What Child Is This?

Introduction

On Christmas Eve, 1968 Captain Jim Lovell was aboard Apollo 8 heading for the first time in NASA’s history to the moon. Their mission was to orbit around the moon and then safely return to the earth.

It was the first mission ever in which a manned spacecraft left earth’s lower orbit and the first time that the earth was photographed rising over the horizon of the moon.

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Jim Lovell reflected on this moment of seeing the earth slowly rising over the moon’s horizon. At one point he raised his hand against the window of the spacecraft and watched the entire planet disappear behind his thumb.

Later on he said,

“I realized how insignificant we all are if everything I’d ever known is behind my thumb,”

It was seven months later that Apollo 11 was launched and for the first time ever human beings stepped foot on the moon.

The first person to ever step on to the moon, Neil Armstrong, did exactly the same thing. He looked at the earth slowly rising above the moon’s horizon and was struck with the same feeling of smallness and insignificance.

He recalled later:

“It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”

Problem

Human beings tend to often think too highly of themselves. It’s easy to do when we only compare ourselves to others.

My particular favorite is the 7 foot 5 inch NBA player who dunks the basketball and then struts down the court like he’s big stuff. Like, the guy guarding you was a foot shorter than you. All you had to do was lift your hands and jump maybe two inches…but yeah, strut down the court because what you just did was impressive.

But every now and then we’re captivated by things within God’s creation which put things into a clearer perspective, a beautiful sunset, a powerful storm, a mountain view, the crashing waves of the ocean, and it’s there that we begin to see ourselves rightly, as very, very small and God for who he is - very, very large.

And this is good for us because only when we begin to see ourselves for who we truly are and God for who he truly is can we then begin to live as God has created us to live.

The text before us today paints a picture of a God who is high above all others (glory to God in the highest!) and yet, he is a God who cares for his people. Yes, our God is holy, but at the same time he invites us into relationship with him. We see a God who longs to be with his people.

The coming of Jesus into this world took away any doubt that God desires to be with us.

One of the songs we sang this morning asked a question, “What child is this?” Who is this Jesus that we celebrate? What makes him great? What makes him significant? What makes him worthy of our worship, worthy of our lives? What is it about the coming of Jesus into the world that shows God’s longing for his people? How do we see ourselves righty compared to Jesus?

What do we see from this interaction between Gabriel and Mary that shows God’s character and his care for his people?

Like Mary, we are small and insignificant when compared to a holy God. But also, like Mary, we are loved and accepted through no work of our own but because God is full of love, mercy, and grace.

And this acceptance, this grace, this love for us from a holy God is ours only because of Jesus. It’s because God came to us in the person of Jesus.

Big Idea

Though we are small and unworthy, Jesus is the great eternal King who has loved us and has come to bring us back to God.

Body

This is who Jesus is. And this text today is opening wide and is revealing the nature and character of our God.

Let’s look within this text to see God’s greatness, but also his love for a people who are underserving, a people who are small and insignificant compared to the splendor and glory of a holy God. But yet, a people who have been pursued not because of anything appealing within us, but because our God is love and full of grace and enjoys bringing beauty from ashes.

First thing we see is:

A God Most High has come to a people most low.

Look with me starting in verse 26.

Luke 1:26-27 “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

Luke here says that Gabriel came to Mary ‘in the sixth month.” What does that mean? Well, in the first half of chapter 1, Gabriel was sent to a priest, living in Jerusalem named Zechariah. Zechariah was married to Elizabeth. Both were advanced in years and towards the end of their life.

Neither of them had had children, though they desired children. And it’s here, in an unlikely season of their life that God gives them a message through Gabriel that they will have a child and his name will be John.

And so, if you have an understanding of the Scriptures, you know then that this is referring to John the Baptist. John would be the final prophet to come and speak before Jesus the Messiah stepped into the world.

And so, John’s arrival into the world was also a big deal.

And now it’s the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy where Gabriel comes to Mary with his announcement to her.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were finishing up their lives living in the city of Jerusalem. Joseph and Mary were just beginning their lives together living in a backwater town with a bad reputation.

The differences between these two families couldn’t have been more noticeable. And so, what do we see here? Well, we see a God who is able to do whatever he desires in the world regardless of who we are, our ages, our hometowns, our upbringing. God uses whomever he wills to accomplish his purpose.

We may be tempted when reading through the first chapter of Luke to think that God chose Zechariah because he was a priest and a righteous person before God. We may think, well of course, he would be chosen. He seems to fit the bill of success and importance. But then the pendulum swings to Mary. Who’s she? Really, a nobody who’s living in the sticks.

So, why Mary?

Verse 28,

Luke 1:28 “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!””

This is a greeting of grace. It’s revealing that God chose Mary solely as a matter of grace. Meaning, she had done nothing to earn this honor. She wasn’t placed on a path of success at a young age and if she kept with it then God would bestow upon her the honor of being the mother of Jesus.

No, God smiled upon her solely because he is a gracious and loving God.

Mary’s response to this greeting shows that this was unexpected.

Verse 29,

Luke 1:29 “But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

Here’s what she’s saying, “I’m favored?” “You’re talking to me?” “Who am I that you’d even give me the time of day?”

Have you ever felt like that? Like your life is too insignificant for God to notice or really give it a second thought? I mean surely, there’re other more important issues in the world today, more important people that he is focusing on than little ole me who lives in a city called “Normal,” that’s surrounded by corn and beans. I mean, could our cities’ name be any more blah?

And yet, what do we see here? A God most high who cares for a people most low. In fact, it goes much further than that. We worship a God Most High who became most low.

God became flesh, and as the gospel of John opens up saying, “He dwelt among us.” This is God with us, “Immanuel”. Jesus, whose name means “salvation.” We are a people lowly in nature but loved wholly and dearly by a Most High God.

A God who suffered. A God who bled and died yet was raised by God as King over all creation. This is who this child would be.

And so, secondly we see that,

Jesus is the promised eternal King who has come to reign over all creation.

Look at Gabriel’s annunciation starting in verse 31,

Luke 1:31-33 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””

Now, at this point in the story, Mary didn’t know why Gabriel was there. When verse 29 says that she was “troubled at the saying” it means she was trying to grasp that the God of the universe would favor her, would take notice of her, would be gracious to her. But at this point, she had no idea what was about to be said.

So, in verse 31 Gabriel tells her, “Congratulations Mary, you’re going to be a mom!”

Now, I remember finding out the first time that I was going to be a dad. I remember that moment when Amy came up to me and said, “So, I’ve got some good news. I’m pregnant.”

And I remember the second time that I found out we were pregnant again. Amy put a shirt on Maddox who was about two at the time that said, “Best big brother” and she had him walk into the room where I was.

And it took me a second to register what I was seeing. We’re going to have another kid!

Now, we were planning our family as best as we could and I was still shocked by the news.

Now, we have to safely assume that Mary was not expecting Gabriel to say what he just said. After all, she was a virgin, unmarried. And so, imagine taking this news in all at once. No doubt, Mary was thinking, “who is this child?”

And that’s what Gabriel unpacks for her. Let’s take these one by one.

She’ll have a son whose name will be Jesus. Jesus is a name which means, “salvation.”

In the gospel of Matthew, an angel comes to Joseph and tells him the same thing. “Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Isaiah, hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus prophesied of this coming Messiah and the importance of his name.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Matthew adds that Immanuel means, “God with us.”

Who is this child? He is our Savior, our redemption, our hope, our light in the darkness. He is “God with us.”

And Gabriel goes on.

He will be great.

The Greek word being used here is “Megas” which literally means, “loud.” It’s where we get the word, megaphone.

Though he was born into the world through the humblest of ways, laid in a manger, a feeding trough to sleep his first night on this earth, there was nothing ordinary about his life.

At his birth scores of angels covered the hillside declaring the King had been born, that salvation was here in bodily form.

His ministry brought thousands and thousands of people from all over the region to see him. He turned the religious system upside down, he cast out demons and then those demons would fall at his feet. He raised people back from the dead, he taught with authority as one who was the author of life itself.

And he willingly offered his life as a ransom for the souls of his people and then was brought back to life to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Yes, Jesus’ life was loud. He is great.

Gabriel goes on to say,

He will be called the Son of the Most High.

He is beyond all others. Nothing compares to Jesus. He is God in the flesh, the eternal Son of God

The author of Hebrews says it like this,

Hebrews 1:5 “For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?”

Nothing created ever has or ever will match the worth and pricelessness of Jesus.

He is the Son of the Most High God.

And at the end of verse 32 and 33 we see that,

He is given the throne of David.

His reign is eternal.

His kingdom will have no end.

Now, Mary would have most likely been familiar with what Gabriel just said and found great hope in it. We, 2000 years removed from this probably need to do just a little bit of digging to grasp this incredible statement of promise.

In 2 Samuel 7 God makes a covenant with king David. The essence of the covenant can be found in verse 16 of 2 Samuel 7.

2 Samuel 7:16 “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ””

He’s saying, the Messiah, the Savior of mankind, the King of all kings is going to come through your line David, and his throne will never end, his reign will continue forever. His kingdom is eternal.

And from that point forward the hope of the Jewish people was found in this future Messiah who would restore the Davidic kingdom. And so, the Jewish people tied their hope, their future, their prosperity to the condition of this kingdom.

It’s why the prophets spoke of this restored kingdom, of this eternal king, as their hope for prosperity and salvation.

Jeremiah 30:9 “But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.”

Again, remember that these prophets didn’t know who the Messiah would be so they often linked the name of David with this future eternal King.

Ezekiel 34:24 “And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

Ezekiel 37:24 ““My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.”

Hosea 3:5 “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.”

Amos 9:11 ““In that day I will raise up the shelter of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,”

Do you hear in their words a longing for hope, a longing for restoration and an eternal King who will come and make things right.

Mary would have known these promises. The Messiah will come from the line of David and will restore God’s Kingdom, and he will reign and rule over God’s people for his glory and our good.

And Gabriel is telling Mary, yes, all these promises are being found and fulfilled in the one you’ll give birth to. The hope of all mankind.

Application

“What child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping.

This, this is Christ the King.”

There’s a bit more weightiness to those lyrics now aren’t there?

And so, what do we take from this story?

We share in this story.

We share in the promises made to the Jewish people. In Romans 11 Paul says that we have been “grafted in to now share in these promises.”

In Galatians 3 Paul says that “In Christ the blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Through Christ, our God is calling a people to himself from every tribe, every language, every nation to come worship him and find life, joy, hope, and salvation under the good and perfect eternal reign of King Jesus.

We must have a correct view of ourselves.

We are lowly and poor

We are sinful and broken and in desperate need of grace. God is a God who is Most High, we are a people who are most low. And so, let us walk in humility and understanding of our need for redemption.

We must have a correct view of God.

God is gracious and kind

He gives favor to those who have not earned it

Our God is a promise keeping God.

A right view of a holy and majestic God stirs within our hearts deep, powerful, soul-rattling worship.

Because Jesus reigns, sin no longer does.

Sin does not reign over you any longer. Through faith in Jesus, you’re set free. Charles Spurgeon once said this.

“What does sin do, if it cannot reign over the believer? It lurks inside the soul like an outlaw whose banishment has not yet taken place.”

In John Bunyan’s fictional book, “The Holy War” Bunyan’s description of the war is a matter of true experience. After the evil Diabolonians were overthrown in Mansoul, many of them remained hidden away in dens and corners of the city, and although diligent search was made to find them, there were always some of them hiding away in the back lanes and side streets, where they could not easily be discovered.

It’s a picture of what sin’s like. Through Jesus and because of Jesus who is the reigning King, sin is dead to you, and you to it. But, as a sneaking outlaw, sin is still lurking within your soul. It’s plotting and planning to get back its former dominion over you, and not merely plotting and planning, but it is also warring and fighting to that end.

And so we must war against our sin knowing that its power and dominion has already been defeated on the cross. Jesus reigns over all.

John Owen once said,

“Christ by his death destroying the works of the Devil, procuring the Spirit for us, hath so killed sin, as to its reign in believers, that it shall not obtain its end and dominion.” - John Owen

We must submit to Jesus as the rightful King.

He is deserving of our entire lives.

There is not one square inch in all the universe that does not belong to Christ.

And we, the church reflect the coming Kingdom of Christ in our glad and joyful submission to and adoration of King Jesus right now.

Russell Moore said,

“The church is a signpost of God’s coming Kingdom, a preview to the watching world of what the reign of God in Christ is to look like, a colony of the kingdom coming.” - Russell Moore

Conclusion

This is our God. This is who Jesus is. He is King, he is ruler, and his kingdom has no end.

How will you respond to Jesus' kingship, his rule?

Communion