Why Did Jesus Become a Man?

5 Reasons Jesus Came to Earth

Introduction:

Every year we see the stores start stocking the shelves with Christmas decorations earlier and earlier. Inez and I like to start decorating for Christmas in October. We don’t care too much for Halloween, but we like to go ahead and put our Nativity scene out so that when the kids do come and get candy, they will be presented with Mary, Joseph, and our Lord Jesus. It's a small thing, but the kids remind us when they say things like, “It's never too early for Jesus” that we are on the right track.

The commercials start preparing people for Black Friday and the buying season. The commercials really are quite something with ads like Lexus’s December to Remember, and for me, you just can’t beat the Publix commercials. They really know how to pull at your heartstrings. They get me every time. I can spot that it is a Publix commercial before they even announce it.

It's also a time when we sing songs and put up lights. We might venture to Jekyll Island to see the wonderful decorations or down to Jacksonville. We might go see the Lewis Lights in Hortense. Everyone sees Christmastime as a time of celebration, even the world that doesn't understand its purpose celebrates!

There is so much busyness and chaos that we can lose sight of what is really important, what Christmas is all about, and why it had to happen the way that it did.

There is so much more to this story than just the birth of a child in Bethlehem.

This was a moment of fulfillment! It was the culmination of hundreds of years of prophecy. The Old Testament is rich with the foretelling of the coming Messiah. They described more than just His coming but even how, where, and to whom. They even described His life and death.

This is a story that didn't just start the day Jesus was born, it started in the Garden of Eden.

This is also a story of God’s people and how they needed a Savior, one who would be The Sacrifice for their sins. It’s a story of our need! It’s the story of Salvation.

The Christmas story is rich with imagery! Let your mind imagine Mary, a young girl being visited by an Angel and being told that she would give birth to the Savior of the World. Imagine Joseph being mocked and ridiculed by the locals for being with a woman who was pregnant before they got married. Imagine him being faithful to a wife he had not gotten to know intimately yet.

Imagine the journey they would have to take all the while Mary was expecting. Imagine the scene as they enter the busy city, and there is nowhere for them to go. Imagine the scene as the Promised Messiah is born as a human child in an outdoor manger. And look who God announces it to first: lowly shepherds. Imagine the Angel coming and making the announcement and the heavenly hosts joining along in songs.

Oh wow, what a scene, and indeed how wonderful a season. Truly the most wonderful time of the year!

Today we ask the question: Why did Jesus become a man?

Here are 5 reasons Jesus came to Earth:

1. Jesus Became a Man to Satisfy the Prophecies of the Old Testament

Luke 24:44 “Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

It's a wonderful scene as there were 2 disciples walking toward Emmaus. Jesus came along with them, and they were talking about all that had happened. Jesus began showing them in all the Scriptures how they pointed to Him and what had to happen.

He revealed himself as they asked him to stay and eat. As he broke the bread, they recognized him. Then he went and appeared to the other disciples. They were in awe and didn't really know what to think. Jesus had to remind them that what happened was necessary. it had to happen, making the prophecies true.

Dr. David Jeremiah states that we could almost write a complete theology of the person of Jesus from the Old Testament alone.

Every page from Genesis to Malachi anticipates Jesus’ coming.

The prophetic books were written by different people and over many centuries, yet throughout them, there are glimpses of the Savior. There are more than 300 specific prophecies.

Isaiah spoke about the birth of the Christ Child hundreds of years beforehand:

Isaiah 7:14 “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”

Micah predicted some very specific details:

Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”

Not only did Micah predict where He would be born, but also that He was from the distant past. We know that John wrote, that Jesus was here in the beginning. John 1:1 “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Look what Jeremiah prophesied about the murder of all the infants:

Jeremiah 31:15 “This is what the Lord says: “A cry is heard in Ramah— deep anguish and bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted— for her children are gone.””

We see this fulfilled here:

Matthew 2:16–18 “Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A cry was heard in Ramah— weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.””

A mathematician calculated that the possibility of all of the prophecies being fulfilled in one person is 1 in 83 million. Yet more than 300 of them came to fruition in Jesus.

Jesus came to Earth to satisfy prophecies!

2. Jesus Became a Man to Show Us the Father

John 14:8–9 “Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?”

Jesus was the incarnation of God Himself. If you want to know who God is, you have to know Jesus.

When you see Jesus and the work that He did, you are seeing God at work.

Do you want to know God, then get to know Jesus. As he, himself states:

John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Not only did Jesus come to Earth to satisfy prophecy and show us the Father,

3. Jesus Became a Man to Save Us From Our Sins

1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.”

The world and everyone in it has adopted the curse of sin. Not only have we adopted it, we have embraced it and are partakers ourselves.

There is no way for us to save ourselves. The sick cannot heal themselves, they must go to someone else.

We had to have a perfect sacrifice to save us. We had to have a substitute. We needed the God-Man to save us. And that is what He did!

Jesus was both God and Man. With one hand, he took hold of the Father, and with the other, He reached down and took hold of man. At the cross, He brought them together in a wonderful reconciliation.

He stretches His hands toward anyone who will come today and says salvation is yours!

Without Jesus, all of humanity is on a downward spiral into total depravity and endless darkness and despair.

But, Praise the Lord that He made a way, and gave us a life and the truth.

Jesus came to forgive us of our sins.

4. Jesus Became a Man to Sympathize With Our Weaknesses

Hebrews 4:15–16 “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”

How is it that you can go to Jesus with all of your cares, and He listens? It’s because He has already experienced it.

Someone who needs to go to a recovery program for drugs or alcohol can’t take advice from someone who has no idea what they are going through. Reformed addicts make great counselors because they know and have experienced cold sweats and withdrawals.

Jesus can deal with anything you go through!

I love this story from Pastor Chuck Swindoll:

EVERY YEAR, as Christmas draws nearer, I remember a story Paul Harvey told on one of his radio broadcasts. It's a tale that never grows old.

One raw winter night the man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass. Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn door for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights, tossed some hay in a corner, and sprinkled a trail of saltine crackers to direct them to the barn. But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, still hid in the darkness, afraid of him. He tried various tactics: circling behind the birds to drive them toward the barn, tossing crumbs in the air toward them, retreating to his house to see if they would flutter into the barn on their own. Nothing worked. He, a huge, alien creature, had terrified them; the birds could not understand that he actually desired to help. He withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window. As he stared, a thought hit him like lightning from a clear blue sky: if only I could become a bird—one of them—just for a moment. Then I wouldn't frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety. At the same moment, another thought dawned on him. He had grasped the whole principle of the incarnation.

A man becoming a bird is nothing compared to God becoming a man.

God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. ROMANS 5:8

The idea of a sovereign Being as big as the universe He created, confining Himself to a human body was—and is—too much for some to believe.

Christmas comes each year to draw people in from the cold. Like frightened sparrows, so many live their lives on the barren branches of heartbreak, disappointment, and loneliness.

That's why Jesus came.

Jesus came to Earth to 1. satisfy prophecy, 2. Show us the Father, 3. Save us from our sins, 4. Sympathize with our weaknesses but also:

Jesus Became a Man to Secure Our Hope of Heaven

Colossians 1:27 “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

I have been to many funerals and been by the beside of many people ready to take their last breath. There is a misconception that when a person dies, their pain and suffering stop and they automatically go to heaven.

That is not true!

That is true if you have accepted Jesus’ offer of salvation.

Heaven is a real place. It's a place that Hollywood has tried to hijack and describe. Please do not be fooled, it is a place written about by the One who lives there. It is reserved for those whose names have been written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. There is but one way to get there:

John 14:6 “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

You can choose life today!

Today is the day for you to make that commitment and follow Jesus. Will you listen to Him calling you and reaching out to you today? We would love to meet you at these altars and pray with you.

Maybe you’re here today and just need to get things right with God. These altars are a place of healing. Come and let the Holy Spirit touch you today.

God wants to meet you here, will you meet Him here?

At this time, I want us to reflect on where we are as we prepare the elements for communion. You can take peel back the top film, exposing the wafer and then the juice.

The altars are open. Respond however the Lord is leading you today. Let's spend some time praying, and then we can come back, and I want to bless you.