Christmas - Week 4

Thousands of years before the birth of Jesus, there was only darkness. The Earth was without form or void. God spoke and into the darkness burst forth light, light that would illuminate everything. In those early days life sprung from the ground, and that life enjoyed fellowship with its Creator. It wouldn’t be long before darkness would cover the Earth again, this time a spiritual darkness that would plague all of creation. This darkness is called sin, and sin separated creation from its Creator. 

Over time, glimmers of light would flicker for a moment, in promises of a future and eternal kingdom, in the blood stained doorposts that led to freedom from slavery, in the words of prophets sent by God. But all of these were just a small foreshadowing of what was to come. When the light of hope seemed to be flickering, God would remind His people that salvation was coming.

But then, God went silent. For 400 years, the people wondered. For 4 centuries, they struggled to hold on to hope. But then, out of that silence, light burst forth again. 

Read John 1:1, 14, 9 - Incarnation

In the beginning the Word existed. In the beginning the Word lived and had fellowship with God. The Word is Himself God. The Word, God, became flesh. In one of the most important moments in history, God humbled Himself and put on flesh. And let’s not miss what He did. It says that “He dwelt among us.” He didn’t live in a mansion up on the hill. He didn’t live secluded until His time came to die. He dwelt among us. Immanuel. God with us. 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 man. This is what we call the Incarnation. God becoming man.

While at the same time, John says, “we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son, the Son of God.”  The great theological conundrum. Jesus, 100% man, but yet 100% God. Left His position in heaven, but did not forsake His glory. Became a human being, but did not forsake His deity. And this moment, the moment that we celebrate this morning; that moment that we will celebrate tomorrow morning, was light exploding into the darkness. 

“The true light, which offers light to everyone, was coming into the world.” The true light. The perfect and complete light. Why was that necessary? There is a very clear contrast between light and darkness throughout Scripture:

Colossians 1:13 - “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

John 8:12 - “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

John 3:19 - “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”

We see the result of this love of darkness in John 1:

Read John 1:10-11 - Depravity, Separation, Rejection

Not only did Jesus exist before the foundation of the world, but Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians that Jesus was the Creator of it all. It was created by Him. But because of sin, the fallen world did not recognize Him. It was so covered in darkness that it had become blind to the truth. Not only did they not recognize Him, but they rejected Him. 

He came to His own people, and they rejected Him. We see this in the gospels, that Jesus returned to Nazareth, and His family and friends refused to accept Him as the Messiah. So much so that they forced Him out onto the edge of a cliff to throw Him to His death. The light had come, but they refused to acknowledge it. It wasn’t only His friends and family that rejected Him. 

The religious leaders, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, the ones who had been teaching prophecy about the Messiah. The ones who had been hoping for the day of His return. The ones who saw the miracles that He performed first-hand, but yet loved their position of influence too much to give it up. They were blinded by greed and power, and refused to see Jesus for who He truly was. 

This is what sin does. Sin is anything we do against the character and nature of God. Sin separates us from God. Sin leads to death. Sin leads to destruction. Sin causes us to remain in darkness. And this is the sad state of the world we live in today. Millions of people will celebrate Christmas as a time to be with family, to give gifts and to rest from work and school, and those are great things. In fact, they might even mention the birth of Jesus as the “reason for the season.” But so many will still miss the true nature of the Christ. Christmas will come and go, and their eyes will remain blind to who He truly is. And this is the sad reality for so many. 

But that’s not the end of the story. In this season there is hope to be found. There is good news.

John 1:12-13 - Hope of the Gospel

“But,” John says. Many have rejected the true light. Many have rejected Jesus, BUT. There are others who received Him. There are others who believed that He was who He said He was, who believed His message of repentance and salvation. They believed in His name, the name of Jesus. 

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

There is power in the name of Jesus. And for those who believe in that name, God has given the right, the privilege to become His children. No longer will we wander in darkness, stumbling through life trying to find something to hold onto. No longer are we lost, but we are found, and adopted into God’s family. We are given His name, His righteousness, His inheritance. We are given His Spirit, His blessings and His freedom. 

How specifically does this happen? Scripture tells us that we need simply to believe in the name of Jesus and confess Him as Lord. Believe in our heart that His death on the cross is sufficient for salvation, and that His resurrection was a real event that opened the door to eternal life. 

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.

And we find great hope and joy in this moment because we know how the story unfolds. We know that this baby will grow to be the Savior of the world. He will walk into Jerusalem to give up His life so that we might have life. He rose again and ascended into heaven, taking a seat at the right hand of His Father. And we know that He will come again. And for the final time, light will burst into the darkness of this world, but not as a baby. This time, He will come back as a Warrior King. Revelation 19 tells us that He will come back on a white horse with eyes like fire, a crown with jewels and a white robe dipped in blood. The armies of heaven, wearing pure white clothing, following Him on white horses. It is the beginning of the end of this broken and corrupt world, and one day, one day after that, He will recreate in perfection a new heaven and a new Earth where we will dwell with Christ forever. 

And it all started one dark night in Bethlehem, in the silence of a stable.