Born To Be?

The last couple of weeks we’ve been talking about one of the events that led up to the Birth of Christ…namely the birth of his cousin, John the Baptist.

We’ve talked about his father’s lack of faith when the angel gave him the news…and the fact Zechariah was made to be mute, unable to speak until after his son was born. And we’ve talked about the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth…then…as you heard in the scripture reading…John was finally born.

Now Zechariah…being unable to speak until AFTER his son was born might have been a good thing. Sometimes in the middle of all the excitement men have been known to say things they later regret….like the guy who turned to his wife during labor and said…

Gosh, you're lucky. I sure wish men could experience the miracle of childbirth.

or the guy who said…

“Hold on Sweetie, I have to take this call.”

Sweetheart, “how long do you think this will take?”

You don't need an epidural. Just relax and enjoy the moment.

My hand hurts.

Your stomach still looks like there's another baby in there.

That was the kids on the phone. Did you have anything planned for dinner?

Yeah, Zechariah may have been lucky that he couldn’t say anything…

, “On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah,”

How about that? Their friends and family were going to circumcise and name the baby—sounds like they only mentioned the name to Mom in passing. Scripture continues… “…but his mother spoke up and said, ‘No! He is to be called John.’"

They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

“Then they made signs to his father, he asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" i.e.

When Zechariah finally got to tell his story about the angel, and why he had been mute all these months…and when people added all that to the fact that poor old barren Elizabeth had a son…it put them to wondering. “What was he Born to Be?”

Well the prophecies delivered by the angel said:

He will be a joy and delight to you,

He will be great in the sight of the Lord.

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth

Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.

He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Based on that prophecy…and the miracles surrounding the birth…people couldn’t help but wonder.

And all that will be fulfilled. 30 years later Jesus would say of John the Baptist, “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist”

Pray with me……………….

Of course, that little bit of prophecy made by the angel—pales in comparison to the prophecies surrounding the birth of Christ. If people had connected the prophecies in Isaiah and Malachi and Micah to the babe in the manger, they might have done a little wondering too. And if they had known that little Baby Jesus’ birth was preceded by visits from two angels…and that a whole host angels sang out in a field…well there might have been some serious wondering going on.

Wasn’t this morning’s skit cute. the skit ends with the reminder…that while I don’t know what my children will be when they grow up—God knew what His Son would be. He even told us.

says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

As far as accomplishments; Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace; that’s pretty good…let me just touch on a couple of them…

And his name shall be called Mighty God, 'El gibowr, which means the prevailing, conquering God.

In the Nicene Creed we read that Jesus is, “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God,”

I know we don’t talk like that any more. Today when people want to emphasize something they just hang a big old nasty swear word in front of it. In the Nicene Creed, they used these phrases, this language “…to reject false beliefs about Jesus,”

The Babe lying in that manger, born out of wedlock to a peasant couple, who would have thunk that He was born to solve the world’s divinity problem. Of all the gods discussed, honored and revered in this world, our Bible says Jesus was born as the prevailing God, the conquering God…the top of the heap.

But the prophet also says the Babe will be called The everlasting Father; that is "The Father of the everlasting age." Or literally 'Abiy `ad, “the Father of eternity.”

We think of Jesus and we think Son…and it’s easy to miss, easy to forget that Gospel of John starts out…”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Or that Jesus said in , “I am the Alpha and the Omega…who is, and who was, and who is to come,"

If only the people who shunned Mary & Joseph, embarrassed by their “issue”, had wondered a bit more about the Babe laying in that old barn—they might have discovered that God sent His Son into the world to reveal eternity to us; to make eternity real to us; to give us a taste of eternity.

That was such an important part of His mission. We so easily get caught up in the day to day that we can barely focus on what’s happening next—especially this time of year—but 'Abiy `ad, the Father of Eternity came so that we might realize that it is truly eternity that we should focus on.

The prophet also said the Babe would be called the Prince of Peace… Sar shaalowm; the Prince of prosperity; the Giver of all blessings.

The idea behind Prince of Peace isn’t that He is the prince of providing us with calmness of heart and soul. The idea is that peace is conditional. Peace is something that happens when the conditions have been met—and He is the prince of meeting conditions.

A huge storm hit Nor Cal, while Pam and I were stationed in Chico, CA. The Sacramento River was over its banks and little creeks that fed it had become rivers. Pam and I and some volunteers set up shop in the County Search & Rescue building where we kept them fed and as we as a National Guard unit, three meals a day for a week. One day the National Guard came back at the end of the day and told us a story about a guy they rescued out of a tree in the middle of a raging stream. Seems he went camping in the storm. He loved the excitement of camping in harsh elements. But he underestimated this storm - and had to climb a tree for safety. Men’s lives were risked and our tax dollars were spent, rescuing him in the midst of his thrill-ride.

I daresay some of us may like the thrill of life’s storms…but Paul & Peter & Jesus Himself, teach that God will and does quiet life’s storms. Not always at the drop of a hat like on the Sea of Galilee. But He does quiet storms. So often we approach Him cautiously and ask for just enough strength to endure the storm—when we ought to be asking Him to bring an end to it.

After all, He is the Prince of Peace. The Prince of Shalom -

Speaking of storms…Mary & Joseph were certainly in the midst of one. In a town that was filled with their relatives…because they were, like him, from the house and line of David; so, they too had to go to Bethlehem. Here in a village filled with his relatives, no one would take them in. Instead of wondering, everyone jumped to conclusions.

God With Us

If they had wondered…if they had asked they might have thought of this prophecy, from ;

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Immanuel, we know it as a name, but it is in fact two Hebrew Words: Im - with, and El - God, with a pronoun suffix inserted between them that means “us”. So that the “name” Immanuel has the literal meaning, “With us is God”

Throughout the Bible there is this one recurring theme…from the creation of Adam & Eve in the beginning—to this promise found in , “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

“They will be My people and I will be their God.” That sentence is repeated over and over again throughout the Bible, God refers to Himself as “their God” more than 75 times.

And finally Revelations 21:3 gives us this peak at what lies ahead for us. John writes, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’”

2,000 years ago, in a little barn behind an Inn, God gave humanity their first taste of what that would be like. If people hadn’t been so quick to jump to conclusions; if they hadn’t been so sure that the Babe was just another peasant child who would amount to little; if they had paid just a little attention; if they had dared to think, to wonder, to dream…

Well, in the middle of that very night…God slipped into humanity; the Word of God became flesh. While the whole world slept, the biggest thing that has ever happened—the pivotal point in history—was happening. The Son of God became a man.

"What then is this child going to be?" Who would dare to believe…

The Lord of All became a servant;

The Righteous One, the One without sin was made to be sin;

The Father of Eternity, Yahweh—the Eternal One—would taste death;

The Risen One would live in the hearts of humanity;

The One Seated on the Throne will get up off that throne and come again!

Well the truth is, in Bethlehem, no one dared to believe this Baby had a future. Singer songwriter, Michael Card, writes that the problem was that their “wildest dreams weren’t wild enough.”

So…they missed it.

He was born to settle once and for all Who was the God of gods…and they missed it.

He was born to give them a taste of Eternity…a glimpse of the eternal…and they missed it.

He was born as the prince of Peace…and they missed it!

He was born into humanity so that God could be with us…and they missed it!

Friends…don’t miss it.

So much busy-ness…so much good to do…so much fun to have…so many friends and family to see…don’t miss it…let your heart wonder again—at the marvel of the incarnation…God became man and dwelt among us.

In the 3 1/2 months I have been preaching here I haven’t said much about the altar. One might believe that I don’t believe in it - or think you do. But I do believe that there is great value to the altar - when we kneel at it, we are submitting ourselves to God—and that is always a good thing.

So let’s pause for just a couple of minutes while I ask you this Christmas question; Are you in danger of missing it? Of missing the point of Christmas? Of allowing God’s love to stir your heart and draw you close to Him?

Into my heart…