Several 100 of years before the first Christmas, God promised the redeemer would come.
God declares through His prophet Isaiah a promise to a people who say they are God's chosen yet they have turned away from the Living God.
Let us read Isaiah 59:20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion (Jerusalem), And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the Lord.
So I ask a question of the text. What is a redeemer?
In the culture of the time of the promise a redeemer was a man, a close relative of the same tribe, who buys back or pays the cost of what had been taken or lost from that relative. In verse 20 the prophet Isaiah is saying the redeemer will come to Zion or Jerusalem. This is not only a physical place on this earth where the redeemer will walk, but also represents a spiritual condition. In the original language of the Bible the word translated Zion or Jerusalem also means parched, or a dry place. Which physically we know Jerusalem is, but is also referring to spiritually.
Humanity at the time of this promise had turned their back on the living God, the creator of heaven and earth and all things good. God's own people had turned their back on their creator. Let us discover the situation in their hearts, which is confessed through their own mouths.
Isaiah 59:12-13 “For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them: In transgressing and lying against the Lord, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood."
This is a people who were called by God to be a servant, a light to the nations of the world, to reveal God's glory in humanity, so that the world may know Him.
God's own people are saying, we knowingly have rebelled, and turned from you God and knowing lied against you God. We knowingly choose to live our life away from you God. We knowingly choose to be unfair and oppress others. In fact we carefully planed our deceitful lies.
Let's read Isaiah 59:14 to see the result of life without God. 'Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.'
God's own people have become one with evil, their hearts full of selfish desires, not only full of selfish desires but choose to be one with evil. Truth is gone. Justice is gone. Honesty is forbidden. Anyone who does not call evil good is oppressed and persecuted.
The very thing humanity attempted to control has became the controlling force over humanity.
Their thoughts and hearts are controlled by selfish desires. God's own people are living without Him. The culture of humanity without God - becomes spiritually dry, living in conflict, darkness and evil, becoming one with conflict, darkness and evil. Conflict is unequal relationships of oppression and abuse. Darkness is life without God, a darkness so dark it can be felt. It is spiritual, mental and physical. Evil is death, destruction and everything wrong with this world.
That is the situation into which God gave His promise. God not only promises the redeemer will come, but also what the redeemer will do. The redeemer will pay the price, the cost, for all the offences ever done by humanity against each other and against God. The redeemer will restore what humanity gave to evil and as a result what evil has taken from humanity. The redeemer will heal the broken hearted, break the chains of oppression, give freedom to the captives, establish God's kingdom of justice and equality, defeat evil and ultimately totally eliminate it. Evil will has no power and no place in God's kingdom.
In God's promise that the redeemer will come, God Himself comes. God makes Himself makes personal, intimate and relational. God Himself will become human.
Let us read more of Isaiah 59 and verse 21 “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
So when the redeemer comes God will pour out His Spirit. In this context when God says the redeemer will come and this is my covenant it is more than a promise, it means an alliance, it means a deep personal, intimate bond and relationship identifying with each other, bound by the promise. The God who created heaven and earth and all things good makes His promise not only for one tribe, but also to all humanity, to the tribe of humanity.
To think the One who filled the darkness with light, set the cycle of night and day, created order out of chaos and breathed life into humanity came into His own creation as one of us. He came to redeem, rescue, restore and renew. He lived to die and is risen - alive forever more.
God promised the redeemer would come and today we celebrate the redeemer did come.
The first Christmas God chose to subject Himself to the human condition, as a seed of the Holy Spirit being carried in the stomach of a woman before she was married, born into an oppressed people group under the rule of a foreign power that was arguably the most brutal, corrupt and decadent world empire in human history, in a house for animals and a trough for their food, to be the perfect redeemer and saviour of all.
His name is Jesus.
In that moment in time when God became the perfect redeemer, a baby born in a manger, prophets both male and female testified!
Let us read one of the prophets, turn with me to Luke 2:25-32 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You
are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”
Israel, the tribe of people who were called by God to be a servant, a light to the nations of the world, to reveal God's glory, so that the world may know Him had failed, yet out of that tribe, the redeemer comes. Jesus the Son of God fulfils Israel's mission. God Himself becomes human from the tribe of Israel to be a servant to all humanity, the be a light to all nations, to reveal God's glory, so that the world may know Him and choose to receive His deliverance.
Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the perfect redeemer.
In that moment in time when God became the perfect redeemer, a baby born in a manger, shepherds testified:
Luke 2:10-14 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
God said, the redeemer will come, and today we celebrate, the perfect redeemer did come!
Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the perfect redeemer.
Baby Jesus grew to be a man and went about doing good.
The first Easter Jesus chose to give His life. He was publicly humiliated, shamed, tortured executed, died, rose in human glorified body and ascended into heaven, having paid the cost, defeated death and disarmed the powers of evil. Today we celebrate the perfect redeemer did come, paid the cost, bought what humanity gave over to evil and gives it back to humanity. God Himself became our close relative. God Himself became one of us.
Sent to heal the broken hearted, break the chains of oppression, give freedom to the captives, establish God's Kingdom of justice and equality in this world damaged by evil, in our hearts and minds, giving of His Spirit and in His second coming totally eradicate evil. God fulfilled every promise.
When we receive Jesus free gift of Himself, the perfect redeemer, we enter into God's covenant, an intimate relationship with the source of everything good. A relationship of unconditional love, in this life, in this world damaged by evil, and forever more.
When we receive Jesus free gift of Himself, the perfect redeemer, each day is a journey with Him, receiving more of Him, more of His love, more of His peace, more of His light, more of His goodness.
When we receive Jesus free gift of Himself, the perfect redeemer, each day is a new day to know Him more, be transformed in our hearts and minds from His Spirit within, living in the victory of who He is and what He has done, is doing and is going to do.
Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man, the perfect redeemer, gives back to humanity what humanity gave over to evil. He gives peace in this world of oppression. He gives light in this world of darkness. He gives goodness in this world damaged by evil.
God said, the redeemer will come, and today, together we celebrate, the redeemer did come!
