A sun rising on those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death.
His name is Jesus.
He comes because of the tender mercy of our God.
He gives knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sin.
And he does not only bring forgiveness of sins past, thereby giving you a chance to be better. He makes something true that wasn’t true before – he makes us holy and righteous.
Here’s what Zechariah says:
“that we… might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.” (Luke 1:74-75).
That’s the truth of Jesus Christ.
When the fullness of time came (oh, all the years spent in darkness!), God sent forth his son (oh, blessed sunrise!), born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5).
Praise God for the righteousness and holiness given us in Christ, that we are redeemed, adopted, and serve our God without fear all our days.
We were out in the freezing rain early in the week, 16 or so brave souls from our church, in the dark, wielding little LED candles, singing Christmas Carols. The sidewalks were icy-slick, and we slid and skated from house to house. It was cold and wet and dark and… really a lot of fun, singing of our Savior.
What is Joy to the World?
I was particularly struck by singing “Joy to the World.” I have always thought of it as a song singing of how joyous Christ’s coming to earth was. What a joyful event, the angels singing, the shepherds rejoicing, the wise men gathered round.
But when I actually listened to what we were singing… it is certainly joyful… but for other reasons.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King…”
“Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!”
“He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove…”
Isaac Watts, who penned the hymn almost 300 years ago, is clearly proclaiming the joy of Christ’s kingship. The King has come! The Savior rules! Sing, sing, everyone – the Lord is come!
And that got me thinking about the wondrous nature of God’s plan in Christ.
Over a thousand years before the arrival of Jesus in Bethlehem, our God made a promise to an individual: David. David was king over Israel, and God said to him: “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16)
And it seemed that those words had been forgotten. Israel swallowed up by Assyria, Judah overrun by Babylon. Disarray, confusion, and above all… time passing.
And, a thousand years after God’s promise to David, come these words from Luke 2:
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered… and all went to be registered, each to his own town” (vv.1-3).
Not a very auspicious beginning to the coming of Christ.
But it goes on: “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, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.” (vv. 4-5)
And it is here, the next verse, that the birth takes place “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.” (v. 7)
Most of us focus on the swaddling clothes and the manger.
But the heartbeat of this passage is a birth in all of the gathered remains of David. Joseph, of the line of David, comes to Bethlehem. Who else would be gathered there, registered? The rest of those of the line of David. Out of the gathered lineage of David, comes a child.
It isn’t the swaddling cloths and manger scene that is gloriously revealed here… it’s the gathering of the line of David to witness the fulfillment of one of the most incredible promises ever given to man by God: a throne forever for David’s line.
The King has come.
The promised King.
He rules and will rule forever and ever!
May our hearts proclaim the glory and majesty of our Savior, the King, come to earth as a babe, ruling forever and ever!
I think Isaac Watts got it just right.
Merry Christmas, all… and joy to the world, the Lord has come. The king will rule forever.
I walked to work today, because the weather is difficult for travel. Snow and icy rain are a bit unusual for us at Christmas-time. I slowly became cold and numb, even though I was well-wrapped in boots and jackets. I thought as I walked, “what a time for giving birth outside.”
I know that Jesus probably wasn’t born on December 25. Most scholars looking at the dates either arrive at a late Spring or mid-Fall date. September 29 is a favorite possibility. So my Savior wasn’t born in snow, most likely.
But the elements surely played a factor in His birth. No room at the inn, a pregnant Mary gave birth in a stable, probably a cave, far from the comforts of home. The One who would give His life for us was laid in a feeding trough. That scene, Joseph and Mary huddled in a cave smelling of stale animals, her exhausted from giving birth, him looking down at a child that was not even his own, is the scene of the greatest event the world has ever known.
This scene is the essence of preaching. “What?,” you ask. “Preaching?” Indeed. Fifty-five times in the New Testament the verb for preaching is used, and here the angels use it of Jesus’ birth: “Do not be afraid, for behold, to you I preach the gospel, mega-joy that will be for all the people.” (Luke 2:10, my translation).
What we are celebrating at Christmastime is the gospel. Preaching, preaching the gospel, proclaiming good news, that’s what the angel was doing. Glad tidings, the gladdest that ever was, started this night when this child was born into the world.
The angel preached the gospel, the good news, for this reason: “because to you is born today a savior, who is Lord Messiah, in David’s city.” (Luke 2:11).
This amazing truth, a child born in a smelly cave lying in a feeding trough barely out of the elements to young impoverished parents in a rural, seemingly unimportant land… this is the good news which we should never stop proclaiming.
Sin, obedience, judgment, freedom, law, eternity, love, it all makes sense only as it converges on this event, this particular scene. God became man, He entered time, O blessed good news that impacts every doctrine and thought of the Christian!
The vast multitude of the heavenly host broke forth in spontaneous praise that day over Bethlehem, proclaiming God’s glory and God’s peace. May we also never forget that our humble Savior is the preaching that the world so desperately needs to hear.
This is the reason for the preaching of good news, the proclamation of good tidings by the angel. This is the reason for the sudden multitude of the heavenly host all praising God, all proclaiming His glory to the highest, His peace come to earth.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14)
Merry Christmas; praises to the God who came to earth as a baby, for our sake.
One of my favorite verses at Christmas is Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isn’t it amazing that over 700 years before Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, Isaiah prophesied of His coming, and looked even further ahead to the establishing of His kingdom? Isn’t it wonderful to celebrate the inauguration of that kingdom — the coming of the King — this season. Our precious Savior, come to earth? We look forward to the time when He will establish His kingdom of peace and justice forever.
This amazing promise of a coming Savior has special meaning to us because we have been grafted into such a salvation (Romans 11:17), so that the “us” here in Isaiah 9:6 really does include Christians. Christ is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace to you and to me, and we rejoice in remembering the birth of our Savior.
Isaiah 9 is part of a section from Isaiah 8-12, which is interesting because of what the section contains. Chapter 8 sets the stage for setting your hope entirely in God, even though hard times are coming. Then chapter 9 about the coming Messiah (Jesus!). Chapter 10 echoes chapter 8 in saying the Lord will establish His remnant, even in the face of the coming invasion; Chapter 11 echoes chapter 9 in extolling the coming Branch of Jesse, and the peace He will bring.
All four of these chapters are essentially “indicative,” meaning that they state what is coming, they state what is true, and don’t contain specific commands, or “imperatives.”
These four chapters are fantastic, encouraging news. But what should my response be? What is the primary task, the effective doing, of God’s people based on this incredible news — that God will (and has!) sent His Son, and that He will rule over us in peace and righteousness?
The answer is in the final chapter of the section, Isaiah 12. Like so many other portions of God’s Word, the imperative (“do this”) follows the indicative (“this is true”). In this season of remembering the coming of the King, may we also remember our primary response, here in Isaiah 12: praise.
Here’s the whole chapter, all 6 verses:
The first two verses are in the singular — an individual response:
You will say in that day:
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though You were angry with me,
Your anger turned away, that You might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and He has become my salvation.”
The last four verses are plural — our collective response:
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;
make known His deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that His name is exalted.”
“Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
This is what to do, Christian, based on the coming of your king in a manger in Bethlehem:
Individually, give thanks, trust, don’t be afraid
All who come, joyously draw water from salvation’s wells
Corporately, give thanks, call upon His name, proclaim His deeds and name
Together, sing praises, shout, sing for joy
This Christmas, let us individually and together praise Him!
We have so much to be joyful about this season, as we remember the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Child born, the Son given. May we also respond as Isaiah proscribes, with thanks, singing, praise and proclamation, because of the wondrous salvation that has been given to us, in grace, by and through our Prince of Peace.
(Today’s thoughts were stimulated by reading Sinclair Ferguson’s In Christ Alone, a wonderful and highly recommended book of short essays on our union with Christ.)
One of the laments that resounds through the Christian circles during this season is the commercialization of Christmas. There is so much marketing, so much materialism, so much in our
Santa Christ?
culture that seems to focus on ourselves and our excesses, and not upon Jesus. It is a rare year that we do not face the call to “bring Christ back into Christmas.”
This returning of Christ into Christmas is a wonderful sentiment, and a true one. We as a society are too materialistic, do focus on the self-fulfillment of gifts and buying and lights and trees. In many ways, there is little difference from how someone who does not know Jesus celebrates Christmas from someone who does.
As we look out at the Christian landscape, there is even a further concerning thought: our conception of Santa often mirrors how we think of Jesus.
Think of common Christmas songs, such as:
“He knows when you’ve been sleeping, He knows when you’re awake;
He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake”
The “he” there is Santa, but for many of us, it might as well be Jesus. Try this on for size:
“Jesus knows when you’ve been sleeping, Jesus knows when you’re awake;
Jesus knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake”
Does that seem to be your experience? Our Lord knows everything you do, so you better be good, or you won’t get any presents. If you’ve done the best you can, then perhaps Jesus will condescend to bless you with the blessing you most desire. Or perhaps He’ll overlook a few of the stumbles and sins if you make every effort for some period of time to do good, to act rightly, to be righteous.
And that last phrase is the real problem. There we go again, slipping into the “I can be good on my own” thinking that is the antithesis of the gospel. What makes me think that I have the capacity to “be good,” and that really, really trying is going to mean something? If Jesus has the characteristics of Santa, watching me to see if I deserve blessing, evaluating me to decide if I’m worth giving good things to, then I’m lost.
Sinclair Ferguson identifies Santa Christology as what it is, semi-pelagianism: “The only difference from medieval theology here is that we do not use its Latin phraseology: facere quot in se est (to do what one is capable of doing on one’s own, or, in common parlance, ‘Heaven helps those who help themselves’).”
Christ and Santa are not friends. They have wildly different worldviews, and not in the way that we commonly think. It is not only that Santa is all about presents, gifts, and flying reindeer. Even more concerning is that Santa is about evaluating the wrong goodness — ours.
Christ does no such thing. He came to earth, humbled himself as a child, conceived before wedlock, born in utter poverty, his family fleeing from an evil king. He lived a life of perfect obedience, of utmost righteousness in every attitude and thought. He out of utmost love gave up his intimate fellowship with God the Father, bearing the sin of every believer on the cross, so that we might have His righteousness by faith.
Blessing upon blessing upon blessing has been poured out on us, believer. Not because we’ve been careful to have external goodness, but because we are associated with the Son, we are “in Christ.” O may the skies proclaim it, may the earth rejoice, may our mouths open in awe and wonder and worship of the Messiah come to earth!
As God’s people, then, we should be full of wonder and adoration of what Christ has done in this season, and not simply (as heartwarming as it is) focused on family times and warm feelings in feet, toes, and heart as we fellowship around the Christmas tree. We don’t Christianize a secular holiday, but we have a whole different reason to be wondrously adoring; O look and see what has been done!
In Mary’s words (Luke 1:46-47,49):
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior… for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
There is no Santa Christ in this; only Christ, the babe come to earth… may our spirits rejoice, may we magnify the Lord this season in what the One who is mighty has done for us!
