God's Last Word Series

Many years ago, there was a man in Wales, who worked very hard to win a certain lady’s affection. She was his neighbor; and every week for 42 years, the shy, but persistent suitor slipped a love letter under her door. They had had a fight, and she simply refused to talk to him.

Then after writing 2,184 love letters without any kind of a reply, the single-hearted old man eventually got up enough courage to go to her in person. He knocked on her door and asked for her hand in marriage. To his delight and surprise, she accepted and they became “Mr. and Mrs.”, both at the age of 74. (Richard Armstrong, Make Your Life Worthwhile)

For centuries, God tried to communicate with His creation: He communicated in dreams and visions; He inscribed 10 commandments on tablets of stone; He spoke through human prophets many times and in many ways.

However, not many of us were listening. We had had a fight! Our sin had separated us from a holy God, so God decided to come to us in person. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 1, Hebrews 1, where the Bible describes what God did to woo us into a relationship with Himself.

Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 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. (ESV)

When all else failed, God spoke to us in a Son. He came to us in person. That’s what Christmas is all about – God coming to us personally to get our attention in a way we could not ignore, to invite us into an eternal relationship with Him.

Literally, God spoke to us in a Son – in Mary’s Son, which was His Own Son, conceived by His Holy Spirit. Now, when we think about the baby Jesus in a manger, He seems so weak and frail, but look at who He really is!

JESUS OWNS IT ALL.

God “appointed Him the heir of all things”, vs.2 says. That is to say He has inherited the universe! Everything belongs to Him. That includes your house, your car, and your bank account. That includes your children, your friends, and even your own body.

Pastor Ed Young, in Dallas, Texas, took his family to a high school football game, where during the third quarter, his daughter Landra said, “Dad, can I have some money to buy some candy?” He gave her a 5-dollar-bill and told her, “Go and buy some candy.” She came back with a sack full of Skittles. And as her dad watched her eat them, he asked her for some Skittles. She told him, “No.” So her dad said, “Landra, just give me a couple.” She said, “They're mine.”

Now, there were several things Pastor Young’s little daughter failed to grasp. Number 1, He had bought the Skittles for her. Number 2, He was strong enough to take the Skittles from her and eat every one of them if he wanted to. And number 3, He could have bought 300 packages of Skittles and given her so many Skittles that she couldn’t have eaten them all in a year.

Sometimes, we fail to grasp the same thing when it comes to Jesus. Everything we have, He bought for us. It’s all actually His, and He could take it all from us if he wanted to. But He could also give us so much, we wouldn’t know what to do with it all. (Ed Young, from “Skittles,” a sermon given at Fellowship Church, Dallas, Texas, 11-13-04; www.PreachingToday.com)

So when Jesus asks for something – some money, a child, or even your life – don’t be reluctant to give it to Him. He owns it anyway, and He can always give you back so much more than you could ever use. Jesus owns it all, because…

JESUS MADE IT ALL.

He created everything there is. Verse 2 says, “Through [Him], [God] created the world.” Literally, He made the ages. That is to say, Jesus not only made the physical universe; He created time, as well.

It’s all summarized in the first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. In the beginning – that’s the creation of time; God created the heavens – that’s the creation of space; And the earth – that’s the creation of matter. We live in a time, space, matter continuum, and Jesus Christ made it all!

For more than half a century, Antony Flew was the most noted atheist in the world… until he shocked the intellectual world in 2004 by publicly announcing that he had changed his mind. Then he began professing faith in God, a faith that he professed right up until the day he died in 2010. As a philosopher, Flew was always prepared to go wherever the evidence led him, which toward the last six years of his life led him to believe that atheism is not logical.