"what Child Is This?"

Title: “What Child is This”– Incarnation of Christ Script: Jn. 1:1-5, 9-13

Type: Series – Christmas Where: GNBC 12-4-11/RW 12-20-15

Intro: “What Child is This?” is probably the most popular of the Christmas carols written by William Dix. The music, set to the English folk tune, “Greensleeves” certainly helps. It’s words, however, lead us to the heart of the Christmas story. The very first verse of the song raises a question that all should ask yet few do. (Read v.1 #137). For that reason, it may be appropriate to title this message: “What Child is This?” Looking at our text this morning in the 1st chapter of John’s Gospel, someone has suggested that the more appropriate title should be: “What Child?” There is NO child in our text. No Mary, pregnant by the Holy Spirit, no babe in a manger, no shepherds, no magi, no evil king. So, why should we call this message: “What Child is This?” when there is no “child” in our text? John’s Gospel gives us incredible insights into the incarnation of Christ, which is the entire message of Christmas.

Prop: Exam. Jn.1 we’ll better understand the nature of the incarnation of Christ this Christmas Sunday.

BG: 1. The Incarnation represents the belief that Jesus, who is the non-created second Person of the Trinity, took on a human body and nature and became both man and God. In the Bible its clearest teaching is in John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. This is the message of Christmas. Emmanuel, Christ with us.

Prop: In Jn. 1 we’ll notice 4 important aspects of the Incarnation of Christ.

I. The Incarnation Portrays an Infant Who was Infinite – vv. 1-2

A. John Points us to the Fact that Christ Predated the Incarnation

1. It’s hard for us to consider the fact that Jesus existed before being born in Bethlehem.

a. Illust – I don’t know about you, but back in school I never could quite get my mind around the concept of infinite numbers. Despite the popular one-upsmanship phrase "infinity plus one," you cannot add, subtract, multiply or divide infinity and get anything besides infinity. Although infinity itself is not a quantifiable number, there are both countable and uncountable infinities. For example, take two series of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4.... and 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4... While both series continue infinitely, the second series potentially contains twice as many numbers as the first series. Infinity is a concept that is hard for us to grasp, especially when it relates to time.

b. Here in John 1:1 we see John takes us to the “beginning” – arche – Christ is referred here to being “in the beginning”. Paul tells us He was the efficient cause of creation in Col. 1:16-17. Logically, and more importantly, Biblically, He is before all things if He was the cause of all of creation. Not just looking at this passage, but the entire scope of Scripture as well, we realize the Son of God possesses the exact same divine nature as the Father. The Nicene Creed reiterates this truth, as does the carol “O Come, All Ye Faithful” with the words “God of God, Light of Light”.

2. John states that the Logos was “with God”.

a. Now, pay careful attention because this distinction distinguishes b/t the Logos (Word) and God in that it says one was with the other. However, in the very next statement John asserts that the Logos was God, Himself. So, we see 2 of the 3 distinct Personalities or Individuals in the Godhead.

b. You see, this is a part of the miraculous beauty that is the incarnation: Jesus Christ is distinguished from God the Father and yet completely identified with Him. There is no difference in the attributes of the Persons in the Godhead. The love of the Father is the Love of the Son is the Love of the HS. The knowledge of the Father is the knowledge of the Son is the knowledge of the HS…and so on. Everything making God, God, is found in each of the 3 Persons. Ever other child that has ever been born in all of history has a beginning point in time. Illust: Last week little William Robert Redlinger was born. He had his birthday. Christ infinitely predated His birthday.

B. The Christ-Child was fully divine.

1. The Divinity of Christ is Essential.

a. Illust – Cults, most notably the JW’s, despise and attempt to redefine this passage. Jn. 1:1 is one of the clearest assertions of the deity of Christ found in the Bible. And yet, groups like these attempt to deny the deity of Christ by arguing that the lack of a definite article (the or a) indicates that John was asserting only that Jesus was “a god”. Not only does Greek syntax not require the definite article, Judaism, of which John was firmly culturally entrenched completely and totally rejected polytheism.