The Life of the Savior

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt helpless?

Last time, we talked about the sinfulness of humanity. Even the major characters in God’s story, the ancestors of Jesus, we see in the OT fall into sin. Terrible sin! We are not capable of living righteously before God and because of that we can not have a relationship with Him, without some help.

Because of his love, God has provided for us a Savior who did all that we couldn’t in our place.

pray

His life was anticipated

OT told us God would provide a Savior. It was always the plan. Matt 1:1

They knew that something was broken that couldn’t be fixed before Jesus. Those who were listening also knew that God, through the prophets, had promised to send a Messiah, a Savior, who would fix it. Imagine the anticipation that so many of them lived with, looking forward to that day.

For all but two weekends a month I was an only child. Kristen used to tell me a lot that she could tell, but I haven’t heard that in a while so maybe I’ve gotten better! But being an only child can be boring a lot of the time. So when I would have a friend coming over, or going over to a friend’s house, I was always really eager for them to come and save me from my boredom. I’d be watching out of the window, not sitting there like a puppy, but keeping an eye out! I knew that entertainment and fun was on the way.

The prophets had been telling the Israelites, God’s people, that God was sending someone to save them. Their excitement and anticipation I’m sure was way more than mine was waiting on a friend!

There are so many OT prophecies about the arrival of Jesus and the things that He would do. One of the clearest about his birth comes from… Micah 5:2-5

Micah 5:2–5 ESV

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men;

If you feel like you’ve been living your life waiting on something, the first place you need to check is with Jesus. Nothing will satisfy like Him! And if you do know Him, we are looking forward with anticipation now to his second coming and to when He brings restoration to creation, when He will make all things new. We live our lives in light of this, motivated by this promise.

The Israelites were looking forward to His arrive in the OT, but we can now look back and know that Jesus is the Savior that God was promising. We know that because He fulfilled the prophecies, we know that because of the life that He lived.

His life was miraculous

Start to finish, His life was miraculous! The power of God was on display.

His birth was miraculous.

He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit. If you don’t know what that means, I’m not going to explain it anymore right now, you can ask whoever picks you up tonight. Just don’t ask your phone. Just know that He was born unlike any other human. Matt 1:18-23

John 1:1-3, 14 ;This is Jesus, the second person of the Godhead who has been from eternity past… and he has stepped into humanity, taken humanity on Himself.

Think for a second about the significance of this. The Creator of the universe, of Earth, of humanity, was in Heaven observing creation. The Father said they need you, you need to leave here and go there. He said, “I know, I’ll go.” And He put on humanity. Think about that step down.

We have a preschool at our church. It’s right over there, a short walk from the office I work in every day. They’ve got some babies in that pre-school. What if I saw those babies one day and said, “These babies need some help. I shall become one of them!” I put on a onesie. Got a binky. Put on a diaper. And I went in there! That’s quite the condescension, a big step down. Nothing compared to our God putting on flesh.

Philippians 2:7 ESV

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

From his birth, it was clear that He was a man, but He wasn’t just another man. His life continued to be miraculous.

He performed miracles.

His miracles pointed to his identity, to his identity as God. Like when He walked on water and made his claim to deity. Matt 14:22-27

He did things no mere human could do, controlled things only God could control…

Colossians 1:19 ESV

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

Colossians 2:9 ESV

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

When we see all He did, we can believe, we must believe, that Jesus is the Son of God, God in the flesh, come down from Heaven to save his people! All who call on his name.

He is fully God and fully man. Human so that He can be our representative, stand in our place. God so that He was able to keep the law. In the only position to live the life that needed to be lived…

His life was sinless

He committed no sin, doing what we are unable to do in our place.

Matt 27:23

Luke 23:22 ESV

A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.”

This is essential because, to be our representative, He had to be one of us, go through what we went through.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

He had to be without sin because the sacrifice for sin must be sinless. Peter talked about what it took to rescue God’s people,

1 Peter 1:19 ESV

but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Next time we’ll talk more about that sacrifice. But tonight, understand that our God left Heaven and took on flesh to live a human life so that He could save us because of the great love with which He loved us. If you have not put your faith in this great God, do so tonight…