Christmas Week 1
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.”
Isaiah 9:6-7 - “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Kid Question:
Do you know what the name Immanuel means?
We see in this name 3 different Hebrew words. Im –"with", Anu – "us", and El – "God". “God with us.” His name shall be God with us. He will physically embody this name. A Son will be born to a virgin, and His name will be Immanuel. We’ll circle back to this name at the end of our time together.
Intro
I love the Christmas season. I love the lights, mostly the music as long as it’s after Thanksgiving, the food, parties, egg nog. I don’t love the busyness of the season, the packed parking lots and crowds when it’s time to go shopping. But, I do love giving gifts, and I love the few days where the pace of life slows down. There is something truly magical about the Christmas season. There’s a wonder about it.
Over the next few weeks we are going to look in wonder at one of the most incredible events that has ever happened in the history of the world. It’s called the incarnation. Today we’ll look at the significance of the incarnation. And we’ll get to that in just a moment, but first, I want to ask the kids a few questions.
Kids Questions:
Who was Jesus’ mom?
Who was Jesus’ dad?
What is the incarnation?
Big Idea: The Incarnation is One of the Most Incredible Events in Human History.
Big Idea for Kids: The Incarnation is AMAZING!
The Significance of the Incarnation.
By definition, the incarnation is “the act of being made flesh.” This provides quite the theological conundrum for us, for how could God, eternally and infinitely glorious, be contained in a human being, much less beginning life as a completely dependent baby? To really understand the significance of this, we have to start all the way back in the beginning of time as we know it.
Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:26a - “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
There is a plurality in creation, and if we look at Colossians 1:16-17, we see that Jesus plays an integral part in the whole process. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Jesus existed before all things. Jesus created all things. And, Jesus continues to hold all things together. We see confirmation of this in the gospel of John chapter 1. Why don’t we turn there together. Read John 1:1-3, 14.
In the beginning - pre-existence.
Word was with/was God.
Jesus is the Word. Therefore Jesus is God.
We can know for certain, then, that Jesus existed before creation. If we dig a bit deeper into MIcah 5:2 and Hebrews chapter 7, we come to find that Jesus was not created, but has always existed. What did that look like? What did Jesus, pre-birth Jesus, look like? What was his form, what was His essence?
Kids Question:
What comes to your mind when I say the word “glory?”
From the few verses we’ve read already, we know that Jesus was all-powerful. He spoke creation into existence by His Word, and by His Word He holds all things together. We also know that He existed in the fullness of glory. In John 17:5 as He prays to the Father in the High Priestly prayer, he says, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” His glory is his magnificence, His brightness, His power. It’s all that He is and all that He exudes. Glory. We also get a small glimpse of what this must have been like, and the glory that He returned to in Revelation 1:13-16:
“…and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.”
This isn’t a literal description, as there is much symbolism involved in terms of judgment and perfection, but we can get a picture of the immense glory and power in which He existed, and now exists.
Hopefully, after hearing all of this, we all enter the conversation about the incarnation with a certain reverence and awe. Hopefully we will be moved to worship when we consider this Jesus, in all His glory, choosing to become the most fragile and frail form of a human, a baby.
This is where things really become amazing. Turn over to Philippians chapter 2. Read Philippians 2:5-8.
This is one of my favorite passages, for in it we find God in all His glory humbling himself to the most extreme position, that of a servant. In theology we call this self-emptying the “kenosis.” We need to be careful here to understand that when Jesus emptied Himself, He was not giving up His divinity. He did not become any less God. What He emptied Himself of was His position in heaven and His form that embodied glory.
He did not count His position in heaven something to be grasped. He did not hold on tightly to it so as not to let it go. He wasn’t dangling with one hand, looking down at earth, but looking up to heaven, while God pried his fingers from the stronghold. He was willing to let it go for a time, and for a purpose.
And being found in human form. He was fully human. This means that He did everything a human being did, except for sin. He nursed. He toddled. He probably tripped on a couple of rocks and skinned his knees. He laughed and played with other kids in the neighborhood. He learned. He grew. He experienced pain and sorrow. He felt emotions, had his heart broken, not by a girl, but by the state of humanity. He wept, He felt joy. He was fully human.
In fact, Isaiah tells us in chapter 53 verse 2 that “he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” In other words, he was a normal looking Jewish man. Nothing extraordinary about his appearance.
But even beyond that! He didn’t just become a human being, but that He took the form of a servant. He left glory, the peak, pinnacle of existence, and placed Himself below humanity as a servant. And as the One who the world depended on to sustain it, He became completely dependent, as a baby, on a young Jewish teenager named Mary. This truth is absolutely unbelievable.
So why does this all matter? Why, for the next few weeks, will we focus on God becoming man? Why, during this holiday season, should we take pause to consider this? Why the incarnation? Well, because without the incarnation, we don’t have the cross. And without the cross, there is no resurrection. And without the resurrection, there is no hope for salvation.
Why is this important?
Read Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore. Because Jesus was obedient to death, God has given Him back glory in all its fullness. He has given Jesus back His position at His right hand. SO THAT, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We see this again in John chapter 1:9-12:
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”
To all who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Because of the incarnation of Jesus, we have the ability to be called God’s sons and daughters! And one day, those who do believe will be given glorified bodies and spend eternity in the presence of God, in all His glory and splendor.
“O Holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. 'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”
Think about this lyric! “Pining” means “to suffer a mental and physical decline; to miss and long for the return of something.” Before Jesus, our souls are empty, feeling worthless, with no purpose. But Jesus gives us purpose. He shows us we are worthy of being called sons and daughters of God because He was willing to sacrifice Himself to make it so!
I mean that line is just incredible. When Jesus appeared, when the Son of God veiled His glory and took on flesh, the “soul felt its worth.” When we come face to face with Jesus, and experience a real encounter with Him, seeing Him as our Savior, and confessing Him as such, we are counted “worthy.” Let everything come full circle now and let it sink in.
The Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have been together in glory since eternity past. At the exact moment that God the Father saw it necessary, I just picture Him looking at Jesus and saying, “it’s time.” And this isn’t in the Bible, but I just have to believe that Jesus jumped up in anticipation. It was finally time to redeem creation back to its Creator. It was time to show humanity that God deeply loved and valued them, and counted them WORTHY. Again, this is mind blowing. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 1:5 says that we are counted worthy of the kingdom of God.
Can you imagine?! Broken, sinful human beings, loved and desired by God, counted worthy of Jesus leaving heaven, putting on humanity and dying so that we might live. This is why we celebrate Christmas.
Application
And the amazing thing about Christmas, is that all of this started with a newborn baby. Those who have had children, or who have held a brand new baby, understand the fragility of that child. You understand the complete dependence that that child has on their parents for survival. This is how God entered the world! All of the glory and deity wrapped up in swaddling cloths and sleeping in a farm animal’s feeding troth. All the power to save humanity born into a cave stable.
