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The Message of Christmas: Christ’s Coming (2 of 4)
Who is Jesus?
John 1:1-5, 14; 2 John 7
1 John 4:14 (ESV) –
“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Think about pictures that are zoomed in and those that are zoomed out. When you zoom out you see a lot but not the small details. When we zoom in, we see lots of details but only a small portion of the overall picture.
Christmas Carol – What Child is this?
What Child is this, who, laid to rest,
On Mary's lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
Christmas Carol – What Child is this?
This, this is Christ, the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!
A little over 2,000 years ago the angelic host announced the Savior’s birth to the shepherds in the fields surrounding Bethlehem.
Luke 2:15-16 (ESV) –
“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.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.”
The shepherds said – ...this thing that has happened... which leaves us asking – What happened? After seeing this close up we’re zooming out by turning to first verses of John.
Remember the question – What Child is this?
John 1:1-5 (ESV) –
“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. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 1:14 (ESV) –
“And 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.”
To understand the significance of Christ’s coming we need to look back before creation. This confronts us with His identity as God and compels us to see the earth-shattering significance of the miracle of the incarnation. The word (capital ‘W’) became flesh!
1. To grasp the glorious significance of Christmas we need to go back to the beginning.
The story of Christmas is much bigger than Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, right away we come to the words – In the beginning was the Word…
John 1:1-2 (ESV) –
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God.”
EFCA Statement of Faith: Article 1 –
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
God the Son, the second person of the Trinity (the Word) has always been, is and will always be fully God! The Word was with God and the Word was God back before the beginning began. This is essential – There was never a time when He was not!
To answer the question – Who is Jesus? Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 zoom in on Jesus’s birth while John 1 zooms out and looks at the big picture.
John 1:14 (ESV) –
“...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.”
The Word is God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word has always been, is and will always be fully God. We’re looking at the Eternity and Deity of Jesus. And next, we see the truth that the Word is the agent of creation.
John 1:3 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
Hebrews 1:2 (ESV) –
“…but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
Colossians 1:16 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
This claim is vitally important – Everything except God has been created and except for God nothing has existed eternally!
We can ultimately believe – In the beginning was the Word... Or we can believe – In the beginning were the Particles…
If we choose – In the beginning was the Word… we’re acknowledging that we are accountable to our Creator and He has a purpose to our lives – Our purpose and aim is to know and glorify God!
1647 Westminster Shorter Catechism
Question 1: What is the chief end of man?
Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.
If we choose – In the beginning were the Particles… we’re saying that we’re product of random and meaningless forces, nothing more than a cosmic coincidence.
We’re either accountable to our Creator who rightfully deserves our worship or there no ultimate meaning. Everything rides on what these verses proclaim. Ask – Which do I believe? In the beginning the Word or the Particles?
John 1:4-5 (ESV) –
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
John 5:26 (ESV) –
“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”
John 8:12 (ESV) –
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The world is a place of sinful rebellion against God but we mustn’t despair, Jesus Christ has overcome the world. The darkness did not and it cannot overcome the one who is Himself – the light of the world!
2. The miracle of the incarnation.
John 1:14 (ESV) –
“And 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.”
Remember the shepherds saying – Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened... Verse 14 turns our gaze to what happened.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us and the word dwelling echoes the Old Testament Tabernacle where God dwelled with His people at the center of their camp.
John 1:18 (ESV) –
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”
If we want to know who God is, we need to look to Jesus, we need to look to the Word (capital ‘W’) became flesh. How important is this? It’s absolutely essential!
2 John 7 (ESV) –
“For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
God has supremely revealed Himself through sending His Son. The Eternal Son of God took to Himself a human nature.
EFCA Statement of Faith: Article 4 –
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
John 1:1 (ESV) –
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:14 (ESV) –
“And 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.”
All of this drives us to the essential question – Why did God become man? This question was famously posed about 1,000 years ago in Latin by Anslem of Canterbury – Cur Deus Homo.
John 3:16-17 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Why did God become man? The answer is to save. God the Father sent His only Son into the world to save us. The purpose of the incarnation is salvation.
Ask yourself – Have I grasped the significance of Christ’s coming?
Luke 2:10-11 (ESV) –
“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. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Talk of a Savior implies that someone is in peril needing to be saved and the Bible is perfectly clear, that’s all of us. Jesus came to meet our most fundamental need, to save us from our sins.
God has identified with us and He never wonders what we’re facing feels like, He understands – …the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… Jesus came to this sin-sick world to be raised in a relatively poor family, from an out of the way town.
John 1:46 (ESV) –
“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
A barrier for a lot of people to receiving Christ is the feeling that God doesn’t understand our struggles and heartaches but we must Biblically insist this is absolutely not the case.
Ask – How do I personally need to respond to the glorious news of Christ’s coming?
Romans 6:23 (ESV) –
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We’re sinners deserving death and we’re unable to self-rescue and all of this leads to the questions – What’s my response to the Savior? Am I a committed follower of Jesus Christ?