Why Christmas, Pt. 4 - The Savior

Three weeks ago we began this Christmas sermon series with asking the question - Why Christmas?.....or in other words, why do we still even need Christmas? And we began our journey by considering the events of early human history that took place in the Garden of Eden, specifically the Fall of man as described in Genesis 3. And from the Fall and the events that ensued as a direct consequence of the Fall, we’ve taken a systematic look at how God has since responded to the sin of man by passionately pursuing man and systematically creating a way back into fellowship with him.

In part 2, the beginnings of that plan by God were seen in the OT Law, particularly in the Jewish sacrificial system through which man could experience some kind of meaningful fellowship and connection with the Lord, albeit temporary and partial in many ways. However, as we learned in that message, the Old Covenant and the OT Law were designed simply to point to the coming of the Messiah who would fulfill the Law and the Prophets and therefore establish a better covenant and a permanent bridge between God and man.

And then it was in part 3, which we went through last Sunday, in which we examined some of the OT prophecies and promises that spoke about the nature and the mission of this Messiah, even going so far as to describe the location of his birth. Well, I’m happy to announce that today we will finally come to be able to more fully comprehend and hopefully communicate to the unbelieving world why we need Christmas, by looking at the very birth and life of Messiah Jesus - who is the seed of the woman spoken of in Genesis 3:15, .....who is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets,.....and who is also the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace spoke of in Isaiah 9:6-7.

So today, we’re going to highlight 5 distinct points of the life and ministry of Jesus - beginning with his birth, which is theologically referred to as the incarnation. Then we’ll move to his exhortation.....his humiliation.....his crucifixion.....and lastly.....his resurrection - all of which will help us remember the accuracy and relevance of the popular saying - Jesus is the Reason for the Season - and more specifically.......why we even need the Christian, biblical concept of Christmas.

So getting right into it, we begin with #1 in your outlines.....The incarnation of Jesus. From the very beginning of Creation of mankind, Adam, and eventually Eve, enjoyed uninhibited, unadulterated fellowship and relationship with the Creator God. And as we know, the fundamental consequence of sin is separation from God. God is perfectly holy, and therefore cannot have sin in His presence. And for thousands of years to follow, man faced the uphill battle of trying to make his way up to God. They tried to build a tower up to heaven, but God put an end to that. Then man tried to work his way to God by following the laws and ordinances, only to be reminded of how sinful he really was.

But God had a better plan, a plan that did not require mortal man to approach the divine, but rather the divine to approach mortal man. And therefore, God, in the person of Jesus Christ - the second person of the Holy Trinity, came down to man, as a man. Eternal and infinite deity took on the flesh of his own creation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. This is exactly what was foretold by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 7:14. In the late 8th century BC, the kingdom of Judah was experiencing a conflict with the Syrian-Israelite coalition who wanted to remove King Ahaz from the throne of Judah and to pressure the kingdom to join them in their opposition of the Assyrian Empire. And so in comes the prophet Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that the throne of David would not be defeated, and that a sign would be given by the Lord to reassure the people of Judah that the successor of David’s throne would eventually come. And its in this context that Isaiah announces, (SLIDE) “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Though this would have had a direct meaning in the context of Isaiah reassuring the King that Yahweh would be faithful to deliver Judah from its present predicament, it also pointed to the day that God himself would become incarnate. A virgin shall conceive a son, who would be called “Immanuel”, which literally means God with us. And its Matthew’s gospel that ties this prophecy ultimately to the birth of Jesus in Matthew 1. If you remember the story, the angel Gabriel visited Joseph in a dream after he had discovered that his betrothed, Mary, was with child. And in Matthew 1:20–23, we read of the angelic pronouncement (SLIDE), “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

So it was in the incarnation of Jesus Christ that God came to man, simply because man could never reach God. If you recall the tabernacle, and then the temple, the presence of God was in the midst of man to some extent, but there were always limitations to that presence. But now, in Christ, those limitations would become obsolete. Remember what we read in John 1:14 (SLIDE) “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.” That word dwelt is literally the word tabernacled, or tented. John is using this specific word as an allusion with which his Jewish audience would have been very familiar. The tabernacle, or the tent of meeting, and later the Holy of Holies in the temple, marked the location of God’s presence amongst men. Well, now that presence was in the flesh, representing not only the incarnation of God, but of the fullness of his grace and truth as well.

If we want to know what God’s grace looks like.....or what God’s truth really means to communicate, we need to go no further than Jesus himself. He is the embodiment of God’s grace and truth. In the past, God revealed Himself and His will through the Law and through the types and shadows connected to the ceremonial sacrificial system. He also revealed His will and “spoke” to His people through the OT prophets. But that all changed with the incarnation of Christ, of whom John describes in (SLIDE) John 1:4–5 “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.” And then again in verse (SLIDE) John 1:9 “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” The writer of Hebrews also established in (SLIDE) Hebrews 1:1–2 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 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.”

God’s word, God’s grace, and God’s truth materialized and became manifest through the incarnation of Christ. And this is why Christmas is so necessary, because its the acknowledgment and celebration of this very fact. In every other world religion, man must figure out a way to get to God. But only in biblical Christianity does God make His way to man. But it doesn’t stop there, and thank God it doesn’t

(SLIDE) 2. The exhortation of Jesus.

As I just pointed out, Jesus Christ is the fleshly embodiment of God’s grace and truth, and we see that throughout his ministry as he exhorts those who would listen that the kingdom of God was at hand....that people needed to repent, and to believe in the gospel. Modern scholars and Tik-Tok philosophers and theologians want us to believe that Jesus was simply a good, moral teacher at best, but more like a guru of love and acceptance, and certainly not the divine Son of God. Yet Jesus frequently confronted people on their sin.....he never shied away from pointing out the sheer hypocrisy of the religious legalists, and his message was steeped in faith and repentance.

In fact, Jesus never makes this more clear than in his teaching recorded in Luke 4:17–19 (SLIDE) “And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”” Here, Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1–2 (SLIDE) “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

You see, Jesus’ primary proclamation was of good news to the poor. This was fundamentally the preaching of the gospel. Which was for the poor, but not the financially poor, but the spiritually poor. He says as much in Matthew 5:3 (SLIDE) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The poor in the spirit recognize their spiritual poverty, that they’re spiritually bankrupt left to themselves, and therefore they are in dire need of a Savior. And its this Savior alone who can bring true and lasting liberation to those held captive in their sin and shame, who are spiritually oppressed by the demonic forces of the world. Its this Savior who can give sight to those who are spiritually blinded by their sin and by the cares of this world, especially the sin of pride that says “I can do this on my own”, and the fleshly desires of the human heart that are opposed to God.

This is why we need Christmas, because this holiday is fundamentally a gospel proclamation. So when those of us in the church get caught up in the world’s definitions and characterizations of Christmas -with all the various festivities and activities that aren’t necessarily bad, yet are devoid of the gospel, we weaken and cheapen this holiday. The first Christmas was an exhortation of peace and joy.....of faith and repentance.....of good news that was for all people. And when the people of God keep the Son of God at the center of our worship and celebrations and activities this time of year, we join with the angels and the shepherds and the faithful of the last 2,000 years who rightly recognize what this season is all about and why the world needs this message.

But we have to remember that its not a message of empty words and promises. Jesus didn’t just exhort those listening with flattering or impressive words, but never back them up with action. In fact, the only reason why his exhortations of good news had any lasting impression in peoples’ lives was because he gave meaning to his words through how he lived his life and ultimately gave his life for those he loved. So every miracle.....every healing.....every rebuke of the religious elites and every word of compassion for the hurting and suffering gave meaning and substance to preaching and exhortations.

However, it was this third aspect of Jesus’ life that is in our outlines that brings real meaning to the Christmas message......

(SLIDE) 3. The humiliation of Jesus.

Who likes to be humiliated or embarrassed? There is something within us all that recoils at the thought and prospect of being humiliated in front of others. No one inherently likes to be disrespected or misrepresented, and we certainly don’t want to be made out like fools in the eyes of others. And yet, that is exactly what Jesus was willing to endure for the duration of his time here on this earth. In fact, his life in the flesh began with humiliation, and it ended with humiliation.

The entirety of circumstances surrounding the birth of our Lord, from the manger scene to the relative obscurity of his earthly parents to the very location of his birth......Jesus’s introduction into this world was wrapped in humility and simplicity - hardly the start we would normally assume for the King of the Universe. Remember how Paul frames it in (SLIDE) Philippians 2:5–7 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Remember what Hebrews 1:3 says of Jesus....(SLIDE) “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power...” And yet Jesus chose not to hold onto his glory and rights and privileges as God, but rather veiled his glory and emptied himself of those rights and privileges and laid them aside for 33 years so that he could fully become one of us. He not only joined with creation....he entered into it, and opened himself up to ridicule and rejection. And this serves as the basis for the humiliation of our Lord Jesus.

Humiliation simply refers to the injuring of one’s dignity and self-respect in a public manner, and so as we can see from the biblical accounts of his life and ministry, Jesus was no stranger to humiliation. He was born in obscurity and his first bed was a feeding trough for animals......he was born in a little shepherds’ town and not the great city of Jerusalem. His father was a carpenter and his mother a virgin girl. And throughout his life, Jesus was disdained, rejected and treated as a rebel and a threat to the status quo. But all this was to fulfill what was spoken of him in the Prophets, specifically Isaiah 53 which we looked at last week.

Remember the words of the prophet regarding the life of the suffering servant in (SLIDE) Isaiah 53:3–4 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” Isn’t it interesting how we mere mortals who are sinful, created beings are so concerned with maintaining and protecting a certain level of dignity and self-respect, and yet the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Triune Godhead, the one through whom and for whom all things were created, laid down all the dignity and self-respect that was rightly due him so that he could teach us a better way, and ultimately lead us to the way of salvation?

In theology, we call this the condescension of God. God condescended to man in that he voluntarily descended from heaven, from the highest levels of glory and honor, and he lowered himself by taking on the form of a servant and becoming like man in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. And its this condescension of Christ that enlightens us to a huge aspect of why we all need Christmas - Christ became man so that he could live as a man.....dies as a man.....so that he could save man. You see, Jesus willingly subjected himself to the despising rejection of men.....he became acquainted with griefs and sorrows and bore them and carried them, and even endured the affliction of God the Father....because he loved us.

From the moment Jesus was born in the manger.....his eyes were on the cross. He knew why he came.....he knew what his purpose and mission was.....and he never strayed from it....not once! And just think, Jesus endured all that humiliation for your sake.....for my sake. And he embraced this extreme level of humiliation and suffering because he knew that it would all lead to his eventual, yet necessary physical demise, which leads us to the fourth aspect of his life that reminds us all why we need Christmas.....

(SLIDE) 4. The crucifixion of Jesus.

If we remember the connections we made between the consequences of the sin of Adam and Eve in the garden, and the necessary atonement for sin that was provided for in the Jewish sacrificial system that was the focus of the ceremonial Law, we learned as expressed in Hebrews 9, that without blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And we see this in the very beginning in the garden, where God makes clothing from animal hides to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame. We also see this principle play out in the Passover when the angel of death passed over any Jewish home that had its doorposts covered in the blood of a lamb. We then see this prefigured again in Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son Isaac on Mt. Moriah, but God stopped him and provided the ram caught in the thicket. And then, again, throughout the rest of the OT following God’s covenant with Moses on Mt. Sanai, once a year, blood was shed in the tabernacle and then the temple to temporarily cover the sins of Israel for one year.

And so Christ came to fulfill the OT ceremonial law and all the OT foreshadowings of sacrifices for sins as the spotless lamb who takes aways the sins of the world, but his death by crucifixion was also to fulfill what was spoken of him by the prophet Isaiah in (SLIDE) Isaiah 53:5 “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.” Most Jews are uncomfortable with and often ignore Isaiah 53 because of its strong implications of pointing to Jesus as the Suffering Servant, and many Jewish scholars try to explain it away by claiming that the nation of Israel is the Suffering Servant. But that presents multiple problems, not the least of which is this detailed description of the death of the suffering servant that peculiarly fits the death of Jesus and the ensuing results - namely peace with God and healing from sin.

You see, the angelic proclamations on that first Christmas regarding tidings of great joy and peace on earth and good will towards those with whom God is well-pleased only make sense in light of the crucifixion. The heavenly celebrations of the birth of the Christ child that have reverberated throughout the world over the last 2,000 years could only do so because that child was destined to die. In other words, Christmas is only as beautiful and holy and deserving of devotion and celebration as much as it is pointing to and connected with the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul writes to the church in (SLIDE) Galatians 4:4–5 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

The timing of Christmas was exactly as God had planned from the foundations of the world, as all that had transpired throughout the OT had to take place to prepare the world for that first Christmas over 2,000 years ago. And when the right time had come, God sent his Son Jesus, the divine second person of the Trinity, to be born as a man, a man who was beholden to the Law and who would perfectly obey the Law so as to fulfill the Law, so that He alone could redeem all of us who were likewise under the Law. The Law required death as the punishment for sin, and Jesus paid that price with his own blood, the blood shed on the cross, and by doing so, He purchased our freedom. And now, as a result of the finished work of Christ, we now can receive adoption as sons and daughters of God.

So when we see all the colors of red throughout the Christmas season, we should be reminded of one thing, and one thing only - the blood of the Suffering Servant from Isaiah 53.....the blood of Immanuel from Isaiah 7......the blood of the child born in Isaiah 9 who’s name would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace......its the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And this is why any secular celebration of the holiday is devoid of any transcendent meaning when the world tries to remove Christ from Christmas.

So when I hear season’s greetings like “Happy Holidays”, which has been mandated in many work and business environments as a repudiation of the un-politically correct “Merry Christmas”, I refuse to respond in the like. I am intentional in responding with “Merry Christmas”, because although there may be other religious and cultural holidays and observances this time of year..... let’s not kid ourselves. December 25 and the weeks that lead up to it, and no this isn’t linked to any pagan rituals of the past (don’t buy into the lies of all those social media scholars out there), is observant of nothing other than the birth of Jesus Christ. The world can try to remove Jesus from the holiday season, but they’re not fooling anyone. And I believe its our duty as Christians to remind the world why we need Christmas....the true Christmas.....the Christmas that begins in the manger and leads to the cross.

But thank God the story doesn’t end here, because we all know what happened after the cross. And so again, Christmas would be meaningless if not for the whole story, which culminates with this last point for us to consider today as we’re reminded why we need Christmas.....

(SLIDE) 5. The resurrection of Jesus.

In his sermon “The Humiliation of Christ” that he preached back in 1988, John Macarthur said this (SLIDE), "A gospel that stops with the humiliation of Christ is incomplete. He must be seen as the resurrected, ascended, crowned, and interceding Christ.” At the end of the day, death is pointless in terms of eternity unless new life follows. But that’s exactly what you and I are rewarded when we put our faith and trust not only in the death of Jesus, but also in the fact that he rose again. So the announcement of “Peace on earth” by the angelic hosts on that first Christmas night was more of a looking into the future and calling it as if it had already happened, because they knew that Jesus was born to die and to rise again.

Therefore, because Jesus died and rose from the dead, we who are justified and redeemed and adopted as sons and daughters of God by grace through faith can not only enjoy the new life we now have in Christ, but we can look forward to the promises of sanctification and glorification that are promised us at the end of our time here on this earth. Which, again, only solidifies and makes meaningful the resurrection life we now live in today.

When Jews read Isaiah 7 and this sign that will be given that a virgin will conceive a son and his name will be Immanuel, they try to make it seem that this was simply pointing to the child born in Isaiah 8 who’s name was Maher-shalalhash-baz and was later associated with the name Immanuel. Or they try to claim that this prophecy may have also been pointing to King Hezekiah, and they do this by interpreting the Hebrew word “alma” as simply a young woman of marital age. However, the context makes it clear that the sign of the Lord was only significant because it involved a virgin giving birth to a son, thereby disqualifying any mere mortal child. Likewise, the description of this child in Isaiah 9 is wholly unique.

This child is called Wonderful, a word often used to describe the miraculous works of God in the OT. He is Counselor, because he is the embodiment of God’s truth and wisdom. He is Everlasting Father, in that he is eternal and infinite and his work of redemption is always credited to God the Father in the OT, for he and the Father are one. He is Mighty God.....He is El Gabor - the strong and almighty God of the OT who commands Heaven’s armies- He is Yahweh. And he is the Prince of Peace who has provided eternal peace between sinful man and a Holy God. And he will come again to rule and reign in a Kingdom of peace, a kingdom that was inaugurated in his first coming.....a kingdom that is present and active in some sense now......and a kingdom that will be fully established when our King comes back a second time.

So yes, Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation of Christ, who’s ministry of exhortation was intended to call people to repentance and believe in the Gospel. And the gospel exhortation was continued throughout his life of humiliation....a humiliation that culminated in the crucifixion......which resulted in his eventual resurrection. This is the Christmas message from beginning to end that reminds us all why we still need Christmas.

It can be easy that over the many years of celebrating this holiday, we can become so accustomed to the decorations and the lights and the music and the food and the gatherings, that they all blend together and lose their unique meaning over time. Its only human nature nowadays to become bored with the mundane and the regular and predictable. But Christmas shouldn’t be like this. We shouldn’t regard Christmas as just another holiday on the calendar, nor should we allow this time of year to pass without deep reflection and remembering why you and I need Christmas each and every day.

In his sermon #151, entitled “The Condescension of Christ”, Charles Spurgeon said this (SLIDE) “...as it is said of some great works of architecture, that though they be seen every morning, there is always something fresh to wonder at; so we might say of Christ, that though we saw him every day, we should always see fresh reason to love, and wonder, and adore.” This is why we need Christmas....this is why the world needs Christmas. The world offers empty promises.....empty hope......empty solutions to the longing in our hearts to love and wonder and adore. You see, we’ve bought into the lie that all we really need is to be entertained and to be made to feel good. This points our affections inward, which only turns into one thing - idolatry - the worship of self.

I want to suggest we look at Christmas this week with fresh eyes. Read the Christmas story as presented in the Gospels. Sing the old, cherished Christmas carols and hymns and digest their words. Watch your favorite Christmas movies and see how they point to Christ, whether intentional or not. Revisit the all-too common themes we may take for granted during the Christmas season. We need fresh reasons to love and wonder and adore, and what better reason than the birth of our Savior.

So let’s heed the words of that famous Christmas hymn that we sing throughout this season - “O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, o come ye to Bethlehem! Come and behold Him, born the King of angels! O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”