Jesus is the second Person of the Trinity, somehow both the true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Mary). He lived a sinless life and died on the cross as the only sufficient payment for man’s sin. He was raised from the dead, ascended to heaven and will one day return as King and Judge of the whole earth.
We’ve been looking at the truths which support and secure our faith. Truths which we find in the pages of this book, the Bible. God’s Word (which is 100% true). We’ve looked at truths about God, what He is like - that He is infinite, eternal, perfect, glorious. How by glorious we mean exceedingly breathtakingly good. That this gloriously good God created everything in the universe out of nothing, and everything He made originally was exceedingly good. That He is infinitely powerful and in control of all things, and that everything that happens in the universe, even the hard things, He works out for good, and for the increase of His Glory. Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 2Corinthians 4:17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. 2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Which brings us face-to-face, literally, with the most mind-boggling amazing possibility in all of life. Beholding the glory of the Lord. [Ex 33.18] Beholding God’s glory, His blazing, blinding, take-your-breath-away goodness. Which is not only mind-blowing, but as we’ve seen from Moses, it is unsurvivable. Feeble fallen human eyes cannot survive a full frontal glimpse of God’s blazing goodness. And thus we arrive at what is perhaps the most mind-blowing event in all of history: John 1:14 And the Word [this infinite eternal glorious God] became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. THIS - was Jesus.
THIS is that most wonderful truth that makes this THE most wonderful time of the year. Not the kids-jingle-belling and everyone-telling us to be of good cheer. No - the truth is, because He loved us so much, almighty God squeezed Himself into a tiny womb and out of a birth canal and allowed Himself to (need to) be swaddled, wrapped up in a baby blanket in a [feeding trough] in Bethlehem. And we beheld His glory. Infinity wrapped itself up in “finity”. Eternity itself showed up in real time, bound by the constraints of space&time & frail flesh. The God of all Creation, needing to be nursed - and rocked, and wiped - by this teenage girl who is now His mother? Placing Himself in the belly/arms of one of His own fallen creatures. We beheld His glory. Really? I thought glory was supposed to be this amazing larger-than-life encounter with God’s great majesty. But Glory is found in the most unexpected places, the most unassuming guises.
Literally v14 says, He pitched His tent and camped out among us. [tents - and stables: not where you look for glory —> palaces/cathedrals]. By all outward appearances, [this] is not where you would think to look for glory. This was not how you and I would have drawn it up. Not how we would expect the almighty Creator of the universe to show up and walk the stage of human history. This was not center stage - it was backstage. Some Palestinian backwater. Part of some tiny religious minority. The son of a poor carpenter and his teenage wife. This is NOT where the world looks for any kind of glory, for a king. Much less for salvation.
The LIE comes in and says, this was nothing special. Nothing to see here. Jesus was nothing special. IF He even existed (which is definitely a lie - hundreds of witnesses, mentioned by numerous ancient historians). The LIE says, Jesus was just a good teacher. A good example to follow. Flat out lie [google, "the trilemma"]. Jesus was just a man. Definitely not God. Cuz that would be impossible. Luke 18:27 But He said, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”
This "impossible" incarnation - how can Jesus be fully God AND fully human? Truly impossible to fully explain - OR understand. Unfathomable. Even theologians debated this for centuries. How can it be both? Cults have formed, heretics have been condemned, trying to land on one side or the other. The True Church eventually decided and has embraced that we need to be okay living in the tension of the inexplicable both/and.
But the world just tries its darnedest to dismiss Jesus altogether. Cuz the world doesn’t want to deal with Jesus. It can’t handle Him. And it’s maybe not the seemingly benign truth about His miraculous birth, as significant as that is. His mother was a virgin - she had never been with a man. For her to have a baby (in that day certainly) would have been inconceivable. Literally. There IS some debate about whether the Holy Spirit used Mary’s egg, or if she was just a surrogate. I lean towards the former: Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. Not something to be dogmatic about, either way. It’s God’s Holy Spirit making it happen, either way. Mary is a virgin, either way. Miracle. Amazing. Fulfilled prophecy either way. But 8lb 6oz Baby Jesus isn’t really why the world so wants to silence talk about Him. Initially I was going to go so far as to say that the world didn’t try to get rid of Him until He started pointing out our hypocrisy and our idolatrous hearts and our need for forgiveness and for entirely new hearts. But then I remembered that Herod actually did try to take him out as a baby. Even Nativity Scenes are offensive, aren’t they? The truth is, the world doesn’t want to hear ANYTHING about Jesus. Don’t even mention His Name. Unless of course you want to disrespect it or curse with it. But otherwise completely remove Him from the conversation.
The SALIENT point about this Baby, about this birth, of course, is that this Baby [was born to die]. His mission was not to simply take on human flesh, to crawl/walk among us. His steps were to carry Him up a hill called Calvary where (tho completely innocent) He allowed His enemies to betray and abuse and torture Him, and execute Him as a criminal. His mission was to take on evil, literally, to take on the sin of the world - and to pay the full penalty for all of it, to offer Himself up as the unblemished sacrifice for the sin of the world and take on the full measure of God’s righteous wrath poured out against it. And even in death, even as He hung there on that cruel Roman cross, God’s glory was on display, blazing forth in that darkness [Matt. 27:54 Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”]. The world rejected Jesus then, and it rejects Him still today. But for those who have eyes to see it, like that centurion, God’s glory is on full display. Always. For those who receive Him.
He walked among us. On the third day after He died, Jesus walked out of that grave, and walked among us, camped out for 40 more days [Acts 1:3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.]. Many convincing proofs. Hundreds of witnesses. Hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. And perhaps the even greater miracle is, this same glorious Son of God stands ready to camp out in our hearts. To walk with us, every day, every moment. A friend who is closer than any brother or sister. Always. Jesus IS special, always and forever "1OAK" - and He makes everything good, even when it doesn’t feel good. We are never alone. No matter what you’re going thru, no matter what valley you and I are walking through, Jesus is still among us, walking right beside us. Let every heart prepare Him room - is there room in your heart? Have you received Him yet?
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