A Child is Born and a Son is Given

Which is the bigger deal from God's perspective? Is it the incarnation? Or is it the birth of Christ? So that led me to think about, well, you know, God did a lot of really cool things in the history of mankind. And if we were to take the list of the six the six most incredible things that God has done and He's recorded them in His Word from the beginning to the end, what would those six things be? There's my question. If we were to list the major events in the history of the universe from its recorded beginning to recorded end, In God's Word, what would be on the list? First one would be the creation, right? Nothing happens without the creation. Genesis 1, 1-31, God created everything in six days. Then, I would say the second most important thing that would make the list is the incarnation.

John 1.14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Third one, the death of Christ. Without that, we are in trouble.

John 19.30, And then, the next magnificent event is the resurrection of Christ. Notice there's a central theme here. It's the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The fifth one is going to be the second coming of Christ. That's the next big thing on God's list. And the last one The recreation of the new heavens and a new earth.

Those are the six. I couldn't find anything more important than those six. So, what's missing from the list? Christmas. Without the Incarnation, there is no Christmas. There is no birth of the God-Man. And that's what the Incarnation is really all about. The birth of Christ, which the world holds in such high esteem, doesn't make the list, didn't make the cut.

So these six dependents events are not only the greatest divine undertakings individually, they also in turn indicate the beginning of a brand new measureless development in the mighty program of divine achievement. Every one of these things God achieved and demonstrated publicly. So the incarnation, it's not the least, it's not the greatest. I don't know which is the greatest or which is the least. But here's the deal. What is the incarnation? It's the entrance of the second person of the eternal Godhead into the human sphere. And He just didn't show up and hang out with us. He partook of all the human elements, a human body, a human soul, and a human spirit. And why did He do it? Why would He do such a thing? I think He did it Because... One last thing before I ask that question.

The thing about being the God-man, where he's 100% God and 100% man, is that he's going to be that way for all eternity. He isn't going to revert back to the Godhead, or just be the second person of the Trinity and the flesh drops off. He's going to be that way for all eternity. And he intended it to be that way. So, his purpose for the second person of the Trinity to come down for the indescribable high, think a minute, what was it like for the Lord Jesus to abide where he's hanging out?

In the heights of heaven. He's God. He has no wants. He has no needs. He's resided there from all eternity. That's almost an oxymoron, that statement. And it's a sphere that's inhabited by creatures. The only creatures that are there are the ones that He made. Why did He do it? I think He did it in order that He might lift them, creatures, us, to the sphere of His eternal glory. He wanted to share what He was there, to lift us there.

When you start to think about that, I don't know what kind of an impact would it have on us. If we realize that the whole purpose of God the Second Person, God the Son coming to the earth, becoming a man for the sole purpose of taking you back with Him where He is. And He's going to recreate you so that you can enjoy Him there. He's going to do that. Matter of fact, with all of you, He's already started.

So, this unique and never-to-be-repeated event in the eternal existence of the second person that God had is itself beyond the range of my understanding. I can't imagine God doing it that way. Why would He do that? And I don't understand the kind of love it took that He would become a man. He's God.

So, the effect on those redeemed, the redeemed ones taken from among the creatures, through the inherent right established by His arrival into their sphere, He came into our sphere, there's a right established by that, are fully presented in eternal glory conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an achievement of incredible importance. Do you realize that He became a man to take us with Him And he's in the process right now of conforming us, even though we're in these awful, fleshly, sinful bodies, to his very image, to be just like him.

It's an achievement surpassing importance whether we value it or not. I don't think we value it as much as we should. He not only originated the universe as a creator, and he formulates all the ideals and principles which the fundamental glory of the Bible talks about, but he continues to express himself to finite men, you and me, and to execute and complete the program which the Godhead had devised. That's from Lewis Perry Chaffer. It's a great statement. So the person of Christ has been is the central point of all moral and religious discussions, he is the one that everybody talks about.

Now, they may want to not talk about him, but how do you avoid him? Without the reality of the God-man, there isn't sufficient ground for the truths of salvation, or sanctification, or for a lost world. If he doesn't become a God-man, you can wipe that right off the map.

Jesus being both divine and a human person, he's the hope for all men of all ages and for the very universe itself. He's the hope. Christ is God in His divine nature and He's man in His human nature. Now here's an interesting point. In His personality as the God-man, He's neither one nor the other apart from the unity of both of them together. Now the reason I bring that up is that you can't isolate one nature from the other nature. It's not possible. Though each can be considered separately. And you know, in this time of the year, we get all portrayals of Jesus and the baby Jesus.

And none of them, I'll tell you the one that just drives me nuts is the Chosen. They don't know the deity of Christ. They don't know who the God-man is. What are they trying to do? They're trying to focus solely on the human part of Him, and not the God-man. He's both of those all the time at the same time. Now, I've never seen a portrayal of Christ where both of those things were presented. I haven't seen one. Why? Because most men don't understand it, even believers. So that's the problem with a lot of these things that show up about the movie Jesus or whatever.

So this divine nature is eternal, but the human nature originated in time. And so therefore it follows that the union of the two is itself an event in time. Though it is destined to continue forever, the Incarnation. You see that? This union is a far-reaching accomplishment. It's unique in reality.

This is one of those 25-cent words that only theologians use. Theantropic, which means both human and divine person. So if you ever see it, just remember I told you it's the melding of deity and humanity. A theantropic person. Or the other term you'll see is the hypostatic union. The union of deity with flesh. The one who came into the world was none other than the second person of the Godhead. equal in every respect to the Father and to the Holy Spirit. Every respect. He's God. So let's look at some verses. I went through these verses. I really enjoyed them because they told me a lot.

In Isaiah 7.14, Isaiah says, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call him Immanuel. This is a two-fold prediction, and it's really clear.

And what does it state? Number one, he's born of a woman, which is under no circumstances can imply as to the source more than he's human. Yet, he's called Emmanuel, which means God with us. Doesn't mean he came into the building and he's hanging around with us. It means he became one of us.

Then Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government. or of peace, and on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness, for then and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this." So what do you get here? You get a child is born, and a son is given. A child is born and a son is given." I haven't even been looking at my notes, I have no idea where I am. That's okay.

In Micah 5.2, this is Old Testament prophecy.

But as for you, Bethlehem, too little to be among the clans of Judah, even from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. And his goings forth and from long ago from the days of eternity." Jesus is seen coming into a geographical location on the earth, Bethlehem, which is the most nondescript place he could have come from, which is his human identification. Jesus, where are you from? Bethlehem. Where were you born? Bethlehem. You go out to UC Health and they want to know your name, your birth date, and what's your address? Bethlehem.

Yet his goings are what? His goings forth are from everlasting. Luke 1.30, and these are the verses that lots of people read on Christmas morning, or maybe the night before.

And the angel said to her, Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. And he will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no end.

And Mary said to the angel, How can this be since I'm a virgin? This can't happen. The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High God will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God.

Is there any greater assurance of the twofold reality to be formed within the human language than is presented in this verse? The God-Man. There He is. This which is so clearly human is predicted of the One who is the Son of the Most High God. And so is He human because the Child is holy. Only God is holy. In terms of the Incarnation, few verses say it better than these right here. The Incarnation. John 1. Watch this, this is great.

In the beginning was the Word. What this means is that at the beginning of creation, the Word was already there. The second person of the Trinity. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And then in 14 it says, And the Word became flesh, and He dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as it had only begun of the Father, full of grace and truth.

What do these verses tell us? The eternal God, the Lagos, became flesh that He might live among men. And the context discloses that it was He who created all things, and from Him all life proceeds, especially that eternal life which those who believe in His name and receive Him, you possess it right this very minute. Possess that eternal life.

Philippians 2, 6, 7, and 8. Great verses. Who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped or hung on to, but he emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, being found in appearance as a man. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death and even the death of the cross. Now, this is the one who we talked about a couple of minutes ago that lived in eternity. He's God. He needs nothing. And this is what He did, right here.

That's why the incarnation, I think, is way more important than His birth. The portion of the Word of God places Christ in three positions. He was in the form of God. He's equal with God. And He appeared on earth in the likeness of men. Colossians 1 13 I love these verses in Paul's epistles because he describes the Lord Jesus in such an incredible manner That you just you have to really sort of slow down For he rescued us from the dominion of darkness and He transferred each one of us into the kingdom of his beloved Son In whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. He's the image of the invisible God. He is God, but He's a man. He's the image of the invisible God.

He's the firstborn of all creation. What does that mean? He has the first position. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and the earth, visible and invisible, whether they're thrones, dominions, rules, authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. This is the One that became a man to get you and me. That's who He is.

So the order of this description of Christ is reversed in this glorious passage, but the direct declaration is undiminished. The one being human has provided a redemption through his blood. He is nevertheless none other than the eternal Son of God, who is the creator of all things, whether you see them or not, whether they're visible or not. Then Paul says to Timothy, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in the world, and received up into glory. So at this point, we're confronted with a direct assertion, namely, that God was manifested in the flesh.

And all else which is here established of him serves only to strengthen this well-established truth. These passages conduct your mind and my mind that is open and responsive to the Word of God to the ground of one conclusion, namely, the eternal Son of God has actually come and entered the sphere of humans Now, in closing, I was reading The Hungry Heart two days ago and I had this, at least it struck me, it was so good I had to put it in here. So, as I read through this, this has to do with why the Lord Jesus did what He did. He came to get us because He wanted us to be with Him.

And the Father says in Matthew 17, 5, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. All the Father accomplished on our behalf is that, now watch this, that he might have all he has in his beloved Son, for in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Of all the marvels of the Father's grace, None is more marvelous than the fact of his bringing men into fellowship with himself. Can you think of anything that's more marvelous than that? I can't. That he should interest himself in the concerns of our daily lives is really a wonderful thing. That he should give us glory in heaven above the angels is a wonder still deeper. but that he should call us to like thoughts, like feelings, and to common objects with himself is beyond comprehension.

It is by occupation with in contemplating the Lord Jesus that we are brought by the enablement of the Holy Spirit into fellowship with our Father and able to enter into His own thoughts concerning and even to share His own affections for that blessed one who is now seated at His right hand. Charles Coates said, We only touch the positive blessings of Christianity as we reach the Lord Jesus in glory. One may have a measure of relief and the assurance of eternal security because we trust in His shed blood and His finished work on the cross. But when we come to divine favor and the reality of the Christian life, It's all connected with a person, and inseparable from that person. And I don't know why Myles used this, but it was great. He said, when they had lifted up their eyes, this is an amount of transfiguration, right? And they all put their heads down, and when they looked up, they saw no man except Jesus. Let's close.

Father, how thankful we are today for the Lord Jesus Christ that He did come to the earth to be a man. That we not only are saved, but we get to hang out with Him and be with Him for all eternity where He came from, in the heavenlies. And we just get to be able to share Him, and we'll be able to appreciate Him in the fullness of who He is because He's made us like Himself. So we thank you today, Father, for that, and we pray in your Son's precious name. Amen.