“To us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” [1]
It is inconceivable to the human mind that God should become a man. Who could imagine such a thing; and if the Living God were to become a man, wouldn’t you have arranged matters differently than what has been recorded in the Word of God? Why should it be necessary that the transition from Heaven to earth require that God must be born in this manner? Why would this One—God in human flesh—subject Himself to occupying a young girl’s womb where he would grow for nine months before a common birth? Why would the One who hung the stars in space allow Himself to be compelled to transit through a birth canal with all the stress that necessitates on an infant? Why should it be necessary for God to become a child, dependent upon his parents for all the normal necessities of life? He would need to be fed, His messy diapers would need to be changed, and He would need to be bathed. God would deliberately make Himself vulnerable and dependent upon a couple of teenagers before growing to manhood.
The fact that God should become a child raises so many questions in my mind. Did Jesus need to learn the alphabet? When did He begin walking? For that matter, was He required to crawl before He walked? Did Mary and Joseph ever find themselves exasperated when their baby cried because he had filled his diaper and they were exhausted? There is not a hint in Scripture that Jesus was exceptional during the early years of His life in the home of Joseph and Mary. We must wonder, did this child Who was born of a virgin cry when He was hungry? We teach our children to sing,
The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
I think most of us would agree that such an occurrence would be extremely unusual. Babies are known for their utter dependence on the parents. And babies cry—a lot! In this message today, we will focus on the Child that was born to Mary.
THERE WAS NOTHING EXCEPTIONAL ABOUT THE CHILD — To be certain, there were strange phenomena surrounding the birth of this child. Shepherds came soon after the birth of the little boy. These rough men had a strange account of angels appearing to them as they went about the routine of tending their sheep. These humble shepherds were united in their claim that the angels had announced that this child was the Christ. Can you imagine the scene? Mary and Joseph had not made particular noise about the fact that Mary’s pregnancy was announced by an angel or that Joseph was convinced about the origin of Mary’s situation because he, too, had received a visit from an angel.
Despite Mary’s advanced pregnancy, the young couple had trekked to Bethlehem in obedience to governmental demands. Joseph wouldn’t leave his betrothed in a situation where censorious eyes would cast their disapproving glances toward the young girl, making snide remarks about her condition. Arriving in Bethlehem, they were disappointed to learn there was no place available for them. After searching about, the young couple at last secured permission to stay in a sheep cote, a cave in which sheep had been penned during earlier months. While there, in that filthy environment and without the assistance of physician or midwife, Mary delivered her firstborn child. Then, literally hours, and certainly not more than a matter of a few days after she had birthed her baby, these shepherds had arrived. And what a story these rough sheepherders told!
Eight days after the child was born, there had been the encounters in the Temple. Doctor Luke, apparently after interviewing Mary herself and guided by the Spirit of God, provides us with a written account of these unsettling encounters. He reports that Mary and Joseph had gone up to Jerusalem in order to perform the purification rites that were to be performed on the eighth day following the birth of a child.
As they entered the Temple precincts an old man—Simeon was his name—had come up to them. It was as if he had been waiting for them to arrive. As he neared them, he had taken the child from Mary’s arms. Mary hadn’t protested—there was not a hesitation as you might have expected. Mothers are reluctant to allow strangers to take their babies from their arms; but somehow it seemed right to allow that old man to take the child from Mary’s arms. And the things he said were so stunning. The old man blessed God, saying.
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
[LUKE 2:29-32]
If that wasn’t sufficiently strange, what the old man said next left Mary and Joseph perplexed, even stunned. Knowing what the angel had said to them months earlier, this new revelation was somehow mysterious, strange, disconcerting. The old man looked straight at Mary and said, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” [LUKE 2:34b-35].
They hadn’t even had opportunity to give all that much thought to what Simeon had said when another elderly person, a Temple fixture named Anna, herself recognised as a prophetess, had come up to them and began to give thanks to God. Then, this godly woman began to tell everyone present of God’s gracious redemption of Jerusalem. Taken together, these events were strange and puzzling, to say the least.
To this point, no one in that little village of Nazareth suspected there could be anything special about the little household of Joseph and Mary with their new child. Well, there was the embarrassment of Mary’s unexplained pregnancy. But Joseph had put some of the rumours to rest when he married her, confirming the most salacious suspicions of some nosy burghers.
We suppose matters settled down somewhat until almost two years after the child had been born, there had been the strange visit of a group of Persian astrologers. Travelling across vast distances from the edges of the Empire, these magi had suddenly arrived in Bethlehem. Herod himself had sent them to the little village. The story was that they had arrived in Jerusalem asking where the “King of the Jews” had been born. Herod was assuredly flummoxed by their arrival and the reason for their quest. Nevertheless, the wily king played his cards close to his chest. When he inquired for an answer from the scholars, they immediately pointed to the little village because that was where divine prophecy declared the Messiah was to be born.
In Nazareth, strange foreigners arrived in the village with their retinue of attendants bringing costly gifts that were presented to the child as though He was somehow special. Their actions certainly didn’t fit the narrative that had been crafted. These travellers told a tale of a star leading them across vast regions of what we know as the Middle East until they came to the house where the child lived with His parents. The foreigner travellers had entered the house, presenting the child with their gifts as they worshipped Him—worshipped, as though He was divine! How strange it all seemed.
Despite the reaction of a surprising number of people and despite the multiple strangers arriving to see the child, there is not even a hint that the child was somehow distinguished in these early days, not a single indication that the child was exceptional. However, I would think such events would be at least suggestive, if not persuasive, to most people. There are fanciful tales in some literature that speak of the child displaying exceptional powers that astonished His playmates and the adults that saw what He did. Honest scholars treat these legends as the myths they obviously are. Such legends appear to reveal that those advancing such tales want Jesus to be a wizard rather than a Saviour. It is enough to confess that Jesus grew to manhood without drawing attention to either His divine origin or His divine mission. You can be certain that attention spans are shorter than we imagine; people tend to forget the stir of events with the passage of time.
What should be emphasised is that the child was quite ordinary. He was a boy, and we can imagine that He played childhood games with other children. I wonder what former childhood friends must have thought when they heard Him teach in later years. They must surely have been confused to think that they had actually shared time playing games with someone capable of making the entire nation marvel. “But, He was so ordinary, so very much like us,” they must have said. That is the mystery revealed when we read in the Letter to Hebrew Christians, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” [HEBREWS 4:15].
Think of that! This child was tempted “in every respect” just as we are tempted. Every temptation you experienced in the days of your youth were temptations that Jesus faced. The temptations you have experienced in the rest of your life are temptations Jesus experienced during the days of His flesh. There is nothing about our own experience that is outside of what Jesus experienced. And yet, our Saviour did not sin.
As a child, He was provoked, He was exasperated, He was teased just as each of us has been provoked, exasperated, and teased at various times. Yet, this child did not sin. Provocation, exasperation, teasing is not sinful if we don’t respond in kind or allow ourselves to be drawn into an overly heated response so that our mouth overloads our mind. Jesus did not surrender to His baser passions.
Here is the message we must hold in mind whenever we think of Jesus our Saviour—there was nothing exceptional about his childhood. There was nothing that would make us suspect that He was anyone other than a normal boy. We read the words Isaiah penned, and though they point to the mature man, they bespeak a pedestrian life that attracted no attention from those who would have known the Sacrifice of God.
“He sprouted up like a twig before God,
like a root out of parched soil;
he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention,
no special appearance that we should want to follow him.”
[ISAIAH 53:2 NET BIBLE]
The Promised Messiah had “no special appearance that we should want to follow him.” From earliest childhood, the child was unexceptional, indistinguishable from every other child. What is more, there was nothing exceptional in his appearance as an adult!
Let’s admit that there is nothing particularly attractive about the Risen Saviour that the lost should want to follow Him. The individual seeking to hold on to the esteem of this world and at the same time follow the Saviour, will quickly discover that the cost will be higher than they might imagine. Jesus calls us to follow Him, even though following Him may mean loss of friendship and even possibly exclusion from family. When many people were seeking a casual relationship with Him, Jesus was forthright in pointing to the cost of discipleship. His unyielding stance was not welcomed by the vast majority of people in that day, and it is not welcomed by the overwhelming majority of people in this day.
In the Gospels we see the reaction of the crowds when Jesus had issued His call to leave all and follow Him. For example, the Apostle of Love has written, “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, ‘Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.’ (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.’
“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” [JOHN 6:60-67a].
How else can the uncommitted react when they hear the words of the Master challenging them. Jesus does not promise us ease of life or great comforts in this life. Jesus shocks sensibilities when he cautions us, saying, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” [MATTHEW 10:34-39].
Elsewhere, Jesus has challenged those who imagine that discipleship can be defined as a casual relationship with Him. As one example, you may recall that Jesus challenged would be disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” [LUKE 9:23]. Moreover, the One you are following will be undistinguished, unremarkable, unpretentious, though He is Lord of all.
One will either commit to following Jesus as Lord, or they will not follow at all. Jesus challenges each Christian who professes to follow Him when he asks the question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you” [LUKE 6:46]? And why would you think to follow anyone who is not attractive, someone who fails to make you appear to be someone in front your friends?
If stature in this world is what one looks for, he will avoid openly coming to Jesus. If personal fulfilment is what one looks for, that one will never come to Jesus. If personal aggrandisement is what one is looking for, that one will never come to Jesus. Jesus teaches us, “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him” [JOHN 6:44a]. You will not come to Jesus because you find Him attractive. In fact, His plainness, His lack of beauty, His paucity of charisma, will repel the casual seeker of religious experience. Make no mistake, the child was quite ordinary and unexceptional in appearance.
THE CHILD WAS BORN TO BE GIVEN —
“To us a child is born,
to us a son is given.”
[ISAIAH 9:6a]
The words that Isaiah penned are those that the Spirit of GOD chose for our edification. Therefore, what Isaiah wrote should not be considered superfluous or read in a casual manner. The LORD said what He meant, and He meant what He said. The sentence structure conveys precisely what God determined was necessary to be communicated so that we would not misunderstand what was said. Isaiah was careful to write that the Son Who was promised would be “given.” He does not say that the Son would be presented, though He was presented to a world that rejected Him. Perhaps that is what we would say, but as John testifies of this child that was prophesied over seven hundred years before His birth, “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” [JOHN 1:10-11].
With perfect hindsight, we who follow the Christ are aware that the LORD was saying through His prophet that the Son Who was to be born of a virgin was appointed to sacrifice His life for His fallen creation. God’s Son was born so that He might be given. Each child born into this fallen world is born dying; but children are not born just so they can die on behalf of others. Yet, this child of whom Isaiah wrote was born specifically that He might sacrifice His life. Christ, the Son of God, was born in order that He might give His life as a sacrifice for broken humanity.
Recall the words which John penned concerning God and His love for mankind. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” [JOHN 3:16]. God gave His only Son! The Father surrendered Jesus to death because of us; and Jesus surrendered His life for us!
Paul, focused on this truth, exults, “What then shall we say to these things?” What things? That God is always working in the midst of all the events of our lives to ensure that Good comes of our experiences. We who were foreknown by God are also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Because we are predestined, we are the called of God; and because we are His called out ones, we are justified before Him; and because we are justified before the Father, we are glorified in the Son of God. Therefore, we are confident that, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” [ROMANS 8:31-34].
It would be easy for us to claim that Jesus was murdered. From a purely human point of view, religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus of Nazareth using the civic judiciary that was then in place. In this, they were much like civic leaders in this day when they are angered by someone who fails to adhere to the prevailing view that demands aligning oneself with the worldview of those same civic leaders. And the religio-political leaders in Jesus’ day succeeded in their vile efforts to put Him to death! At least for a few days. However, though Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and buried in a borrowed tomb, He refused to stay in the tomb as they imagined would be the case.
Jesus of Nazareth conquered death, hell, and the grave. He rose from the dead, presenting Himself to those whom He chose as evidence of His victory. With the Apostle to the Gentiles, we can exult in His victory. “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’
‘O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?’
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” [1 CORINTHIANS 15:50-57].
We are taught in the First Epistle of John, “We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians” [1 JOHN 3:16 NET BIBLE]. “Jesus laid down His life for us.” We were helpless, unable to please God, incapable of doing what is right and holy. At that precise moment, the Son of God surrendered His life in our place. This is the reason we read in Scripture, “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” [ROMANS 5:6-8].
While the Christmas message expected in most communions doesn’t speak of death, the scriptural message of the season cannot avoid speaking of death. It was our own broken condition that necessitated the coming of Christ the Lord. It was the fact that we were under sentence of death, forever excluded from fellowship with God Who gives us life, that made it necessary that a sacrifice should be provided. Without this divine sacrifice, none of us could be delivered from the sentence of death that rests upon us.
Paul reminded Christians of their condition before Christ delivered them, and spoke of the work that God has performed to deliver us from our sorrowful condition. He has written, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” [EPHESIANS 2:1-10].
All of us were dead! None of us could claim that we were without sin. Each of us was under sentence of death. We are compelled to agree with the Wise Man when he says, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” [ECCLESIASTES 7:20]. If there is to be hope for us to face the Holy One, it will not be because we are good, it will be because He showered us with His grace. It will be because He has provided His own life as a sacrifice because of our brokenness.
Why should Christmas be a time of joyous celebration? Surely we are not so obtuse that we say we celebrate because a child was born? Literally billions of children have been born throughout the long history of the planet. The world doesn’t pause to celebrate the birth of any other child. Something is dramatically different about this child. Something almost demands that we acknowledge that this child has transformed everything, bringing hope into a hopeless situation. Isn’t it because with the advent of this child, mankind has been presented with the means of escaping the dark threat that has hung over us since the time our first parents fell?
THE CHILD IS DESTINED TO REIGN —
“The government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”
[ISAIAH 9:6b-7]
Those living in Judea at the time of the First Advent of the Christ were fully aware that the Christ was destined to reign. The most did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ; nevertheless, they were certain that when the Christ did appear, He would reign. Repeatedly do we see the disappointment of those who followed Jesus during His earthly ministry because they assumed that His rule had been thwarted. Only after Jesus had conquered death were His followers enabled to see that He would indeed reign. He reigned immediately in the hearts of those who turned to Him and were born into the Kingdom of God. And He will yet reign over the earth at His Second Advent.
An ancient writer pointed to the reign of the Christ, writing, “It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,
‘What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.’
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” [HEBREWS 2:5-9].
We must not read what God has given in His Word in such a great hurry that we overlook central truths presented in what has been delivered. In the text before us this day, we see that the child that was born to Mary is destined to reign. I suspect that all of us are eager, perhaps overly eager, to see Christ reigning. Perhaps we are not unlike two of His disciples who, prompted by an overly ambitious mother, wanted to hurry the rule of Christ over the world.
Here is the account in question as Levi recorded it. “The mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We are able.’ He said to them, ‘You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’ And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’” [MATTHEW 20:20-28].
It is well nigh impossible to see this account as anything other than a demonstration of naked ambition seizing control over a mother and her sons—and each of them were followers of the Son of God. Rather than seeking His glory, the boys were eager for Jesus to reign because they were confident that they would reign with Him. They would no longer be considered as fools or as dupes. They would no longer be used as mere pawns by the powerful of this world. They would show those tyrants a thing or two once they were ruling with Jesus!
I fear that many of us who are followers of the Saviour, perhaps even most of us, are eager for Jesus to reign primarily because we are tired of being treated as disposable by the powerful people of this world. We are tired of seeing sinners destroy our world. We are tired of seeing the values we hold dear trampled in the mud while wickedness seems always to be in ascendence. We are tired of hearing the One Whom we love despised and rejected. When He reigns over this earth, and we are reigning with Him, we’ll show those evil people what’s what! We can hardly wait for Jesus to reign! Of course, our holding such views has not been ratified by Jesus. He calls us to quite a different view of our relationship toward those of this world.
We need to hear the Apostle as he is motivated by the Spirit of Christ to write, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” [ROMANS 12:14-21]. We who follow the Saviour are called to be patient, refusing to give way to anger; rather, we are to wait for Christ Himself to reign as He has promised.
Already, the Risen Lord reigns in the hearts of those who are born from above and into the Family of God. Yet, He is destined to reign over this earth. The conundrum in the view of those first people who witnessed the First Advent of the Messiah was how this child could at once be given as a sacrifice and yet reign.
The powerful leaders of this world were astonished that someone could claim such august status as Jesus claimed. Haled before the chief priests and scribes, Jesus was questioned, but chose to remain silent until the high priests asked Him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed” [Mark 14:61b]. At this direct question, Jesus responded, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” [MARK 14:62]. Jesus’ testimony concerning Himself and His coming reign elicited the outcry of “Blasphemy!” from that high religious leader and all those allied with him.
All that Jesus said at this time, He has said before. You may recall Jesus saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” [JOHN 5:25-29].
Another time when Jesus was challenged by the religious leaders, He taught them. They were reduced to flinging about slander because they had no argument for what He was teaching. At that time, Jesus responded to their scurrilous accusations, as recorded in this portion of the Gospel of John. “Jesus answered, ‘I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.’ The Jews said to him, ‘Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, “If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.” Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, “He is our God.” But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am’” [JOHN 8:49-58].
To His disciples, Jesus spoke of the final days of planet earth, saying, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives” [LUKE 21:10-19]. He was pointing forward to the days of the Great Tribulation when those who dared look for Him will suffer greatly as wickedness appears for a brief while to be in control of all things. Then, He pointed to the days of the end of this world.
Jesus continued, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” [LUKE 21:25-28].
Jesus is coming to reign. We need to hear once more that this child will not be an eternal babe; rather, He is the Lord of Glory destined to reign. We read in Matthew’s Gospel, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” [MATTHEW 25:31-34, 41, 46].
We who look for the Son of God, we who seek His glory, will share in His glory. Therefore, the benediction that is pronounced as John closes the Apocalypse, saying, “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” [REVELATION 20:6].
I have often pointed to the promise delivered to the saints in Salonica as Paul wrote his second missive to those beleaguered saints. They were suffering, and the Apostle sought to encourage them, acknowledging their steadfast adherence to the Faith. We read in 2 THESSALONIANS 1:3-10, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
“This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”
At this holy season of the year, the question for you is, “Are you prepared for Christ’s reign?” Does He now reign in your life? Our plea for you is to believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ, even today. 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.
