Jesus the Wondrous Gift of God
Did you ever hear of anyone by the name of Wonderful? We meet people daily who have meaningful and sometimes beautiful names, and now and then we hear of names that are strange and unsuitable. But I have never in my life met anyone named Wonderful, and I have never seen in any of the books of history or fiction which I have read a reference to anyone who was called by this name….with one exception. In a very old book written by Isaiah the Prophet, who lived about 2700 years ago, we find the prediction of the coming of a very great king whose name will be "Wonderful". Isaiah writes: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon His is shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful…of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end." (Isaiah 9:6-7).
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).
HIS INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD IS WONDERFUL
It is remarkable that Jesus Christ did not do many of the things that the great men of the earth have done. He did not write a book, or win a battle, or establish a kingdom, or sit on a throne, or invent some wonderful thin like radio or television. On the contrary, most of his life was spent in the little town of Nazareth working as a humble carpenter, and even his spiritual ministry of saving men from their sins lasted only three and a half years. But in spite of the Jesus Christ is the most beloved person in the world today. The Holy Gospels, written about him by his disciples, have been translated into more than a thousand languages, and have a larger sale than any other book which was ever written. Thousands of men and women have left their native lands and gone into all parts of the earth to tell people about Christ. In almost all the countries of the world there are groups of people who love him, and are proud to call themselves by his name, and would gladly give their lives for him. Thousands of schools and hospitals and orphanages have been established by those who because of their love for Christ desire to help their fellow men, and millions of people have received both physical and spiritual healing through their ministry. In fact, most of the institutions and influences which today are making the world better had their origin in and eerie their power from the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. How wonderful is the man who after 2000 years still exercises such an influence in the world!
HIS BIRTH WAS WONDERFUL
In 1993 I saw a news report on T.V. it was about a "Messiah sighting" in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. Twenty thousand Lubavitcher Hasidic Jews live in Crown Heights, and many of them believed the Messiah was dwelling among them in the person of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Word of the rabbi’s public appearance spread like a flash fire through the streets of Crown Heights, and Lubavitchers in their black coats and curly sidelocks were soon dashing toward the synagogue where the rabbi customarily prayed. The lucky ones connected to a network of beepers got a head start, sprinting toward the synagogue the instant they felt a slight vibration. They jammed by the hundreds into a main hall, elbowing each other and even climbing the pillars to create more room. The hall filled with an air of anticipation and frenzy normally found at a championship sporting event, not a religious service.
The rabbi was 91 years old. He had suffered a stroke the year before and had not been able to speak since. When the curtain finally pulled back, those who had crowded into the synagogue saw a frail old man with a long beard who could do little but wave, tilt his head, and move his eyebrows. No one in the audience seemed to mind, though. "Long live our master, our teacher, and our rabbi, King, Messiah, forever and ever!" they sang in unison, over and over, building in volume until the rabbi made a small gesture with his hand and the curtain closed. They departed slowly, savoring the moment, in a state of ecstasy. (Rabbi Schneerson died in June 1994. Now Lubavitchers are awaiting his bodily resurrection.)
When I was watching this I thought to myself, how can they believe such a thing. Who are these people trying to kid—91 year old mute Messiah in Brooklyn? And then it struck me: I was reacting to Rabbi Schneerson exactly as people in the first century had reacted to Jesus. A Messiah from Galilee? A carpenter’s kid, no less?
The disbelief I felt when I heard about the rabbi and his fanatical followers gave me a small glimpse of the kind of responses Jesus faced throughout his life. His neighbors asked, "Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" Other countrymen scoffed, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" His own family tried to put him away, believing he was out of his mind. The religious experts sought to kill him. As for the common people, one moment they judged him demon-possessed and raving mad, the next they forcibly tried to crown him king.
This is the glory and the wonder of Christmas, that God could plant not only into the womb of this woman the Son of God, but He could plant in her heart the faith to believe the message that she received from the angel. Her response has always overwhelmed me with a sense of absolute submission that ought to be in the heart of every child of God. Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.”
In one of his writings, C. S. Lewis said: “The whole thing narrows and narrows until at last it comes down to a little point, small as the point of a spear: A Jewish girl at her prayers.
Today as I read the accounts of Jesus’ birth, I tremble to think of the fate of the world resting on the response of two rural teenagers. How many times did Mary review the angel’s words as she felt the Son of God kicking against the walls of her uterus? How many times did Joseph second guess his own encounter with an angel—just a dream?—as he endured the hot shame of living among villagers who could plainly see the changing shape of his fiancé.”
The Virgin Mary, whose parenthood was unplanned, heard the angel out, pondered the repercussions, and replied: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Often a work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain. In this matter-of-fact response, Mary embraced both pain and joy. She was the first person to accept Jesus on His own terms, regardless of personal cost. She accepted Him as her baby.
THE WONDER OF GOD’S LIGHT SHINING IN DARKNESS
1. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (John 1:5)
God’s light, which is God’s life, shines into the darkness of human existence. In the birth of Christ, God has not created a superman, but God simply opened his divine life to include the human story. The human story becomes part of God’s own story.
2. God’s light opens our eyes
Illus: One evening just before Christmas, a man was walking through the streets of an city. The store windows were all beautifully decorated, and three little girls were looking at the display. One girl in the center was blind, and the others were trying to describe the beautiful things in the window. “Why,” they said, “can’t you see that Teddy bear and that doll? Just look at that pretty pink bow!” But the poor little girl stood with a blank expression on her face and could not appreciate the beautiful things before her.
Spiritual insight comes from Spiritual light
THE WONDER OF HIS PLAN
Where Did He Come From?
He came down from the heights of Glory to the depths of depravity.
He came down from the adorations of Angels to the abominations of earth.
He came down from the coronations of the Kingdom to the cruelty of the Cross.
He came down from the majesties of Heaven to the miseries of humanity.
He came down from the throne of Deity to a place of agony.
THE WONDER OF HIS PURPOSE
A. He Came To Destroy Satan’s Power
B. He Came To Die For Everyone
C. He Came Down So We Could Go Up
THE WONDER OF HIS PRESENCE
I am with you always even until the end of the age
THE WONDER OF HIS EYES TO WATCH OVER US.
“The eyes of the Lord go to and fro upon the earth.” His eye sees the hopeless, the helpless, and the helper. He sees everything, which should challenge us to do right, and encourage us that we’re never alone!
THE WONDER OF HIS LOVE
A. His Love is Unmerited
1. 1 John 4:10 "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
2. 1 John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us."
B. His Love is Unconditional
1. Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)"
2. There is nothing you can do to make Christ love you more! There is nothing you can do to make Christ love you less! His love is unconditional, impartial, everlasting, infinite, perfect! Christ is God and God is love!
C. His Love is Unfathomable
1. John 15:13 "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
2. Romans 5:7-8 "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
3. Ephesians 5:2 "And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor."
D. His Love is Unending
1. Jeremiah 31:3 "The LORD has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee."
2. One evening, a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge truck behind her that was driving uncomfortably close. She stepped on the gas to gain some distance from the truck, but when she sped up the truck did too. The faster she drove, the faster drove the truck. Now scared, she exited the freeway. But the truck stayed with her. The woman then turned up a main street, hoping to lose her pursuer in traffic. But the truck ran a red light and continued the chase. Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her car into a service station and bolted out of her auto screaming for help.
The truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car. Yanking the back door open, the driver pulled out a man hidden in the backseat. The woman was running from the wrong person. From his high vantage point, the truck driver had spotted a would-be rapist in the woman’s car. The chase was not his effort to harm her but to save her even at the cost of his own safety. Likewise, many people run from God’s love and His provision of atonement on the cross, fearing what He might do to them. But His plans are for good not evil--to rescue us from the hidden sins that endanger our lives. - copied
THE WONDER OF HIS CARE
Jesus spirit has come to comfort us.
“When the comforter is come” he gives power, protection and peace.
THE WONDER OF HIS NAME
Authority
He gives us a new name: A Child of God
HIS TEACHING WAS WONDERFUL.
Teachings of Hope, Comfort, Freedom, Transformation
THE WONDER OF HIS DEATH
• We should be overwhelmed that God should love us so much, that Christ His Son would allow Himself to be born into humanity to ultimately pay the penalty for our sin.
A God of all power deliberately put himself in such a state that Satan could tempt him, demons could taunt him, and lowly human beings could slap his face and nail him to a cross.
Dear friend, this wonderful Savior has come to the door of your heart today and wants to enter. He died to save you from your sins, and he lives in order to give you eternal life. He knows your cares, your troubles, your sins, your fears, and all your needs, and is eager to bless you and make you glad. If you want him as your friend you may just now open your heart to him, and ask him to enter.
