The Miracle of the Message
Notes
Transcript
Miracle on 34th Street
The miracle of the message! Kris Kringle communicated in a way the girl understood. He was able to speak her language. Hebrews 1:1-2
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
God sent Jesus to communicate His message in a way that we can understand! The miracle of the message is that God speaks to us today so that we can know Him and draw near to Him!
I. God has always been speaking, sometimes His Words are lost in Translation.
I. God has always been speaking, sometimes His Words are lost in Translation.
Interpreters
God has been speaking throughout history to reveal Himself to us. He wants us to know Him, to love Him, to worship Him. God reveals Himself through His creation, through the sunrise and sunset, through the sun, moon and stars.
God spoke to Moses in the burning bush.
He spoke to the Israelites from the smoke and fire on the mountain.
He spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice.
Isaiah in a vision in the temple.
God spoke to Hosea through his family circumstances.
Amos in a basket of summer fruit.
He spoke to Jeremiah through a potter's clay and to Joseph through dreams.
God even spoke His message through a donkey!
God has been speaking His message through visions and dreams, through angels, through Urim and Thummim, through symbols, natural events, and many other means. He could reveal Himself in Ur of the Chaldees, in Haran, or Canaan or Egypt or Babylon. There is no lack of variety for God's revelation is not a monotonous activity that must always occur in the same place or the in the same way. God has been speaking throughout history in a variety of places through a variety of means in order to make Himself and His will known.
Prior to the coming of Christ there had been 400 years of silence. Since the prophet Malachi last uttered his messages from God, there had been no prophets until John the Baptist arrived. God's revelations in the Old Testament were fragmentary, occasional, and progressive, because no single one of them contained the whole truth. They could not adequately capture the full picture of God's nature.
God had been speaking, but people weren't getting the message. They didn't understand God's heart. They didn't understand God's plan. Too many claimed to be speaking for God but they only misrepresented Him to others. Confusion, not understanding, resulted.
II. The Miracle of the Message: God speaks through His Incarnate Son
II. The Miracle of the Message: God speaks through His Incarnate Son
God sent His Son to bring His message to us! In the Lord Jesus Christ, God revealed Himself directly to us. It is true that God revealed Himself through the words spoken by Jesus, through His message, but He did more than that. Jesus Christ is the living, divine Son of God. He did more than just proclaim God's message - He is God's message.
2. Jesus came to reveal God, to make Him known to us in ways that we can understand. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say of Jesus in verse 3, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." John's Gospel describes Jesus as the Word becoming flesh and living among us. If you want to know what God is like, look to Jesus!
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
30 I and My Father are one.”
18 No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
III. The Miracle of the Message: God speaks to transform us!
III. The Miracle of the Message: God speaks to transform us!
The miracle of the message is not just in the fact that God speaks to us today through His Son, but that the message has the power to transform our lives. Christmas is the celebration of the greatest message ever proclaimed.
God is with us. God came near so that we could draw near to Him.
6 He gave himself as ransom-payment for everyone. Now is the proper time for God to give the world this witness.
The miracle of the message is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Jesus came so that God could reveal Himself and His plan to us in a way that we could understand. Jesus came to proclaim God's message that we can be set free from sin's hold on our lives.
Why would He do that? Because He wanted us to know how very much He loves us. He wanted us to know that He created us for a reason - that we might know and love Him. He came to proclaim the message that we have been set free. We don't have to live as prisoners to guilt and regret.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Some of you this past year have received messages that have certainly changed your life.
"It's cancer."
You heard the message from your teenager, "I'm pregnant."
You heard the message from your spouse, "I don't love you anymore, I want a divorce." As a result of the message your life has changed.
But in the midst of all, there is another message. "Nothing whatsoever can ever separate you from my love." He speaks, "Trust in Me with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge me, and I will direct your paths."
In the midst of life's betrayals and bitter messages He whispers, "Forgive those who mistreat you."
In the midst of life's messages of joy and celebration He shouts, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad!"
The miracle of Christmas is the miracle of the message - God loves you and me! Are you listening? Believe the message God is speaking to you and your life will never be the same!
Quickly, he put on a coat and galoshes and he tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light so the birds would know the way in. But the birds did not come in.
So, he figured that food would entice them. He hurried back to the house and fetched some bread crumbs. He sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail of bread crumbs to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs.
The birds continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them but could not. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction ... every direction except into the warm lighted barn.
And that’s when he realized they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Any move he made tended to frighten them and confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
He thought to himself, if only I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe warm ... to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see ... and hear ... and understand.
At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind.
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
