewish hopes throughout all the years for a divine Ruler and Redeemer. The promised Davidic king is coming to his own and though they will reject him yet his reign will be forever – “his kingdom will have no end.”
Nothing can stop Jesus’ kingdom reign – not even crucifixion. His reign would become visible at his ascension and the sending of the Spirit in Acts 2, but the full manifestation of his kingdom reign is still future. All the kingdoms of the world will dissolve before his great and awesome kingdom and this conquering King. All the great empires and dynasties of history (Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Spanish, British, the Chinese dynasty, and the Russian empire) will be nothing in comparison to the worldwide kingdom of God.
Jesus’ kingdom will be all-powerful and eternal – “no end.” To His authority every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord Phil. 2:10-11). In that day, the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15). And all this is announced at the birth of Jesus and is included and anticipated in our celebration of Christmas.
The angel’s mysterious announcement generates...
Mary’s monumental question (1:34). “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” Though she does not doubt the validity of the angel’s announcement, she questions how this can take place since she is a virgin. This is beyond her comprehension and experience and all the laws of nature. Biologically this cannot happen in her virgin state. And yet the angel’s announcement indicates an immediate conception and a birth taking place prior to Mary’s marriage.
The very question that atheists and liberals raise today to argue against the virgin birth was first asked by Mary. The difference is that atheists challenge the fact of the virgin birth but Mary was asking about the method. How is it possible for a woman to bear a child when she has not had a sexual relationship with a man?
The angelic proclamation of God’s sovereignly fulfilled promises (1:30-34) is supported by...
Mary’s question has two aspects – biological and moral. First, the angel answers the biological question: “How can this be?” The explanation is that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (1:35a). The conception will take place by direct, divine intervention, not through normal biological means. “That’s how this can be, Mary! The Holy Spirit who was active in creation will be instrumental in your conception.” The Spirit who gives life will act in creative power to produce a child in a virgin. The One who created the world out of nothing will create life in a virgin’s womb. This is the sovereign work of God.
The “Holy Spirit will overshadow you,” envelop you as in a cloud where there will be no human observation or interference. You can’t explain this but it makes full sense to the renewed mind, that this was the only way for the Messiah to be born. Though this conception is beyond our ability to understand yet we believe and accept that this is the way (1) the Word was made flesh (Jn. 1:14), (2) a body was prepared for Him (Heb. 10:5), (3) He shared in flesh and blood like us (Heb. 2:14), and (4) He was made of a woman (Gal. 4:4). To try to explain how such a conception came about is beyond us; it is a divine mystery, the mystery of the incarnation.
So, this answers the first question, the biological question of how a virgin could conceive without the sexual co-operation of a man. But, what about the second question, the moral question? Now the angel answers the moral question: “How can this be?” Corollary issues that are inherent in this question are: How could the very Son of God be born and escape the moral depravity of original sin? How can the Messiah be born of a woman without having a sin-nature?
Without being asked overtly, the angel answers this moral question. Mary had asked the biological “how” question and the angel answered that: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” And voluntarily the angel also answers the moral question, the question that theologians would ask through the centuries. The answer is this: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God (1:35). The very same act by which the biological issue will be dealt with would also deal with the moral issue.
A direct consequence of Mary conceiving through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit would be that the child thus conceived would be “the Holy One.” The child thus conceived would be preserved from having a sinful human nature. He would be the very sinless “Son of God.” The same act of God that would cause the procreation would also preserve the child from contamination. The Holy Spirit’s role is evident at every step in the work of redemption. Here at Jesus’ incarnation and later at the atonement, where through the eternal Spirit Jesus offered himself without spot to God (Heb. 9:14). Then, at the resurrection when He was made alive by the Spirit (1 Pet. 3:18). And now, as the present Comforter, the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:17).
Praise God that, as Christians, we have been born again and given new life by the same Holy Spirit. We are empowered to live for God by the Holy Spirit. We are able to understand the Bible because of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. And we are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
“That Holy One” indicates that Jesus would be set apart for God. He would be sinless from conception. He is the very Son of God, “the Son of the Most High.” He is the Davidic deliverer, the Messiah. Jesus is uniquely from God, sovereignly conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit upon a virgin, and, therefore, sinless. Jesus would not be formed in the womb by the union of a women’s egg and a man’s sperm and thus be born with a human sinful nature. The Holy Spirit would supernaturally implant the child in Mary’s womb so that the one to be born would be “the Holy One… the Son of God.” Remember: The truth of Messiah’s birth should conceive in us an appreciation for the sovereignty of God.
If there were questions still lingering in Mary’s mind, they are unexpressed. But the angel seems to anticipate them, answering them with a confirming sign. Though Mary does not ask for a sign, one is graciously given. “And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless” (1:36). Notice the contrast here between John and Jesus. John is older than Jesus, but Jesus is superior. John’s birth is astounding, but Jesus’ birth is miraculous. John’s mother conceived in her old-age childlessness, but Jesus’ mother conceived in her youthful virginity.
It’s as if the angel says: “Do you wonder how this can be, Mary? Do you need help processing all of this, Mary? Well, your relative, Elizabeth – you remember, the one who has been barren all these years, the one who is now past her child-bearing age? Something miraculous has also happened to her, Mary. She has conceived a son and is already 6 months pregnant, despite her old age and life-long barrenness.”
Isn’t this an incredible act of God’s gracious favor toward Mary, that He would give visible, tangible evidence of his supernatural, reproductive power? The God who can cause a barren old woman to conceive can surely cause a young virgin to also conceive – “For nothing will be impossible with God” (1:37). Thus, the angel affirms God’s sovereign power to make both a barren old lady and a young virgin pregnant.
This should quell all doubts about the incarnation. We don’t understand it but God accomplished it! We may think it impossible but with God nothing is impossible. Here is the antidote for all doubts and fears and questions: “Nothing is impossible with God.” Science couldn’t bring this about, philosophy can’t explain it, but God did it.
We need to be convinced of the sovereign, life-giving power of God to do what is far beyond anything we can ask or think. We need to remember that the truth of Messiah’s birth should conceive in us an appreciation for the sovereignty of God, for with God nothing is impossible. The One who created the world from nothing caused a virgin to conceive by the Holy Spirit. Nothing is too hard for God, for which reason (1) there is no sin so bad that cannot be forgiven; (2) there is no heart so hard that cannot be softened; (3) there is no person so distant from God who cannot be brought near; (4) there is no trial so heavy that it cannot be sustained; (5) there is no promise so great that it cannot be fulfilled; (6) there is no barrier so strong that it cannot be overcome. For the Bible reminds us that “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9); and “If God is for us, who is against us?” ( Rom. 8:31). Well should we declare, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
Let this principle, enunciated at Jesus’ incarnation, be continually before us. Let us take hold of it. Nothing is too hard for God! Someone has said, “Faith never rests so calmly and peacefully as when it lays its head on the pillow of God’s omnipotence” (Ryle, Luke, 29). God knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust, and he graciously upholds our faith as He did with Mary here.
In response to the angels’ explanation is Mary’s acceptance of God’s will. “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said” (1:38). These have to be some of the most precious words in the Bible. Mary willingly and immediately accepts and submits to God’s will, expressed in the angelic announcement, with total surrender, with complete submission, with full acceptance, with unquestioning obedience, with spectacular humility. It’s as though she says, “I don’t understand this. I’ve never experienced this before. I don't know why God would choose me. But nonetheless, let it take place just as you have said. I know this isn’t going to be easy. I know I will suffer from ridicule and shame. But nevertheless, may it happen to me in accordance with your word.”
We think of the honour it afforded her but what about the difficulties and challenges and shame? - the difficulties of her relationship with Joseph, the damage to her reputation, the rejection by the community, the test of Mary’s faith, the seeming impossibility that a virgin could conceive, that she could conceive by the Holy Spirit, that she would give birth to the Messiah. But despite this, Mary does not object or question. Instead, she accepts the honour along with all the difficult consequences. She submits to Gabriel’s announcement as “the Lord’s servant.” That’s how she viewed herself. This was her role – to serve God no matter what. She is God’s maidservant and thus she accepts and obeys God’s wishes. God can do with her as he wishes, despite all the potential difficulties that might come. She will take the risk. She will walk hand-in-hand with God. “‘May it happen to me as you have said’ - may it come to pass, just as you described it. I’m ready and willing to take on the task. I am God’s maidservant. May his word and will be fulfilled in me.”
May we be so willing to accept and submit to God’s will, to go where he leads, to do what he bids, to be who he wants us to be, no matter what. Let us bring captive every thought to the obedience of Christ. Let us be willing to say: “Here am I, send me... May it happen to me as you have said.”
This then is the announcement and explanation of the birth of Jesus - the Child whom Isaiah said would be born, the Son who would be given, the One whose shoulders would bear the full weight of his government, the One whose government will bring peace without end, the One who will bring peace and justice forever, the One who would be born to a young virgin by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit, the “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). This is the One who was conceived supernaturally, lived powerfully, died ignominiously, rose again victoriously, and is coming again majestically.
This is the child of whom Isaiah and Luke both spoke. And Luke’s record of Jesus’ birth - that is ridiculed by scientists, scoffed at by philosophers, and compromised by liberals - is the only rational explanation, one that is understood only by those who are born of God. You can’t explain it by naturalism, humanism, post-modernism, or rationalism. The Child who was born at Christmas is the coming King. The Son who was given at Christmas is the Saviour of sinners. He is the mighty God who is coming again to rule in righteousness. May we look for him at every moment, watching and waiting.
In his book, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, Chuck Swindoll writes,
“History tells us that early in the nineteenth century the whole world was watching with bated breath the campaigns of Napoleon. There was talk everywhere of marches, invasions, battles, and bloodshed as the French dictator pushed his way through Europe. Babies were born during that time. But who had time to think about babies or to care about cradles and nurseries when the international scene was as tumultuous as it was? Nevertheless, between Trafalgar and Waterloo there stole into this world a veritable host of heroes whose lives were destined to shape all of humanity. But again, I ask who had time to think about babies while Napoleon was on the move?
“Well, someone should have.
“Let’s take the year 1809. Internationally, everyone was looking at Austria, because that was where blood was flowing freely. In one campaign after another that year, Napoleon was sweeping through Austria. Nobody cared about babies in 1809. But when you check the record, you realize the world was overlooking some terribly significant births.
“Take, for example, William Gladstone. Gladstone was destined to become one of the finest statesmen that England ever produced. In that same year Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. Tennyson would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner. Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1809. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allen Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year - 1809 - that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And it was that same year that the cries of a newborn infant could be heard from a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby’s name? Abraham Lincoln.
“If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I’m certain these words would have been heard: ‘The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today.’ Or was it?
“Funny, only a handful of history buffs today could name even two or three of the Austrian campaigns. Looking back, you and I realize that history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America as young mothers held in their arms the shakers and the movers of the future. No one could deny that 1809 was, in fact, the genesis of an era.
“The same could be said of the time when Jesus of Nazareth was born. No one in the entire Roman Empire could have cared less about the birth of that Jewish infant in Bethlehem. Rome ruled the world. That’s where history was being made! Or was it?” (Growing Deep in the Christian Life, Charles Swindoll, 121-122).
Luke is careful in his gospel to give us historical facts. The fact is that the history of the world did not centre on Rome but on the birth of a baby in Bethlehem. And the precursor of the birth of Jesus was the birth of another baby - John the Baptist. In an event that seemed so terribly insignificant to the world, God acted in history to put to shame the things that to the world seemed so highly important.
Our subject in this sermon is: “The significance of the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus.” And the primary theological point of this message is that the coming of the Messiah fills us with comfort and hope.
We begin with the birth of John the Baptist, Messiah’s forerunner ...
First, there is the reaction of joy at God’s great mercy (1:57-58). For Elizabeth the waiting wasn’t just 9 months but a lifetime. She and her husband, Zechariah, never dreamed that they would have a child, for they were both old and Elizabeth had been unable to conceive – she was barren. But just as God had promised Abraham and his barren wife Sarah that they would have a son in their old age, so he had promised Elizabeth and Zechariah. And now, exactly in accordance with the angel’s promise (1:13f.) “the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she had a son. Then her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her his great mercy, and they rejoiced with her” (1:58). The birth of a baby is cause enough in itself for joy, but this was no ordinary birth and no ordinary baby. No wonder Elizabeth’s neighbors and relatives rejoiced with her.
First, they rejoiced because “It’s a boy! God keeps his word.” The announcement by the angel Gabriel (1:11-17) to Zechariah had come true. That was very special and particularly since this would be the only child they would have to continue the family name.
Secondly, they rejoiced because the Lord had shown mercy to Elizabeth (1:58). God had acted supernaturally to cause an old man and a barren woman to conceive and bring forth a baby. This was the Lord’s mercy!
Thirdly, they rejoiced because this child would have a unique role in God’s long looked-for redemption.
First, there is the reaction of joy at God’s great mercy. Then…
Second, there is the reaction of amazement at God’s choice of name (1:59-63). On the day of circumcision (1:59), it was customary to name the child. All the neighbors and relatives assumed that he would be called by his father’s name, according to their tradition. But Elizabeth said, “No! He will be called John” (1:60). After scolding her for choosing a name that wasn’t in the family line, they appealed to Zechariah. Because he had been made mute by the angel Gabriel for not believing his announcement that they would have a child (1:20), Zechariah wrote out his answer: “His name is John” (1:63).
Notice, he does not say “His name will be John,” but “His name is John.” It’s already settled; it’s already agreed; there is no debate. “And they were all amazed” (1:63). The reaction of joy at God’s mercy to Elizabeth is followed by the reaction of amazement at God’s choice of name (cf. 1:13).
So, first there is the reaction of joy at God’s great mercy. Second there is the reaction of amazement at God’s choice of name. And then…
Third, there is the reaction of fear at God’s powerful act (1:64-66). The neighbors and relatives couldn’t get over the fact that Elizabeth had had a baby, that the baby’s name was John, and that Zechariah was able to speak again (1:13, 20). An older barren woman gives birth – that’s cause for joy! The angel’s choice of name - that’s cause for amazement! But the restoration of Zechariah’s speech - that’s cause for fear!
As the news of what had happened spread throughout the region “fear came on all those who lived around them and all these things were being talked about throughout the hill country of Judea (1:65). God was powerfully at work. They had seen it and heard it. They had seen God’s power in the miraculous birth of this baby and they had heard some very strange things that day.
When God acts powerfully it generates fear. That’s what the work of God does, it incites fear - fear because we are conscious of being in God’s presence; fear because God reveals his majesty and sovereignty; fear because of God’s power and what he can do; fear because of our own powerlessness, finiteness, and sinfulness in contrast to the presence of the all-powerful, infinite, and holy God.
If you are a Christian, you should feel holy fear - the fear that drives us to him in reverence and worship; the fear of our own unworthiness of his favor and presence; the fear of failing him through sin and disobedience.
And if you’re not a Christian, you should fear him because you are still in your sins. And unless you repent, you are under his wrath and will perish. Unless you repent, you will stand before him as your judge. If you don't fear God, may God have mercy on you.
The birth of Messiah’s forerunner produces varied reactions – the reaction of joy at God’s mercy, the reaction of amazement at God’s choice of name, the reaction of fear at God’s powerful act. And, then …
Fourth, there is the reaction of questioning about God’s future plans (1:66). The realization that God was at work in the life of this child caused them to fear and ponder and wonder and question: “What then will this child become?” (1:66). If this was the impact that God had caused at John’s birth, what would God do in him and through him when he grows up? Just as God was powerfully at work at his birth, so he would be powerfully at work in his life. “For, indeed, the Lord’s hand was with him” (1:66). God was already working in his life, blessing and guiding.
So then, the birth of Messiah’s forerunner produces a powerful reaction. Then notice secondly …
Immediately, upon his expression of faith in obeying the angel by naming his son John, Zechariah is able to speak again and the first words he speaks are words of praise to God. Notice that Zechariah did not rebel against God’s discipline. He had been unable to speak for 9 months because of his unbelief at the word of the angel, yet when he recovers his speech, he immediately praises God! His affliction had deepened and reinforced his faith! Though he had to learn the ways of God the hard way, yet he did not turn his back on God or become angry at God.
Sometimes God’s chastisement seems hard and we might have the tendency to rebel against God. Isn’t it true, that in times when God is dealing with us, there might be the tendency to kick against God? Those are the times when we might entertain questions like (1) Does God really love me? (2) Why would God do this to me? (3) What’s the point in following God if this is what it entails?
In fact, God disciplines us precisely because he loves us, “for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives” (Heb. 12:6). None of us likes being disciplined – “No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11). When we are disciplined by God, he wants us to learn from the experience, to mature, and go forward.
As soon as Zechariah is able to speak again, he utters a prophetic song of praise to God (1:67), at the end of which he answers the question, “What then will this child become?”
1. It’s a prophetic song of praise for what God has promised in the past - salvation for his people (1:68-75). “Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel” (1:68a). This praise of God is based on what Zechariah knows. He knows from the pronouncement of the angel (1:15-17) that this child is the forerunner of the Messiah. Therefore, he knows that the time of Messiah has come. And, therefore, he knows that the time of their redemption has come.
God keeps his word. God has “visited and provided redemption for his people” (1:68). The idea of “visitation” is not a Sunday afternoon cup of tea or a drop-in celebration of a 50th wedding anniversary. No! God has “visited his people” means that he has seen the plight of his people and he is coming down in sovereign grace to redeem them, for he is the God who sees, who hears, and who acts.
Notice that Mary in her magnificat (1:46-55) praises the God who acts but Zechariah praises the acts of God - God is acting on their behalf. Even though redemption at that moment was still future, it is now in motion and is absolutely sure so that Zechariah speaks of it has having already taken place. Just as God saw the bondage of his people in Egypt and came down to deliver them through Moses (Ex. 3:7-8), so here the birth of John the Baptist is the signal that God once more is about to deliver his people through the second Moses, the Messiah.
The central act of God that Zechariah celebrates here is God’s redemption of his people, and he focuses on what God has done in the past, the present, and the future.
As to what God has promised in the past (1:68-75), Zechariah looks back to the saving acts of God in history and his prophetic song is structured around what he knows from history. From history, he knows with absolute certainty that the source of these saving acts is “the God of Israel” (1:68a), that the plan of these saving acts is that God “has visited and provided redemption for his people” (1:68b), that the provision of these saving acts is that God “has raised up a horn of salvation for us” (1:69), that the purpose of these saving acts is the “salvation (of His people) from our enemies and from the hand of those who hate us (1:71). That’s what Zechariah knows from history.
Salvation, then, is the fulfillment of prophecy, the fulfillment of God’s promises in the past. God has “visited and provided redemption for his people” (1:68b) in his Son, the Messiah. He has made provision for the salvation of his people in that he has “raised up a horn of salvation” (1:69) as prophesied by David in 2 Sam. 22:3. A “horn” is the symbol of an animal’s strength. The rhinoceros is one of the largest and most powerful vegetarian mammals on earth today. One of its outstanding characteristics is its powerful horn. No obstacles get in the way of a 3 ton snorting rhinoceros charging at speeds of up to 30 mph. The “horn of salvation” refers to the saving power of the Messiah in the deliverance of his people – nothing can withstand him. This victorious, all-powerful King of the lineage of David will set Israel free “just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets in ancient times” (1:70).
God has not forgotten his promises -“72 He has dealt mercifully with our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant— 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham” (1:72-73). to make of him a great nation so that we “having been rescued from the hand of our enemies, would serve him without fear” (1:74). God keeps his word!
Redemption is God’s means to an end, to deliver his people from opposition so that they could freely serve God “without fear, in holiness and righteousness (74b-75a). For Zechariah this was utopia, the coming of the Messiah that would give them the freedom to serve and worship God, to serve as priests of God “in holiness and righteousness” (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9), to be consecrated to God “in his presence all our days” (1:75b) – not just 2 weeks each year as Zechariah and the other priests served in the temple.
And isn't this the purpose of our salvation to serve God all the days of our lives in holiness and righteousness? The sequence is: God redeems us from our sins and we serve him the rest of our days. We have been saved to serve! And the moral aspect of our serving God is “in holiness and righteousness.”
So, the advent of Messiah produces a prophetic song. First, it’s a prophetic song of praise for what God has promised in the past – salvation for his people (1:68-75). Then…
2. It’s a prophetic song of celebration of what God is doing in the present - a special child has been born (1:76-77). Zechariah now turns from addressing God to addressing the child. In the present, after 400 years of silence, God is intervening in world history by miraculously bringing into the world this child, John, whose mission would be “a prophet of the Most High” (1:76).
This child, who at that very moment probably lay asleep, undisturbed, inactive in his mother’s arms, has a marvelous future that the angel had foretold. And it is to that future role that Zechariah now refers.
This child is the last of the O.T. prophets, the one who “will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways” (1:76), the one who will “give his people knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins (1:77). True salvation is not found in deliverance from political or religious enemies but in “the forgiveness of sins.” This is the “knowledge of salvation” that John would proclaim - not salvation through armed rebellion against Roman oppressors but salvation through repentance and remission of sins. John’s role was to prepare the way for the Messiah, not by inciting the people to insurrection but by awakening them to the consciousness of sin and to the desire for salvation from sin. Those who turned to God in repentance and faith through our Lord Jesus Christ have their sins forgiven, all of which is expressed in the confessional act of baptism.
Sin, not physical enemies, is the yoke that enslaves us, the yoke from which we so desperately need deliverance. The basic, underlying bondage of the human race is neither political oppression, nor psychological preoccupations, nor physical addictions, nor religious rituals. It’s the enslavement to sin. And the only deliverance that is of any lasting benefit is to have the power of sin in our lives broken through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
So then, the advent of Messiah produces a prophetic song. First, it’s a prophetic song of praise for what God has promised in the past – salvation for his people (1:68-75). Second, it’s a prophetic song of celebration of what God is doing in the present – a special child has been born, the forerunner of the Messiah. Then…
3. It’s a prophetic song of anticipation of what God will do in the future – he will save his people (1:78-79). The motivating force behind our deliverance from sin is “God’s merciful compassion” (1:78a). The term “God’s merciful compassion” literally means “the bowels of our God.” In Hebrew terminology, the bowels were the deepest, most intimate, and most compassionate part of the human being. So, the expression “the bowels of our God” connotes the compassion of God that comes from the core of his being, from deep inner anguish. The bowels of God’s mercy is the root cause for God sending his Son to be our Saviour. It is the love of God shown out in the gift of his Son. It is “God’s merciful compassion” which is manifested and fully told out in Jesus, “the dawn from on high who will visit us” (1:78b), the Messiah, that Light from heaven which has to come into the world, showing us the way to God.
God’s love is displayed in his mercy, which is operative in salvation, which is made effective through repentance, which results in forgiveness and remission of sins. God’s heart is tender, compassionate, and merciful such that he withholds the judgement that we deserve and provides a way of escape through salvation in Jesus Christ.
That’s the miracle of Christmas, isn’t it? Because at Christmas, God set in motion our redemption by sending his one and only Son to be born of a virgin, fully human and fully God. From his birth in a manger to his death on a cross, God was extending his tender mercy toward us by revealing his love for us and accomplishing our redemption. On the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that by believing in him we could be set free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, the pleasure of sin, and, ultimately, the presence of sin. And that is certainly cause for a song of praise and celebration as we remember what God has done and anticipate what He is yet to do.
God’s purpose for Israel was always that, through her, light would come to us, Gentiles, “the people walking in darkness” who would see a “great light” (Isa. 9:2). We who were “excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). It is to us that God has extended his “merciful compassion” through “the dawn from on high who will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death” (1:78b-79a).
The coming of Jesus, God’s Son, into the world was the dawn of salvation for the world, shining upon us like the rising of the sun as it breaks through the darkness of the night. Those who dwelled in darkness and the shadow of death have seen a great light in the person of Jesus. Those who lived in spiritual, moral, and even physical darkness, bound up in ignorance and spiritual incarceration, have seen the light of God’s truth in the face of Jesus Christ. At last, through Jesus, we can see the way to God, for he is not only the light but he is also our guide, “to guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:79b).
The Saviour has come, shining the light of his life into our spiritual darkness and guiding our feet into the “way of peace” - peace as a result of forsaking our rebellion against God; peace which comes through the deliverance from sin by Christ through whom we have peace with God. All who are redeemed by Jesus are delivered from darkness to light, are delivered from rebellion to peace. And the one who has peace with God is now free to serve him.
Peace is the sum and substance of human well-being. That’s what everyone desperately wants. It’s what you want, whether it be political, psychological, or emotional peace. Above all we want peace of conscience and peace of heart and that only comes from peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who guides us out of our lostness in the morass of spiritual darkness to the way of light and peace.
Peace with God is the only means of peace with each other. Without that peace, the world lies in the hands of the wicked one, in darkness, chaos, and fear. This was the ultimate purpose of Christ’s mission, to bring to us the light and sunshine of the new age of God’s redeeming grace, to make known “God’s merciful compassion” to the world, to give us eternal peace. He has made “peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col. 1:20).
And here, Zechariah anticipates that day, indicated in the birth of his child, the forerunner, and fulfilled in the birth of Jesus himself.
“The child grew up and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel” (1:80). John grew to maturity and, after his priestly service in the temple, went into the desert awaiting the day of his public ministry. In that day, he would declare words of comfort and hope to the people of Israel in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “Comfort, comfort my people…announce to her that her time of hard service is over, her iniquity has been pardoned” (Isa. 40:1-2).
John the Baptist would be the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “3 Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. 4 Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill will be leveled; the uneven ground will become smooth and the rough places, a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will appear, and all humanity together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isa. 40:3-5).
What comfort and hope those words must have brought them after not hearing from God for 400 hundred years, after crying to God night and day for a Saviour to deliver them from their desperate plight of oppression and abuse under the tyrannical power of Rome, after crying out constantly: “3 And you, Lord—how long? 4 Turn, Lord! Rescue me; save me because of your faithful love” (Ps. 6:3-4). They cried, “Harvest has passed, summer has ended, but we have not been saved” (Jer. 8:20). They cried in the words of the carol, “Come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.” “We need a Saviour!” was their cry.
Now, they hear the sweetest news their ears had ever heard that God has sent a Savior to redeem them. In the words of Isaiah the prophet: “When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and leader, and he will rescue them (Isa. 19:20). For, “I—I am the Lord. Besides me, there is no Savior” (Isa. 43:11).
The coming of the Messiah fills us with comfort and hope. John would preach a message of comfort and hope. And John would preach a message of repentance and faith. That is the primary message of a prophet – to call people back to a right relationship with God. We must repent of our sins and affirm that repentance in baptism. “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:8).
This is the word of the Lord that we declare to you today, a message of comfort and hope and a message of repentance and faith – “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). That’s the message of Christmas, that a Saviour has come, Christ the Lord, and we need to get right with him. We need to repent of our sins and turn to God in faith. That’s what God is calling you to today.
If you are a Christian, the coming of the Messiah fills us with comfort and hope. What comfort, hope, joy, peace we have in the celebration of the first coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. And what assurance and confidence we have in the expectation of his second coming.
And if you you’re not a Christian, if you’ve never repented of your sin and turned to God in faith, if you have no comfort and hope, no peace and joy, if you have never experienced God’s merciful compassion in forgiveness, then, will you do that today?
Christmas as it is celebrated in our culture in north America is often portrayed in very idealistic terms - a perfect baby who never cries, lying in a cozy crib rather than a feeding trough in a smelly, dirty barn; candles twinkling in the house windows rather than the curtains drawn in darkness for fear of the Roman soldiers; snow gently falling on a winter wonderland rather than the stark reality of life in a morally and spiritually dark era.
In this article we’re going to be looking at the beautiful scene of Mary and Joseph dedicating their baby Jesus to the Lord, and as they do so they encounter an old man and old woman who saw in Jesus not a cute little baby but a crucified Saviour, not a cozy manger but a cruel cross, not the twinkling lights of Bethlehem but the tragic darkness of Calvary.
This passage gives us a final glimpse of Old Testament believers, devout worshippers of God who were living in the anticipation and expectation of the coming of the Messiah, represented here by Simeon and Anna. This is kind of the grand finale of the Old Testament - the end of a magnificent procession of faith from Abraham on; the end of a great expectation of God’s mercy in the Redeemer; the fulfillment of everything that these pious people of faith had anticipated for centuries; the ultimate expression of the love of God to his waiting people.
Here we see the newborn Child, the Savior, not in relation to the innkeeper of Bethlehem, not in relation to the shepherds, not in relation to Herod, not in relation to the magi, but in relation to these two faithful saints. Upon instantly recognizing that Jesus was the Messiah, Simeon utters a profound prophecy about Jesus and Anna speaks a true testimony about Jesus.
Our subject in this passage is “The dedication of Jesus.” As with John the Baptist, so here with Jesus, his birth is directly connected to an old prophecy and to a new future. In this passage we see the truth that God is faithful to his people.
This passage divides into three little scenes. The first is ...
Mary and Jospeh are obedient to the two Mosaic birth rites – circumcision and dedication…
Circumcision on the 8th day was a requirement of Jewish law. The circumcision of Jesus is important for at least three reasons:
1. It indicates Mary’s obedience to the law.
2. It brings Jesus into a covenant relation with God and the nation, through whom God was accomplishing his redemptive purposes for the world.
3. It connects Jesus to Abraham through whom this religious ritual was instituted (Gen. 17:9-11).
Apart from the Jewish legal requirement, circumcision also has many medical benefits as modern science now knows, such as: (1) On the 8th day, a baby’s vitamin K levels prevent the baby from bleeding to death; (2) Women married to circumcised men have far lower levels of uterine cancer; (3) Circumcision is hygienically beneficial for preventing infections. In this rite, then, we see the wisdom and love of God, as well as the parents’ devotion to the law of God.
It was customary to name the child at the time of circumcision. In accordance with the angel’s instruction, his name is “Jesus” (2:21). Jesus is the Greek form of “Joshua” in the Old Testament. It was a very common name at that time. It seems that names may have followed trends back then just like today, and undoubtedly every parent wanted a baby like their great leader Joshua. Joshua means “savior” or “salvation.” Perhaps Joshua’s parents called him by that name because they wanted deliverance from the oppression of the Egyptian taskmasters, to be set free from slavery. Perhaps for that reason they named their child Joshua, savior., so they named their child Joshua, savior.
Jesus came to be King, Lawgiver, Prophet, Priest, and Judge, but his name did not reflect those functions either in their position or authority. No, he was named “Jesus,” a name which speaks of mercy, grace, redemption for a lost world, Savior. This is how he wants to be known and the relationship he wants with us, Savior. His name portrayed who he was and his purpose for coming into the world, Savior.
The name of Jesus divides the world. It is precious to those who believe but despised by those who don't believe. But the Bible says that in the final day, the name of Jesus will be revered by every person (Phil. 2:10-11).
Let me ask you: Is the name of Jesus precious to you? Do you know him as Savior? This is a life and death question. You may recognize him as a miracle worker. You may agree that he spoke like no other man. You may acknowledge that he exercised authority over people and nature. But do you know him as Savior? Do you have a relationship with him as your own Savior? Do you believe that he is God come in flesh? Do you believe that he will one day judge the world? Do you know him as your Redeemer from sin, guilt, and Satan’s power? Can you say: “He is my Savior?” Is he the One you turn to for peace of conscience, comfort of heart, rest of soul? Is the name of Jesus a strong tower into which you have run for safety (Prov. 18:10)?
The rite of circumcision is then followed by...
For 40 days after the birth, a woman was considered under the law to be defiled. Then after those 40 days, the child was dedicated to the Lord.
God wanted a kingdom of priests. To this end, it was his original intention that the firstborn son of every Israelite family would be set apart (dedicated) to the Lord as a priest. But when all the Israelite families did not obey the Lord in setting aside their firstborn sons for God (Ex. 13:2, 11-12), then God chose instead one family, the Levites of the family of Aaron, all of whose sons would be set apart as priests for God on behalf of the whole nation (Num. 3:11-13).
So, “when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they (Mary and Joseph) brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (2:22). But they didn't do this because he was of the house of Aaron – they did it out of obedience to God’s original requirement that each firstborn son should be dedicated as a priest to God.
According to the law, each dedication was to be accompanied by an appropriate offering to the Lord (2:23), and since Mary evidently could not afford a lamb, she took “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” (2:24), the offering of poor people (cf. Lev. 12:6, 8). Her poverty is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ life. He was born in poverty - not in a palace but in a stable; not in pomp and ceremony but in isolation and neglect. He was dedicated to the Lord in poverty - with an offering of 2 birds. He was brought up in poverty - not as a prince but as a pauper; not as a nobleman’s son but as a carpenter’s son. He lived in poverty - with nowhere to lay his head (Matt. 8:20). He died in poverty - not in a clean hospital attended by doctors and nurses and loved ones but on a cross. He was buried in poverty - in a tomb borrowed from a rich man.
No wonder Jesus has such compassion for the poor! He came to be identified with the poor. He was welcomed into the world by poor shepherds. He honored the generosity of a poor widow who gave her last cent. He set free the poor adulteress who was tormented by her accusers. He warned the rich people about how hard it is for them to enter the kingdom of heaven. He called ordinary working men to be his disciples. He healed poor lepers, the outcasts of society. He cast out demons from a poor, possessed woman. He fed the hungry, protected the rights of the oppressed, responded to the requests of beggars.
It is important for us to notice in these introductory verses the devotion of Joseph and Mary by (1) fully complying with the law of God in having Jesus circumcised “at the end of eight days” (2:21a); (2) fully obeying God in officially naming him Jesus, “the name given by the angel before he was conceived” (2:21b); and (3) fully dedicating their child to God in sacrificially presenting him to the Lord (2:22). In this way, these godly parents sought to do everything to comply with the law as it concerned their baby.
Their devotion to God in seeking to set their child apart for God right from the time of his birth is a wonderful example to us. If you are parents, have you set your child apart for God? Have you done so privately and publicly? It is a privilege for churches to show their support for and fellowship with parents by publicly praying for their young children, dedicating them to the Lord. And it is a show of unity for the church members to draw alongside parents, committing to pray for them and to support them as they seek to raise their children for the Lord.
Well, as Joseph and Mary formally and publicly dedicated Jesus to the Lord, little did they know what awaited them when they arrived in Jerusalem. Here they would meet two people from whom we see how people who have spent their lifetime in devotion and service to the Lord speak and act. From Simeon, we learn things about the destiny of their child, a destiny that for them must have been both frightening and wonderful. And from Anna, we learn that those who are devoted to serving God tell others about Jesus and the redemption that is found in him alone. May this passage encourage us to so use our lives for God.
This first scene, then, concerns the birth rites of Jesus (2:21-24) – his circumcision and dedication to the Lord. Now, the second scene is...
This is the only time we read of Simeon in Scripture; otherwise he is unknown. At the time of Jesus’ birth, Israel was in deep spiritual poverty and moral darkness. There was a very low level of interest in religious things. The Pharisees and Sadducees had perverted their doctrines and practices. But in the midst of spiritual poverty here emerges this “righteous and devout” man, Simeon. “Righteous” indicates his relationship to others and “devout” indicates his relationship to God.
Simeon is in the temple “looking for the deliverance of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (2:25). The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the Lord’s Anointed, the Messiah, before he died (2:26). So, having been “directed by the Spirit, he came into the temple” (2:27a) and as soon as Mary and Joseph “brought in the child Jesus” to dedicate him to the Lord “according to the custom of the law” (2:27b), Simeon knew who He was. He took up the baby in his arms and uttered this remarkable song, the last in a line of four songs in Luke – (1) Elizabeth’s song (1:42-45); (2) Mary’s song (1:46-56); (3) Zacharias’s song (1:67-79); and now (4) Simeon’s song.
At the end of his life, God blesses this righteous man beyond anything he could have imagined. Simeon is ready to die: “Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace” (2:29). The appearance of Messiah releases Simeon to die in peace, such is his faith. He grasped the truth that this powerless baby would be the powerful Savior, that this bundle of new life would bring life to dead souls, that this helpless child would save the helpless.
Why did this encounter with Jesus free Simeon to die in peace? Because Simeon knew by faith that the child he held in his arms would submit to death in order to break death’s power and tyranny. He would overcome him who had the power of death, that is the devil (Heb. 2:14). He would abolish death and bring life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). Simeon would be the benefactor of Jesus’ great victory at the cross. What was the basis of Simeon’s confidence? Simeon had faith in God’s word in the Old Testament – that gave him absolute confidence. As such…
1. Simeon knew that this Child had come to bring salvation (2:30-31). “My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples” (2:30-31). He holds in his arms the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior. He sees the One who will deliver God’s people from their sins. He knows that this is the One who has come to set God’s people free. Furthermore…
2. Simeon knew that this Child had come to bring illumination (2:32). He is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (2:32a). He has come to bring the revelation of God to the Gentiles. He has come to give spiritual light and life to the poorest, the most distant, the most undeserving, the most irreligious, and the most immoral people you could imagine.
In addition, this child had come to be “a light…for glory (honor) to your people Israel” (2:32b). Those despised and oppressed people would one day glory in their spiritual privileges and position through this child. Through this child, these sorrowing people, who had cried to God for so long for deliverance, would one day enjoy a place of glory because of who He is and what He has done, for from Israel was born the Savior of the world! What an honor for them that the mother of the Messiah would be this Jewish girl, that from her womb sprang the “seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3), the One who would make atonement for the sins of the world. Here we see again the truth that God is faithful to his people.
To face death without faith in God’s word is the most miserable, hopeless existence. But to die in faith in the Savior sent by God is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8), to be released from the sin, chaos and sadness of life and to be welcomed into Christ’s presence.
Simeon had a clear understanding of the gospel. He had seen with his own eyes God’s “salvation” (2:30) in the person of Jesus. He knew that Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (2:32b). Into the midst of religious darkness and political chaos comes the Light who would reveal God to us, the Light to unveil the glory of his people Israel. Simeon knew that this child was the One to whom all history pointed and for whom they waited.
This old man knew more than all the religious leaders. They could have learned from him that without the salvation of Christ they were doomed to eternal condemnation; that without the light of Christ they were doomed to eternal darkness; that without the life of Christ they were doomed to eternal death. This old man knew more than them all. For “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27). No wonder Joseph and Mary “marveled” (2:33) at the words Simeon spoke about their baby. How their hearts must have been filled with pride and joy, but their joy was tempered by the word of prophecy that followed (2:34-35).
1. Simeon prophesies about Jesus’ division of the people: “Behold, this Child is destined to be the cause of the fall and rise of many in Israel” (2:34a). Many would “fall” because of Jesus. They would fall because he would be “a stone of stumbling and rock of offence” (Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:8). He would be a “stumbling block to the Jews” (1 Cor. 1:23a) because they are blinded by their own unbelief and religiosity (2 Cor. 3:13-14), and he would be the object of “foolishness to the Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23b) because they are deceived by their own intellect (Rom. 1:22). And many would “rise” because of Jesus. Those who receive him would rise to become children of God. They will rise from spiritual deadness to eternal life.
2. Simeon prophesies about Jesus’ rejection by the world: “Behold this child is destined… for a sign that will be rejected (spoken against)” (2:34b). He would be “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). He would be the target of all Satan’s attacks. He would be opposed on every side with no one to take pity; betrayed by one disciple and forsaken by all the others; hated by the religious leaders; abandoned by the political powers; failed by the judicial system; rejected by those whom he had blessed. Those who were divided by political animosity became united as friends in opposing and condemning him to death. Those who at one time hailed him as the King coming in the name of the Lord (Matt. 19:38) cried out for his death and the release of a robber instead (Jn. 18:40).
The rejection of Jesus by the world would be to Mary like “a sword piercing (her) own soul” (2:35). Undoubtedly, that’s what she experienced throughout Jesus’ lifetime and finally at the cross. Not only would Jesus be a man of sorrows but Mary, his mother, would be pierced with overwhelming sorrow. We can’t imagine what it must have been like for her at the cross watching her son die and remembering the prophecy of the angels about him: “He shall be great and will be called the son of the highest; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Lk. 1:32-33). We can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for her, trying to fit this puzzle together.
3. Simeon prophesies about Jesus’ revelation of the heart. The result of Jesus’ rejection by the world would be “that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (2:35b). The people’s treatment of Jesus would reveal the innermost hatred and wicked thoughts of their hearts. And that’s exactly what happened when they cried, “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Lk. 19:14).
The coming of Jesus reveals who you truly are. It reveals those who hate the truth and it reveals those who hunger for forgiveness and righteousness. What does the revelation of Jesus reveal about you? “The word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). If your innermost being was exposed for everyone to see, what would it look like? Blackness of sin? Hatred of God? Rejection of the gospel? Or, a cleansed heart? The love of God? The acceptance of the gospel?
Are you for him or against him? Are you one who will stumble and “fall” because of him – one who will curse him, deny him? Or, are you one who will “rise” because of him - rise from death to life; rise from darkness to light?
The first scene in this passage is the birth rites of Jesus. The second scene is the prophecy about Jesus. Now, the third scene is ...
Like Simeon, Anna is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. Isn't it beautiful that the Spirit of God records in Luke’s orderly and clear account the testimony of an old man and an old woman in affirming the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy concerning the Messiah’s appearance in the temple (Mal. 3:1)?
As Simeon is holding the newborn child, along comes Anna. Notice…
She was a prophetess, a blameless, holy woman. This 84 year old woman had been married for seven years and remained a widow for the rest of her life – a very long time (2:36-37a). Undoubtedly during those years as a widow she would have experienced poverty, loneliness, and hardship, but nevertheless she remained devoted to God.
1. Anna served God faithfully. “She did not depart from the temple” (2:37b). Where God was, she wanted to be. Where God’s people were, she wanted to be. The prayer of her life was that of the Psalmist: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple” (Ps. 27:4).
2. Anna worshipped God sacrificially. She served God with “fasting and prayer night and day” (2:37b). In fasting, what little comfort she may have had, she sacrificed for God. And in prayer, she engaged in ongoing communion with God. God was her Father in deed and in truth.
1. Anna’s testimony of thanksgiving to God. “Coming at that hour she began to give thanks to God” (2:38a). Her continuous prayers were finally answered. God had rewarded her lifetime of sacrificial service with the greatest gift she could ever imagine - to see the long looked-for Messiah, to change her faith to sight, to transform her hope into reality.
Remember the teaching of this passage that God is faithful to his people. What a blessing God poured out on this humble, holy woman. Hers must have been joy unspeakable and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8). What an example for us to follow! An example of consistency in spite of calamity, holiness in spite of hardship, prayerfulness in spite of poverty, sacrifice in spite of solitude. Anna is a powerful woman of God. May we all seek to be like her.
2. Anna’s testimony to others. “She began…to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (2:38b). This is the right order isn't it? Her first response is one of thanksgiving to God. Her second response is a testimony to others – a testimony to those with whom she was united in fellowship, those with whom she shared the same hope.
Evidently they used to gather in the temple court. Perhaps they worshipped God together there. Perhaps they prayed together there. Perhaps they spoke of their mutual hope of the coming of the Messiah and their hoped–for redemption (Mal. 3:16-17). Though God had been silent for 400 years, yet he still had a testimony. There was still a faithful remnant of believers who were waiting for redemption. They were marked by faith and hope. They walked by faith not by sight. They lived in hope not despair. They waited patiently not anxiously. They gave sacrificially not selfishly. They longed for the Messiah’s glory not their own well-being.
Doesn’t their character, lifestyle, and attitude speak to us? They looked for redemption in the future, yet we have it already. Just as they looked forward to his first coming, we should look forward to his second coming with hope and certainty. Just as they waited and spoke of their faith and hope in a Savior to come, so we should live and speak of our faith and hope in a Savior who has already come. Just as they longingly waited and watched for the promised Redeemer, so we should longingly and patiently wait and watch for our Savior from heaven, who will complete our redemption (Rom. 8:23).
The family returned to their home in Nazareth (2:39) and “the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him (2:40). Apart from the incident when he was 12 years old (Lk. 2:41-52), this verse is all Luke says about Jesus’ first 30 years or so of life. All we know about those years is that Jesus grew physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually and “the favor of God was upon him.” During these silent years, Jesus was being prepared for the mission for which he came, “to seek and to save those who were lost” (Lk. 19:10).
So comes to an end this beautiful little scene. In Mary and Joseph we see two godly parents with their newborn baby, faithfully fulfilling the birth rites under the law (circumcision and dedication) and marveling at the prophecy of an old man and the testimony of an old woman concerning the destiny of their child. And in Simeon and Anna we see that, no matter how spiritually and morally dark the days may be, God always has a testimony of faithful believers. God is always faithful to his people.
We know now that Simeon’s prophecy has been fulfilled. Jesus is God’s salvation, the Savior of the world. He has brought us the revelation of God so that we can know him. He has fulfilled his destiny. He is the cause of the fall and rise of many. He does reveal the thoughts of every heart. And, yes, a sword of sorrow did pierce Mary’s soul at the cross. And we know that Jesus has fulfilled Anna’s testimony - he has brought redemption to us through the cross.
The question today is are you looking for redemption? Is that your overwhelming need and desire today to know the Savior who has come and who is coming again? By God’s grace, may you see the truth of this passage today and find eternal redemption in Jesus Christ.
On December 23, 1823, The Troy Sentinel newspaper in upstate New York published one of the oldest and most popular Christmas poems. The first few lines of the original lyrics go like this...
“‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danc’d in their heads,
And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.”
And so the poem goes, painting the fictional picture of this idyllic, irenic scene, which was abruptly disrupted by the arrival of old St. Nick, whoever he may be. But the very first Christmas Eve wasn’t like that at all. The very first Christmas Eve must have been an amazing time in heaven. Using our sanctified imaginations, we can visualize the scene when all the preliminary work was finished and everything was ready…
Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias in a vision, announcing to him the wonderful news that his barren wife, Elizabeth, would give birth to a baby boy whose name would be John and who (a) would be great before the Lord, (b) would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and (c) would be used by God to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God (Luke 1:11-19). And sure enough, by the first Christmas Eve, Elizabeth had duly given birth to John, the forerunner of Jesus, the one who would announce in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God... And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Is. 40:3-5; cf. Luke 3:4-6).
Gabriel had made the life-changing announcement to Mary, (a) that she, a virgin, would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear a son, the Holy One, the Son of God whose name would be Jesus (Luke 1:31); (b) that He would be great and would be called the Son of the highest, and the Lord God would give him the throne of his father David (Luke 1:32); (c) that He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:33); (d) that with God nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). To this earth-shattering, history-changing announcement Mary responded to Gabriel in total submission and acceptance with the simple statement, “Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Added to this simple statement of submission and acceptance, Mary expressed her gratitude and worship when she said to Elizabeth, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name” (Luke 1:46-49). And Mary “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
The angel had told Joseph words of assurance in a dream, “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).
As prophesied, Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit and was now ready to deliver her firstborn son.
Joseph and Mary had completed their journey to Bethlehem and were bedded down in the only place they could find for the night, a manger “because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).
The choir of angels was ready to make their angelic announcement to the shepherds. All they were waiting for was the word from Gabriel and they would “wing their flight o’er all the earth.” How do we know that the angels were ready and waiting to burst forth on their long-awaited mission? We know because Hebrews 1:6 says, “When he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’” According to the Christmas carol, “the world in solemn stillness lay” but heaven was ready to erupt in sacred song.
Indeed, the time had come for God to send forth his Son, ”born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). The time had come when the Dayspring from on high, the Messiah, would visit his people (Luke 1:78-79). The time had come when the people who walked in darkness would see a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them light would shine (Isa. 9:2), “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to (God’s) people, Israel (Luke 2:32).
Thus, everything was prepared and ready for the most earth-shattering event ever to occur in world history, an event which would never occur again – the birth of the Son of God. And something else majestic and awe-inspiring happened, not a fictional poetic dialogue about sugar plums dancing and reindeers prancing but what could perhaps be the last conversation recorded in heaven between God the Father and his beloved Son before Jesus came to earth. We find this conversation in Hebrew 10.
The subject of this study is: “Why Jesus came to earth” (Hebrews 10:1-25). The lesson we learn from this passage is that Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice for us, so that by faith in him we could be saved from our sins. This dialogue between the Father and the Son gives two reasons why Jesus came to earth...
The context for this dialogue was the Old Testament sacrifices as required in the Law: “Since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near” (10:1).
1. The Old Testament sacrifices were imperfect and temporary (10:1-4). Prior to the coming of Jesus, the Israelites had offered sacrifices year after year for centuries. But these sacrifices were only “a shadow of the good things to come,” not the reality itself. For the deaths of all those sacrificial animals and the oceans of blood shed were only symbolic (“a shadow”), not the actual reality itself to which they pointed. And because they were only a shadow of the permanent sacrifice for sins that was to come through Jesus, those sacrifices could never make perfect those who offered them, “otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?” (10:2).
In other words, if those sacrifices were efficacious in permanently washing away sins, then the worshippers who offered those sacrifices would have been cleansed from their sins once-for-all; they would no longer have had any consciousness of sins. But they did have a consciousness of sins; that’s why they offered the sacrifices year after year. In fact, rather than washing away their sins, “in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (10:3-4). So, the Old Testament sacrifices required under the Law were imperfect and temporary, but...
2. Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect and permanent (10:5-6). “Consequently, (i.e. because the sacrifices of the Law did not permanently remove the sins of the worshippers), when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure’” (10:5-6). Since this quote from Psalm 40:6-8 could not have referred to David himself, it must have been a prophetic statement concerning Jesus, the coming Messiah. This is what Jesus said to his Father in their conversation, recorded here in Hebrews 10, on, perhaps, that very first Christmas eve. So, what do we learn here?
a) We learn here that Jesus existed prior to his birth. “...when Christ came into the world, he said... (10:5a). How could Jesus speak before he was born? He could speak before he was born because his existence did not begin with his birth to Mary at Bethlehem. Indeed, he had no beginning because he is the eternal Son of God. That’s why Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He had no beginning and he has no end.
Speaking of Jesus pre-incarnate existence, John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1). Then, in his epistle, John adds his personal eye-witness testimony, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us - that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you…” (1 John 1:1-2).
In fact, God the Father himself affirms Jesus’ pre-incarnate existence: “When he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him’” (Hebrews 1:6). How could God the Father make this declaration before Jesus was born? He could make this declaration because Jesus and the Father co-existed from eternity past. Thus, it does not say, “when he created the firstborn” but “when he brings the firstborn into the world.” Jesus came into the world from another world, from his eternal glory with he Father, a glory to which he returned when he ascended back to heaven (John 17:5; 20:17).
This truth about Jesus’ pre-incarnate, eternal existence is so important for us to meditate on during the Christmas season. It is right and proper for us to celebrate Jesus’ birth, but we should always remember that to be born into this world, Jesus willingly left that glorious, perfect existence that he enjoyed with the Father.
b) We learn here that Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament sacrifices. Jesus knew that all the Old Testament sacrifices throughout the previous centuries did not satisfy God’s holy requirements for sin. He said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired” (10:5b). The deaths of all these animals was not what God desired. Someone has said: “What God desires from us is our obedience, not sacrifices to cover our disobedience” (Richard D. Phillips, Hebrews, 338). As Samuel said, “to obey is better than sacrifice and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
True, God had said that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22), but the deaths of these animals did not grant the people permanent forgiveness. Those sacrifices merely reminded them, year after year, of their need for cleansing and forgiveness, that they would die for their sins unless a permanent and acceptable sacrifice could be found. Their sacrifices merely deferred the judgement of God for another year when they would have to do it all over again. Those sacrifices could never permanently wash away sins (10:4). They merely portrayed the reality of God’s holy justice and pointed forward to the one future sacrifice that would fully and permanently satisfy God’s holy requirement.
c) We learn that Jesus came to offer himself to God as the only sufficient and acceptable sacrifice for our sins. The Old Testament sacrifices pointed forward to the incarnation of Christ, to the coming of the Messiah in a human body, a body which God had prepared in the womb of a virgin when she conceived through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, a body which Jesus would sacrifice to God as the one perfect and final sacrifice for our sins.
The coming of Jesus into the world was all planned long before in a past eternity. The plan of salvation was prepared in the eternal counsels of the godhead. This wasn’t “plan B” to be enacted when the Old Testament sacrifices didn’t work. This was how God had ordained it to be. God had “prepared a body” (10:5c) for Jesus in which he would take on human nature (in addition to his divine nature), live a sinless life and ultimately die on the cross. Here’s how the author of Hebrews puts it, “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Hebrew 9:13-14). Christ’s offering of himself on the cross at Calvary was the one sacrifice which could and did permanently satisfy God’s holy requirements for sin on our behalf.
From the start, Jesus’ body was like no other because his birth was like no other. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by the normal union of a man and a woman. Thus, Jesus was born without a sinful nature. He was “holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). Thus, “he has no need, like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself” (Hebrews 7:27). The Bible is clear that Jesus is perfectly sinless and that sin came into the world through Adam’s sin, which corrupted human nature for all subsequent generations, being passed on from one generation to the next by human conception. In other words, every baby born into the world since the sin of Adam is born with an inherited sinful nature. “Just as sin came into the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Romans. 5:12).
So, Jesus’ birth was like no other and his sacrificial death also was like no other. Jesus was the Lamb of God, who “offered himself without blemish to God: (Hebrews 9:14). Thus, his substitutionary death on the cross is the only means of our salvation by faith in him. As John the Baptist pointed out when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
d) We learn that Jesus came to take away our sins forever. He came to offer the one, final, perfect sacrifice for sins, which never has to be repeated and which would forever cleanse from sin those who believe. That’s why Jesus came to earth - to take a human body and offer the perfect, permanent, once-for-all sacrifice, to be the substitute for us in dying the death we deserved. And on that very first Christmas Eve, Jesus said to his Father, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure” (10:5-6).
God took no pleasure in those annual rituals. It wasn’t that the Old Testament Jewish priests were wrong in sacrificing all those animals year after year. It was that they didn’t understand what they stood for. They didn’t understand that their sacrifices merely pointed to the need for a permanent sacrifice for sins, that what they were doing each year pointed forward to the coming of the one perfect and final sacrifice. They didn’t understand the absolute futility of what they were doing, that “every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (10:11). They didn’t understand that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (10:4). What these sacrifices did was remind the people of their sinfulness and of God’s holiness and justice. As the hymn writer, Isaac Watts, wrote in 1709, “Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain, could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away its stain.” So, you ask, what could take our sins away? Isaac Watts’ next verse gives the answer: “But Christ the heavenly Lamb took all our sins away; a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they.”
So, why did Jesus come? He came to fulfill the Old Testament sacrifices. And...
1. Jesus came to do the Father’s will which was prophesied in the Old Testament (10:7-10). “Then I said, ‘Behold I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book’” (10:7). That is why Jesus came – to fulfill the Father’s will. He knew why he had come; he didn’t find out after the fact. He didn’t sort of stumble into it and reluctantly do it. He willingly came to fulfill the Father’s will.
Has any other baby ever known why they came into the world? Has any other baby ever agreed to his or her destiny before they were born? Was any other baby ever born to die for the sins of others? No! But Jesus knew why he had come before he ever came. He came to obediently and willingly do the Father’s will.
By offering himself as a willing sacrifice, he fulfilled God’s will (a) by making possible through his death the salvation of sinners; (b) by offering the only sacrifice which was acceptable to God and which was offered as a substitute for others who deserved to die; (c) by offering himself as the one and only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5); (d) by making it possible for sinners to be reconciled to a holy God (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21); (e) by making it possible for “God to be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26); (f) by redeeming a people for God with whom he will dwell forever (Revelation 21:3); (g) by restoring what sin had taken away – the communion of God with human beings, who were the apex of God’s creation and with whom he desires a relationship.
Jesus came in obedience to do the Father’s will, which had long before been prophesied, as Jesus said on the very first Christmas Eve, “... as it is written of me in the scroll of the book” (10:7b). The Old Testament Scriptures had said this would happen (Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Psalm 22:16-18; Isaiah 53:5-9). The Old Testament Scriptures were clear that all the sacrifices according to the Law would one day be fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, the One who would save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
“8 When he said above, ’You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings’ (which are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, ’See, I have come to do your will’” (10:8-9a). By connecting the reason he came (“to do your will”) with God’s displeasure with sacrifices, burnt offerings, and sin offerings, Jesus makes it clear that he came to earth to set aside once-and-for-all the Old Testament sacrificial rituals and to do the Father’s will in fulfilling Scripture. “He does away with the first (the Old Testament sacrifices) in order to establish the second” (10:9b), God’s perfect will in the sacrifice of himself. And “by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time” (10:10). Jesus came in obedience to do the Father’s perfect will. And the object of the Father’s will was our sanctification. We could never satisfy God’s holy requirement on our own. We needed someone else to pay the price for us.
Sometime ago I read a story about Czar Nicholas I of Russia. Apparently, the czar had a good friend who asked him to provide a job for his son, which the czar did. He appointed his friend’s son to the position of paymaster for a barracks in the Russian army. It turned out that the son was morally weak and soon gambled away nearly all the money entrusted to him. When the word came that the auditors were going to examine his records, the young man despaired, knowing that he was certain to be found out. He calculated the amount he owed, and the total came to a huge debt – one that he could never pay. He decided that the night before the auditors arrived, he would take his gun and end his own life at midnight.
Before going to bed, he wrote out a full confession, listing all he had stolen, and writing underneath it these words, “A great debt. Who can pay?” Then he fell asleep, weary from worry and exertion.
Late that night the czar himself paid a surprise visit to the barracks as was his occasional custom. Seeing a light on, he peered into the room and found the young man asleep with the letter of confession next to him. He read the letter and instantly understood what had happened. He paused for a moment, considering what punishment to impose. Then he bent over, and wrote one word on the paper, and left. Eventually the young man woke up, realizing that he had slept past midnight. Taking his gun, he prepared to kill himself when he noticed that someone had written something on the ledger. Under his words, “A great debt. Who can pay?” he saw one word, “Nicholas.” He was dumbfounded and then terrified when he realized that the czar knew what he had done. Checking his records, he found that the signature was genuine. Finally he settled in his mind that the czar knew the whole story and was willing to pay the debt himself. Resting on the words of his commander-in-chief, he fell asleep. In the morning a messenger came from the palace with the exact amount the young man owed. Only the czar could pay. And he did. (Harry Ironside, cited in Ray Pritchard, “T’was the night before Christmas”).
Only Jesus could pay the debt of our sins – and he did! The offering of the body of Jesus was a once-for-all, never-to-be repeated sacrifice by which we are sanctified, set apart and made fit for a relationship with God. Commenting on the above story, Ray Pritchard writes, “When we look at our sins and realize our hopeless condition, we say, ‘A great debt. Who can pay?’ Then the Lord Jesus Christ steps forward and signs his name to our ledger: ‘Jesus Christ’ – he can pay; and he did!”
Jesus came in obedience to do the Father’s will which was prophesied in the Old Testament, and…
2. Jesus came to do the Father’s will to reconcile us to God (10:17-25). That was God’s purpose in sending his Son into the world. Jesus came to do the Father’s will (a) so that now, God says to those of us who believe, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more” (10:17), (b) so that now we can enter into God’s presence “by a new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh” (10:20); (c) so that now we can “draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (10:22); (d) so that now we can “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (10:23); (e) so that now we can “stir up one another to love and good works” (10:24); (f) so that now we can meet together and encourage one another, “and all the more as you see the Day (of Christ) drawing near” (10:25).
That’s why Jesus came. And we learn all that through a glimpse into what might have been the first Christmas Eve in heaven. We are privileged to listen in on this marvelous divine dialogue in which Jesus declared that he was coming to earth to fulfill the Old Testament sacrifices and to fulfill the Father’s will. And then came Christmas day, when the fullness of time had come, when Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice so that we could be saved forever from our sins, when Gabriel’s announcement 9 months before came to completion, when Mary experienced the birth of her virgin-born son, the very “Son of God” himself, Immanuel, God with us, a birth that was witnessed on earth only by some farm animals and then some shepherds, a birth that was private on earth but witnessed and celebrated in heaven (Hebrews 1:6).
No longer could the angels be constrained but they broke forth as in a “flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:7), “winging their flight o’er all the earth” as the Christmas carol says and appearing to some lowly shepherds, who were watching over their flocks at night, to whom an angel declared the greatest news ever heard on earth: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord... And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased’” (Luke 2:10-14).
At the same time, in a far-eastern land, wise men, who were searching for truth, saw and recognized Jesus’ star and started out on their epic journey to “worship him” (Matthew 2:2). These men undoubtedly represent and were the forerunners of untold millions of Gentiles who over the coming centuries would do the same, come to worship him. That’s what Christmas is all about, worshipping Jesus, our Saviour.
Jesus is worthy of our worship. That’s why he was born, for us to fall down and worship him as cleansed, holy worshippers (Hebrews 10:22), for us to worship him “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
Jesus is worthy of our worship because he fulfilled that once-for-all sacrifice of himself and in so doing fulfilled the Father’s will. He fulfilled the Father’s will at Christmas by being born to a virgin, living a sinless life, dying as a perfect sacrifice at the cross to meet God’s holy requirements for sin, being raised again the third day for our justification, ascending back to heaven where he is glorified, and now he is waiting to complete his work of redemption by taking all who believe to heaven to be with him forever.
The theme of this study, that I stated at the beginning, is that Jesus came to be the perfect sacrifice for us, so that by faith in him we could be saved from our sins. The question is: “Have you been obedient to God’s will in trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior, turning to him in faith? Do you truly worship him?” That’s what Christmas is ultimately about. Christmas isn’t about quaint songs about the world lying in “peaceful stillness” or imaginative carols about the “little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.” And it certainly isn’t about the night before Christmas when stockings are hung by the fire awaiting a visit from the fictional “old Saint Nick.” No! Christmas is about the coming of the Savior of the world to save his people from their sins, thus to give us peace with God and the privilege of worshipping him now and forever.