What Child is This?

What Child is This?

Philippians 2:5-11

In the New York Times Magazine, Nancy V. Raine told a story she heard twenty-five years earlier from a friend named George.

In those days, work crews marked construction sites by putting out smudge pots with open flames. George’s four-year-old daughter got too close to one and her pants caught fire like the Straw Man’s stuffing. The scars running the length and breadth of Sarah’s legs looked like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In the third grade she was asked, “If you could have one wish, what would it be?” Sarah wrote: “I want everyone to have legs like mine.”

When we suffer pain, we want others to understand. We want others to be like us so they can identify with us. We don’t want to be alone.

God does understand. When Jesus became a man, he did something far more difficult than having legs like Sarah’s.

Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 265.

Can you imagine what must have been going through the minds of the shepherds that first Christmas night? Light form heaven split the darkness and angelic praise invaded the silence. All of this celestial wonder centered around an event that took place in a barn outside of an inn in Bethlehem. When the shepherds arrived, they saw Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus- just like they were told. This little baby was the promised messiah and savior… what child is this baby Jesus?

This child will be known as Emmanuel- God with us

Virgin birth foretold

Isaiah 7:14 KJV

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 KJV

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

God incarnate

John 1:1–3 KJV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:14 KJV

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

A man was shown a red glass bottle and asked what he thought was in the bottle. He replied in succession, “Wine? Brandy? Whiskey?” When told it was full of milk, he could not believe it until he saw the milk poured out. What he hadn’t known, of course, was that the bottle was made of red glass, and its redness hid the color of the milk it contained.

So it was and is with the Lord’s humanity. Men saw him tired, hungry, suffering, weeping, and thought he was only man. He was made in the likeness of men, yet he ever is God over all, blessed forever1

1 Michael P. Green, 1500 Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 48.

This child will be known as the Son of God

Luke 1:35 KJV

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

The second person of the trinity

1 John 5:7 KJV

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

God became a man

Philippians 2:5–8 KJV

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

This child will be known as the Lamb of God

The perfect sacrifice

John 1:29 KJV

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The willing sacrifice

John 10:17–18 KJV

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

This child will be known as the Savior

Matthew 1:21 KJV

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

This was His Mission

Luke 19:10 KJV

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

1 Timothy 1:15 KJV

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

This is still his desire

John 14:6 KJV

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Romans 10:9–10 KJV

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Who is this Christmas Child? He is Very God! He is Perfect Man! He is The Savior of the World! He lived a perfect life and died an perfect sacrifice on the cross because God loved you! The hustle and bustle of the holidays can crowd our minds, but we must reserve a spot for Jesus! If you have not yet transferred your trust from your efforts to His finished work on the cross, you can do that today.

We have taken time out of the family tradition to assemble and remember the birth of our Savior, let us now observe the Lord’s Supper and remember His Death.