“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.
“He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?’ The man said, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.’ Then the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’
“The LORD God said to the serpent,
‘Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.’” [1]
Christmas begins with sin. I mean by that statement that had there never been rebellion against God there would never have been need for a Redeemer. However, our first parents rebelled against God Who gave them their being. God gave them a perfect environment with but one proscription—they were not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Doing so would be an act of lèse majesté.
Our first parents rebelled against the will of their creator. Thus, God’s good creation was plunged into ruin through their rebellion against God. All was not lost, however—God offered hope in the midst of death. The Creator extended hope when all was hopeless. That divine hope is the foundation for the celebration of Christmas.
Our world is in desperate need of hope. After destroying the economy of nations, terrorising the people, and dividing entire populations through fear and intimidation, world governments appear to have learned nothing. Politicians, derelict in their duty, allowed bureaucrats to make decisions devastating relationships, consigning multitudes of elderly residents to care homes where they would die alone and isolated, while driving thousands of small businesses into failure. Politicians shirked their responsibilities because they are by nature risk averse, fearful of offending powerful constituencies, and they are almost universally determined to secure their power by appearing to know what they are doing. Thus, politicians failed in their responsibility to fulfil their elected duties to make decisions by deferring to experts who did not need to answer to the electorate.
Doesn’t it seem that we’ve learned so much that we didn’t know during the twenty years we were locked down? Well, it does seem we have been locked down at least that long? We learned that a pesky virus bearing a “Made in China” label is beyond clever. It knows not to travel beyond six feet. It is deadly in any small business setting, but steers clear of all big box stores. It would immediately unleash an Apocalypse in a church gathering, but it avoids mass protests and riots. It can be stopped dead in its tracks by wearing a mask… or two… or possibly even three. The virus also revealed that approximately seventy-three percent of all people who visit one of the aforementioned big box stores are unaware that air both comes in and goes out through their nose. This assertion is based on the fact that people generally wear their masks as a hammock for their double chins. Throughout all this government-imposed foolishness that wrecked a vibrant economy, people were dying from lack of hope. More appear to be dying of opioid overdoses than of the virus on almost any weekend! There appears to be an epidemic of hopelessness that politicians are incapable of stopping. Politicians kept telling us that the two weeks to flatten the curve would soon end! Throughout this fiasco, this government-imposed marathon, we learned that ersatz hope is no hope at all!
People have every right to feel confused and skeptical as we are inundated with people telling us that we can “get back to normal just as soon as everyone is vaccinated.” Have you noticed that those are the same people who said we only needed “two weeks to flatten the curve!” These same people told us that masks were “useless,” before they told us they were “critical.” These are the same people who told us that a return to normalcy would occur just as soon as “the most vulnerable” among us were vaccinated. Then, as soon as “half the population” was vaccinated. That changed to as soon as we achieved “herd immunity.” Now we must anticipate endless booster shots! Consequently, these are the same people who told us they would not trust ANY vaccine developed under the last American administration. Now, these same people belittle the skeptics! Consequently, these people have moved the goalposts repeatedly, while ignoring the same rules and restrictions they demand everyone else live by. They are always certain, usually wrong, incapable of shame, and utterly void of humility. Is it any wonder millions find them unpersuasive? [2]
In the face of all the false hope with which we have been swamped, never forget that the Lord God is the God of hope, [3] and all His promises are true. From earliest days of mankind’s presence on this earth, God has offered hope. Pointing to redemption from the brokenness introduced through the rebellion of our first parents, the Lord has always encouraged His people that something better lies ahead. We followers of the Christ live in the hope of the resurrection [see ACTS 23:6 NET BIBLE; cf. 1 PETER 1:3].
WE NEED THE PROMISE — Our world is broken. We don’t require an advanced university degree to recognise the truth of this dark assertion. Most people would argue that they don’t need a preacher to tell them that the world is broken. However, we adapt ourselves to this broken world, becoming quite comfortable with things the way they are. Most of those whom we know drift through life without giving thought to what lies ahead. Oh, there may be a measure of planning for one’s future work, but there isn’t any real thought given to eventualities.
I’m reminded of the young man with whom I spoke on one occasion. He was then conducting studies at university. I asked him, “What are your plans?”
“Why, I will complete my studies and graduate from university.”
“And then?”
“Well, I’ll get a job and begin my career.”
“And then?”
“I hope to marry and raise a family.”
“And then?”
“I suppose I’ll work and one day retire.”
“And then?”
“Well,” he was clearly grappling with what lay beyond this moment in time when he said, “I guess I’ll die.”
“And then?”
He merely shrugged his shoulders. Tragically, the average professing Christian comes to the end of days without ever having given much thought beyond the immediate. I’ve sat at the bedside of too many professing Christians not to realise that most people give little thought to what lies beyond this present existence.
Let’s admit that we’re generally comfortable with life as we know it. Life doesn’t require much of us and we can just drift on without a thought, until we can drift no further. Nevertheless, the statistics on death are still pretty amazing—one out of one die. No one questions whether he or she will die, only when he or she will die. Death is very much a part of life, but we are not anxious to speak about what is inevitable. We aren’t eager to face our mortality, until we are forced to do so.
Many years ago, more years than I might care to admit, Chuck Swindoll made an observation that caught my attention. He said in a sermon, “A man can live forty days without food, four days without water, four minutes without oxygen, and four seconds without hope.” I’ve often used that illustration to remind us that we are moving inexorably toward a date with destiny for which we have but few days in which we can prepared ourselves.
Despite the weird and outlandish stories that some religious charlatans have concocted as they attempted to dupe us, no living soul has gone to heaven and returned to tell us what lies beyond. Books have been published that tell of people going toward the light and being overwhelmed by a sense of love. Of course, there is seldom mention of the experiences, or books detailing those experiences, of people saying they were on fire and suffering before death was finalised. Another story-teller made quite a splash among churches as he told a bizarre story of dancing on a sea of glass with his mother. That fantasy by this fabulist generates some serious questions that must be asked by Bible readers. Was he and his mother doing the Charleston, the Jerk, or the Twist?
Followers of Christ know that we are given limited insight into what lies beyond this present existence. The Apostle Paul informs us who follow the Lord that he was transported to the “third heaven.” While he doesn’t tell us where the “third heaven” is located, he seems to indicate that people can go there following the days of this life. However, he is adamant that he was restrained from telling what he heard while there, and he is cautious to avoid telling us what he saw while in that place.
We can read the Apostle’s account in his second letter to the Church of God in Corinth. Paul writes, “I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses” [2 CORINTHIANS 12:1-5].
The insight we receive from reading this revelation reminds us that such a place exists. For us who follow the Saviour, death does not end all. Indeed, on the authority of the Word of God we Christians are confident that life actually begins when we set aside this tent we call the body. “We are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:6 NET BIBLE].
Elsewhere, Paul has written, “It is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, who is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ” [1 CORINTHIANS 2:9-16].
Pinioned to the cross, His lifeblood dripping to the ground, Jesus made a promise to one of the criminals who had been crucified beside Him. When that man asked the dying Saviour to remember him when He entered into His Kingdom, Jesus comforted the man. You can read the account of the request this condemned man made and Jesus’ response in the twenty-third chapter of Luke.
This is what in written in that passage. “Two [men], who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with [Jesus]. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
“One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise’” [LUKE 23:32-43].
For this moment, I am trapped in a body that is dying. This body has been dying since the day I was born. The svelte, toned body of the young man who once hiked through the mountains has been transformed into a progressively weakened and wizened body of an old man. The knees threaten to buckle if the old man does not rest often. The eyes strain to see clearly what once was clear. The ears often fail to catch the rustle that once alerted the old man to the presence of others. However, I know that my future is not defined by a grave and a body that must return to the dust from which it came. My future is far more exciting and far more certain. With the Apostle, each of us who are known by the Risen Saviour can say with confidence, “We are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:6-8].
To be certain, this body is dying. However, when this life is finished, real life will have just begun. We live in the hope of the resurrection. And the hope of which I speak is not a mere matter of crossing my fingers; rather, I am filled with confidence. As Scripture says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” [ROMANS 8:18-25].
All creation groans. The wind sighs and moans rather than delivering a lilting tune that lifts the spirit. What are the earthquakes but the great, heaving sobs of the earth grieving over what was lost in the fall? What are the drops falling from the sky but the tears of nature ruined by the self-centred pursuit of death by our first parents? We, also, grieve as we see the ruin that marks our world. This is the reason we look forward to fulfilment of what is promised. But what if the promise is already fulfilled, and we need but receive what is promised?
THE GUARANTOR OF THE PROMISE — Surely, each one who listens to the message at this time understands that a promise is only as good as the one making the promise. Though one may assure us of her or his intention to fulfil their promise, we accept the viability of their promise only if there is sufficient reason to do so. As one example, the Taliban can make a promise to be respectful of women and of those who are not Muslims, but their word is denied by their perfidy. They have a past record of broken promises combined with pernicious acts of violence that denies any claim of veracity by that terrorist group. By their religious tenets, Muslims can make grandiose promises, but we know that their religious books dispose them to lie to those who are not Muslim. Therefore, we should be asking who has made the promise that is before us at this time? And what confidence can we have that this One will fulfil what is promised?
First, we have the promise of the Word of God which insists that God cannot lie. Here are a few examples of what I mean. When Balaam was compelled by the Spirit of God to prophesy to Balak, he prefaced what he was compelled to say with these words,
“Rise, Balak, and hear;
give ear to me, O son of Zippor:
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”
[NUMBERS 23:18b-19]
We must be humbled by Paul’s opening words in the missive he penned to Titus. Listen to the manner in which the Apostle opened that letter. “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior” [TITUS 1:1-3]. Take special note of the manner in which the Apostle identifies God. Paul says of God that He never lies; what He promised is fulfilled.
Has God shown mercy to those who deserved no mercy? Again, the answer is a definite “Yes.” When the LORD revealed Himself to Moses after Moses had destroyed the first two tablets, God proclaimed as He passed by Moses, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” [EXODUS 24:6-7a]. God emphasises His mercy when He proclaims His character to Moses.
The Psalmist testifies,
“Bless be the LORD!
For He has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.”
[PSALM 28:6]
David’s testimony is that the LORD hears the plea for mercy, showing Himself to be merciful. Elsewhere among the Psalms is this testimony of God’s mercy.
“You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
[PSALM 86:15]
Again, we witness among the Psalms this gracious testimony of God’s mercy.
“The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.”
[PSALM 103:8-13]
Allow me a final appeal to the testimony of the Psalms concerning God’s mercy.
“[The LORD] has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
[PSALM 111:4-9]
Well might each individual who follows the Risen Saviour confess together with the Psalmist,
“I love the Lord, because He has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.”
[PSALM 116:1]
Undoubtedly, each follower of the Saviour can testify,
“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.”
[PSALM 116:5]
Therefore, we have the testimony of God Himself that His Word is true and His promises will always be fulfilled. What He says of Himself and His promise is verified by His character. Unlike the inhabitants of this darkened world, God is true and we are confident that He speaks the truth. The great truth concerning God’s veracity is that God does not change according to the whim of the moment as do those living in this world.
How solemn is that word that has been written by the Wise Man:
“Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words,
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
[PROVERBS 30:5-6]
Therefore, since we have a promise that is written in the Word, we are assured that it will be fulfilled if we know the Living God as our Father. We rest confidently in what He has promised because we know Him. And that confidence, which I trust is resident in each of you who listen at this hour, leads us to ask, “What is the promise God has given His people? What has the Lord promised to do?”
THE PROMISE —
“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
[GENESIS 3:15]
Millennia before Jesus was born, God promised that He would send a Deliverer. According to God’s promise, this Deliverer would bruise the head of the serpent. He would be the One promised to crush the dreams of the evil one to rule over mankind. This was accomplished at the moment it appeared that the wicked one had conquered the Christ and thwarted the will of the Living God.
Listen to what is written in the Letter to the Christians living in Colossae. We read, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” [COLOSSIANS 2:8-15].
Focus on the final affirmation which the Apostle wrote as encouragement to the saints in Colossae. “[God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [the Christ].” Do you remember the message I presented weeks past when we studied our authority over the demonic powers? [4] In that message, you will recall that we briefly explored the taxonomy of the demonic entities. We saw that among the titles of the demonic beings were rulers, authorities and a number of other titles given to these entities. Each of these titles speak of some responsibility within the demonic taxonomic classification, according to what is revealed in the Word. In that message, I pointed out that we Christians have authority in Christ. The reason we have authority over the forces of evil in dark places is because our Lord has conquered them through the sacrifice of His life. In this passage we are told that God triumphed over these entities in Christ the Lord, and they are now disarmed and put to open shame! It is those same demonic entities that have been shamed in the death of our Saviour.
It is as though all the forces of the wicked one imagined that they had defeated the Lord’s authority as Creator, and that they would soon reign over all creation. However, it was in the death of Jesus that God triumphed over them and exposed them to shame. What a reversal of their imagined victory! The cross was meant to be an instrument of shame, a means of disgracing the Living God while exalting the forces of darkness. That which was imagined to be a mark of shame was transformed into an instrument of righteousness as the Saviour made expiation for our sin and then conquered death, hell, and the grave by rising from the dead! And this cosmic conflict broke out into open warfare with the birth of Jesus to the young woman whom the Father chose to bear Him into this broken world.
I have spoken at other times of that event and the intersection of Satan and the Christ in the birth of the Son of God. We have witnessed in the Apocalypse the account that tells how Satan swept a third of the angels out of Heaven, dragging them down from the exalted position they had occupied as holy angels serving the Living God. Moreover, we saw how Satan was enraged, imagining that he would defy the promise of God by thwarting every effort to bring the Son into the world. That effort continues to this day as the evil one seeks to discredit the Lord God by accusing the saints before the Father. However, we have an Advocate standing for us, pleading in our behalf.
In that passage referred to in the last book of the Bible, the Revelator describes the wrath of the wicked one when he writes, “When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea” [REVELATION 12:13-17].
The Bible presents the history of the Faith. From before the time of the Fall, Satan has attempted to overthrow the throne of Heaven. Then, ever since the promise of a Deliverer, He has sought to circumvent the will of God by exalting Himself and by destroying the holy people. The rage against the Jewish people, God’s Chosen People, has been instigated and promoted in great measure by Satan Himself. He seeks to destroy them because it was increasingly evident that Messiah would come from Israel. The repeated assaults against Israel documented throughout the pages of the Old Covenant, and the constant efforts to introduce worship of anything other than the Lord GOD gives evidence of satanic determination to destroy the means by which God would provide redemption for His fallen creation.
Because Satan was unsuccessful in this effort, his rage continues to this day; and he continually stirs up unreasoning rage against the Jewish people. The hostility of the Nazi regime in recent history, as is equally true of the rage fomented by Muslim clerics against Israel and the Jewish people, is the result of satanic control of the minds of these fallen people. You need to know that when people profess to be followers of the Christ and yet foment rage against Israel, they are demonstrating that they are under the control of the evil one. Their eyes are blinded and they do not honour Christ the Lord.
At the birth of Christ the Lord, Satan was stirring the hearts of powerful people to enmity in a vain attempt to kill the Lord before He could present His life as a sacrifice. As John said, “[The dragon] pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.” If Satan could destroy Israel, he would thwart the plan of God and overthrow the means of salvation. However, God continually intervened to ensure that Israel would continue as a people and His Son would be born of a virgin as He had promised. And if Satan could twist Herod’s heart to kill the child, there would be no sacrifice, no bruising of his pate, and he would be victorious over the Lord GOD.
On one occasion Frederick the Great of Prussia asked his physician to give him proof for the existence of God. The physician replied, “Your Majesty, the continued existence of the Jews.” And that is true! Throughout the early centuries of life in the Promised Land, various groups imagined they would destroy the Jews. However, again and again the Lord raised up judges to deliver them. It certainly appeared as if an epitaph for the Jews could be written when the Babylonian armies deported the people into slavery; but God was watching over His people, promising that they would be in Babylonian captivity for a finite time. Prompted by Satan, Haman thought he could extirpate the Jews when they were in exile in Persia. God intervened.
The poet has captured the essence of what was taking place when he wrote,
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—
But that scaffold rules the future, and behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadows, keeping watch above His own. [5]
Thus, all Bible history moves inexorably toward fulfilment of the divine promise. A son is promised to Abraham and that son is born. The lineage passes through Isaac before continuing through Jacob. Then Judah is the one through whom Messiah will come and the path narrows through David, through Solomon and on and on until at last it culminates in a young Jewish girl of perhaps no more than twelve years of age. At last the promise moves toward fulfilment as an angel suddenly appears, startles her, saying, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you” [LUKE 1:28].
You may be assured that she was troubled. In fact, that term is likely too mild. When did you last speak with an angel? However, before Mary became so disturbed that she grew incoherent, the angel continued delivering the message he was appointed to deliver. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” [LUKE 1:30-33].
Mary protested, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” [LUKE 1:34]; the angel allayed her fear when he responded, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” [LUKE 1:35]. God was overseeing history to ensure that His promise was fulfilled. And all creation would rejoice because of God’s faithfulness.
And yet, the evil one was not finished with attempting to cause the promise of God to fail. He would attempt to kill the child, though God would hide His Son in Egypt until He would be called back to Israel where He would grow in obscurity until the time He should be revealed being prepared to fulfil the holy work to which He was appointed. Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, would testify of this One, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead” [ACTS 10:38-41].
For us, a people now living in the twilight of history, the birth of God’s Son is an occasion for great joy. The birth of the Christ gives concrete evidence that all the promises of God are true. If the Living God speaks truly on this one issue, then we can have confidence that He has spoken truthfully on each of the promises He has given. Indeed, the entire world rejoices at the birth of God’s own Son, but tragically, the most of mankind rejoices without any understanding of why this birth is the occasion for joy. People have forgotten, or worse still, they have ignored the very reason why God’s promise fulfilled in the birth of His Son gives us cause to rejoice.
It was necessary for the Son of God to be born because all creation is under the curse imposed when our first parents rebelled against the will of the Creator. Since that time, all people are born dying. We need a Deliverer, One Who would remove the curse from us that we might enjoy the life which the Creator intended we should have. The Son of God was born in order to give His life as atonement for our fallen condition. Therefore, the promise of God remains that if you agree with God the Christ is ruler over your life, believing without reservation that He has been raised from the dead, you will be set free to enter into this relationship with the Living God. It is with the heart that an individual believes and is freed from condemnation and guilt, and it is as we agree with God that we enter into a right standing with Him as our Father [see ROMANS 10:9-10].
When Paul had delivered this joyful message to all who will receive it, he appended the words of the Prophet Joel, which record the divine promise, “Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Adapted from Mike Rowe, https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/4554322871244487, accessed 7 August 2021
[3] This is the designation that Paul uses when speaking of his prayer for the Christians in Rome. He writes, “May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may about in hope” [ROMANS 15:13].
[4] Michael Stark, “This Kind…” (sermon), October 17, 2021, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/this-kind-michael-stark-sermon-on-spiritual-warfare-260064, accessed 3 November 2021
[5] James Russell Lowell, “The Present Crisis,” (poem), https://poets.org/poem/present-crisis, accessed 3 November 2021
