I. INTRODUCTION
A. Mt. 2:1-12; Lu. 2:6-17; Jn. 1:14
B. This lesson is divided into three sections:
1. The Mystery of the God-Man
2. God was in Christ
3. Signs given to the world
II. DISCUSSION: The subject of the birth of Christ is fundamental to coming to an understanding of redemption through Him.
A. The God-Man: In Col. 2:2, Paul declares Christ as the mystery of God and that we are required to know this mystery. Define mystery: a thing that is hidden. In scripture it refers to a fact that cannot be known unless revealed. When studying the birth of Christ we often tend to overemphasize the birth of the human being and ignore the crisis through which God became endowed with a human body. To examine His birth from this point of view, we will look at the testimony of the Scripture, then the mystery and finally the revelation of the mystery.
1. What the Bible says concerning the announcement of His birth and the doctrine established by His birth.
a. Angelic Annunciations
1) To Joseph: Mt. 1:20-23
2) To Mary: Lu. 1:35; 2:7
b. Doctrinal Declarations
1) By John the Apostle: Jn. 1:1,14 Correlating these two passages yields the following:
In the beginning was the Word > The Word became flesh
The Word was with God > and dwelt among us
The Word was God > full of grace and truth
a) The first correlation indicated that Christ always existed and has been an active member of the Godhood throughout all eternity. His incarnation did not change His official capacity, only the location from where He would operate in that capacity.
b) The second correlation elaborates on the first. Having always been in the immediate proximity of the Father, the Son now comes to earth.
c) The third correlation reminds us that Christ was no simple messenger boy, angel, apostle or underling doing the bidding of God, but God Himself. Whatever characteristics He possessed as God, He brought those with Him to earth.
2) By Paul the Apostle: Phil. 2:6,7
a) First emphasis: the eternal aspect of Christ.
b) Second: Paul shows the willingness of the Eternal Word to do what needed to be done to redeem mankind, namely come to earth as a servant of men.
c) Contrast His former position with the latter.
d) Notice the attitude of mind and act of will involved. He abandoned heaven for a time, emptying Himself so that He might live as a man.
3) When He emptied Himself did He give up His essential deity? The key word here is "form." It occurs here and in Mk. 16:12. From the passage in Mark we can see that His essential nature remained unchanged, only His outward appearance was altered. In our passage we can feel sure that he gave up none of His Godhood except His manifestation as a spiritual being.
4) The Incarnation brought forth a being that never previously existed, nor has such a being existed since. A person in all points human, yet in all essentials Divine!
2. The Mystery: How can this be? How can perfect (complete) Deity be united with complete (perfect) humanity? There is no earthly answer to these questions.
a. When He existed as a man, ( as we can observe in the gospels) His spiritual nature, His mental capacity, His physical life, His human will, His emotional capacity and His intellect all operating along very human (albeit perfect) lines.
b) Meanwhile, His Deity is reflected in His knowledge, wisdom, and power.
c) What is Christ then? God dwelling in a man? No, Prophets (for example) had this blessing as did many others we can read about in the scriptures. Perhaps then a man deified? No, that's the very stuff of which pagan god's are made. Christ is unique. He is the one and only God-Man.
d) The unique nature of Christ defies a perfect analogy. Our imagination can only rearrange knowledge we already possess. No one imagined the true Jesus Christ, because until He came on the scene there was no one to compare Him to!
3. The Mystery Revealed. The gospels give us three descriptive expressions which suggest His dual personality.
a. Son of God: shows both Deity and humanity. The title occurs in the gospels 30 times. At most, Jesus refers to Himself by this title five times. The remaining times the title is used by men or demons.
b. Son of Man: Indicates His relationship to the human race, yet still hints at His separate nature. There are 85 gospel occurrences. Men only used this title twice, and then in a spirit of derision, Jn. 12:34. The other 83 times Christ used the title Himself.
c. Son: declares the unity between God and man in the person of Christ. There are 23 occurrences, all from Christ Himself.
d. Our point: Christ chose to use the two titles that emphasized His dual nature, saving the phrase that emphasized His deity for only four or possibly five occasions. These were pressing circumstances where He either rebuked or comforted someone.
1) Jn. 3:18
2) Jn.5:25; 10:36 - to answer His critics.
3) Jn. 9:35 - comforting the excommunicated man.
4) Jn. 11:4 - comforting Mary and Martha upon the death of Lazarus.
e. When Jesus of Nazareth was born, there came into existence one Personality of a dual nature. No one before or since possessed these characteristics. The Son of God came from eternity, the Son of Man came from the human race, while the Son combined both aspects into one Personality and began the mighty work that only He could accomplish through the forces of deity in union with the capacities of humanity.
B. God was in Christ - the purpose of the Incarnation. The simple answer can be found in 2 Cor. 5:19. Of course, the complete reconciliation of man is dependent upon the death of Christ, Col.1:21,22. However, without the Incarnation there would have been no death on the cross. In our first study we learned that man through the ages had distanced himself from God, by sinning. Man's perception of God had become perverted and thus the need for God Incarnate.
1. The Incarnation corrected false ideas.
a. man had made God over in man's own image. With that image comes man's shortcomings, thus a god with faults.
b. Instead of a man-like God we must realize that God is spiritual not temporal. What man's physical body is to his spirit, all the created universe is to God.
c. When man fell he necessarily became materially minded and so did his gods. To our previous study of Baal, Moloch and Mammon and add the gods of Greece and Rome to the mix. These gods were as men: lazy, trivial, vindictive, and selfish.
d. The answer to discovering God could not come from man, but only from God, through God Incarnate - Jesus Christ.
2. The Incarnation fulfilled all previous "right - thinking" among spiritual men and presented them (and us) with a new understanding for the future.
a. Jesus was the perfect man for the job.
1) He was able to reveal Himself as God.
2) He was able to reveal how humanity should operate.
b. God showed centuries of patience in preparing mankind for the coming of Christ.
c. Why wasn't Christ sent sooner?
1) Man was given over to idolatry so the Israelites had to be sent first to prepare man to return to worshiping one God. Even the Israelites had a hard time learning this lesson, Deut. 6:4.
2) The only instrument God could use for His revelation had to come through Israel.There's was the only nation on earth that could provide the proper conduit for the Incarnation.
d. Through Christ comes perfect humanity.
1) In Him the spiritual is harmonized with the material.
2) He demonstrates the spirit as dominant over the body.
3) The physical body is governed and glorified.
4) The spiritual body is enthroned.
e. It is only through the God-Man that Deity takes hold upon humanity and humanity takes hold upon Deity. Christ is the only gateway between god and man.
1) The words of Christ prove it. They are the words of God.
2) His teaching was the sum of all wisdom, Mt. 11:28-30. No man spake like this Man. His was the speech of God.
3) His deeds. Could a mortal man have cleansed the Temple? Jesus blessed the children in Mt. 19:14, yet in the Jewish scheme of things children were worth nothing and not even counted in the census.
f. We are to be of the same mind as Christ, Phil. 2:5. A mind that is set in action by love.
g. The ultimate value of the Incarnation is that it broke down the human misconceptions of God that had caused man to hate God. In doing so man could once again love God, through Christ.
h. It is only after being reconciled to God through his death that we can be saved by His life, Rom. 5:10.
C. Signs to the Sons of Men
1. When He appeared to his own He was rejected, Jn.1:11. Why?
a. They either rejected or misunderstood their own prophets. They made no connection with Isa. 53, or 7:14.
b. The people by and large had lost their spiritual sense, therefore they were looking for an earthly prince.
c. They had no conception of the Servant of God.
2. What about the Gentiles?
a. The Romans were obviously not waiting for the newborn King of Judea.
b. The Greeks were not expecting the next great teacher from among the Hebrews.
3. The time was right because man had to sunk to the depths of sin and worldliness.
4. Two kinds of signs were given: direct and indirect.
a. Direct signs:
1) The Star: Mt. 2;1,2; Num. 24:17.
2) The Angelic ministry to Zacharias (Lu. 1:11), Mary, Joseph and the shepherds.
3) The voice of the prophets.
a) Matthew shows the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
b) New prophets heard: Zacharias, Mary, Elizabeth, Anna, Simeon, and do not forget John the Baptist.
b. Indirect signs:
1) Testimony of the Magi to Herod.
2) Testimony of the shepherds
3) The slaughter of the innocents.
c. Of course many at the time did not recognize these signs and even today we perhaps only understand them in part. However, upon further study we can come to realize their deepest significance.
III. CONCLUSION
A. Jesus Christ came to earth so that man might be reunited with God. In doing so Christ fulfilled the reason that God created man and satisfied God's ultimate purpose - LOVE.
B. Christ came to earth in the unique incarnation of the God-Man the first of seven crises that He must experience to bring reconcilation to mankind.
[END OF FOURTH SERMON]