But did Mary feel more? For her Child was more than any other child in history. In that one moment her eyes beheld the One from all Eternity. She held in her arms the One Who Himself holds all things together and upholds all things by His powerful Word (Col. 1:17; Heb 1:3). Tenderly she spoke to the One whose voice spoke all things into being. In that moment she became the mother to the One who is the “Everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6). She clutched her new son to her breast, yet, even more than hers He was the Son of God who had come from the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).
Never has a man come into this world the way He did. No one was born to a virgin. No one’s mother was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit causing his body to begin forming inside of her. Even Adam, the head of our race, the first man God created, while his existence was brought about in a way unique from all his descendants, still his was not like Jesus’. Adam was created from the dust of the ground, fully mature, never experiencing birth or childhood. Did you ever realize that Adam never had a mother! The rest of us who have come from Adam were all born from a mother. And when Jesus came, whom the Bible calls the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), He entered Adam’s race, but, He entered this world in a way no one else ever had or will. For His body’s creation in Mary’s womb was outside the natural way its been since Adam and Eve. John’s Gospel says, “[a child] born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” The child Jesus came to be in the womb of Mary because of the power of God and His direct intervention into the natural course of human biology.
The Birth of Jesus Christ crowns the office of Prophet with its complete glory. We read in the book of Hebrews chapter 1: “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets…but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son…” The author is pressing home to his readers that Jesus is the spectacular climax of all historical prophetic ministry. Jesus was a prophet – the prophet of all prophets – but yet, more than a prophet. He is at once in company with all those before Him, yet, in a class all His own. Like all prophets He spoke the words of God, but, unlike any prophet He was that God.
The Birth of Jesus is God delivering the promises He made in the Old Testament. He was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), He was born to a virgin (Isa. 7:14), He was the son given (Isa. 9:6), He is David’s descendant. He did come 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Dan. 9:24-27). So many more can be listed. Most importantly, He did come to be the Savior of man and deliver man from sin and death (Matt. 1:21)
The Birth of Jesus is a most profound teaching in the Christian faith.
#1: God became Flesh
Let us consider first that the birth of Jesus means God came in the flesh. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh…”
Have you ever seen a new mother holding her child in the moments after delivering? The sweat, the tears, the pain drained away and replaced by both joy and exhaustion? One of the things I’ve always said when Annie has been pregnant is I can’t wait to see the child’s face. There is something about seeing a child’s face for the first time. Mother’s do you remember those moments when you were handed your child after delivering? The “reveal” when you and your baby saw each other for the first time? Their beautiful eyes, their little nose and lips, their scrunched up look wrapped tight in a cloth? You know how Mary felt that moment. Sure you were in a hospital and she in a manger. Sure you were surrounded by medical professionals and she shepherds and barn animals. But however different the environment, it is the same moment in all places every time for every mother – that first embrace.
But did Mary feel more? For her Child was more than any other child in history. In that one moment her eyes beheld the One from all Eternity. She held in her arms the One Who Himself holds all things together and upholds all things by His powerful Word (Col. 1:17; Heb 1:3). Tenderly she spoke to the One whose voice spoke all things into being. In that moment she became the mother to the One who is the “Everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6). She clutched her new son to her breast, yet, even more than hers He was the Son of God who had come from the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).
Here this human mother, this woman untouched by a man, this girl of Adam’s fallen race, embraced the fullness of Deity, the eternal Word who is God, all in the tiny little form of a newborn babe. Through this young woman came very God of very God in the flesh.
Now, some questions may be popping into our heads. Did Jesus begin to exist when He was conceived? Did He become the Son of God when He was conceived? Did Jesus start to exist sometime after God the Father? No, no, and, no. Jesus has always existed. He has always been God’s Son. And, He is just like the Father in that He is co-eternal, never having had a beginning.
[Not in human form, but, as the 2nd Person of the Trinity. John 1:1 says it this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Remember that Jesus Christ is God come down in the flesh, therefore, as God from all eternity, He has no beginning. Only His humanity had a beginning. And we celebrate that beginning at Christmas.]
#2: Jesus is All By Himself
Secondly, Jesus is not only God in the flesh, but, because of this, Jesus is All by Himself. Not meaning relationally, as in He has no contact with others as though He’s in some some cosmic solitary place. What I mean by All By Himself is that He is Absolutely Unique. Absolutely Exceptional. No one is like Him. He is all by Himself in His own category. The Psalmist says, “Who is like you O Lord?” (35:10; 113:5) and that praise of divine uniqueness is not blasphemy when given to Jesus Christ. That kind of praise of divine uniqueness is owed to Jesus: Who is like you O Lord Jesus?
Now here we really tie into our sermon title: The Birth of the Glorious Begotten of God. Consider what John says in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth.” Key in on that phrase, “one and only.” If you’re reading the KJV or the NAS it will say “Only begotten” instead of “one and only.” The phrase shows up again in verse 18, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only [or, “only begotten”], who is at the Father’s side has made Him known.” Later, John uses the phrase again in chapter 3 twice. One of those times is in the Bible’s most famous verse, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son [“only begotten”]…”
When you read that phrase “one and only”, or “only begotten”, you have to realize that those are English translations of a Greek word. The New Testament was written in Greek, and, the Greek word translated into these English words is “monogenes”. It means “single of its kind”, or, “one of a kind”. Jesus was one of a kind. He is the only one of His kind. We use that phrase today to say about someone that they are different from other people. They stand out. There is a uniqueness about them. When you compare them to others something about them sets them apart. Others don’t have what they have.
Now that can be a negative thing, like “Yeah, I see you met ole Bob there, he’s one-of-a-kind.” Or, it can be a compliment, like “man you’re one of a kind when it comes to swinging a golf club.”
But it can be objective too. For instance, my wife is one of a kind. She is a woman and is like all other women in that she has “womanhood”. But, she is one of a kind to me. And while I think she is one of a kind, I’m not referring in a subjective sense to her. I’m referring to the objective fact that because she and she alone is my wife, she is in a class all her own. No other woman shares that status, that relationship with me. Some days I’m sure she wishes she wasn’t so unique. But the point is that to me, the essence of who she is as my wife makes her absolutely unique to me and sets her apart from all other women.
Now, the same is true of Jesus. He is like all other men in that He was a man. But you can’t lump Him with the great mass of humanity and leave Him there as though nothing stands out about Him because He is at the same time as a man in a category all by Himself. No other man can be counted with Him in this special category. It is a category reserved only for those who are not only human, but, also are God. They are equal with man and equal with God. This category is filled by only one person in all of existence: Jesus Christ.
Yes He came down from God and took upon Himself “manhood”, meaning He became a human being. This is the incarnation, the “word became flesh” moment. So He has humanness in common with us humans. But, who He is does not end with humanness like it does with us. After you’ve said “Justin is a human being” you can’t say anymore about me. You’ve summed me up. All my essence, my experience, my existence is within the scope of this human-ness I am part of. Now Jesus has all that too. He is fully human. But after you’ve said He’s human there is still much more to say about Him because He is more than human. He is also fully God. In other words, all that is true of God’s essence and all of God’s attributes are what Jesus also is. The Word was with God and the Word was God” says John 1:2. In Christ all the fullness of Deity dwells in human form” Colossians 2:9 says. Philippians 2 says, “Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God…was made in human likeness…” Thomas the Apostle declared on his knees in that upper room after touching the scars of the Resurrected Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Theologians have a name for Jesus that no other man can share: the God-Man. We cannot speak of Him as man and not also as God. The birth of Jesus Christ is a singular event in history and Jesus is a singular person in all existence. For the child laying in a manger was more than a child. He was All By Himself.
Conclusion:
It is because of this that this Jesus is to be worshipped. The Bible makes it clear that God, if we are to worship Him, must worship His Son, Jesus Christ. God came to us through Jesus. Only through this same Jesus may we come to God. Christmas is the time we celebrate when the Savior was born into this world. Have you ever marvelled that the glory of Heaven made His entrance through such a humble location as a manger? Shouldn’t it tell you something?
- Shouldn’t it tell you that He Who was so High in Heaven would come down to the lowest place to bring His Salvation? He came down for you, have you looked up to receive Him?
- Shouldn’t it tell you that He who was born from a womb, so at the end of his time on earth He could be born of a tomb, and that so He could be born in our hearts. Do not be like the “inns” has been born in the hearts of men ever since? Has He been born in your heart as you’ve believed on Him with all of it?
- This time of year consider that Jesus was born first so that by coming to Him He could give you the new birth.