Scriptures: Hebrews 1:1-3
Introduction
God loves us so much and wants to reveal Himself to us in ways that we can understand. He sent His Son to communicate His message in a way that we can understand. That is the miracle of Christmas. That is the miracle of the message.
Hebrews 1:1-2 records this miracle of the message from God: "Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways, this doesn’t mean that this is a fairy tale, but that it is historical, factual which took place many years before.1 “In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him" (Hebrews 1:1-2 HCSB). The miracle of the message is that God speaks to us today so that we can know Him and draw near to Him!
In 1994, two Christian missionaries answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics in a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the orphanage.
It was nearing Christmas and they decided to tell them the story of Christmas. It would be the first time these children had heard the story of the birth of Christ. They told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger. Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.
When the story was finished, they gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins that they had brought with them since no coloured paper was available in the city.
Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn-out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby’s blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt which the missionaries had also brought with them.
It was all going smoothly until one of the missionaries sat down at a table to help a 6 year old boy named Misha. He had finished his manger. When the missionary looked at the little boy’s manger, she was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, she called for the translator to ask Misha why there were two babies in the manger.
Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, Misha began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately until he came to the part where Mary put the baby
Jesus in the manger.
Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending. He said, "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mamma and I have no papa, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t, because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did.
"But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, ’If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift’ And Jesus told me, ’If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.’
"So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him--for always."
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed.
The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon nor abuse him, someone who would stay with him--FOR ALWAYS.
HEBREWS 1:1–4
The last days have begun. God, through his Son, has fully revealed his nature, and his purpose which stretches back through the prophets to creation. The Son has made it possible for sins to be purged away. He has been exalted to God’s right hand, and has been given a supreme title, higher than that of angels.
God originally spoke through the prophets, which all of the listeners would understand, and then he gives them a new teaching, that NOW God speaks through his Son, which challenges their understanding of who Jesus is. The “last days,” or “the day of the Lord,” he means “these days,” or “today”2 We are told of a close relationship between the prophets and God’s Son, Jesus, and so we are pointed to Old Testament prophecies regarding Jesus. (vv. 5-13). Although the term prophets is sometimes understood to mean one who is able to foretell the future it is probably better to understand “prophets” as those speaking on behalf of God.3 Possibly a good reading would be “in what the prophets wrote” and reading “by,” “through,” or “by means of the prophets” is possible in the 2nd verse.4 In 1:5–14 the superiority of Jesus to the angels who mediated the message of the Law (2:2) is established. 5
The point is, that He wants us to know Him, to love Him, to worship Him. To this end, God reveals Himself through His creation, through the sunrise and sunset, through the sun, moon and stars.
God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, He spoke to the Israelites from the smoke and fire on the mountain, He spoke to Elijah in a still, small voice, to Isaiah in a vision in the temple, to Hosea through his family circumstances and to Amos in a basket of summer fruit. He spoke to Jeremiah through a potter’s clay and to Joseph through dreams. God even spoke His message through a donkey! God has been speaking His message through visions and dreams, through angels, through symbols, natural events, and many other means. God has been speaking throughout history in a variety of places through a variety of means in order to make Himself and His will known. Even though Jesus was made “lower than the angels” (2:9) does not call into question his transcendent dignity even though he took on a human form.6
Since the prophet Malachi last uttered his messages from God, there had been no prophets until John the Baptist arrived. God’s revelations in the Old Testament were fragmentary, occasional, and progressive, because no single one of them contained the whole truth. They could not adequately capture the full picture of God’s nature.
God had been speaking, but people weren’t getting the message. They didn’t understand God’s heart. Confusion, not understanding, resulted.
II. God speaks through Christ
But now, God sent His Son to bring His message, not a prophet, a Son.7 In the Lord Jesus Christ, God revealed Himself directly to us. It is true that God revealed Himself through the words spoken by Jesus, but He did more than that. Jesus Christ is the living, divine Son of God. He did more than just proclaim God’s message, He is God’s message, and His appearance was required to achieve redemption.8
Jesus came to reveal God, in ways that we can understand. The writer of Hebrews goes on to say of Jesus in verse 3, "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." John’s Gospel describes Jesus as the Word becoming flesh and living among us. If you want to know what God is like, look to Jesus! Jesus said, “The one who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Jesus declares in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one."
III. God speaks to transform
The miracle of the message is not just in the fact that God speaks to us today through His Son, but that the message has the power to transform our lives. Christmas is the celebration of the greatest message ever proclaimed. God is with us. God came near so that we could draw near to Him. First Timothy 2:6 says Jesus gave His life as a ransom for all. The miracle of the message is that God was in Christ reconciling Himself to the world.
Why would He do that? Because He wanted us to know how very much He loves us. He wanted us to know that He created us for a reason - that we might know and love Him. He came to proclaim the message that we have been set free. We don’t have to live as prisoners to guilt and regret.
Conclusion
Some of you this past year have received messages that have certainly changed your life. As a result of the message your life has changed.
But in the midst of all, there is another message. "Nothing whatsoever can ever separate you from my love." In the midst of life’s trouble, He whispers, "Forgive those who mistreat you." In the midst of life’s joy He shouts, "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad!"
The miracle of Christmas is the miracle of the message - God loves you and me! Even more, New Testament, believers are inheritors of the kingdom of God, and are destined to share in His reign9 Are you listening? Believe the message God is speaking to you and your life will never be the same!
