Advent Series 2019 “Miraculous Births: Christ Is Born”

Advent Series 2019

“Miraculous Births: Christ is Born” Luke 2:1-20

Pastor Brent Nelson December 22, 2019

Luke 2:1–20 “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

Introduction: The Glory of God Heaven’s response to the birth of Christ, his incarnation, and first Advent was to give glory to God. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (2:14). God’s glory is the highest aim of all reality and God’s glory is the highest aim of Christ’s birth. Christ’s birth was not mainly or chiefly for us. It is only for us in so far as it encircles us to serve the highest conceivable aim: namely, to glorify God. If Heaven responds to Christ’s birth with glory; how should we respond?

Last week we looked at Samuel’s miraculous birth to Hannah and her husband Elkanah. At his birth Hannah wrote a poem of praise and in so doing was writing Holy Scripture, speaking the very Word of God. Listen to I Samuel 2:1, “And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”

Near the end of the Psalm she writes to explain how God’s horn is exalted (v.8), “He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world.” God exalts his glory by raising the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap.

A millennium later, the woman whom Hannah foreshadows, is a young girl named Mary. The angel Gabriel told her she would bear a son; the son of God, the holy Son of God. And Mary too sang a song, a poem of praise, which itself was the Spirit inspiring Scripture through her and she quoted Hannah. Listen: (Luke 1:52–53), “…he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”

To what end Mary? To what purpose? She gave the purpose at the outset of her psalm: “Luke 1:46–47, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Mary’s aim is our aim: to magnify the Lord.

My aim is to show you by the help of the Holy Spirit the glory of God in the birth of His Son. And in seeing the glory of God in the birth of his Son you will cherish and prize and delight in and savor both the glory of God and His Son’s birth more than you ever have before!

Banishing Darkness Test my logic: For in savoring God’s glory, you will always be strengthened by God’s glory. And all who strengthened by God’s glory always spread God’s glory. If you are not spreading God’s glory but some lesser glory, then you have not been strengthened by God’s glory. And if you take no strength from God’s glory, you have certainly not yet savored God’s glory. Which can mean only one thing: you remain in darkness.

Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

Prophesying of his son, John the Baptizer, Zechariah gives the purpose of Christ’s arrival into the world. Luke 1:76–79, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Christ came to give light to all those who remain in darkness. Sexual darkness. Intellectual darkness. Greed’s darkness. Natural darkness. Self-righteous darkness. Violent darkness. Self-harming darkness. Pride’s darkness. Addiction’s darkness. Prosperity’s darkness.

Jesus Christ pierces our darkness with the light of his glory. He didn’t lay his glory by when he came to earth. Contrary to the stunningly mistaken line “Mild he lays his glory by” in the otherwise wonderful hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” Christ did not lay his glory by. If you think he laid his glory by when he was born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, you will feel no need to confess the blindness of your own sin-glaucomad eyes because you will think the lack of seeing Christ’s glory is that his glory is not there to see. You will think he didn’t have any glory; that’s why you can’t see it.

There is blindness and there is blindness. We are all like the family who flew to Italy, Switzerland and Austria to ski Montblanc in the French Alps as a Christmas vacation. Some of the most beautiful, and glorious views and experiences are there to be enjoyed, yet the family’s teenager might say, I just want to stay home and watch video games through my virtual reality mask. There is blindness and there is blindness. Christ came into the world to remove the darkness from those who cloak themselves with it.

And he does so by revealing his glory in the Scriptures. Remember Samuel? How did he see the Lord? Listen. 1 Samuel 3:21, “And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.”

I. God’s Glory Revealed in The Perfect Timing of Jesus’ Birth I get this from verses 1-7, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

Christ Surpasses Caesar Caesar Augustus was ruler of known world. Augustus (whose given name was Octavian) scratched his way to power. He overcame Antony and Cleopatra by his fierce personality and ruthlessness. Caesar means “holy” a term that the had only been used for the Roman Gods, not applied to a man. One town called Caesar the savior of the world. When he died, they treated him as if he did not die. Much like the Star Wars films series metaphysic where the previous Jedi, never die, but go on to some other ethereal existence and serve as cheerleaders for those still alive and struggling.

But Luke shows us at the appointed time, a time appointed by God, a true and never-dying Savior would be born at the apex of the power of the Roman empire. Caesar crushed the will of the people through brutal taxation throughout his vast empire to fund his grand armies and palaces and cities. But God was at work in all of this, then just as he is at work today. It was that very greed and oppression of Caesar that caused Joseph and Mary to leave Galilee and make the long journey to Bethlehem.

God’s prophet Micah, seven centuries before the events happened, he prophesied: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah 5:2).

God rules over Caesar and all kings. He rules over time and eternity. Isaiah 46:10–11, “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

Christ Took On Flesh The Creator has woven himself a cloak of virgin flesh. One interpreter Kent Hughes reminds us: “The baby Mary carried was not a Caesar, a man who would become a god, but a far greater wonder – the true God who had become a man!”

Fully God became fully man. The one who created the universe now sleeps with eye-lids that never closed before.

God humbled himself in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life, resisting every temptation, and obeying the will of the Father perfectly.

Jesus is fully God and fully man. This is glorious. He knows everything that has ever happened to every single human being including you and me and lacks no compassion, understanding and tender care for each one.

This body he took on in the first Advent, he wears still to this day; and shall wear when he returns to finally establish his kingdom and he shall wear it for eternity.

Fullness of Time All this happened at the fullness of time. That means it all happened at the perfectly appointed hour that God had determined before the foundation of the world. Galatians 4:4–5, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

The fullness of time means the apex of God’s perfect plan. Peter preaches in Acts 2, “Acts 2:23, “…this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” This same Peter writes to his readers, “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you [21] who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:20–21).

The very glory of God consists in his knowing and declaring the future perfectly before it happens so that when it happens, you and I might know He is indeed God. (John 13:19). There is great glory here. Your flesh hates it. The world hates it. Proud people hate it. But the humble cherish it. Believers cherish it. Those who take no glory to themselves cherish it. God rules the world according to his perfect plan which reached its climax in the lowly birth of the Son of God.

He rules your life and mine. He rules everyone. Scoff and you become a fool. Tremble and you become wise. Behold the glory of God’s Son born in flawless timing.

II. God’s Glory Revealed in the Joy of Defanged Fear The second glory of the Lord revealed in the joy of defanged fear. Look at verse 8-12, “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. [And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Shepherds were outcasts. They came near to the communities to sell their animals for sacrifice. They couldn’t testify in court. They were the lowest of the low. They had no value to the world. Yet God’s glory is revealed to Shepherds. Isn’t it fitting that the news of the Good Shepherd’s arrival be told to those who had been doing the same kind of work?

It was night-time. No cities to light the sky. Verse 9 says, “And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…” This is two appearings. An epiphany of the angel of the Lord, and the Lord’s glory shone around the Shepherds. This glory of the Lord that shone around them was the same glory of the Lord Moses saw on Mt. Sinai when he received the law. It was the same glory that filled Solomon’s Temple. It was the same glory that Jesus would later reveal of himself at his transfiguration. It was the glory Stephen saw as he was being martyred and it is the glory that now fills heaven.

It is the glory every believer sees in the face of Jesus Christ in his Word. 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

It would be like a nuclear explosion happened over the whole country side. Night turned to day. And the Shepherds were ‘terrified with a great fear.’ Which means they could only conclude that if an angel and God’s blinding glory arrived it was to judge them as sinners and they were about to die.

And that is a great glory: God’s justice, his righteousness, his holiness focused in just wrath against sin and sinners. And that glory is here only to serve a background role. Like black velvet behind a 100-carat diamond, God’s perfect wrath only makes his perfect mercy sparkle all the brighter.

Fear Not Look at what the angel says, “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. [11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

Fear not! Fear not! Sinner, guilty one, hypocrite, God-doubter, victim and victimizer, fear not! Why? Because the angel pronounces news of great joy. Great joy. What could cause great joy in the face of blinding holiness and glory? Will I and all creation not be incinerated in the face of such holiness?

The answer is this: God came not to destroy, not for judgment; but to save. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” He is a Savior. Deliverer from what? Rome? No. Disease, war and injustice? Not yet. His name is “Christ” the Lord. The first hearers would have heard Christ which means anointed one, and they would have thought rightly this baby will be King and Lord.

But Christ translates into Greek, the Hebrew Messiah, anointed one. The root of this word means marred or marked for royal service. Marred for royal service indeed. This pure mocha skinned baby would be marked for royal service in the most scandalous way.

Marked by shame and scorn, and by bruises, and thorns, by floggings and spikes, a toxic kiss and Caesar’s spear. And that spear had my initials on it. And yours. You remember the foretaste of this when paranoid Herod had all the baby boys in Bethlehem killed by the sword of Roman centurians in a maniacal effort to kill his feared usurper.

Don’t Fear, Rejoice Don’t fear your sin or God’s wrath against your sin. Why? Because if you trust him, you have a Savior, Christ the Lord. He is the anointed one to bear the sins of the world. Receive him as your Lord and Savior. And rejoice in him for he has taken away your sins and your guilt.

1 John 5:12, “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” John 1:12–13, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Hosea prophesies that many of you will seek after God and His King David and King David’s forever Son, Jesus Christ. And you will do so to honor God in fear.

Hosea 3:5, “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days.”

Put away the fear that binds you, that keeps you from seeking God, that causes you shame and terror and self-hatred. Put away that terrifying fear. And embrace the holy fear of the Lord which runs to God because it is mingled with the joy that he means to save you from yourself and all that causes you terror. This holy fear protects you and pounces upon your true enemies.

Behold God’s glory revealed in the joy of defanged fear.

III. God’s Glory Revealed in His Good Pleasure This fear-defanging joy gathered all heaven together to sing. The sky was filled with all of heaven’s angels singing. Look at verse 13, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Can you imagine any heavenly being missing this? Can you imagine any angel hanging back in the warehouses of heaven with a clipboard doing inventory, while Christ, the only Son of God was born? I’m sure it was the whole multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest!”

That means glory to God in the highest heaven and glory to God in the highest thoughts and aspirations and moral purity and artistic expressions of all humanity. Spare no expense to glorify God in the highest.

Give glory to God who gave his Son. Give glory to God who is worthy to be feared because he rules meticulously over all. Give glory to God who not only requires sinless holiness, but provides a Savior to pay for sinful unholiness. Give glory to God who not only brings us to heaven; but brings us to himself. He is our treasure, our journey’s end, our home, our happiness and our peace. Delight yourself in him.

God Makes Peace As is His prerogative, God makes peace on earth with those whom he is pleased. God’s glory is revealed in his freedom to give peace to whom he wills. Remember Moses asked to see God’s glory. Here’s how the Lord responds, “He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19).

God is free to make peace with whomever he is pleased. We are bound in sin; but God is free!

Is God Pleased with Me? How do you know if God is pleased with you? Simple: Believe. Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Faith pleases God. Do you trust him? Do you trust His Son? If so, you please him. It is with you he came to make peace.

Where Faith Comes? Where does faith come from? The apostles knew. Luke 17:5, “The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” The desperate father knew, Mark 9:24, “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Luke who wrote the Book of Acts knew, Acts 13:48, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” God appoints faith. God grants faith. God supplies faith. God increases faith.

And he does so by the Word of Christ. Listen, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

God gives what he requires. Flee to God. He needs nothing you have. Everything you have comes from him. Flee to God for the faith that only he can give and the joy that comes from knowing and loving Him.

We Are Shepherds You and I are nothing. We’re Shepherds. Poor, uneducated, unimportant, without influence and without resources. “He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and on them he has set the world.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God” (Mt. 5:3).

The swaddling cloths, the filthy manger, the lonely cave near tiny Bethlehem, the simple Shepherds, Mary and Joseph over-taxed in wealth and over-taxed in spirit, battling public shame while battling fear and doubt, all this magnifies more brightly the magnificent mercy, the surprising kindness, the stunning grace and glory of God.

I love how Deitrich Bonhoeffer describes it, “Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”

The Shepherds Believe The Shepherds believed. Here’s how you can tell.

“When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. (Can you imagine how this heartened Mary and Joseph to hear what the Shepherds heard from the Angels?) [18] And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”

The Shepherds show us exactly what it is like to glorify God in the sending of His Son. They go see. Then they go tell. Then they glorify God. That’s our mandate and mission. Go see in the Scriptures. Then go tell what you have seen. Then glorify God.

Christ Enters In Because Christ truly entered the unwelcome and darkened human world; therefore surely he can enter the dark and unwelcoming human heart and bring light, the very light by which he is welcomed in. If he wrapped himself in Mary’s flesh, he can surely wrap himself in yours.

Would you seek him? Would you welcome Christ in? Is he helping you now to desire him with a tiny desire you’ve let no one see? Confess your weakness and weariness. Give him your brokenness. Come to Christ.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.”

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