The True Wonder of Christmas

People often talk about the wonder of Christmas this time of year. The beauty and splendor of the season. All of the lights and everything aglow. The sights of the decorations and the smells of the food on the table. The spirit of gift-giving and being together as a family. The twinkle in a young child’s eyes on Christmas morning seeing the gifts under the tree. But the greatest and real wonder of Christmas is found in the words of John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” What really should bring wonder to us this holiday season is the truth of the incarnation; God taking on flesh and becoming a man without any way ceasing to be God. Adding humanity to His divinity.

 

Take a moment to reflect on what this means. The eternal God became a mortal man. The Creator became part of His creation. As Augustine simply stated, “Man's maker was made man.” The infinite clothed Himself with finite humanity. The One who holds all things together would be held in the arms of His mother. The One whom all things are dependent upon became dependent upon others. The Sustainer of all things would be sustained in the womb and at His mother's breast. The Bread of Life would become hungry. The Fountain of Living Water thirsty. The One who fills all space and time confines Himself to the single space of Mary's womb, then a feeding trough for animals, Calvary's cross, and Joseph's tomb. The Divine Word cries without being able to utter a word. The King of kings and the Lord of lords leaves His palace of heaven to lay on a bed of straw. The One who knows all things increased in wisdom as He grew older. For that matter we could say that the timeless One Himself could be spoken of as growing! The all-powerful One becoming weary after a journey. The God who never slumbers needing sleep. The One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills becoming One who had no place on earth to lay His head. The One rich in glory becoming poor so that we who recognize ourselves to be poor in spirit can become spiritually rich. The very Author of life would die. 

 

Wow! Just let all of that sink in! This truly is the wonder of Christmas! Mark Jones has put it well, “The incarnation is God’s greatest wonder, one that no creature could ever have imagined. God Himself could not perform a more difficult and glorious work. It has justly been called the miracle of all miracles.” Who could have ever invented such an idea? That the God of the universe would become a man. And that He would become a man in order to save us from our sins and God’s wrath that we so rightly deserve. To enter into this dark messed up sinful world and undergo such inexpressible and excruciating suffering for the salvation of us sinners. There really is nothing quite like it. As J. I. Packer has said, “Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the incarnation.”

 

                As you go through this upcoming holiday season, be sure to make time to ponder this deep truth that we celebrate. Don’t let it get lost in the hubbub and busyness of things. You will want to do whatever you can to keep it central in all that you and your family do. If you want to have a more worshipful Christmas, set your thoughts on this. Keep coming back to it again and again to have a reminder of it. The wonder of all wonders! God becoming man in order to live the life of perfect obedience that we continually fail to live, die the death which we deserve on account of our sins, experiencing the full weight of God’s wrath, and rise again three days later to conquer death itself and ensure that all who believe in Him will be resurrected as well after death. Could there be anything greater for us to celebrate? Anything that could possibly top that in importance? I cannot imagine anything.

 

Celebrating the glorious and wonderful incarnation with you,
Pastor Lee

A Complete Celebration

            Well, the holiday season is already upon us again. Christmas music is playing in the stores. Christmas trees are lit up and on full display. And manger scenes are starting to show up all over the place. The beautiful nativity in town is up and will be all aglow soon. Several will be found in many yards and on mantles in people’s homes. And while I am so thankful for all of the emphasis on the manger this time of year, I think that we need to be careful not to limit our focus to just the picture of the baby sleeping on the straw surrounded by the animals. If we do, there is a danger that our celebration of Christmas will be incomplete. Because we should not celebrate the manger without the cross. Not divorce the joy of the birth of the baby from Who He is and what He came to do.

One thing we notice in Scripture is that the nativity is never presented to us as an isolated event but is always connected to the cross. It is never just about the birth of the Messiah. For instance, in her song following the announcement that she had been chosen to bear the Christ child, Mary exclaims that God "has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy" according to the promise that God made to their ancestors (Luke 1:54-55). That "help" ultimately being in the sense of salvation. Zacharias, right after the birth of his son, John the Baptist, acknowledges that with the coming of the One whom his son had been designed to point to, God "has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant" (Luke 1:68-69). The name "Jesus" itself speaks of the reason for the child's birth which finds its fulfillment in His death on the cross. As the angel Gabriel told Joseph in the dream, "you shall call His name Jesus, FOR HE WILL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS" (Matthew 1:21). The shepherds were specifically told that the One who had been born that very night was "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). And the old man, Simeon, who sees the baby Jesus in the temple, recognizes that in laying his eyes upon Him that he is looking at the very One who will accomplish salvation for God's people (Luke 2:30). An accomplishment we know that will occur through His death and resurrection which Simeon indicates with him prophetically telling Mary that "a sword will pierce her own soul to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed" (v. 35). What greater sword could pierce a mother's soul than watching her son being brutally and painfully crucified? Interestingly enough, one of the gifts of the Magi was myrrh which was often used in embalming and symbolized bitterness, suffering, and affliction. Again, connecting us to His crucifixion where He would suffer and die for the salvation of His people.

            We must always remember that the very reason God the Son came to earth and was born as a baby was to serve as our substitute. To live the perfect obedient life that we have failed to live and to die the death that we deserved for our sins on the cross in our place. He took on flesh so that He could live for us and die for us. He needed hands and feet for them to be pierced through. A back to be whipped. A head for a crown of thorns to be placed upon it. Breath so that He could breathe His last. As the author of Hebrews puts it, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (2:17). There is a real sense where we could say with John Piper that Christmas was preparation for Good Friday. Jesus' lowly birth in that manger was necessary for His later agonizing death on the cross. Without it, He could never have died to experience God's wrath in our place. And we would do well to keep that in mind every time we see a nativity scene. The song by the Southern Gospel group, The Ball Brothers, conveys this so well. "It's not just about the manger / Where the baby lay / It's not all about the angels / Who sing for him that day / It's not all about the shepherds / Or the bright and shining star / It's not all about the wise men / Who travelled from afar / It's about the cross / It's about my sin / It's about how Jesus came to be born once / So that we could be born again / It's about the stone / That was rolled away / So that you and I could have real life someday / It's about the cross."

            So, be sure to have a complete celebration of Christmas this year. To view the manger in light of the cross, never losing sight as to the significant reason as to why this baby was born. As the Ball Brothers sing in their song, "The beginning of the story / Is wonderful and great / But it's the ending that can save you / And that's why we celebrate."

Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee

Grace in the Family Tree of Jesus

 

             Have you ever taken the time to explore Jesus’ family tree? To go through the list of his relatives that Matthew puts together for us in the opening chapter of his Gospel? Too often we want to skip these long hard to pronounce names and just move on to the next section where the action starts. But if we do that, I fear we will miss some exciting and necessary things God has to say to us through them. This specific genealogy for instance actually is a very fascinating study full of several interesting characters and quite a few surprising ones as well. And it reveals for us one of the greatest pictures of God’s grace. Sometime we would miss if we do not take the time to study it.

 

            One of the most surprising things for us to see in this genealogy is the mention of the names of five women. Now, we have to realize that it was very unusual for a woman to be named in any genealogy at this time due to the focus always being on the man who would carry on the family name to the next generation. And not only is the fact that these women can be found in this list surprising but the specific women that he chooses to include are even more so. After all, these weren’t ones with the most squeaky clean reputations. Not the usual Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah that were focused on. Every Jew who first read through this genealogy would have recognized the names of these ones but not necessarily for the best of reasons. They have been said to be “among the most notorious women in biblical history.” Four of them were outsiders and could be described as shady ladies with sinister sins and provocative pasts.

 

            The first of these ladies that we discover in this list is Tamar (Matthew 1:3). We read about her back in Genesis 38. She was the one who dressed up as a prostitute in order to sleep with her father-in-law, Judah. He had promised her his third son in marriage but after losing the previous two that he had given her, never followed through on that promise. Her one night with her father-in-law resulted in the conception and birth of twins. One of which became the next chain in the line of the Messiah. Not only was a woman who was involved in a scandal of deceit chosen to become a part of Jesus’ family tree but that scandal itself was used as the means to bring about the succeeding branch of that tree! 

 

            The next of these shady ladies that we come to didn’t play a prostitute on one occasion but rather was one by profession. In fact, many of the times that she is referenced in Scripture she is known as the harlot. Even where her faith is commended and held up as an example, we are reminded of her former shameful career (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). I’m talking here about Rahab (v. 5). The Canaanite woman who hid the Israelite spies in Jericho and whose life was graciously spared on account of it. (See Joshua 2 for more of the story.) Who would have ever thought that a foreign prostitute could be engrafted into the sinless Savior’s family tree?

 

Immediately following Rahab is Ruth, who married Rahab’s son, Boaz (v. 5). Unlike the previous two shady ladies on this list, Ruth doesn’t have any direct sexual scandals that she was involved in but her people certainly did. Ruth was a Moabitess. Another outsider. The nation of Moab originated from the child produced by the act of incest between Lot and his daughter when the latter got the former drunk so that she could sleep with him and bear children (Genesis 19:30-38). This group of people were not allowed to join the Israelites in worshiping the Lord for a number of years (Deuteronomy 23:3). And before committing to go where her mother-in-law Naomi goes and to worship her God, Ruth would have worshiped the false gods of the Moabites. But even with such a provocative past, God had her marry one of Naomi’s sons, and then after his death, to remain loyal to her, and find her kinsman Redeemer, Boaz, who in turn would give her a son named Obed, the grandfather of King David and forefather of the Messiah. 

 

The fourth woman that we come to in this list isn’t even named but is simply referred to as “the wife of Uriah” (v. 6). A subtle reminder of the fact that Bathsheba did not originally belong to King David but to his servant Uriah instead. Yet, after noticing her bathing on her rooftop, the King had her brought to him and following his affair with her resulting in a pregnancy, eventually had Uriah killed (2 Samuel 11). This has gotten Bathsheba forever associated with David’s adultery and murder. Amazingly, God used what began as an unholy union to continue His plan for the Messiah to be a descendant of kings. And there is a chance also that she could be classified as another outsider due to the fact that her husband is identified as being a "Hittite" instead of an Israelite (2 Samuel 11:3).

 

Now, what are these shady ladies with such sinister sins and provocative pasts doing in the family history of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Why would God ever choose such to be included in the lineage of His sinless Son and why would Matthew go out of his way to highlight them for us? Would it not be to show us the very kind of people that Christ came to save? Outsiders who originally are not a part of His people (Hosea 2:23). Shady sinners with provocative pasts. All to point out to us that God extends His grace to even the vilest of sinners and to the worst of outcasts. Which is good news since many of us could fit in such categories ourselves. J. C. Ryle put it well when he wrote: "We should always read this catalogue with thankful feelings. We see here that no one who partakes of human nature can be beyond the reach of Christ's sympathy and compassion. Our sins may have been as black and great as those of any whom St. Matthew names. But they cannot shut us out of heaven, if we repent and believe the gospel. If Jesus was not ashamed to be born of a woman, whose pedigree contained such names as those we have read today, we need not think he will be ashamed to call us brethren, and to give us eternal life."

 Let’s be sure that this Christmas we celebrate God’s grace. The grace that is shown to those like these four ladies. The grace that has been shown to us.

  

Love in Christ,

Pastor Lee

The Real Celebration at CHRISTmas

CHRISTmas should be a great celebration for believers. After all, we are not celebrating the birthday of just anyone but of the greatest Someone who ever walked upon this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. To help us have the proper perspective about how special Jesus is, consider this sampling of what Scripture says about Him:

He is the eternal Divine Word of Creation (Genesis 1:3; John 1:1-3), the seed of the woman who will defeat the serpent (Genesis 3:15), the One slain to provide a covering for man's sins and guilt (Genesis 3:21), the ark of safety from God's wrath (Genesis 7-8), the descendant of Abraham in whom all the families of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3; 22:18), the Angel/Messenger of Yahweh (Genesis 16:7-14; 18:1-33; 21:17-18; 22:11-18; 31:11-13; 32:24-32; Exodus 3:1-4:22; 23:20-33; Numbers 22:22-35; Joshua 5:13-15; Judges 6:11-26; 13:2-23; 2 Samuel 24:16; 2 Kings 19:35; 1 Chronicles 21:1-27; Isaiah 37:36; Zechariah 1:7-21), the Promised Child of a miraculous conception who brings laughter and rejoicing (Genesis 21:1-7), the only beloved Son sacrificed on the altar in place of the sinner who deserves it (Genesis 22), the One whose betrayal brings about salvation for His family (Genesis 37-50), the king from the tribe of Judah who brings peace (Genesis 49:10), the One who delivers His people from the bondage of sin (Exodus), the Lamb whose shed blood causes God's wrath to "pass over" His people (Exodus 12:1-13), the tabernacle of God's presence among us (Exodus 25-40; John 1:18), the sacrifice that atones for the sin of God's people (Leviticus), the High Priest who serves as the mediator between God and His people, the One lifted up who brings healing to those who look to Him (Numbers 21:6-20), the star of Jacob (Numbers 24:17), the Prophet like Moses from among the people (Deuteronomy 18:15), the One whose holy character is revealed in the law (Exodus 20; Leviticus, Deuteronomy), the ultimate anointed priest, the Leader of His people into the promised land (Joshua), the Captain of the LORD’s army (Joshua 6:15), the Judge who will deliver His people from their oppression (Judges), the Living Kinsman Redeemer (Ruth; Job 19), the ultimate anointed king after God's own heart (1 Samuel), the descendant of David who will forever rule on his throne (2 Samuel 7:12-16), the ultimate king of peace (1 King 1-11), the builder of the church (Nehemiah), the righteous sufferer who intercedes for his friends (Job), the Eternal Son of the Father (Psalm 2:5), the Deliverer (Psalm 14:7), the One forsaken by God (Psalm 22:1; 69:7-8), the One despised by men and mocked (Psalm 22:6-8), the One pierced for man's sins (Psalm 22:16; Isaiah 53:5; Zechariah 12:10), the One whose garments would be gambled over (Psalm 22:18), the Good Shepherd of God's people (Psalm 23; 100; John 10:11), the One who would overcome death (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53), the One who would be betrayed by a close friend (Psalm 41:9), the One whose zeal for God's house would consume Him (Psalm 69:9), the One who would be given vinegar for His thirst (Psalm 69:21), the rejected cornerstone of the Church (Psalm 118:22), the personification of wisdom (Proverbs), the One without Whom everything else in life would be meaningless (Ecclesiastes), the Lover of the Church (Song of Songs), the Child born of a virgin being "Immanuel, God with us" (Isaiah 7:14), the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), the King of the everlasting kingdom (Isaiah 9:7; Daniel), the shoot from Jesse who will bring peace (Isaiah 11:1-10), the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53), the First and the Last (Isaiah 41:4), the I Am (Isaiah 43:10), the Redeemer (Isaiah 59:20), the Branch of Righteousness (Jeremiah 33:15), the fourth man in the fire who delivered those thrown in (Daniel 3:24-25), the Son of Man with an everlasting rule (Daniel 7:13-14), the price paid to buy back God's adulterous bride (Hosea 3:1-5), the Son called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), the salvation accomplished through a three day stay in the belly of the earth (Jonah), the Desire of All Nations (Haggai 2:7), the eternal One born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the humble king who brings salvation (Zechariah 9:9), the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2), the ultimate anointed prophet, the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1), a Savior, Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11), the Servant who gives His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), the obedient Son (John), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Door of the Sheep (John 10:7), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6), the True Vine (John 15:1), the sender of the Spirit (John 15:26), the Holy One (Acts 3:14), the Second Adam whose obedience brings justification and life (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, 45), the means of man’s reconciliation with God the Father (2 Corinthians 5:18), the One who “knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21), the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23), the One who “made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men . . . becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” who now has been exalted to receive the name above all names (Philippians 2:7-11), the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15), the agent of creation (Colossians 1:16), the head of the body, the Church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18), the reconciler (Colossians 1:20), the One mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), the ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time (1 Timothy 2:6), the great God and Savior (Titus 2:13), the greater revelation (Hebrews 1:1-2), the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3), the One greater than angels (Hebrews 1:4-14), the One greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6), the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1), the guarantee of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:22), the final, true, and complete sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-18), the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (Hebrews 12:2), the One foreknown before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20), the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls (1 Peter 2:25), the Advocate for God’s children, the Righteous One (1 John 2:1), our only Master and Lord (Jude 4), the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness (Revelation 3:14), the Lion of Judah, the Root of David (Revelation 5:5), the slain Lamb (Revelation 5:6), the Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11), the Almighty (Revelation 19:15), the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16), the One who is coming again soon (Revelation 22:20) and so much more!

 

With all of this being the case, our CHRISTmas can’t be just any ordinary celebration but must be extraordinary. Who else deserves center stage other than this One revealed to us from Genesis through Revelation? May you reflect on and worship this Wonderful One this CHRISTmas season whom all the Bible points.

            Love in Christ,

            Pastor Lee