In the Beginning...
In the Beginning...
Rev. Delwyn and Sis. Lenita Campbell / General
(Illustrations for Biblical Preaching) Christmas
Christmas is a depressing time for most people. An article written by a director of the California Department of Mental Hygiene warns: “The Christmas season is marked by greater emotional stress and more acts of violence than any other time of the year.”
Christmas is an excuse to get drunk, have a party, get something, give a little, leave work, get out of school, spend money, overeat, and all kinds of other excesses. But, for the church, Christmas is an opportunity for us to exalt Jesus Christ in the face of a world that is at least tuned in to his name.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
John 1:1–5 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
These are beautiful words, whether you read them in English or in the original Greek. When you read them or hear them, you don’t usually think about the fact that they were written by a fisherman, a business not really known for its artistry or beauty. These words say things about God that we could never discover by observation or deductive reasoning.
Human reasoning has, at times, led men to recognize that there is only one God, while at other times has convinced them that there are many gods, each of which controls some aspect of life. When men concluded that God was alone, they also were certain that He was unapproachable, except to those who had been fortunate enough to break through the barriers of flesh and spirit. When they thought otherwise, they saw the gods as being just humans on a bigger scale, both in terms of their virtues and in terms of their vices.
It is by the revelation of Scripture that, as light reveals our surroundings, God reveals our condition. More importantly, He reveals Himself, by the power of His Eternal Word as He declares it through His servants.
John 1:6–11 ESV
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
It is because we are fallen, separated from God by our sin, that we cannot recognize His presence on our own. There is nothing that we can do to change that. That doesn’t, however, change the truth that our failure to know God leads us down paths that are fatal, and that the only way to avoid the wages of sin is by knowing God.
John 17:3 ESV
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
As blind men, we stumble around in our daily lives, bumping up against others, stepping on their toes and having ours stepped upon, with the inevitable reactions to such encounters. We do our best, hope that it’s blessed, and wish that we had the resources to take care of the rest.
John 1:12–13 ESV
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Not “took Him,” not “controlled Him,” not “bought Him.” Instead, only those who “received Him, who trusted in His name” and believed that there was “power in His name,” power to save, heal and deliver, God extended to them the gift of sonship, the gift of a relationship. This gift, so grand that men have dreamed of it, have schemed to obtain it, and have deceived others into believing that they had access to it, had to be packaged by the Creator of the ends of the earth into a package so small that it could fit into the womb of a young, virgin woman from the little town of Nazareth. He took this gift and made it the treasure of a new creation - the Church - that to all outward appearances had neither power nor authority, and yet, because it is the Body of Christ, has all power and authority given to it in Christ Who is the Head of the Church.
John 1:14–18 ESV
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
It is by the grace of God that we know that He loves us, and it is the truth that He does. God’s love is so high and deep and wide that it is not even affected by our failure to recognize it. On the day on which Christ was born, and yes, we can make a good solid historical argument for His birth on this day.
“Around 200 C.E. Tertullian of Carthage reported the calculation that the 14th of Nisan (the day of the crucifixion according to the Gospel of John) in the year Jesus died was equivalent to March 25 in the Roman (solar) calendar. March 25 is, of course, nine months before December 25; it was later recognized as the Feast of the Annunciation—the commemoration of Jesus’ conception. Thus, Jesus was believed to have been conceived and crucified on the same day of the year. Exactly nine months later, Jesus was born, on December 25.”
This idea appears in an anonymous Christian treatise titled On Solstices and Equinoxes, which appears to come from fourth-century North Africa. The treatise states: “Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.” Based on this, the treatise dates Jesus’ birth to the winter solstice.
Augustine, too, was familiar with this association. In On the Trinity (c. 399–419) he writes: “For he [Jesus] is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also he suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which he was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which he was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before him nor since. But he was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.” (Biblical Archeology Review)
Before Julian the Apostate established the “Day of the Invincible Sun,” before there was any thought about “co-opting” a pagan holiday, Christians believed that Jesus was born on this date. They didn’t celebrate it at first, because they knew that His birth was an act of preparation, not completion, and they were so focused on His return that they concentrated on preaching the Gospel. It took time to get to where we are today.
God did confirm the truth upon which the Church stands in His Word, though we have not always received it, and have, at times, allowed false teachings and ideas to obscure the glorious truth of God’s great love for us, expressed in the fact that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God did confirm the truth upon which the Church stands in His Word, though we have not always received it, and have, at times, allowed false teachings and ideas to obscure the glorious truth of God’s great love for us, expressed in the fact that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In the words of the old Gospel song,
“What could a beggar give to a King What could an outcast give one who owns everything, An old beggar could give nothing, nor a poor wretch like me, But God gave His Son, His Son gave His life and beggars go free.
God gave His Son, His Son gave His life and I got in free.”
Enjoy this day that the Lord hallowed by His most precious gift, knowing that a Real God sent His Real Son to be born from a Real Virgin, to fulfill a Real Promise. And let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
