What Child is This - Dec 25, 2011

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SERMON:

What’d you get for Christmas? Who’s coming to visit? What can I bring to the meal? Where are we going for New Year’s?

There are a lot of questions we might ask this Christmas Day. But one question outweighs them all: “What Child is this?” You know how the song goes…

What child is this who, laid to rest,
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet
While shepherds watch are keeping?

For the answer to this question, we look to God’s Word...

Hebrews 1:1-9 (ESV)

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
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It’s not in the Bible, but I would bet that the first communication that came from the Christ Child was a cry of shock as He was born into the cool air of the Judean night. It wasn’t a very complex communication. That little infant cry meant, “I’m here, now feed me and wrap me up, it’s cold out in this place.”

He looked so ordinary, and yet to his parents, he was so special. For Mary and Joseph, the awe and love connected with this Child was more than parental infant infatuation. Joseph knew this Child was not his. Mary knew that she was still a virgin. The little infant who was now exercising His lungs was nothing less than a miracle. This Child was God Himself impressed into human flesh and bone.

The writer to the Hebrews says that Jesus is…

“…the radiance of the glory of God and the exact representation of his nature…” (Hebrews 1:3 ESV).

This Child was sent to communicate to the world. We can tell that God exists from the complex and ordered creation around us. Every house has a builder, right? We can tell that the builder of our universe is powerful and wise, but the creation does not show us what God’s heart is like.

This Child came to express everything about God that the created universe could never say. Jesus once said…

“…Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9 NIV).

With His whole life, Jesus shows us God’s personality. This is why we continue to read about the life of this Child more than 2,000 years after His birth. To truly know God, we must know His Son.
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We’re told very little about where this Child was born. It was in Bethlehem of course. But apart from that, we only have the note that He was laid to rest in a feed trough for animals. Yes, His first crib was a dirty manger.

Even more than dust and grit and the smell of animals, this Child was surrounded by the filth of sin. No sin was on HIS soul, but it certainly surrounded Him. His mother Mary was a sinner. His stepfather Joseph too. The shepherds who visited Him that first night, well, back then shepherds were so notorious untrustworthy that they weren’t allowed to testify in court. And the filth of sin doesn’t end there. if you look back in Jesus’ family tree (which you can do by reading Matthew 1) you’ll find a whole parade of sinners guilty of all kinds of wickedness - thievery, prostitution, incest, adultery, murder and flat out hatred of God.

This Child was surrounded by sin when He came into this world. But this was actually the perfect place for Him to be born. For this little Child was not destined to be a mere visual aid to show us the nature of God. Nor was he sent to be a just another moral teacher, pointing out the way to a better life. He was sent to void the record of our sins, to cleanse mankind of guilt and to open the doors of heaven so all could follow Him to the Father’s side.

The writer to the Hebrews wrote…

“After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than their” (Hebrews 1:3b-4 ESV).

Through the Old Testament prophets God had said that the promised Savior would be His own Son. During the ministry of Jesus God actually spoke from the sky on a number of occasions saying, “This is my Son”. But most powerfully, after Jesus was crucified and buried in a tomb, God declared to the whole world that this was indeed His only begotten Son by raising Jesus from the dead. Romans 1, verse 3 says…

“…His Son Jesus Christ our Lord… …was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3-4 NKJV).

This Child came not only to reveal God’s character, but to save Mankind from hell. And through the resurrection, God the Father declared powerfully one more time – THIS IS MY SON! YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN!
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God made a big set of clues which would help people identify the promised Savior when He finally arrived on Earth. He would be born during the reign of the Roman Empire. He would be born in Bethlehem. He would be a Jew. He would be from the Tribe of Judah. He would be a descendant of King David. His mother would be a virgin.

And on the night of Jesus’ birth, God continued to describe the Child so that He could be identified without a doubt. The angels told that gang of shepherds that they would find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.

All this detail was necessary because this Child would look like any other child. But nothing could be further from the truth. This was the only begotten Son of God.

Angels and people are sometimes called, “Sons of God” but only because they were created by God, or because they are followers of God who resemble Him by imitation. But the Child that the shepherds went to see was one of a kind. He had always been the Son of God in eternity, but now He had become the God-Man, in time.

In verse five, the writer to the Hebrews wrote…

“5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”

What is this Child? Well, He’s certainly no angel! He’s not a mere messenger of God, mighty and powerful though angels are. God doesn’t command that angels be worshipped, nor does God put angels on thrones. This Child is higher than the angels, He is God enthroned by God on an eternal throne.

John wrote the following so we’d know beyond a doubt what this child is…

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1-2 NIV).

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But I’d like to zoom you in to one final detail about this Child before we close our mediation for today. Look at verse 8. There it says…

“…of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions” (Hebrews 1:8-9 ESV)

In Bible times oil was used for different things. It was used to anoint kings and priest to show that they were chosen for their work. It was used to sooth and heal a wound (like ointment). And it was also used to “dress up” your face for a celebration (like lotion or makeup).

It appears that the “oil of gladness” from verse nine is the “celebration oil”. The picture is this: the Son of God is on His way to the victory party. God has anointed Him with the “oil of gladness” so that He will shine with the most glory in Heaven, as He is surrounded by those He has Saved from their sins.

What Child is This? This Child is the one who is our invitation to forgiveness and heavenly glory. He has begun to teach us to know the Father’s heart. He has washed us clean of our guilt and sin. He outshines the angels as the Firstborn who will sits on the throne with His Father. And He invites us to trust in Him, and rejoice.

So, let us celebrate this Christmas Day for He was born to save us from our sins. And this He has done. Trust in Him, for He will not let you down. May the Christ Child live in your hearts today and forever, filling you with peace and joy.

Amen.