What a privilege we have to be able to open up the Word of the living God, amen? And to look into his great truths to understand more of who he is and more of who we are in Him. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel? We're going to be looking at Luke chapter two, verses one through seven. We began looking at this last week, we'll finish this up this week. And we do so under the heading "Jesus' Birth a Providential Appointment." May I remind you, before we read the text, and look closely into it, that God's providence not only controls the entirety of his creation, which is sometimes called general providence. But it also encompasses the details of history, including the details of the lives of individuals, especially his elect, as we would read, for example, in Ephesians 1-12. And often this is called special or specific providence. And what a blessing it is to know that he governs all of his works, past, present, and future, that nothing is left to chance. Even those things which may seem so trivial. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 29, and he said, " Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet, not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."

Although the world is in a moral freefall, and although many of us struggle in our life feeling as though we're just being tossed about like a little vessel in a turbulent ocean, often filled with difficulty and pain and sorrow, and even death. Despite all of that we can say with Paul, in Philippians 1:6-4, "I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." And we see this miracle of divine providence at work here in the birth of Christ. As I say it is a providential appointment. And we can see this clearly in our text this morning in Luke chapter two. So let me read it to you beginning in verse one. "Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth. This was the first census taken well, Cornelius was a governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn."

I love the angelic announcement that was made to the terrified shepherds, and if I put myself in their place, I'm sure I would have been equally as terrified when the angel proclaimed those magnificent words recorded in verses 10 and 11 of our text, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Dear friends, the gospel is indeed tidings of good joy because of Christ, who will will cause us to one day stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy. Not, guilty with great dread, but blameless with great joy. The Lord of Glory will not treat us as a sentencing judge but as a loving father. Moreover, as the angel Gabriel told Mary, he will be our king. Don't you long for a godly king, a righteous king, a righteous ruler. And he will sit upon the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Oh dear friends, I pray that we will never lose the wonder of these great truths. And this morning, I wish to direct your attention again to the birth of the Messiah King, which is consistent with many Old Testament prophecies. And many times in the Christmas story, these Old Testament prophecies get overlooked. For example, 650 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Jeremiah announced the final king in the line of David, referring to Christ. We read about this in chapter 23 of Jeremiah beginning in verse five. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called the Lord our Righteousness."

In a world where greed, corruption, shameless and frankly bizarre immorality. A world in which we are governed by godless leaders, imagine what it will be like. During the kingdom age during the millennium, when the Lord our Righteousness reigns upon the earth. Let's ponder Jeremiah's prophecy together for a moment. And this will help frame a bit of what I would like to share with you as we look closely at Luke two. After focusing on the judgment of Judah, and the hopeless conditions of the Babylonian siege, Jeremiah predicted the eventual salvation and restoration of Israel, according to the conditions of the New Covenant, that are recorded in Jeremiah 30 through 33, which as we look at it today seems rather unlikely given Israel's unbelief. Today Israel is experiencing the temporary and partial hardening as God saves many Gentiles. Paul spoke of this in Romans 11:25. Only a remnant of believing Israelites exists today, even though more and more are coming to faith in Christ. And of course, this is a reminder that the nation as a whole will one day be saved. As we read in Romans 11, verses 16 and verse 26. However, during a coming day of the Lord, Israel's unbelief is going to be reversed. We know that from what Scripture tells us, and God will save and restore Israel when the Messiah returns according to Zechariah 12:10. We read, "I will pour out on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced."

And at that time, the earthly phase of the kingdom will be established. And Israel ethnic Israel will enter the blessings of the kingdom and lead many other nations in worshipping the Messiah. Jeremiah 30, actually begins with the promise of Israel's restoration. In verse three we read, "For behold, 'days are coming', declares the Lord, 'when I will restore the fortunes of My people, Israel and Judah.' The Lord says, 'I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.'" He goes on to describe the conditions of the Kingdom. In verse 10. He speaks of how the offspring of Israel will return from captivity, verse 11, the nations that oppressed Israel will be punished. Verse 17, Israel's health will be restored wounds will be cured. Verse 18, Jerusalem will be rebuilt. Verse 18, as well the palace will stand on its rightful place, verse 22, ethnic Israel will be the people of God. And in chapter 31, the promises of the New Covenant continue, according to verse one, there will be a unified Israel and they will be the people of God, Israel will be rebuilt. In verse four through six, the nation will be filled with joy, verse eight, be gathered from the remote parts of the earth. Culture and livestock will prosper, verse 13, the young and old and Israel will be joyful. Verse 16, sorrow, over heartbreaking oppression will cease and on it goes. Then in chapters 32 and 33, he details even the physical and spiritual blessings of the kingdom, all because of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises that he originally gave to Abraham. In fact, in Jeremiah 33, all God's promises to restore the nation Israel, and place his Messiah King upon his rightful throne, are actually linked to five unconditional covenants of Old Testament scripture. Let me give them to you briefly.

First, it was the covenant that God made to Noah in Genesis eight, where God promised the stability of nature, as part of his plan, enable to enabling him to carry out his kingdom purposes. And then, of course, the covenant that he gave to Abraham beginning in Genesis 12, that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, Israel, who will therefore be the divine conduit, if you will, to bring blessings to all of the nations. And then there was the priestly covenant given in numbers 25, the promise of a perpetual priesthood that will continue on even into the millennial reign of Christ, and then the Davidic Covenant of Second Samuel seven, the promise that the ultimate King will be a descendant of David, the righteous branch of David, who, according to chapter 33, in verse 15, will execute justice and righteousness on the earth. And He will rule and bless the entire world from Israel. And then there's finally the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, the promise of how God will change the hearts of his people and grant His Holy Spirit. So they will always obey Him. And as I read earlier, this will be a time according to Jeremiah 23, verse five, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land." So folks, we can all be encouraged with these great prophecies. All of these things have been promised by a sovereign God who is absolutely omnipotent, there is nothing that can thwart his purposes. And therefore, even in the midst of catastrophic judgment upon the earth there is life sustaining hope that we find in Scripture. And as Gentiles, we can rejoice because we have been grafted into the rich root of Abrahamic blessing. And today, the church is the temporary custodian of gospel truth until Jesus returns and Israel finally rises up and fulfills its original role as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:6. So today God is saving, and he is preparing in the church, the members of the royal family who are destined to reign with Him during the kingdom age, as we read in 2 Timothy 2:12, for example. And I must add that there is a great parallel in the career of King David, with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it, when David was chosen of God and was anointed as King of Israel, He did not immediately occupy the throne. He was despised. He was rejected. For a time he was a fugitive in the wilderness. He was pursued by Saul, whose regal rights had been abrogated, yet he maintained the throne as a usurper. You remember those stories? And during that time men who were debtors and in distress, gathered themselves unto David as his loyal followers. And eventually, when Saul was defeated, the kingdom of David was established over Israel, and he was anointed the king. Well, similarly, Jesus, the greater son of David, was exalted to be both Lord and Messiah King at His first coming. But not until His Second Coming when he establishes His kingdom on earth as the rightful successo, will he be the one to take the throne of his father, David. And in the interim, he is gathering to himself a body of people who are likewise in distress, and debtors to His grace, all because of our sin, a royal family, that's who we are, destined to reign with Him. And yet even now, from His throne in heaven, the king is, is bestowing upon us, his regal blessings, even before the arrival of the kingdom. And oh, I think about just the marvels of Scripture, and the intricacies of the Word of God, how none of it is just put there, just to kind of fill up space. It is all connected in ways that are absolutely unimaginable. And I'm just skimming the surface with some of these great trues and all the wonders of saving grace, that we are somehow a part of his plan.

Now, back to God's faithfulness to his covenants. We saw last week, some of these promises were fulfilled and in stunning detail in the Christmas story. And what I like to do when we talk about the Christmas story is take you beyond Hallmark Cards, right? Beyond yard decorations, where a lot of people get their theology unfortunately. And take you into the Word of God and see some of the amazing concepts that emerge, especially from this historical narrative. Now, by way of quick review, last week, we looked at Bethlehem's destiny. There we examine the significance of Bethlehem, why it was the royal city where King David was born and why it was therefore, the appropriate fitting city for the greater son of David, the divine king of Israel, the Lord Jesus to be born in that same village. And all of that was consistent with the prophecy of Micah that we read in chapter five and verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem , Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." And so Jesus birth and Bethlehem was another piece in the puzzle of God's unconditional covenant with David, in 2 Samuel 7, a covenant made 1000 years before Jesus was born, promising David that God would raise up for him a descendant, the Messiah King, who would establish David's kingdom forever, a dynasty that would ultimately dominate the world when the King of Kings returns when he judges the nations and establishes His kingdom and rules in righteousness. So through a divinely orchestrated and complex saga of political machinations, God moves upon the heart of Caesar Augustus, to take a census in Palestine. And in the context of all of that Joseph and Mary traveled 85 miles from their home and Nazareth, to Bethlehem to register and their official stamp of the Roman Empire would verify that Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God.

Even though they didn't know they were doing that, that he indeed was the rightful heir of the throne of David, that he was the one fulfilling God's covenant promises to David and 2 Samuel 7 that required the Messiah to descend from his loins. And in Bethlehem, Micah's prophecy was fulfilled literally, which I might add, will be the case for the rest of Micah's predictions, as well as all the inspired prophecies. Beloved, if I could put it this way, upon the fulfillments of the jots and tittles of His Word, rest the veracity of God. And so when God says something is going to happen, don't just allegorize it, spiritualize it and come up with what you think it might mean. Take God at His Word. Joseph, Mary knew the prophecy of Micah and even as a 13 year old young woman, Mary was well versed in Old Testament theology. Her heart was saturated with the Word of God, something that is very rare these days in young people. In fact, Luke, one that we read earlier, records her prayer of praise before the Lord. She understood that her child would be the Son of God, the Messiah. And you can just see the richness of theology coming out in her praise before the Lord.

So last week, we examined Bethlehem's destiny. Now today, we want to examine as well, number two Bethlehem's child. Notice in verse six now, says, "And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son". So who is this firstborn son of Mary? In Luke 2:11, the angel announced that he was, quote, "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." So it's important for us to understand what Christ means. And what does Lord mean? It's important for you to understand as well what it means to you as an individual, because your eternal destiny depends upon it. Christ, the word Christ is used 500 times in the New Testament, and it translates the Hebrew word "Messiah." Is he your Messiah? And what does that term mean? Lord, the original language in Greek is "kurios". A title that means ruler or master; one who commands,one who exercises supernatural authority. So what do these two terms really say about Jesus? And what difference should this make in your life? Let me give you a little historical context.

Mary and Joseph, as well as Zacharias and Elizabeth, the father and mother of John the Baptist, and the shepherds all knew that the infant child was the Messiah. John 1:41, we know that Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter, what does he say? "We have found the Messiah, (which translated means Christ)." The Samaritans also believed in the coming Messiah. In John 4 you will recall, Jesus met a Samaritan woman and exposed her bondage to sexual sin. And in verse 19, "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet," then in verse 25 she says, "I know that Messiah is coming, (He who is called Christ), when that Oe comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you, am He.'" And as Jesus went on to preach to the Samaritans, beginning in verse 41, "Many more believed because of His word. And they were saying to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.'" My friend's, baby Jesus in the manger was and is the Messiah. But what did that really mean to the Jewish mind? And what should it mean to us? Messiah actually comes from a Hebrew verb which means to "spread liquid over." And it came to be used symbolically to mean to anoint someone with oil. So Messiah literally means "the anointed one." "Christos" in Greek. In the Old Testament, we see that there were three offices in the theocratic kingdom that God designed for his covenant people. And each one of these offices required that the man be anointed with oil, that he'd be consecrated, that he'd be set apart by God for the respective offices. And all of them would be mediators between God and man, they would all be "messiahs" small m. Those three offices were prophets, priests, and kings. Prophets spoke God's truth to man. The priests brought man's burdens and sins to God and interceded between God and man provided sacrifices and so forth. And then the kings ruled man for God. They were the mediatorial rulers in the theocratic kingdom. But because of our sin, God knew that we needed all three offices. We need a prophet to reveal to us God's truth. We need a priest to sympathize with our weakness, to be a mediator between God and man and intercede with him on our behalf. But we also need a king to rule over us according to God's standard of righteousness and justice. A king that could help subdue the enemy of our soul.

And all of this was pictured in the Old Testament "messiahs." Men anointed to function in the three offices of Prophet, Priest and King. Now very important, there were three things that were always true about God's messiah, those three important criteria had to be met. Number one, they had to be chosen by God. No prophet, priest or king was to be chosen by the people. None were self appointed None were to volunteer. In fact, it's interesting in the verb form, Messiah is in the passive voice, which means "Messiah is one who has been anointed." So they had to be chosen by God. Secondly, they were given divine authority to speak for God and act on his behalf. And then finally, they had to be empowered by God to do his bidding. Beloved, each of these three offices, Prophet, Priest, and King are merged together in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. He is the perfect embodiment of all three. Was he not chosen and sent by the Father? Indeed, he was. Quoting from Isaiah 42:1 Jesus spoke of the Father's choosing him when he said, "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in who My soul is well pleased." Matthew 12:18, John 6:38, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." And in John 8:54, he said, "It is my father who glorifies me." Hebrews 5 Verse five, "Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, Thou art my Son, today I have begotten Thee." He's quoting Psalm 2 verse seven. Jesus was chosen by God, He is the King priest. But did he not also receive define authority from God Himself? Indeed he did. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority has been given to me, in heaven and on earth." He has authority over men, He has authority over Satan, He has authority over demons, over nature over disease over death. John 5, Verse 22, "the father," he says, "has given all judgment to the Son." And in verse 27, he went on to say, "He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." Moreover, he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, not only chosen and sent by the Father, not only given divine authority, but he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 12:18, he quotes Isaiah 42:1, "I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles." And then in John 1:32, John testified, saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him." And many, many passages speak of the supremacy of Christ, that God chose him and gave him all authority, and gave him power in all three of these offices. Ephesians one verse 20, "The Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subject under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Dear friends, this is the Messiah. This is the infant Jesus in the manger. Don't forget it. Colossians 1:15, we read more of who Jesus is. "He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might come to have first place and everything, for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven."

Again, dear friends, this was the infant Jesus in the manger. This is the Lord our God, this is the Messiah. The divinely chosen King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to whom God has given all authority, and all power. And for this reason, according to Philippians 2 beginning in verse nine, "God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Dear friends when you think of Jesus at Christmas, you simply must understand that He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, and the consummater of all things, that he is the uncreated Creator of the universe, that he is the pre existent, self existent God of the universe. He alone is the quintessential, all righteous and eternal, perfect and broad embodiment of Prophet, Priest and King. As Prophet he is the one chosen and empowered by God, to speak truth to the people. Hebrews one beginning in verse one, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets, in many portions, and in many ways, in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through him also he made the world." He is the very Word of God, according to John 1:14, that "became flesh and dwelt among us," that we might behold His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So indeed, he is the perfect embodiment of a prophet, but also he is the quintessential, all righteous and eternal priest, the one who actually bore our burdens and our sin in his body, and became our substitute, the final sacrifice for sin. And he now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. First Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom." Hebrews 2 beginning in verse 17, "He had to be made like His brethren in all things that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people for sins, He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." And we go on to read in Hebrews chapter seven, beginning in verse 22, "Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant," which I might add, is unlike the former priests who were mortal and died, goes on to say he abides, "forever holds his priesthood permanently. Hence, also He is able to save forever, those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest holy, innocent and undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people because this He did once for all when he offered up himself." And then Hebrews chapter nine, verse 11, "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle," referring to heaven, the dwelling place of God. So indeed, this is the Messiah. Furthermore, he alone is the all righteous, eternal King, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And because of these great truths pertaining to these three offices of the Old Testament theocracy. Unlike all of the messiahs of the Old Testament before him, only the child conceived by the Spirit and born of Mary can have the titles Lord, Savior, and Messiah, Messiah with a capital M. It's fascinating, we can see three different colors of thread woven into all of the accounts of the gospel pertaining to the birth of Christ. And each thread speaks of these three messianic offices. Do you remember that the Messiah's coming was announced by the angel Gabriel. The office of priest, telling him that the ultimate and final priest of priests was coming. Also, the angelic messenger told his barren wife that she would conceive and bear a son named John. And he was to be a prophet, a divinely chosen, empowered, authoritative spokesman of God that would herald the coming of the Messiah, and the truth, of how to enter the kingdom. And finally, and this one is almost comical, through the Persian king makers who came to worship the Lord Jesus, the Christ Child, God spoke to Herod, who was a man appointed king of Israel and no king at all, and warned him and all of Israel that the true King was coming. For this reason we read a Matthew two beginning of verse three, "Herod, the king, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the term of the people, he began to inquire of them were the Christ, that is the Messiah was to be born." Beloved this was Bethlehem's child. This was Mary's firstborn son. And I must ask you, do you trust him? as your Savior? Do you OBEY Him as your Lord and King? Do you long to see him? Too many Christians these days, I fear are captured by the fear of man. They're ruled by the fear of man rather than the fear of God. And they fear these painted up pedophile perverts that are running around in our government and in our school systems. Christians afraid of these people. They're afraid of these Birkenstock Bolsheviks that run around, you know, calling themselves Antifa and threatening to tear down the church and all of these types of things, you're really going to be afraid of them? When this is the Lord our God. What is wrong? Are you really going to be afraid of these latte sipping liberal lunatics that are absolutely totally at enmity with God, that worship their father, the devil, you're going to be afraid of them? It reminds me of some of my cowboy buddies, they would say, these people, if brains were the leather, these people wouldn't have enough to saddle a bug. They say a lot of other things. I can't repeat, but you get the point.

In other words, where I'm going with all of this is dear friends, as Christians, we need to know who Jesus is. And when you know who he is, you're not afraid of all this other silliness that's out there. What can they do to us? Well, they can take away our jobs, they can take away even our life. But ultimately, we know where we're going. We know the one who is ultimately in control, because the battle was won at the cross.

Well, we've looked at Bethlehem's destiny and Bethlehem's child. And therefore, we need to, as God told Joshua, Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed, right? For the Lord your God is with you. wherever you go. And finally, this morning, I want to close with Bethlehem's manger, because we see that in this text, notice verse seven, "and she wrapped him in cloths," they would do that too and I think we still do that to give the baby a sense of security, "wrapped him in cloths laid him in a manger, because there was not room for them in the inn." By the way, inns in those days were very crude public shelters for travelers. And they were often caves. And many times they would have animals in part of the caves. If you go to that region of the country, you'll see the geography, you can see how easy it would have been for people to stay in places like that. And so often people would sleep on the hay, mangers were for feeding livestock. It's important to feed horses and cattle, and in these mangers to keep dust from getting in their nostrils and, and it can cause respiratory problems and cause a twisted gut and all kinds of things. So they were mangers. And because of the census of that day, all of the places to stay were full. So Mary and Joseph stay with the animals. And you have to think why, why a manger? I've pondered this. Why would the Messiah the Son of God, enter the world in such utter obscurity? And, frankly, in such utter filth, I think there's three reasons at least, that we could perhaps consider. First of all, he was born in a manger to picture the Messiah as rejection. Perfect place to begin his days of humiliation as Prophet, Priest and King right? As Prophet he came as the living Word of God to save sinners, to tell sinners how they can be made righteous. And for this reason, according to Philippians, 2:7, "He emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant. And being made in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And in John one, beginning in verse nine, we read that "He was the true light, which coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him." Think about it, How could Christ be our faithful high priest, who is able to sympathize with all of our infirmities unless he had experienced a life, of, of pain, even of poverty and persecution? For this reason, we can rejoice with what the writer tells us in Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." You know, had the Messiah come to sinful man in the splendor of His glory for all of the people to see, like he will in a second coming, man would have instantly worshipped him, but all for the wrong reasons, right? We have a glimpse of this later in his mock coronation, His triumphal entry as is commonly referred to, when he first came to Jerusalem, riding on donkey, they thought, oh, great, the Messiah is here. He is going to defeat Rome. We're all going to be exalted. Free food, free work, or I should say no more work and great pay. I mean, this is a liberal utopia, right? I mean, I mean, this whole liberal thing began a long time ago. Let me tell you, Hosanna, to the son of David blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for He has come to exalt me. That was the idea. Heal our diseases eliminate poverty make me rich and on and on it goes. But knowing how prone man is to be enamored with the spectacle of anything spectacular. The King of Glory is born in a lowly stable, not in a palace. A picture of the poverty of spirit as well it is necessary to enter into the spiritual kingdom as well as a description of the world's rejection of his terms. I mean, think about it. He's born in a cave. Later he will be laid to rest in a tomb. He was laid in a manger and later on, he will hang on a cross. He would be twice wrapped in cloths, the first time at his birth, the second time at his death. And he would be homeless in birth, as well as in death. Indeed, the Lord himself said in Matthew 8:20, "the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He was born the first time being born along in his mother's womb on a donkey when he came. And he was attended by two humble teens dressed in peasants garb. But all the difference when it comes again, according to Revelation 19:14, when He comes again, He will be attended by quote, "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." A reference to his glorious Church. First time he came, he was wearing swaddling clothes but when he returns, according to Revelation 19:16, he will be clothed with a robe dipped in blood, "on and His robe and on His thigh He has a name written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."

So I believe that the manger not only depicts the Messiah as rejection, but it secondly speaks of the Messiah's humanity. Remember, sinful man could never atone for his own sins. God's holy justice had to be satisfied by a holy ransom. And only God could provide that ransom in his son. Only then could that remedy be accomplished and this required a virgin birth. The work of redemption demanded a theanthropos, a god man, one fully God and one fully man, one who could supernaturally fuse the human nature with the divine to form this mystical, supernatural, indissoluble bond. So Jesus had to take upon himself the nature of man, in order to be punished for our sin as our substitute. But he also had to be God, very God, in order to live a sinless life, to be a holy ransom that would satisfy God's justice, the one that could be the propitiation for our sins, the satisfaction, the appeasement of divine justice. And he would also have to be God in order to endure the sufferings of all that the Father had given to him to redeem them. So both the human and the divine natures had to be supernaturally woven together. Jesus had to be conceived by God, and born of a virgin in order for him to be both the Son of Man and The Son of God. Emmanuel, God with us, a son of a virgin according to the flesh, but God with us, according to the Spirit. And what better way for God to establish the humanity of his son, than to have him born of a virgin, and born in a stable, a place of such obscurity and humiliation? Hebrews two verse nine, "But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone." This doesn't mean that he came just to die, but to die for us as a man, he became our substitute. But finally, the manger scene, pictured the Messiah's subjects. I mean, you look around in that scene, in that dusty stable and you know what you don't see? You don't see any great emperors. You don't see great kings and queens or princes and nobleman. You don't see generals with vast armies. you don't see business moguls or celebrities, you don't see any of that. No Pharisees or scribes or Sadducees. None of the Sanhedrin. no vast crowds clamoring to somehow get a glimpse of him vowing their allegiance. No self serving sycophants seeking a place of prominence, you don't see any of that. No, you just see too little, shall we say, Galilean rednecks from Nazareth. That's what you see. Poor, uneducated, common folk. But people who had been given the gift of faith, the recipients of sovereign grace, that's what you see. These were the subjects of the King of glory. And they were assumed to be joined by some of the peasant shepherds, and then later on the Persian king makers. And then we read that they were joined by, quote, "a great multitude that no one can number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages." We read that in Revelation. So there's a great crescendo coming right? Beloved, Jesus is the Savior, and the Lord of the meek and the lowly, not the proud in the mighty. He is the Prophet, Priest and King of the broken, of the bowed down not the self willed, not the self exalted. First Corinthians 1:26. "For consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that he might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God."

Dear friends, don't miss these great truths that are typically eclipsed by all of the materialistic and immoral clutter of Christmas in our modern day. And for those of you that perhaps are within the sound of my voice, and you're just living for yourself, you've really never bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, I plead with you, as a minister of the gospel, that you get serious about your own sinful condition. Because one day you will either bow before him in triumph or in terror. You will bow before him as the judge of the living in the dead, or you will be cut off from him for ever. So once you place your faith in Him today, and every believer, I pray that you will think upon these things meditate upon these great truths, especially during this Christmas season. Fathers in particular, hear me, teach these things to your children. If you don't know them, learn them. Grow up. Take responsibility. Teach these things to your children, live them out. Teach them that Christmas is about the King of kings. Not some sappy Hallmark dribble, where Hollywood celebrates the magic of the season, I get so sick of that the magic of the season, or some predictable romance. You know, after 30 seconds of Hallmark, we will you know exactly what's going to happen. I mean, that's kind of where our culture has gone. I mean, if they were to hear the things that I said today, they would say I mean, this guy is a knuckle dragging Neanderthal that needs to live in a cave and eat raw meat. I mean, this guy's nuts. That's because they don't know God. And we would neither were it not for his mercy. Christmas is about the incarnation of the Son of God, the perfect embodiment of Prophet, Priest and King, the Messiah who will one day again set upon the throne of his father David, who will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And this is a truth that the great German British composer George Frederick Handel understood well, and he captured it. In that great oratorio the Messiah, especially in the Hallelujah chorus, you remember it? We're not going to sing it all right, but you remember it. He goes, Hey, you know, hallelujah, hallelujah, and it just keeps going and everybody stands up. And the lyrics go on and to say "for the Lord God, omnipotence, reigneth hallelujah. The kingdom of this world is becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. King of Kings forever and ever. Hallelujah, hallelujah. AND LORD OF LORDS forever and ever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah." I pray that that is the passion of your heart. And I pray that you long for his return. So let's celebrate his first as well as his Second Coming this Christmas season. Amen. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit and every heart that has been given the ability to receive them. And we pray that because of your word, we will be forever changed even this day, to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.