Sermon Tone Analysis

Main Idea

The purpose of the manger was the cross.

Merry Christmas!

Today, we get to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

Unfortunately, we were unable to meet last night.

My goal was to briefly show how the Jewish people had been waiting for this day for hundreds of years, surveying a few key prophecies in scripture that pointed to the coming of the Messiah - both to his birth and to his life - all the while bearing witness to the perseverance they held throughout the centuries.

All of this culminates at Jesus’ birth and its true purpose - a coming King to rule and a Savior to redeem his people.

Today, I want to zoom in and look at this event in more detail.

This first advent is also called the incarnation, meaning, God became human in the person of Jesus Christ.

Just as we give gifts to one another on Christmas Day, so today, we celebrate the greatest gift… the ultimate gift: God gave His very own Son.

Let’s look at this gift up close so we can better appreciate its beauty and significance.

Let’s look at the wrapping, wonder at it’s uniqueness and marvel at how it connects to what’s contained inside.

Seeing how these two parts of the gift - the wrapping on the outside and the contents on the inside - will give us a great understanding of what the incarnation really is.

And, as we unwrap it piece by piece, we will see how it applies to us today.

Outline & Passage

I - What happened?

II - Why did it happen?

I - What happened?

1. God became human

The incarnation happened.

Again, the word incarnation literally means “becoming flesh” in Latin.

The theological reality behind this word is that the eternal God, specifically the 2nd person of the Trinity, stepped into His creation and became a human being.

We see this stated pretty clearly in John’s gospel:

Of course, there is more to this, but that is what it means at the basic level.

This is further verified by the way in which God became a human.

2. The virgin gave birth

Jesus came into this world as a human by miraculous means and is the only one in human history to do so.

This is important because Jesus couldn’t have been born by normal means.

If he was born via natural relations between a husband and wife, he would be fully human and not divine.

He also didn’t appear out of thin air either, because then he wouldn’t be human at all.

Instead, he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and birthed through a human mother who was sexually pure.

In this way, Jesus is fully God (having been born from above) and fully man (having been born of a human mother).

He wasn’t a hybrid: 1/2 God and 1/2 man like Hercules, or some random ratio of the two.

He didn’t lose any of his divinity when he stepped out of His heavenly dwelling, and the fullness of His deity didn’t diminish his humanity.

That precious, tiny baby lying in the animal’s feeding trough was 100% God and 100% human.

So, putting these few verses together, we can see the testimony of scripture is that God put on human flesh by miraculous means.

The eternal Word of God [Logos in the Greek] became human, but not only that, he also dwelt among us.

The word dwelt in this verse literally means tabernacled among us, which paints a vivid picture of the Jews in the wilderness and how God dwelt among them by making his dwelling place in the tabernacle (which was their mobile temple).

That is a beautiful picture of the incarnation and an intentional bit of imagery from John because he knew his audience well.

We know that God cannot be contained by any part of His creation.

We are told that the earth is His footstool, for example.

Yet, in the Old Testament, we see a clear picture of His glory descending physically into and filling the tabernacle, dwelling with the Israelites in the wilderness.

Likewise, God came and tabernacled among the 1st century Jews… not in the temple of wood and stone, but of the temple of the flesh.

As we will see as we go along, it is essential that we see this and understand the truth that it is God himself who stepped down from heaven, into his own creation as the anticipated Messiah.

3. The long-awaited Messiah has arrived

The virgin-born child was a son, and this son was given many names, one being the Mighty God.

And this child has governmental authority.

He is a King who will reign throughout the ages on the throne of David:

Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV)

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

But being an authoritative King isn’t His only role.

He also serves as a Savior.

Isaiah details this role in chapter 53 of his book.

Isaiah 53:5–6 (ESV)

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This aspect of the Messiah wasn’t as anticipated as His kingly and conquering attributes, as you can imagine, but it does speak to His ability to save, which is found in many other prophecies of scripture.

Regardless of their inability to fully grasp the suffering aspect of their Messiah, The Jewish people faithfully waited for centuries because they believed that one day, this mysterious, anointed leader would rescue them from their oppressors, remove their guilt, and rule over them as their eternal King.

And finally on the first Christmas morning, at long last, this Savior had come.

Freedom was within their grasp!

This is the meaning of the incarnation.

This is the significance of the baby in the manger.

This is who had finally arrived on the scene.

This is why the Wise Men traveled so far to see Him, the shepherds in the field could joyfully engage with the angelic worship service, Simeon could go to his grave in peace by having seen God’s salvation, and the prophetess Anna could be full of Joy while looking at this child because she was looking at the very redemption of Jerusalem!

God had come to rescue His people in person!

All of this is to answer the question, WHAT.

We’ve inspected the gift’s wrapping piece by piece, but, we can’t fully appreciate the value of this gift until we understand why it was given the way it was given.

II - Why did it happen like this?

It’s not enough to have a head knowledge to comprehend what it is.

For it to have any effect on our lives, we must also understand why.

Not necessarily why it happened in general, but more specifically, why it happened the way it happened.

The answer to this question wasn’t so well known to the 1st Century Jews.

They actually had a false expectation of what this Messiah would accomplish, and I don’t want us to fall into the same error.

They thought He would be a military ruler who would overthrow Rome and establish His own kingdom in Jerusalem as if Israel would be the next global superpower after Rome, and that misunderstanding muddied their thinking and kept many from accepting Jesus as the Messiah.

Since he didn’t fit the mold they had created for themselves, He was rejected.

Answering the question of why it happened the way that it happened will keep us from that error, and to help us grasp the answer, I want to offer three main reasons why the incarnation occurred the way it did.

1.

To be made like us

First, Jesus had to be made like you and me in order to save you and me.

The author of Hebrews goes into much detail on this, but below are two main verses that sum it up pretty well:

Do you see how both passages reference a High Priest?

In their day, a High Priest represented the nation before God.

The High Priest brought the sin offerings to the temple on behalf of the people.

He was their advocate and representative as a Jew from among the Jews.

Jesus, likewise, is our High Priest, but was unique in that he was both the Offerer and the offering.

The author of Hebrews further explains how the blood of bulls and goats (the sacrificial offering) was never sufficient to cover all sin, but only that current sin.

So, you smash your thumb with a hammer, spew a string of expletives, and therefore sin.

Your offering covers that instance and only that one.

If you hit your thumb and cuss again, another animal goes down.

Jesus, however, was the ultimate offering of a sinless human to cover the sins of all those who put their faith in him.

How?

a.

He was the offering.

He lived as we live.

As a human being, He was made like us in every way, tempted in every way, just like we are… but unlike us, He never sinned, and was therefore blameless and innocent.

That means, He was the unblemished version of humanity that was the only appropriate sacrifice to satisfy God’s wrath.

b.

He was the Offerer.

Experiencing life as we live it (save the sinning part), makes Him the only High Priest who can fully sympathize with us.