Subject: The Christmas Story: A Saga of An Awesome Journey!
Text: John 1:1-14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Introduction: The gospel of John is considered by many to be the deepest and most spiritual book in the Bible. John had one goal in mind, to inspire faith in Jesus Christ as the son of God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus Christ gives a more complete revelation of himself and of the God the Father, than in either of the synoptic Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke view the coming of the Christ at Christmas from earth's viewpoint. John helps us see the picture of the first Christmas from God's viewpoint. In the gospel of John, we are presented the "I AMs” of God, the divinity of Christ, a fresh introduction to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and his new work and the divine mission of God through Christ Jesus. In John chapter 5, Jesus declares himself to be sent from God six consecutive times. He refers to God as his father in John more than 100 times. The gospel of John devoted more than half of his writing to the last days of Jesus' earthly ministry. Several conversations and discourses are found only in the book of John such as the Nicodemus story, the Samaritan woman, the discourse at the feast of Tabernacles, The Good Shepherd, and the intercessory of prayer of Jesus found in Chapters 14-17. John gives us only six miracles or signs to prove that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God. The reoccurring statement in the book of John is "that you might believe that Jesus is the son of God."
John does not retrace in genealogy of Jesus. John’s Christmas story includes no shepherd stories or no manger scenes. There are no angelic choirs or no wise men visits because this gospel is written from heaven's perspective. John gives us God's view of salvation coming into the world. The Christmas Story is a Saga of An Awesome Journey! The journey that John describes in our text is the most amazing journey ever taken. It is almost an unbelievable journey because it stretches our imagination and gives us a glimpse of the Father's love for humanity. Many peoples and cultures of the world cannot receive the idea of Christianity because they refused to believe that God would undertake such journey. It seems too good to be true. But the word of God says…."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1, 14 Let’s begin our journey, Jesus journeyed from heaven into earth…John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
1. Jesus Journeyed from Heaven to Earth – Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God began his journey as the word, the logos, the Son of God who had existed forever. He built and designed the heavens and the earth, for without him was not anything made that was made. Jesus left from a perfect place, with perfect provision and perfect praise, and a place of perfect satisfaction to enter into a world of darkness, sin and shame and trouble and turmoil.
When the world was in darkness and chaos, God stepped out and said, “Let there be Light.” He turned darkness into light and brought order out of chaos. At a time when mankind lost in sin, sitting in darkness with no vision or hope; trapped by Satan and under the judgment of God; in separation and bondage, Jesus stepped out of Heaven into Earth. More than that, He chose to be born of one of our women, in one of our stables, in one of our villages, right here on earth. It's hard to imagine He knew what he was doing or where he was going because of what it would eventually cost him. He journeyed from Heaven to Earth on a mission to shine God’s light in a dark world; on a mission to save lost humanity. Lu 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
The earth and humanity had gone terribly wrong, sin had polluted the world, separating man from God and turned man against God. I think if God had asked the advice of any good businessman, the advice probably would have been, "cut your losses, forget about the human race on earth and start over somewhere else. The world has been polluted until sin, chaos and confusion was the order of the day and Satan had trapped mankind in sin and sorrow. But the Bible says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life." I believe Jesus was willing to step out of heaven, place of abundant light and life because He knew exactly what was needed. In darkness, we need light! In chaos we need order. In confusion we needed peace! In sin we need a Savior. So, Jesus as an act of the Father’s will, stepped into Bethlehem, a place of turbulence, turmoil and trouble to proof to each of us that he can handle our sin problem, our spiritual blindness and our need for peace with God, peace with others and peace with ourselves. He is not afraid to step into the chaos of our lives. Jesus Christ is truly the Light of the World, Prince of Peace and our blessed redeemer! It was indeed an awesome journey, not only a journey from heaven to earth, but a journey from eternity to time.
2. Jesus Journeyed from Eternity into Time - It was an awesome journey from eternity to time. In this text, John speaks of the beginning. Go back as far as your imagination can go and before that, Jesus was. He was already living and existing before the beginning. Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
And then He started a journey from eternity into time. He came into our calendar, into our time clock, into our way of thinking, into our schedules, into birthdays, anniversaries, bedtimes, get-up times. Jesus must have felt caged by the clock. He had lived in the expanses of untimed eternity, where a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. He not only came from eternity to time, but at the first Christmas, Jesus reset the time-clocks of the ages. Before the coming of Christ, our calendars were set by the reign of kings or catastrophic events. Throughout the Scriptures, you can read, "In the tenth year of the reign of king so and so." But today, the calendars of the whole world are set in terms of the coming of the Son of God into the world. Before Christ is known BC and after Christ is known as AD. Today, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and atheists alike use the same time clock. Even though all peoples of the world do not celebrate Christmas, they set their calendars by the coming of the Son of God from eternity into time. Heaven itself has synchronized its clock with earth to fulfill the purpose of God the Father. Jesus came from eternity into time because He realized what sin cost mankind. Satan is master of robbing us of time. Jesus Christ is a master restorer. What a journey! Joel 2:25 “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the cater-pillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” I will restore; make up to you, or compensate: the lean years of Egypt did eat up the fat, but with you now the fat years shall feed and enrich the lean ones. “You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.”(Thoreau.) Jesus journeyed from Heaven to earth, then from eternity into time to restore us and help us redeem the time. Then he journeyed from Spirit into a physical body.
3. Jesus journeyed from Spirit to a physical body - Probably, the least understood part of the awesome journey is what John's says in verse 14, "the word became flesh." Jesus, the Son of God was just as much Spirit as God the Father and God the Holy Ghost. He was not limited by a physical body and did not even have a human name. He was totally Spirit, unlimited in power and ability. He was unlimited by time and space. Isa 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? God spoke to King David saying, "that world itself can not contain Him, What house will you build for me?" But the eternal Son of God, the powerful creator of everything, left heaven and contained Himself in a microscopic human embryo. He who would become the perfect teacher, perfect example, and perfect sacrifice was planted in the womb of a virgin. He had not yet formed eyes or hands or feet or a brain. God was contained as an act of his own will, in the womb of a virgin. He, who was and is perfect light, for nine months, was in total darkness. Jesus came to eradicate darkness. Matthews 4:16 “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
Then he was born of a virgin, Mary, looking like any other baby boy, six and seven pounds, unable to walk and talk, unable to feed himself, totally dependent on Mary and Joseph for his every need. What an awesome journey! It was not a temporary change for 33 years and then back to spirit. It was permanent. The Son of God became a man forever.
The body conceived in Mary’ womb was the same body that was born in the Bethlehem stable. It is the same body that grew up in Egypt and returned to His hometown, Nazareth. It was the same body that arrested, and sentenced to be crucified, who died on Calvary and was buried in Joseph's tomb and on the third day he arose from the dead. It is the same Jesus is coming again. We shall see him as the lamb slain from the foundation of world. Jesus journeyed from Spirit to a physical body because Jesus realizes how hard Satan fights against us in our physical bodies. It’s good to know that He has made provisions for our sin and trial, our time issues and even our physical bodies. Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” The Christmas story is a story of Jesus journeying from Heaven to earth, then from eternity into time to restore lost humanity to God. He journeyed from Spirit into a physical body for our healing, then from deity into humanity.
4. Jesus journeyed from deity to humanity - Jesus journeyed from being very God to become very man. He was God, fully God, 100% God. Jesus was everything that God was and is, all powerful, all knowing, anywhere and everywhere present, completely holy, the very God of God. And He became human. "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us". He became fully human, with human organs, a human appearance, but more than that with human emotions, with human thoughts and experiencing human pain and grief.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
The miracle was that he was 100% human and 100% God. This is called the incarnation. He was the perfect Gift of God. He was the perfect match for the human need. Now, when we speak of Jesus, we speak of God. When we experience Jesus, we experience God. When we see Jesus, we see God. The wonder of it all is that He is one of us, who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He is fully human with a human mind and fully divine with the mind of God. Jesus perfectly identified with human beings. He understands our weakness or fears and doubt. He understands our pain and grief. He became one of us. He knows the burden of fleshly emotions.
Once we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, our trouble is not in my spirit. Our soul is secure in Christ. Mankind has trouble with fleshly emotions. Believers and non-believers struggled to keep their fleshly emotions under control. Even Paul the Apostle had trouble in his fleshly emotions. Ro 7:18, Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. Jesus took on flesh with all of its emotional baggage so that he could empathize with us and give us power to overcome our emotions of the flesh. A Song writer has said, “God knows how to hold you together until you can get it together.”
The Christmas is a saga of God’s Son journeying from heaven to earth, from eternity to time, from spirit to body, and from deity to humanity to deliver us from sin and chaos, to help us redeem time and become productive, to provide healing for our bodies spiritually and physically, and to identify with us and give us power to overcome our fleshly emotions and weaknesses.
Jesus came as one of us, to save us from our sins and give us His righteousness. Jesus is God's perfect gift to us! A gift is not a gift until it is received. The journey taken on our behalf to reconcile humanity back to God was completed, when the Father accepted his offering and allowed Jesus to seat at His Right hand.
The Jesus of Christmas did stay in a manger, or on the cross of Calvary. He did not stay in a cold dark tomb. He did not stay in the regions of the damn, but He got up from the grave with all power in his hands. He ascended to (1) Prepare a heavenly place for us (2) send back the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit (3) to sit as a mediator between God and man. Because He is seated at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit was sent to convict men of their sin, open the way of righteousness, give gifts unto men, and demonstrate God's power and rule in this present world through the Church. We have joy, hope and life because Jesus is there making intercession for his people. He hears every cry, gives hope to the troubled, rescue his servants from persecution, and gives life in every dead situation. The Christmas story was necessary because mankind sank so low and marred the image of God. But God so loved the world that he sent Jesus, his only begotten son on an awesome journey. Jesus journeyed from heaven to earth, eternity to time, from spirit to flesh and from deity to humanity. But now Christ is exalted above every name that is named, above principality and powers to the highest position of universe. He is there to hear and to help. He is there to bring us into his full likeness. He is there to be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We can touch Him today! He is waiting on us to take the next step! Unto us a child is born, a son is given! A gift is not a gift until it is received. Have you receive him yet?
