Who is this Child?
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4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Underline- Fullness of Time....... God sent his son, born of a Woman, born under the law
Now I want you to remember these elements, because I am going to tie them all to the message at some point
This morning we are asking the question who is this Child?
A friend of mine posted a question on Facebook the other day about what is the appropriate age to let the magic end/ And of course he was asking at what age he should talk to his child about Santa Clause.
Listen we have something so much better than Santa Clause, We have the Son of God, there is no Christmas without the Christ. And it is magical, it is wonderful, and heres the best thing: It is true!!
Christmas is not about an old fat man, it is about a baby, a child. The fulfillment of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah when he prophesied
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
This Morning we are going be looking at the birth of a baby that changed everything.
And when i say He changed the world that what I mean, absolutely changed the tide of the world in a short 33 year lifespan,
and Only 3 of those years were spent publicly.
in fact the whole Calendar was changed by this baby, how would later become a man, and go to a cross.
BC- Before Christ
AD- Anno Dom-in-IE
Now lets look at what aul meant here when he said that Christ came in the fullness of Time.
When Christ was born the Romans rulled the world. They were the last one world empire that this world has ever saw. But God had been telling his people the natiion of israel, through the Law and the prophets that there was one that was coming.
He would be bigger than Moses,
he would end the sacrifial system of killing innocent animals for the payment of sins, that
He would be a restorer of the breached and a bright light to those that walk in darkness
And for over 1500 years they waited and they waited, and they waited. in fact the Last Old testament book is the Book of Malachi and after that last book there was 400 long years of silence from God. No prophet, no Word from God, no visions taking place. Nothing..
But when the Fullness of time had come there was a bright light that appeared in the spiritual darkness. When the Angel Gabriel would appear unannounced and come to a young teenage girl and tell her that she would would bear a child who is the Son of God
INTRO INTO LUKE AND CAESAR AUGUSTUS and the Fullness of Time
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Now why does Paul say that Christ was born in the Fullness of Time?
There were things present during this time that had not been present at any other time that would allow the Apostles and missionaries to take the message of Christ to a world steeped in darkness
The ancient world for the most part was a brutal and violent world and for the first time through the Romans and more specifically Through the one mentioned here i verse one Ceasar Augustus. He established Pax Romona- that is Roman Peace. Ceasr Augustus woud establish a worldwide peace that the world had never known before. Not only did it stop the civil wars, but made the Wholr Roman Empire a safe place to travel
The Romans Also built Roads throughout the whole Europiean and Asian Continents, making travel alot eaier by horse and carriage. In fact there are places in Euprope today where you can see the brick roads that were built by the Romans 2000 years ago
A few hundred years before this back in 325 BC there was a man by the name of Alexander the Great! Who conquered the known world in a short ten years, and legend tells us that he wept bitterly because there were no more kingdoms to conquer. He hellenized the ancient world, that is he spread Greek customs throughout but he did something more important than that he spread the Greek language throughout the Whole World, a simplified Greek that was meant by man for trade purposes, but purposed by God to get the gospel of Jesus Christ
In fact almost all of the New Testament was originally written in… do you want to guess? Koine Greek.
Now I guess you could say that jesus just so happened to be born at the right time, maybe you can say that it was just happenstance, but I say providence .
PROVIDENCE MEANING .
our English word providence comes from
two words—pro, which means “ahead of time,” and
video. We know about the word video—vide, VEE-DAY “to see.”
So, providence means “to see ahead of time and to make provision.”
That is, God sees the event before it ever gets here, and that’s what we call providence. God just simply sees ahead of time, and He moves everything toward the goal that He has in mind. All things are working together for good, toward that good, because of God’s providence
You know we tend to think that the birth of Jesus was this little happy event. Right?!! we make our little manger scenes with everyone smiling, got all the barn yard animals gathered together smiling, and like it was this picture perfect scene!
First The goverment made this hardship possible in the first palce. Ok you don’t take off walking and riding a donkey with a pregnant woman that is about to pop.
Then when they get to Bethlehem, the World didn;t even have room in one of the Inns, Jesus was literally born in a barn, his bed was a feeding trough, a manger
Not only that but there is a murderous king that has now put a hit out on jesus
Matthew 2 there are wise men from the east following the signs in the stars that are leading them to the birthplace of Christ, and they come to King Herod, and say where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
Listen Jesus wasn’t born into Mayberry, The Son of God left the safety of Heaven and was born through the portals of a womans womb into a raging spiritual battlefield.
One that is raging in the spiritual and manifesting in the physical
He left the comforts of heaven to defeats the foes of hell. Because there is a battle raging, and it rages to this day.
And God’s providence his ability to see beforehand and provide, provided a child a son who would take our sins and defeat the grave
Listen Tribulation is a part of life. When I was a kid I used to think that I had the worst luck possible. being born to a father that was a drug dealer and a crack addict, listen there were some horrible, frightening, fearful days in there. And all I could guess is that I had the worst luck ever.
But now seeing what Good God brought through it I can see that the hand of god was even there, working all things together for good. The fearful, the horrible, the unthinkable, still someway somehow throught eh freedom of man God was still sovereign
My friend, it takes pressure to make something beautiful out of a life. And the conflicts that we face, all of us, we need to see them not as obstacles, but as opportunities. A diamond is a lump of coal that has stayed under pressure. Now, we may not understand all the ways of God, but God is in control. And take the word luck and the word fate out of your vocabulary. They don’t belong there. And put the word faith and trust in their places—and providence there.
And jesus born to a poor family, a teenage mother, separated from home in a city called Bethlehem, being born into a stinkiy filthy barn, with a hit on the infants life by a demonic possessed king, with all that adversity still, the King of Kings is born!!!
Born in the fullness of Time, Born of a woman, 100% God and 100% man, born under the Law
Now lets think about why this baby Came? Why did God give us a child?
The simple answer is because we need to be redeemed?
Redeemed from what?
From sin… why sin? Because God gave a law that convicts of our sin? A universal law that has already found every man woman boy or girl guilty, the law of God.
Bethlehem- House of Bread
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Now there is some hidden meaning here that I would like to bring to your attention. i love it when God puts these little clues in here for us
So jesus had to be born in Bethlehem to fullfill the scriptures. Thats where the messiah was to be born
See God’s providence through Caesar Augustus, calling a mandatory census
Do you know what Bethlehem Means: its means House of Bread.... Do you know what jesus would later say to the world… I am the Bread of Life he who hungers let him come to me…
So you have the Bread of life being born in the house of bread , wrapped up in Swaddling cloths which was a practice they learned from the Egyptians in their mummification process, and this little bun in the oven is placed in a manger, in a feeding trough.
Are you searching this morning?, is your heart wondering if there is anything that truly satisfy, anything that truly fills the emptiess of life?.... Can I challenge you to try the bread of Life. Roadhouse bread even with their cinameon butter doesnt have anything on jesus
It is clear that this child was born to die, and his death would be food for the world.
It is clear that this child was born to die, and his death would be food for the world.
THE SHEPHERDS
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Now you have to ask yourself, of all the people in the world to reveal the birth of his son, why shepherds? I mean he could have went to the High Priest, he could have invited the highly esteemed families of Jersualam .... why these shepherds.
Throughout scripture, god has a soft spot for shepherds.
David the King that this city is known for is the one that Wrote Ps 23… the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
But why these shepherds… well I have one theory. you see these were no ordinary shepherds and they were raising no ordinary sheep.
You see these shepherds were raisin ga special breed of sheep, the very sheep that would be taken to the temple on the Day Of Judgment, and these were the sheep that would be sacrificed for the sins of the people.
God was letting these guys know that they were about to be unemployed… Because now God has provided a Lamb, the Lamb that would take away the sin of the World, they would find the child wrapped in grave clothes, lying in a manger. A Child that was born to die, to give himself in exchange for people that had broken God’s law!
And listen to the Angel chorus!
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Glory to god in the Highest, and peace with those whom he is pleased!
Let me ask you a question this morning, would you like to have peace, would you like to have a new beginging, would you like to have some heavenly bread that will sustain and satisfy you from now to the hereafter? You need jesus!
There is no other name given under heaven by which men must be saved!
Let me tell you why else I think god revealed this to these shepherds! I believe that God revealed this to these shepherds becaus ethey were the most unlikely candidates!
you see God has a soft spot for the have nots, he loves a great come back story, he loves it when people in this world is written off and counted out, he loves to give life to people that are dead in their sin, come to Jesus!!!
There was no room for Jesus at the inn
THE SHEPHERDS- THE WERE NO ORDINARY SHEPHERDS. The were the Shepherds raising the best breed of sheep there were in Israel in those days. these were the sheep that would be used
Bethlehem- house of bread