GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY

Christmas 2009

 

Luke 2:1-20

Key Verse: 2:10

 

“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’”

 

             When Pastor David Baik delivers a Christmas message, he tries to say “Merry Christmas" in as many different languages as he can.  He does a pretty good job on all of them except for the Polish.  The Polish greeting is, “Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku.” For some strange reason, he can’t say that one.  Merry Christmas!  Why do we wish people, “Merry Christmas”?  Because we want Christmas to be a time of joy. Some of us want to recover the pure and wholesome joy that we experienced at Christmas when we were children.  But others have never experienced that joy because they came from broken families and other difficult situations.  Some of us have no joy right now because we are so weighed down by the worries of life.  When Christmas comes, we may experience some brief moments of joy, but then it vanishes like a mist, and all of life’s troubles that bothered us are still remain: financial problems, marriage and relationship problems, sickness, joblessness.  We think, “Christmas is supposed to be better than this.  Life is supposed to be better than this.”  It’s not surprising that depression and mental illness increase during the holidays and immediately after. 

 

             This Christmas, I want to give you the gift of joy.  Not a fake, plastic joy that tries to avoid reality, but authentic, full-blown explosive joy. Think of the character George Bailey in the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life.  At the end of the movie, he was jumping up and down with tears streaming down his face, hugging his wife and his daughter Zuzu – not because his money problem was solved, but because he deeply realized before God and man that his life was the best life, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I want to give you that gift of joy, but unfortunately it is not mine to give. 

 

             Yet God has already given us that gift.  There was a point in human history when God intervened to show all people that, no matter what they think they are experiencing, that their lives are truly wonderful. That moment came when God incarnated himself as a human being. The Word became flesh (Jn 1:4). The birth of Jesus was the turning point of history.  It flipped every calendar from BC to AD.  That’s very interesting, because in almost every respect that we can see, the world didn’t change much at the time of Jesus.  After Jesus came, the world was still ruled by tyrants.  After Jesus came, war and poverty and disease were still rampant.  If anything, conditions may have even gotten worse.  That’s why many Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah and continue to reject him to this day.  The Hebrew word for Messiah is משיח (pronounced “mah-shee-ahch”).  “When mashiyach comes,” they say, “everyone will know it.  It will be unmistakable.  Everything will change.”

 

             Well, everything has changed since the coming of mashiyach.  But many of those changes are not visible to the naked eye.  The coming of Jesus Christ signaled a new period of history in which God would not just focus on the people of one nation, but he would extend his welcoming grace to all people of all nations.  He broke the Old Covenant and replaced it with the New.  He threw away the Mosaic Law and replaced it with a living person, someone who is fully God, just like him and yet fully human, just like us.  God took the ancient promises that were given to Abraham and revealed that these promises were not about the kingdom of Israel but about another kingdom, one that was more expansive and more powerful than we could ever imagine.

 

             One part of today’s passage says it all. Verses 10-11: “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’”  Today’s passage is a retelling of the birth of Jesus twenty centuries ago.  It is also a prophetic foretelling of the coming reign of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

 

             Is the birth of Jesus good news of great joy?  In one sense, yes, but in another sense, no.  When the Son of God came into the world, it began a beautiful new relationship between God and people.  Jesus came to take away our sins (Jn 1:29).  Those who put their faith in him have become children of God (Jn 1:12).  That is a wonderful spiritual truth.  But let’s be very honest and very real.  If that is all there is to our faith, then this Christmas is hardly worth celebrating. The world is still filled with war, sickness and poverty. We are still mired in misery and sin.  We need much more than the baby Jesus in a manger.  We need the risen Jesus to return on clouds of glory as he promised. When Jesus comes back as King and Judge, there will be a party like the world has never seen.  Think of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Easter and the 4th of July mixed together.  Combine it with the joy of your graduation day, your wedding day, your honeymoon, the birth of your first child.  And magnify it several billion times.  Then you begin to sense the joy that Christians will experience at the coming of the Lord Jesus.  That is the big event that we should be waiting for.  For those who are spiritually prepared, it will be the mother of all celebrations.  But for those who are not prepared, it will be a moment of shock and awe, a time of fear and dread and terrible anguish.  Is this Second Coming going to happen, or is it merely a fairy tale?  Yes, it is actually going to happen. We have God’s sure promise that it will. Benjamin Franklin said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”  He should have said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.”

 

             The gift that will bring unimaginable joy has already been given by God.  The problem is with us.  We have a hard time receiving this gift.  This gift is so big, so unimaginably precious, that we instinctively think it’s not real.  We instinctively think that we don’t deserve it, that we haven’t earned it yet, and we need to do something first.  The gift that God wants to give us is so ginormous that we can hardly wrap our minds around it.  If we were receive it fully and completely right now, then our circuits would be fried, our brains would be overloaded and our hearts would burst open.  That degree of joy is too much for us right now.  So God put it on lay-away and has been giving it to us in installments.  Our celebration of Christmas each year is a small downpayment, a foretaste of the joy that lies ahead at the end of our lives and at the end of this period of history. 

 

             As we celebrate the coming of Jesus at Christmas, we are earnestly waiting for him to return as he promised.  This world, which is full of problems and suffering and sin, is going to be remade.  Our lives, our character, even our bodies are going to be remade.  Once we looked like brand new cars.  Now many of us are looking like used cars and classic cars.  Soon enough we look like junk cars.  When we die, our souls will go to be with the Lord in a place called heaven.  Some people think that heaven is supposed to last forever.  It will not.  Soon there will be a day that Christians call the last day, the day of resurrection.  It will be heralded by the return of Jesus. At that time, our junk-car bodies are going to be raised.  They are going to be refurbished. We are going to be totally awesome. We are going to be glorious, like the risen Jesus himself.   Our new high performance bodies will be able to withstand the full-blown joy of being in the presence of God.  Until that day, we wait and hope and get prepared.  We ponder the mysteries of Christmas as revealed in God’s word.  We commit ourselves to doing the things that Jesus commanded us to do before he returns: to love one another (Jn 13:34), and to go and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19).

 

             Some of you may be thinking, “Hey, Dr. Joe, this is a strange Christmas message.  When are you going to talk about the passage?” I will talk about it in just a moment.  But what I want to say to you first is this.  We cannot celebrate Christmas and expect it to be wonderful just because we sing Christmas carols and eat Christmas cookies. The deep joy we crave does not come from Christmas Day.  Thst joy is fulfilled when Jesus comes to us. He came to the world as a baby long ago.  He comes to us personally throughout our lives, because he is our living Savior who rose from the dead and is with us now in the presence of the Holy Spirit.  And he is coming back to the world again as King and Judge. His kingdom shall come, and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.

 

             With that in mind, let’s look at some of the details of today’s passage from Luke chapter 2.  In the first seven verses, the author sets up a contrast between two historical figures: the mighty Caesar Augustus sitting on his throne, and the poor and helpless baby Jesus lying in a manger.  In the second part of the passage, beginning in verse 8, he sets up another contrast between two starkly different visions of Jesus.  There is the vision of him coming to earth in suffering and humility, and the image of him reigning from heaven in glory.  The passage culminates in verses 13-14, when the great company of heavenly host declares, “Glory to God in the highest!”  Let’s start at the beginning with Caesar Augustus.

 

             Look at verses 1-3: “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.”  Caesar Augustus, whose original name was Octavian, ruled the Roman Empire for approximately 45 years. After his death, the Roman Senate declared him to be a god. One historian ranked Augustus as the 18th most influential person of all time.  But if you mention Augustus to a 21st century college student, the most likely response you will hear is, “Who’s that?”  You can respond by saying, “Caesar Augustus is that miniature Roman commander in the movie Night at the Museum.  And in Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, he returns to fight the bad guys, riding on the back of a giant squirrel.”  Augustus and his accomplishments have faded into obscurity.  But in his day, he looked so mighty and impressive.  With one stroke of his pen, he implemented a worldwide census.  He did that for his own reasons, probably to raise taxes.  But God used it to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem at just the right moment so that the ancient prophecy about the birth of mashiyach would be fulfilled.  It says in Micah 5:2: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Caesar seemed to be sitting on the throne.  But according to the words of the prophet Micah, Jesus, who had not even been born yet, was already sitting on the throne from ancient times. The prophet Daniel called him the Ancient of Days (Da 7:9,22).   Jesus is and always was our everlasting king.

 

             From Caesar, the passage moves on to Joseph.  Look at verses 4-5: “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”  The subject of this sentence is a carpenter named Joseph who lived in the medium-sized town of Nazareth.  But the name of David appears twice, and David comes up again in verse 11.  Luke seems ti be emphasizing the Davidic credentials of Joseph and the baby Jesus.  The name of David was (and is) very special to Jewish people.  King David represents the golden age of Israel past.  And he is the focus of so many ancient prophecies about the coming of mashiyach. David was a wonderful king.  He was both a rotten sinner (2Sa 11) and a man after God’s own heart (1Sa 13:14). Two generations after David, the kingdom that he established began to crumble.  But God promised to rebuild David’s kingdom and establish it forever as an everlasting global empire.  One of my favorite messianic prophecies about David is in Isaiah 11:10-12: “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.”  These verses speak of a great ingathering of God’s people from every corner of the earth, from every tribe and tongue and nation.  This prophecy is being fulfilled as the gospel is preached in every nation.  And this prophecy will be ultimately fulfilled when the root of Jesse returns to us.  Jesus is the Son of David, but he is also David’s father and Lord (Mt 22:41-46). In Revelation 22:16, Jesus said, "I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."  Long before King David was born, the Son of David was seated on his throne.

 

             Look at verses 6-7: “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  The main detail about Jesus’ birth is that his mother placed him in a manger.  Mangers were sometimes made out of wood, but I am told that in the Middle East at that time, mangers were more often carved out of rock.  A manger was a trough for feeding animals.  At my home, we have a dog named Suzy.  She eats her food out of a doggie bowl.  The bowl is shiny and made out of stainless steel. It looks pretty nice, but I wouldn’t want to sleep in it, and I wouldn’t want to use it as a crib for my firstborn child.  Luke mentions the manger three times in this passage (7,12,16).  He almost seems to be bragging that the Lord Jesus’ first bed was a manger.   In verse 12, the angel tells the shepherds that the manger is a sign from God. The manger is a sign from God because it points to something very important about Jesus.  It points to his overwhelming humility.  The incarnation of God as human being was a tremendous act of humility. The apostle  Paul wrote a short poem about this in Philippians 2:5-11.

 

             Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

             Who, being in very nature God,

                           did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

             but made himself nothing,

                           taking the very nature of a servant,

                           being made in human likeness.

             And being found in appearance as a man,

                           he humbled himself

                           and became obedient to death—

                           even death on a cross!

             Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

                           and gave him the name that is above every name,

             that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

                           in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

             and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

                           to the glory of God the Father.

 

             To the ordinary human eye, the manger is a symbol of poverty and suffering. But to those who understand the nature of Jesus, the manger is a sign of glory and majesty. God has entered our human condition.  He came to be with us in our lowly condition.  Until God’s kingdom is fully unveiled, we in the Church—the living Body of Jesus Christ—bear this image of the manger.  Our appearance looks like nothing.  Our accomplishments look like nothing.  But no one should be deceived by this.  The manger is a sign that Jesus is on his throne.  Until Jesus returns in his power, we embrace his humble manger-ly life.  We relish it, because we know that it is a sign, a very ironic preview of the unimaginable glory to come.

 

             The next part of the passage, verses 8-12, tells of midnight conference between some shepherds and an angel. “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’"  My sons love to watch the Discovery Channel.  One of their favorite shows is Dirty Jobs.  At the time of Jesus’ birth, being a shepherd was considered the ultimate dirty job. Shepherds lived out in the fields with their sheep.  They had no chance to shower or shave.  They smelled like sheep and looked like sheep.  They were the untouchables of the Jewish caste  system.  Yet there is something very noble about them.  They were a living picture of King David, who was also a shepherd from Bethlehem.  Of all the people in the world at that time, God chose to deliver the Christmas message to them.  Why? Only God knows for sure.  But it fits perfectly with the message of Christmas.  God humbled himself and came into the world, not to demean himself, but to become one with his people, to lift them up and bring them into his glory.  The angel announced to them the birth of the Savior: “He is Christ the Lord.”  Notice the use of the present tense. The angel didn’t say, “This baby will become Christ the Lord.” The angel said, “He is Christ the Lord.”  For those who could see it, the baby Jesus was already seated on his throne; he was already reigning as Savior and Lord.

 

             Please read along with me verses 13-14: “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.’"   A few moments earlier, the shepherds were startled by the appearance of one angel, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.  But now, God opens the curtain and lets them peer through a window into heaven itself, to see a preview of the coming glory. There are other instances where this happens in the New Testament. For example, there is the vision of the Apostle John in Revelation 5:13: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’”   This world where we live now often looks dark and dreary.  But the heavens are in a state of continual worship.  The angels and saints join together singing praises to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ.  They are waiting in glorious anticipation of the great apocalypse, which literally means “revelation” or “unveiling.” The reign of Christ over all the earth is soon going to be revealed.  During the first four centuries after Christ, Christians worshiped in small house churches.   Beginning with the reign of Constantine (306-337 AD), they began to construct special buildings for worship.  Churches have been built in many different styles.  But no matter how the place of worship looked, Christians have long believed that when they entered a church sanctuary to worship, they were coming into the presence of God and literally entering heaven to join their voices with the heavenly host.  This humble manger where we are meeting now is just a clever disguise.  With eyes of faith, we look up from where we are into the heavens and sing praises to God for his highest glory.  This Christmas worship service is not a performance of ritual.  It is extremely holy and very glorious.  The Spirit of God and the same heavenly host are with us now, and even the steel beams and girders and drywall of this building are crying out with us, “Glory to God in the highest!”

 

             And suddenly, in verse 15, the angels leave and go back into heaven. The shepherds are left standing in a muddy field, scratching their heads an wondering what to do.  That is exactly our situation.  From time to time, we may have a deep spiritual experience.  We may catch a glimpse of God in his glory, but soon everything goes back to normal, and we are wondering, “Was that real?  Or was it just my imagination?”  What these shepherds now do is very instructive.  First, they go and see if the word of God is true (15-16). When they find out that it is true, they come back, praising God, and spreading the word that mashiyach has come (17-18,20).  And Mary’s reaction is also very telling. Verse 19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”  What are we to do this Christmas? Perhaps you will experience a foretaste of the heavenly joy that filled the shepherds with amazement.  Or perhaps your Christmas will seem quiet and uneventful. Perhaps it will seem disappointingly humble like a little baby in a manger.   That not unusual at all.  That is the way that it must be.  We must treasure up these things and ponder them in our hearts. Until the Lord Jesus comes again.  Then we are going to celebrate. I will see you at that celebration.  Come, Lord Jesus!

 

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