One Bay, One Saviour, One King.

Jesus: the First and the Last

Series: One Bay, One Saviour, One King.

Isaiah 9:6-7: For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Today we begin our Christmas meditations in this season of glad tidings.

One Baby

There are, at the time of preparation, three babies due to be born to Life Church people.  

This season is about one baby though.

Isaiah 7:14: 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel

6a: For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;

Larry King the CNN  talk show host, was once asked who he would like to interview if he could choose from anyone from all of history.  He said, "Jesus Christ."  When asked what he would ask King replied, "I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born.  The answer to that question would define history for me."  

Perhaps it would be truer to say that it would redefine history for the sceptic.

Statistically, and I don’t have time to go into all the fine detail of this, a woman could have a virgin birth experience, where no man was involved, but this would always, always result in a girl. In fact, a perfect clone of the mother.  Virgin births with a son resulting cannot happen for in the conception process that egg needs several chemicals and instructions from the male sperm.

We immediately think, then, because of our fallen nature that Mary must have had a romantic assignation with someone.  

Let’s be clear.  Joseph is not the father, for he wants to end their relationship with a simple end-of-engagement-divorce.  Why? He does not want to raise another’s child.

Let’s also be clear: the Bible never says there was no father.  It says God is the Father! 

When I became a Christian this was believed and reasoned by the Church to the world.  It was dearly held to.  We used to say, “No virgin birth, no Christianity!”  Now we skulk in the corner, embarrassed by the idea for science screams loudly over our muted voice.

Here’s the thing: there is a testimony, a word that all things have to be measured against: God’s book!

It tells us there is a father and the Father is God:

Matthew 1:20: But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Genetics will prove paternity.  I did not meet my father until I was 27.  I don’t particularly look like him except for my ears.  There is no mistaking paternity when you compare our ears - small animals and birds can shelter behind these things.

There is no denying Jesus’ paternity either.  His love.  His miracles.  His sacrificial life.  His compassion.  His attributes. 

One Saviour*

6b: And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

These are qualities that we would want in a Saviour, right?  They are indicative of who He is.  Because of His life, death and resurrection we can be adopted.

Jesus made a way for your adoption.  There are three ways to become a member of a family.  By birth.  By adoption. By marriage. I have experienced all three.  Obviously I was born into a family.  Shortly afterwards my biological parents divorced and a relatively short time later my mother remarried.  I was then adopted by my step-father.  When this occurred all parental responsibilities and legal requirements of my biological father were voided, as though they never existed. In 1988 I married and became part of my wife's family.  The Bible has the same analogies to describe becoming part of God's family, to be born again, to be adopted and to be part of the Bride.

Jesus is the "one and only Son," in the New International Version translation of John 3:16.  This could be ambiguous considering we have just learnt that we can be adopted, and therefore be classed as sons and daughters too.  It is clearer in the footnote that says, "only begotten Son," meaning a physical union has taken place.  This fact, declared from the heavens, opened up the way for you and I.  We are born again.  We are adopted.  That means all legal rights of our previous life have now been made null and void. 

An adopter is different to a rescuer.  A rescuer can be described as a saviour.  Imagine you are walking beside a river and you see a person fall in.  You see they are in danger of drowning and being swept away by the current. Grabbing a nearby rope you throw an end to the person struggling in the water.  They grab it and you use all your strength to pull them to the river bank.  His relief is overwhelming.  You hug, and make sure that he gets home.  He is safe.  You are a hero.  Moving forward in life you may exchange Christmas cards, the odd pleasantry as you pass in the street, and if he outlives you he might come and say a few words at your funeral.  That's it.  There is no responsibility placed upon a rescuer to do more.  Job done.

A redeemer is a slightly different picture in the Bible.  Jesus is described as our redeemer.  He is compared often with Boaz in the book of Ruth.  A redeemer is one who pays a price to purchase another out of slavery or destitution.  The Bible tells us we have been purchased by our Redeemer.  This was a costly thing.  In the biblical tradition you now no longer belong to someone else or even yourself, you belong to the one who has paid the price.  A good redeemer will be righteous.  A bad redeemer may enforce you into a new kind of slavery that is worse than the one you have been delivered from.  

Jesus is obviously the perfect redeemer.  He sets you free.  In essence though, when the redeemer has set you free you now enjoy free choice on how to live.  The Bible implores us to recognise this new relationship, you have been brought at a price and are no longer your own, but there is no denying you have a free will.  Essentially too a redeemer's role is over once the slavery has ended.  You are free.  

There is always a deep friendship but there is also an end point to the responsibility of the modern day redeemer.

An adopter is different to a rescuer and a redeemer.  The qualities of the rescuer and redeemer can be seen in the adopter.  The adopter rescues.  They save those in distress and give an opportunity for life to continue.  

The adopter redeems.  They pay a higher price than a rescuer.  They help rehabilitate a child who may have experienced separation, trauma or, sadly, abuse at the hands of others.  

Unlike the rescuer and the redeemer, an adopter makes the rescued and the redeemed part of the family.  The adopter calls the child son or daughter.  They give them the family name.  All legal rights the were in place before are now null and void.  The legal status of the child changes.  They now have a new life, a home, a family, and, ultimately, an inheritance.

Jesus is our rescuer, our Saviour.  He has thrown us the life line for us to grab hold of and be pulled out of our mess to the safety of the river bank.  

Jesus is our redeemer.  He has paid the price for our sin and has taken the punishment for us.  He has enabled us to be rehabilitated and build a new life, a life that is abundant and full.  

He has done more than this though.  He has made a way for us to be adopted by Father God.

One King

6:b…And the government will be upon His shoulder…

7: Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever….

This kingdom, we are told, will keep increasing.  Forever!  It;s an eternal kingdom.  It's been established and goes beyond what we see now.  It has impetus.  It’s expanding.  There are more Christians on the planet than at any time in history.

We might feel differently.

Christmas does not depend upon feelings.  Sometimes I hear people say, “it just doesn’t feel like Christmas.”  It might be to do with the weather.  For some Christmas is only Christmas if it’s really cold and snowing.  For others Christmas does not feel like Christmas if family are not around.  For others they cannot believe that the year has gone so quickly and so are in denial that Christmas is actually here!  Some will say it can never be Christmas because Jesus was probably not born in December.  It is the season that we celebrate the birth of Jesus though.

Christmas does not depend upon our feelings.  It has always depended upon one thing: God’s passion.

7:b: The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Never forget that christmas, the brith of Jesus, was and is God’s idea.  He sent His Son to die for our sins.

Zeal = qin’ah in Hebrew.  It’s single-mindedness.  A zealousness that is an unstoppable action.

We may think God’s zeal for Christmas had been satisfied when Jesus was born, but the zeal comes after the establishment and increase of Jesus’ Kingly rule in Isaiah’s prophecy.  He is still establishing the Kingdom.

As excited as I get about Christmas, God is more so!

Wrapping this up:

Have confidence this year in your salvation, in Jesus.

Have faith that those you bring to the Christmas outreach services, carols at Costa, Pantomime, Carol Services, will hear something of Gods love and be transformed by His passion and zeal for them!

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* This point is based largely on my, as yet, unpublished book and I therefore reserve the rights to it.