The Alex McFarland Show-33-God Immanuel is Here With Us

The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events, analyzed through the lens of scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. Many men have sought to be God, but only one God sought to be man.

Hi, Alex McFarland here. That's one of my favorite quotes about the incarnation of Christ, about how God took on a human body and came down to earth, lived a sinless life to be our Savior. Now, we celebrate Christ coming onto the stage of human history. My favorite holiday is called Christmas. And on this edition of the program, I'm going to read a little bit from John chapter 18, but I want to talk about Jesus coming into the world and how this really is the focal point of history, something that we all should take note of and frankly rejoice over. And it's something we should talk to other people about.

And all this month, we're going to take the month of December in these series of programs to focus in on Christmas, and of course Christ, the Lord Jesus. And that quote, attributed to Charles Spurgeon, many men have sought to be God, but only one God sought to be man. There have been human beings and they aspired to fame and power and things like that.

And even to this day, there are people that want to literally rule the world. But in the incarnation, we have something so absolutely unique, utterly unparalleled, never to be equaled, that the eternal God would take on a human body and come down to earth. And this monumental, nearly indescribably amazing thing, that God came onto the stage of human history because He loves you and He loves me and He loves all people. And Jesus came to be nailed to a cross, to pay for our sin debt, and to make it possible, you think about this, without compromising the holiness of God, and without overriding the free will of man, and without any scripture being overlooked, and without anything being omitted, yet God would make it possible that finite, fallen, sinful human beings could be forgiven, could be restored, could have a relationship with Him. And it really is, and I'm not being trite or cliched at all here, but it really is the greatest story ever told.

And it's the true story that God came near, Immanuel, God with us. And I'm going to quote in this program some scripture, some Christian leaders of centuries past, but also some beloved Christmas carols. Now, I really do love Christmas. And one of the things that concerns me about young people in the Western world is, with the breakdown of the family of the last 50 years, there have been a lot of young people nowadays that really don't understand or even have the enthusiasm for Christmas, like many listening to this program might have.

I don't know if you guys are like us, but Caroline, my beloved sister, we were at her house for Thanksgiving in Virginia. My sister and I, oh my goodness, we were so crazy over the moon for Christmas, that probably about the first of August, you know, as summer was winding down, and you're getting ready to go back to school, that's when we began to beg mom and dad to put out the Christmas decorations. And it wasn't just the presents. Maybe growing up, Christmas was special because you thought you'd get a very special gift under the Christmas tree.

You know, all kids like that kind of thing. But I don't know, there was just something about it. The whole, and I'm not trying to be dramatic here, but the pageantry of it. I mean, you got out beloved old Christmas decorations, fragile family heirloom Christmas decorations that had been in the family for generations maybe. You put up the tree. There were lights after dark, lights that would shine and make stars and have an aura around them as the Christmas lights cut through the night. You'd go to church after dark and maybe go to a Christmas Eve service.

You'd sing songs that you hadn't thought of for 11 months. And suddenly, back in the forefront of your attention, and your mind was away in a manger, and Jingle Bell Rock, and Silent Night, and Oh Holy Night, and Elvis singing Blue Christmas. And maybe you go into the grocery store, and suddenly the ordinary grocery store, you're going down the aisle with your mom or your grandparent, and you smell cinnamon.

And you go past all the baking stuff and the candied fruit. And suddenly again, it's this time where you come together as family, and you come together around old memories and truths that maybe the busyness of the previous year had almost, but not quite, made you forget. You see, one of the beautiful things about Christmas is not only is it bringing us together as families, maybe it brings us together as neighbors, but it brings us together as a human race to our Creator and Savior, God.

God is a God about relationships, and He wants a relationship with you. Now, I'm old enough that in my home state of North Carolina, we actually had a Christmas play in the public school. One year I was Joseph, yes, in the public school, we had a Christmas play. And we sang Irving Berlin's White Christmas. And we even, when I was in high school, sang that silly song Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer in our glee club, right? But we also had the manger scene in the public school. And guess what?

There were no lawsuits, and nobody had a brain aneurysm. And I walked down the auditorium aisle as Joseph in our school play. And then another year I was Santa Claus. And then we had Christmas. And there was a time when this thing that is the focal point of history was the focal point of so many lives.

And it concerns me that a lot of young people nowadays don't really know about Christmas like they once did. By the way, I want to share some scripture from John 18, and we'll talk about this incarnation. But in John chapter 18, very famously near the end of his earthly ministry, Christ is before Pilate. And he goes out there and he's led away from Caiaphas to Pilate. And Pilate says to him, you know, tell me, are you the king of the Jews? Verse 34 of John 18, Jesus says, well, are you saying that of yourself or did somebody tell you?

And Pilate kind of answers in a harsh rebuke. He says, you know, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priest have delivered you to me.

What have you done? John 18, 34. Now Jesus changes gears and he talks about the fact that his life was a miraculous life.

God came from heaven to earth. And here's what Jesus says in John 18, 36 to Pilate. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom, the King James renders it is not from hence, or my kingdom is somewhere else. Pilate says, are you therefore a king then? Jesus answered, you've said correctly that I am a king.

Now this is amazing. This is where it gets to Christmas, folks. John 18, 37, Jesus says, for this reason I was born and for this cause I came into the world, that I would bear witness unto the truth and everyone that is of the truth will hear my voice.

By the way, I've got to ask this question. Have you heard his voice? And by that, have you yielded to the voice of God, the voice that says, come and be saved? Because listen, if you're rejecting Jesus, you might have accomplished so many things that the world says is important.

But if you've not come to Jesus, you're not really of truth. Now, when we come back, we're going to talk about what it means that Christ is truth incarnate and how that relates to Christmas so long ago and Christmas of 2022 as well. You're listening to the Alex McFarland show. Stay tuned. We're back after this brief break. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert.

Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly and we seem to be on a rapid moral decline. We've rejected God, morality, and we've almost completely lost our sense of patriotism. It's no wonder that many are asking the question, is this the end of America? Hi, Alex McFarland here, and I want to make you aware of my book, The Assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late. You know, our nation has seen politicians that are corrupted by greed and they've got a vested interest in power.

And many of our elected officials seem to care little about the country that they've been appointed to serve. Read my book, The Assault on America. We can stand up for our great nation and defend America before it's too late.

It's available everywhere. You can learn more on my own website, which is alexmcfarland.com. Read the book, The Assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show.

So honored that you're listening. We're talking about Christ, and yes, we're talking about Christmas, the greatest story ever told. And do you know what? Jesus coming into the world, no wonder it's inspired so many beloved films, so many beloved stories and pictures.

And of course, the world's most beloved music is Christmas music. And we're going to talk about this more in just a moment. But it's important that we acknowledge the magnitude of this fact. I mean, our very salvation was made possible by the fact that, as the Bible says, sacrifice an offering that is not desire, but a body you have prepared for me, that God took on a human body. Now before the break, we were talking about the fact that when Christ was before Pilate, Jesus said, For this cause I came into the world to bear witness to the truth. And Pilate, of course, very famously, John 18.35, Pilate says, What is truth?

Now, don't miss this. Jesus says something here that none of us could legitimately say, that we chose to come into the world. John 18.34, Jesus says, For this reason I came into the world.

Amazing! Now, our parents conceived us, our mother carried us for nine months, and we were born. But none of us could say there's not one human other than the Lord Jesus that could ever say, I chose to come into the world. Now, how could Jesus legitimately say that? How could he say that he orchestrated, planned, and carried out willfully his birth, his entry into the world?

He could say that because he was prior to the world. John chapter one says that in the beginning was the Word, the Logos, and that the Logos was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus, the Word of God, Jesus, the Son of God.

Now, you know what's such an amazing thing? That early church leaders—this is 1900 plus years ago—in the aftermath of Christ's ascension, remember after having risen from the dead, Jesus ascended back to heaven, Peter preached at Pentecost, the church was birthed, and the gospel began to be spread throughout the whole wide world. And here you and I are today. In fact, you and I are 21st century links in a chain that goes back to the very day of Pentecost. There was, in what we now call Constantinople, Gregory was a church leader.

Around 329 he was born. So we're talking a couple of hundred years after the life of Christ. But he wrote something that was used in instruction and worship. Jesus, the human and the divine. Now think about this. Profound.

And this is 1700, almost 1800 years ago. They understood the incarnation that God had taken on a human body. Gregory wrote, quote, Our humanity was joined to and made one with God, in order that I too might be made God as truly as He was made human. Now listen, we don't become God. We don't ever become deity.

But we do one day in the presence of Jesus in heaven, we'll get a glorified body. And in glorification will be delivered from the presence of sin. Eternally we'll be with Christ.

So beautiful. Gregory wrote, He was born, but He had been begotten, eternally proceeding from the Father. Now in John 3.16, where it says that God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son.

Now what does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean that Jesus was created. He wasn't. As some of the cults said. But only begotten means that Jesus was of the same nature as the Father. That's why like in John 8 and John 10, Jesus could say, I and the Father are one. And before Abraham was, I am. He is fully God, fully man, but not fallen man.

So poetic. Gregory wrote this. He was born of a woman, but she was a virgin. He was baptized as a human, but He took away our sins as God. He was tempted as a human, but He conquered the world of flesh and the devil as God indeed. And he goes on, he says, He was laid in a manger but glorified by angels, proclaimed by a star, worshiped by the magi. He prayed and now hears our prayer like a lamb led to the slaughter. He's now the shepherd of Israel and of the whole world also.

Gregory wrote this, and I'm simplifying, but he said that he was lifted up on a tree, nailed there, but restores us by that same tree of life, died but gives life and rose from the dead, and in his death abolished death. That's biblical truth written by a Christian 1800 years ago. And folks, it's no wonder that at Christmas, oh my goodness, the amazing biblical theology of songs like O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Remember Isaiah, written roughly 750 years before the birth of Christ. Very famously, Isaiah 53 talks about the fact that he would be led like a lamb to the slaughter. Very, very messianic. Sometimes Isaiah is called the evangelist of the Old Testament, but it says that he would be Emmanuel, God with us. It's Isaiah 9-6. And the songwriter wrote, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. In other words, a captive would be rescued, ransomed, purchased and rescued. Now captive Israel, it says that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Now here's the thing. Rome was the occupying force at the time of Christ's birth. You know, there was really Israel, they were resident aliens, almost prisoners in their own land.

They were captive. Galatians 4 says, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, to redeem those that were under the law. There's a double war going on in the birth of Christ. Israel was captive to Rome, but the world was captive to its own sin. Now Jesus, in coming, was paving the way ultimately for the restoration of the nation of Israel, ultimately for the redemption of Israel. Galatians 6-16 says of all believers that they are the Israel of God. Now Paul talks about the fact that in the death and resurrection of Jesus, it was possible for Gentiles to become part of the covenant people of God, the family of Abraham, because we're grafted in. And the whole world was captive, mourning in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears. And that song, and I could quote so many dozens of Christmas hymns, you know, O Come Emmanuel says, O come, O branch of Jesse's stem, until your own, and rescue them from the depths of hell your people save, and give them victory over the grave.

Isn't that something? From the lineage of David and the line of Jesse, fulfilling all the prophecy, every possible criteria for messiahship, Jesus fulfilled it. Now we're going to take a break in just a moment, but when we come back, what I want to talk about is what we know. I mean, what may we conclusively understand and with absolute assurance, live by, rejoice in, bank on? If Jesus came, if Christmas is real, and Jesus is who He claimed to be, what do we know? Well, I'm going to say this. We know doctrine and destiny, rock solid truth, and then reality for our life here and our time in eternity hereafter.

What do we know if indeed there was a manger, a cross, an empty tomb, a risen Jesus, a fulfilled prophecy, if Christ and Christmas are legitimate? Friend, I'm telling you that has amazing, immeasurable import for our lives today. Stay tuned. We've got a brief break. We're going to come back with more on the Alex McFarland program. And hey, in the meantime, Merry Christmas, rejoice in Jesus.

We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Over the last several decades, it's been my joy to travel the world talking with children, teens, adults, people of all ages about the questions they have related to God, the Bible, Christianity, and how to know Jesus personally.

Hi, Alex McFarland. I want to make you aware of my book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. You know, we interviewed hundreds of children and parents and families to find out the questions that children and people of all ages are longing to find answers for. In the book, we've got practical, biblical, real life answers that they have about how to be a Christian in this modern world.

My book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, you can find it wherever you buy books or at resources.afa.net. He's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show.

Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show. On behalf of our board, our staff, Angie and myself, I hope that you are already having just a wonderful Christmas season. I wish you God's best in all things. Utilize this time, if you would, to try to bring somebody into the sound of the gospel.

Surely there are things at your church or in your city where you could use Christmas as a time to introduce somebody to Jesus. Now speaking of ministry opportunities, let me make you aware of things going on in Alex McFarland Ministries, our broadcasting. We do two radio shows, a television show, social media posts. We ship out many, many thousands of books every year, a lot to people all over the country, a lot to young people, but a lot even to inmates and those incarcerated, precious souls behind bars that are hungry for the truth of the gospel. I do want to remind everybody that your faithful partnership in the gospel enables us to do all that we do. So please, would you consider today making a tax-deductible contribution?

You can donate on our website, which is alexmcfarland.com, alexmcfarland.com, or you can write to us PO Box 485, Pleasant Garden, North Carolina, 27313. Now let me remind you also on my website is my schedule. A lot of great things coming up in 2023. For one thing, I will be in Paris, Tennessee—this is not far from Nashville—we'll be doing one of our national conferences, Truth for a New Generation, April 21-23. Myself, Abraham Hamilton, Burt Harper will be there, my co-host from Exploring the Word, Will and Nikki Addison.

Folks, it's going to be great. Please plan to be there. Then July 7-9, I will be at the COVE, the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina.

I'll be finishing up my study we began last year on 1-2 Peter, and the theme is Thriving in Jesus. Now if you would go to the website, theCOVE.org, it is beautiful. Some of you that have been to the Billy Graham Training Center, you know. But in case you haven't, for one thing you've got the incredible beauty of the Appalachian Mountains. You've got incredible food. People from all over North America, we come together, we fellowship, we pray, we drill down deeply in the Word of God.

And because of the music, I'll be playing guitar again. Last year, I know this doesn't sound very spiritual, but we had a concert after all of the seminar, and we were taking requests from the floor, playing oldies, having a great time of fellowship in the Lord, July 7-9. And of course, one last thing, and then we want to talk about Christmas, but our summer youth camps.

Do you know last summer, in four youth camps in front of more than 650 teens, we had 125 kids that prayed to accept Christ. Next summer, summer of 2023, we'll be doing eight youth camps all around the country—New Jersey, Iowa, down in the Carolinas, Colorado. So here is the website for our summer biblical worldview youth camps. It's equipretreat.org. Equipretreat.org. And you can pay—and this is just amazing, folks—$375 to send a child to camp for a whole week.

That's turnkey food lodging insurance, everything. And what we're doing, we're winning kids to the Lord Jesus, God and country. And we're equipping kids.

Look, if you believe like I do, that we've got to stand against the wokeness. I don't want our kids to be Marxist. I don't want our kids to be socialist. I don't want our youth to hate America or to be misled by the LGBTQ trans-gay agendas. On and on I could go. Your youth, entire youth groups, we are somewhere in a state near you next summer.

Equipretreat.org. And by the way, folks, it would really help us if you would invest and make a donation to help us scholarship. We don't want to turn any teenager away as we win them to Christ, equip them in their faith, and help them stand strong for America and for truth. Well speaking of which, I want to talk a little bit more with the time remaining about the incarnation of Christ, Christmas. God came near, born in a Bethlehem manger, ministered, lived that sinless life, walked the dusty streets to the hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem called the place of the skull, Golgotha. Jesus, born to die. What do we know about the incarnation?

Positive conclusions. Doctrine and destiny. Look, if Jesus lived, died, rose, came, fulfilled all those prophecies like we know he did. All right, if all of this is true, then God exists. God has acted in human history. Jesus is deity, God incarnate. Christ alone is the Savior, Scripture is inspired, and Jesus is the head of the church.

Now, why do I say this? Because look, the coming of Christ is miraculous. All the old songs talk about the fulfillment of prophecy, day spring coming from on high, come thou long-expected Jesus, right? So all of these supernatural occurrences could only have taken place in a world in which God exists. Folks, we who are down here on planet earth, we're part of the creation.

Isn't it good to know that there is a creator? But not the God of deism. Deism says God wound up the world and walked away. No, we serve the God of the Bible who has acted in human history. Now, the technical term is theism.

T-H-E-I-S-M. We are theistic. In other words, God exists, God created, God has acted in history, and God can be known. God has revealed himself.

He's made himself known to the human race. Jesus is God incarnate. And the early church recognized this. Look, the early church, and I wish we had time to fully unpack this, but early, pervasively, the Christians attributed deity to Jesus.

Why? Well, he rose from the dead, did all the miracles, fulfilled all the prophecies. And this understanding of devotion to Christ as God incarnate, it traces back to the directives of Jesus himself. He said, You call me Lord, Lord, and so I am.

Isn't that something? Now all of the New Testament, 27 books, from the earliest to the latest, they all affirm Jesus to be these words, Messiah, Christ, Son of God, Savior, Lord, God, and Son of Man, which was from Daniel chapter 7. The earliest Christians were taught to trust him, to obey him, to pray to him, to worship him, which they did. Jesus himself taught with authority, and he asserted himself as the one that was to be heard and followed. Now, multiple times, Jesus claimed his equality with God the Father.

And this is important to note as I conclude. The equality with God the Father and the claim, I mean, read Mark 14, 61 through 64, where he attributes to himself deity. That's why they took up stones to stone him and wanted to execute him. But Jesus predicted his physical resurrection would prove all of his claims to be true, and that's exactly what happened.

He rose. The only reasonable response, in light of all the known truth, is that yes, he is who he claimed to be. So what do we understand? Doctrine and destiny. If Christmas is real, then God exists, God has acted, God can be known. The Bible is trustworthy because the man who claimed to be the Son of God and rose from the dead said that not one jot nor tittle would fail. Jesus affirmed the authority and the authenticity of Scripture. So if somebody says, well, you know, I don't believe the Word of God, I don't believe the Bible. So the question really becomes, well, Jesus did.

Was he right or was he wrong? Of course, the Son of God could never be wrong. All right, what about destiny? For the saved, for the sinner, for the saved, we've got God's abiding presence here, a home in heaven hereafter. For the sinner, there's the warning of a coming judgment day. Get ready while you can, turn to Christ.

And for Satan, well, his doom is a certainty. And so I wish you this first of a whole month of shows about Christmas. I wish you a Merry Christmas.

You know, there was a great song as I close. Come, long expected Jesus, thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a king, born to reign in us forever. Now thy gracious kingdom bring.

Your part in that kingdom of the loving Savior, it begins simply by you calling out to him, putting your trust in him. Jesus is as close by as a prayer, and I hope that you'll turn to him today. Thanks for listening to The Alex McFarland Show.

We look forward to being with you again. God bless you. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmcfarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404, or by calling 1-877-YES-GOD-1. That's 1-877-YES-GOD-1.

Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of The Alex McFarland Show. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2,200 churches around the world, schools, and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God. He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith, while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, visit alexmcfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com.