151206 The Reason for the Season

1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

A few nights ago I saw a “man on the street” set of interviews about Christmas. One of the questions asked by Jesse Watters was directed at a young girl. He said, “Whose birthday is Christmas?” Her reply was, “Santa Claus.” We have replaced Jesus with Santa in December and with the Easter Bunny in the spring. That is really sad. Christian families should make an effort to keep their children “in the loop” so far as representing Jesus on earth. Paul’s letter to Timothy tells us that there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That man came in the world to give his life as a ransom for our sin.

Next Sunday we will have our Christmas concert and the following Sunday I will share a message about the divinity of Jesus. He was fully man and fully God at the same time — and will be forever! First, let’s look at the humanity of Christ. Paul referred to him as “the man Christ Jesus”.

That man was born of a woman. The first prophecy of Jesus came to Satan in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The virgin birth is an important part of biblical theology. I remember one day in class, many, many years ago, when Dr. Stewart was asked, “Does a person have to believe in the virgin birth to be saved?” I remember very clearly his answer, “No, I did not come to Jesus through the virgin birth I came to the virgin birth through Jesus.” If people have to wait until they believe all the aspects of the Christian faith then salvation would be by works and not by grace, through faith. At the same time, there is no doubt in my mind that the man Christ Jesus was born of a virgin in Bethlehem just as the Bible teaches.

Both Mary and Joseph had been told that the child conceived in her womb was planted there by the Holy Spirit. The promise given in Genesis is that the “seed of the woman” would ultimately destroy the serpent. You see it is important for us to remember that…

Salvation is from God. Jesus’ birth was from God. Galatians 4:4-5  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.

In Mark’s gospel we are told that Jesus began his ministry, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) In the same way, Paul told the Galatians that God sent forth his son, born of woman, when the fullness of time had come.

Jesus didn’t “just happen” to be conceived. Instead, at the right time — when everything was right — God sent him forth.

I suppose there are other ways God could have done this. He could have given Jesus — God the Son — a human body in heaven and sent him to earth. But, it would be hard for us to see that Jesus clearly identified with us if that had been the way God chose.

Our salvation only comes about through the supernatural work of God. Salvation is a miracle! It can only be performed by God and certainly not by any works of righteousness that we have done. Instead, our salvation is according to God’s mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. (Titus 3:5)

The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person. This was the way God chose to send his Son into the world as a man. God in his wisdom ordained a combination of human and divine influence in the Christ.

God, the Son, was human and holy. Let’s look at how the angel, Gabriel, responded to her when she told him she was a virgin. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. Jesus was clearly identified as God and yet according to Luke 2:4-7 he was born in the most humble set of circumstances possible. Fully God and fully man. It came about in this way, 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.

Jesus was the creator of the universe, he is clearly identified as such in John chapter 1 and in Hebrews chapter 1 as well as other places in the Bible. He came into the world through the womb of a virgin into a poor family. He was the carpenter’s son or, he was the carpenter. (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3) Jesus — the Son of God — was born on earth into a human body.

Jesus still has that same body. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his crucifixion and resurrection, as told in, Luke 24:39. He said, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” He still had his body that he had been born in and had traveled about the earth in for 33 years. Three days before that same body had been brutally beaten, nailed to a cross and physically died. Now, it was a resurrection body! His heavenly body was much greater than his earthly body. He himself described the upcoming difference as being similar to a grain of corn being buried and coming to life in a stalk that produced many grains of corn. When Jesus came out of the grave he now exists in a body that he took with him. Let’s look ahead to Luke 24:50-51. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

His disciples spent time with him between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. They were there when they saw him, in his human body, being carried into heaven. Jesus still has that human body. While he was on earth…

Jesus had a human mind. The evidence for that is found in several places in the Bible. Let’s look at Luke 2:52. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Being fully human Jesus had to develop like other children. He increased in wisdom while he was growing up. Apparently he lived through the same kind of learning process as all humans have. He learned how to feed himself, walk and talk, and reading and writing. The writer of Hebrews adds an interesting concept. Hebrews 5:8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. He learned how to be obedient to his parents as well as to his Heavenly Father. This growing and developing process shows us clearly the humanity of Jesus. Not only did he have a human body and a human mind he has a human soul and human emotions.

Jesus has a human soul and human emotions. As he came to the end of his life he indicated his humanity in John 12:27. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. His disciples would have encouraged him to avoid the suffering and the cross. But he described his emotional situation is being “troubled”. A little later in John 13:21 we find: After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” He experienced the same kind of agony as other humans do knowing that he would be betrayed by one of his closest people. Jesus felt as we often feel because…

Jesus, in every way, was like us. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 4:15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Jesus was clearly like us. He sympathized with our weaknesses because he was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Looking further we can see his half-brother, James’, view…

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

Since Jesus was tempted like we are he had to have human feelings and emotions. Fully human certainly describes our Lord Jesus. He had a full range of human emotions. He marveled at the faith of the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:10). He wept at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35). He prayed with a heart filled with emotion (Hebrews 5:7). Just as we do, Jesus had to be able to take on more and more responsibility as he grew older. To those around him…

Jesus appeared fully human. We find the record in Matthew 13:53-58. And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ⁵⁴ and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

Great crowds followed him because he had taught and healed. But when he came to his own village of Nazareth he was rejected because of the familiarity of his neighbors. He had lived and worked there for 30 years and they saw him as an ordinary man. Not an average man! No doubt they saw him as being a fair, kind, and truthful person but not a prophet of God. His life had been so ordinary, until that time, those who knew him best could only consider him as a human. Today, many people fall into the same trap. They come to know him but only as the carpenter’s son or the carpenter. He was so ordinary that even his brothers did not believe in him. (John 7:5) Those who lived and worked with him, even those in his own household, did not realize that he was anything more than another very good human being. They apparently had no idea that he was God come in the flesh.

We will come back and revisit the birth of Jesus before Christmas. What I’ve been sharing with you today is absolutely amazing! God himself came to the earth and identified with us completely. He left the glory of heaven to come to the gloom of earth. He was not born in a mansion attended by many doctors he was born in a stable surrounded by filth. Why would he do this? Because man, beginning with Adam and Eve, rebelled against him. And consequently all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It was absolutely essential that we have a substitute who had no sin of his own but can instead pay the wages of sin — DEATH! He did this so that we could be given the gift of God — eternal life! Place your faith in him because he cares for you. Jesus is the reason for the season!

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.