The Blessing of Christmas

Introduction

Continue our study in the Canticles of the Savior to uncover Scripture’s view of Christmas. To remind us of and help us focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

Review of last sermon

Mary’s magnificat

A song of joy

Mary is joyous in God’s salvation

Mary is joyous in God’s judgment

Mary is joyous in God’s faithfulness

Christmas is a season of joy because it captures God’s faithfulness in judgment and salvation on our behalf through the Lord Jesus Christ

Blessing of Christmas

Zechariah’s Benedictus

A song of blessing - Zechariah blesses God for the blessing God has bestowed in sending His Son

What is a blessing?

We often think of blessing as a dismissal. The great scriptural blessings ring in ours and remind us of the end of a service -

Numbers 6:24–26 RVR60

Jehová te bendiga, y te guarde; Jehová haga resplandecer su rostro sobre ti, y tenga de ti misericordia; Jehová alce sobre ti su rostro, y ponga en ti paz.

Jude 24–25 RVR60

Y a aquel que es poderoso para guardaros sin caída, y presentaros sin mancha delante de su gloria con gran alegría,al único y sabio Dios, nuestro Salvador, sea gloria y majestad, imperio y potencia, ahora y por todos los siglos. Amén.

But more than a dismissal, a blessing is an assurance. It is an assurance of the continuing power and presence of God. Consider these additional scriptural benedictions:

Philippians 4:7 RVR60

Y la paz de Dios, que sobrepasa todo entendimiento, guardará vuestros corazones y vuestros pensamientos en Cristo Jesús.

2 Thessalonians 2:16–17 RVR60

Y el mismo Jesucristo Señor nuestro, y Dios nuestro Padre, el cual nos amó y nos dio consolación eterna y buena esperanza por gracia, conforte vuestros corazones, y os confirme en toda buena palabra y obra.

Hebrews 13:20–21 RVR60

Y el Dios de paz que resucitó de los muertos a nuestro Señor Jesucristo, el gran pastor de las ovejas, por la sangre del pacto eterno,os haga aptos en toda obra buena para que hagáis su voluntad, haciendo él en vosotros lo que es agradable delante de él por Jesucristo; al cual sea la gloria por los siglos de los siglos. Amén.

The benediction is an assurance of God’s protection for our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7), God’s comfort and confirmation (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17) and God’s enabling power to do His will (Hebrews 13:20-21).

The Blessing of Christmas

The blessing of Christmas is an assurance of God’s power, protection, and presence in our lives.

The blessing of Christmas is not for one time per year - but is year round, every day, every moment of our lives are shrouded in God’s eternal protection, power and presence.

So, how are you this morning? How are you this Christmas season? Are you assured and resting in God’s power, protection and presence? Are your hearts and thoughts rooted in Jesus Christ or do you notice your thoughts slipping and your heart doubting? Is your heart comforted and confirmed by God’s good word and deed or is your heart restless? Are you depending every day on God’s power to do what is pleasing to him or are you depending on your own strength, your own goodness?

This is the blessing of Christmas and it is a blessing for you today. I want to highlight this enormous blessing that we have as children of God this morning by considering in depth Zechariah’s song. In doing so, I will point out three essential facets of the blessing of Christmas: the promise of the blessing, the power of the blessing and the purpose of the blessing.

Zechariah’s Song

Zechariah’s song can be divided into two parts: vs 68-75 refer to Jesus and vs 76-79 refer to John the Baptist.

Zechariah’s Benedictus is similar to Mary’s Magnificat in a number of ways:

Both speak in the past while referring to the future - As one scholar has explained it, “The retrospect of prophecy and the prospect of fulfillment are commingled in the speaker’s mind.”

Both songs are permeated with references and allusions to the Old Testament

We hear the echo of the Psalms in the song of Zechariah.

Psalm 72:18 RVR60

Bendito Jehová Dios, el Dios de Israel, El único que hace maravillas.

Psalm 111:9 RVR60

Redención ha enviado a su pueblo; Para siempre ha ordenado su pacto; Santo y temible es su nombre.

Psalm 132:17 RVR60

Allí haré retoñar el poder de David; He dispuesto lámpara a mi ungido.

Psalm 106:10 RVR60

Los salvó de mano del enemigo, Y los rescató de mano del adversario.

Psalm 106:45 RVR60

Y se acordaba de su pacto con ellos, Y se arrepentía conforme a la muchedumbre de sus misericordias.

Zechariah did not believe God (Luke 1:20). He did not believe that his aged and barren wife Elizabeth would give birth to a child. Like Sara, he laughed at the prospect. And God punished him by taking away his ability to speak. Zechariah was a bystander when Mary came to visit, could do nothing but listen when Mary sang her magnificat. But when God gives him back the ability to speak he sings a new song, the benedictus - the song of blessing for what God has done.

Names in the Bible are not unimportant. Oftentimes the storyline of Scripture can be gleaned from the meaning of names, and Luke’s nativity account is no exception. God was doing something big! Zechariah means God remembers. Elizabeth means God is faithful. John means God is merciful. And the name above all names, Jesus means God saves. God is indeed doing something big!

What is this big thing that God is doing? Let’s take a look at Zechariah’s song to find out.

The Promise of the Blessing

Luke 1:68 RVR60

Bendito el Señor Dios de Israel, Que ha visitado y redimido a su pueblo,

God visits

The verb visits comes from the Greek episkepeto. In its noun form it is the word that we translate bishop. To say that God visits his people is not to say that he shows up every now and again and then goes away. God visits his people as a bishop or an overseer. There is surveillance. There is oversight. There is attention. God’s visitation can be to the benefit of his people

Exodus 4:31 RVR60

Y el pueblo creyó; y oyendo que Jehová había visitado a los hijos de Israel, y que había visto su aflicción, se inclinaron y adoraron.

But it can also bring God’s wrath. He says to the city of Ariel:

Isaiah 29:6 RVR60

Por Jehová de los ejércitos serás visitada con truenos, con terremotos y con gran ruido, con torbellino y tempestad, y llama de fuego consumidor.

God’s visitation is his constant surveillance and oversight of his people. As Phillip Graham Ryken puts it: “Salvation is not a human invention, but a divine visitation. It is not something we achieve by going to God, but something God has done by coming to us in Christ. No one is ever saved except by the grace of God.”

God accomplishes redemption

Zechariah blesses God not only for his visitation but also for accomplishing redemption. Redemption was an economic concept in the Ancient Near East. Redemption was the purchase price required to liberate a person from slavery.

BI312 A Biblical Theology of Redemption: Themes and Interpretation Definition of Redemption > Definition of Redemption

“The idea of redemption must not be reduced to the general notion of deliverance. The language of redemption is the language of purchase and more specifically of ransom. And ransom is the securing of a release by the payment of a prize.”

God purchases his people at a high price and his people are thus his segullah - his treasured possession

Deuteronomy 7:6 RVR60

Porque tú eres pueblo santo para Jehová tu Dios; Jehová tu Dios te ha escogido para serle un pueblo especial, más que todos los pueblos que están sobre la tierra.

The promise of the blessing, then, is that God has always visited his people and he has always paid the price for their deliverance. It is a pattern we see over and over again throughout Scripture in the Garden of Eden, in the sons of Jacob, in the exodus from Egypt, in the life of Ruth the Moabite all the way up to the present day. God has been working in your life since before you were born to sustain you and to bring you to where you are today. That is the promise of the blessing and that is the promise that Christmas should drive us toward each year.

The Power of the Blessing

Luke 1:69–72 LBLA

y nos ha levantado un cuerno de salvación en la casa de David su siervo, tal como lo anunció por boca de sus santos profetas desde los tiempos antiguos, salvación de nuestros enemigos y de la mano de todos los que nos aborrecen; para mostrar misericordia a nuestros padres, y para recordar su santo pacto,

God raises a horn of salvation

Horn is a symbol of power and strength in the Bible.

2 Samuel 22:3 LBLA

mi Dios, mi roca en quien me refugio; mi escudo y el cuerno de mi salvación, mi altura inexpugnable y mi refugio; salvador mío, tú me salvas de la violencia.

God with us is more than a saying or a lucky charm - God with us is God’s power, his strength with us

God remembers His holy covenant

Covenant is guiding structure of the Scriptures - the golden thread as it has sometimes been called. The covenant is the way in which God enters into relationship with man - graciously, unconditionally, not requiring any merit or initiative on our part, but all of God and all of grace.

Zechariah refers to this covenant as holy. It is holy because it’s contracting parties are holy - the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit

Isaiah 6:3 RVR60

Y el uno al otro daba voces, diciendo: Santo, santo, santo, Jehová de los ejércitos; toda la tierra está llena de su gloria.

It is holy because it’s words are holy

Psalm 105:42 RVR60

Porque se acordó de su santa palabra Dada a Abraham su siervo.

It is holy because it’s blessings are holy

Acts 13:34 LBLA

Y en cuanto a que le resucitó de entre los muertos para nunca más volver a corrupción, Dios ha hablado de esta manera: Os dare las santas y fieles misericordias prometidas a David.

The power of the blessing, then, is the strength of the Lord of the universe brought to bear on our behalf through a covenant that is holy in its parties, holy in its words, and holy in its promises. This is the power that is yours this morning. A horn of salvation has been lifted up out of the house of David - not as a vindication of God, not as a way to puff up some ancient peoples with pride - the horn has been lifted up for you, for you to be liberated from the one true enemy who controls your thoughts and who enslaves your heart - sin. Only the power of the Lord of the Universe can overcome sin and death which is all we have and all we deserve on our own merits. And this power is given to us in a holy covenant signed by holy parties - the holy Trinity - entering into a Counsel of Peace amongst themselves to redeem a people unto themselves as their segullah - their treasured possession. What is the power that is sustaining you this Christmas? What is the power that is comforting your heart and confirming your mind?

The Purpose of the Blessing

Luke 1:71–75 RVR60

Salvación de nuestros enemigos, y de la mano de todos los que nos aborrecieron; Para hacer misericordia con nuestros padres, Y acordarse de su santo pacto; Del juramento que hizo a Abraham nuestro padre, Que nos había de conceder Que, librados de nuestros enemigos, Sin temor le serviríamos En santidad y en justicia delante de él, todos nuestros días.

Salvation from our enemies

The purpose of the blessing is to deliver us from our enemies. Who are our enemies? At the time of Zechariah’s song many may have thought that the enemy was the Roman empire and perhaps they thought the horn of salvation was a political savior. But Geldenhuys puts it well when he says: “Although there may be a reference here to political liberation as well, something far more glorious is meant: the whole-hearted service of the Lord in complete freedom from all bonds of sin, guilt, punishment, curse, Satan and destruction.”

The enemy that we are delivered from - our most fierce enemy - is our own sin and no army, no technology can ever defeat that enemy.

To serve him without fear

Secondly, the purpose of the blessing is to free us to serve the Lord without fear in holiness and righteousness. As Phillip Graham Ryken says: “To serve God is to glorify him in our worship and in everything else we do, leading holy lives. And this is the goal of our salvation. God wants to do something more with us than simply get us to heaven. His goal is for us to live for his glory, but to do this we first have to be liberated from the selfishness of our sin. God’s salvation is for our sanctification, and this always leads to service.”

The purpose of the blessing then is to be delivered from our sin, from our pride, from our selfishness to serve the Lord - to serve him without fear. Some of us serve the Lord with fear. We give with fear. We worship with fear. We read the Bible with fear. That is the core of legalism. Everything is about fear. John Calvin said: “Those who are ill at ease, who have an inward struggle, whether God is favourable or hostile to them, whether he accepts or rejects their services,—in a word, who fluctuate in uncertainty between hope and fear, will sometimes labour anxiously in the worship of God, but never will sincerely or honestly obey him.” The gospel liberates us from that fear. We don’t serve in fear. We serve in joy, in gladness.

I’d like to end by reading QA 86 from the Heidelberg Catechism. It asks:

Entonces, puesto que somos redimidos

de nuestra miseria por gracia a través

de Cristo, sin ningún mérito nuestro,

¿por qué tenemos que hacer buenas

obras?

Porque Cristo, habiéndonos redimido por

Su sangre, también nos renueva por Su

Santo Espíritu de acuerdo a Su imagen,

para que con toda nuestra vida nos

mostremos agradecidos a Dios por Su

bendición [1], y para que Él sea glorificado

por medio de nosotros [2]; también, para

que nosotros mismos estemos seguros de

nuestra fe por los frutos de la misma [3]; y

por nuestra conducta piadosa ganemos

también a otros para Cristo [4].

Conclusion

So, what is the blessing of Christmas? It is God’s surveillance and oversight of his people, it is his deliberate and intentional to purchase his people unto himself as a treasured possesion. It is God’s power to attract us to himself and to sustain in his grasp. It is his holy covenant made with himself on our behalf and for our health. It is deliverance from our fiercest enemy and freedom to serve our God without fear so that He might be glorified through us.

This is the sweet and assuring message of the Gospel - the beautiful benediction that is ours every day of our lives. It is this message that allows us to rest in God’s power, protection and presence. It is this message that anchors our hearts and thoughts in Christ. It is this word and deed that comforts our hearts and confirms our minds. It is this Gospel that powers us to do what is pleasing before our God.