A Child Is Born

Christmas is a week from today and as we look forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus it's important that we remember the whole story to fully appreciate the significance of this holiday. Today on Truth for Life we'll trace a line from the manger to the heavenly throne. Alistair Begg is teaching from the book of Isaiah chapter 9. We're looking today at verse 6. I think probably every Christmas since I ever read this quote, I have it in my mind. It's a quote from Jim Packer, the theologian and professor from England, and it goes as follows, Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the incarnation.

The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. And for many of us, we would affirm that statement, having spent many years of our lives enjoying privileges such as we have before us now to take our Bibles and to turn to them and to investigate what they have to say concerning this most staggering claim. Years and years and years before the arrival of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah and his contemporaries wrote.

Pitched forward, as it were, in their minds, they described scenes as so certain as if they had already taken place. Obviously for us, living on the far side of the birth of Jesus, we look back to it, and we realize that what Isaiah is describing here is of impact to us—describing the future as something that has already taken place. So that we read verse 2, for example, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness on them has light shine. That is set within a geographical and historical context, such as we've considered before.

We don't need to go back to it. But we need to realize that when Matthew picks up those verses, he employs them in the arrival of the Lord Jesus himself. You have the same thing in the prologue of John's Gospel. Speaking of John the Baptist, John says he was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light, and then he says, the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own.

His own did not receive him. But to those who received him, he gave the power to become the children of God, even to those who believed on his name. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now, in the time that we have and we don't have much, let's at least make an attempt at seeing that what Isaiah does for us here in verse 6, at least in the first half of verse 6, is established for us the identity of this child, speak to us about the authority of this child, and then—and we'll never get to this, at least this morning—deal with the activity of this child. But first of all, then, the identity. It's there for us if your Bible is open.

For to us a child is born. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now, what we need to realize in this is that the Bible makes absolutely clear the humanity of Jesus. Throughout church history, heresy has either fallen foul of the notion of creating a Jesus who is less than human, or a Jesus who is less than divine. And the creeds throughout the early centuries of the church were really put in place in order to say, No, this Jesus is absolutely human, and this Jesus is absolutely divine, in all of the mystery that is there.

Nothing so staggering in all of the world, right? He comes as a child in order to be a mediator. That's how Paul puts it in 1 Timothy. He says that there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.

For a mediator to do the job, he needs to be able to represent both sides equally. So when we read our Bibles, we discover that we're introduced to Jesus, who is God from all of eternity, and yet who is human in the womb of Mary. If we might put it in the most obvious and straightforward terms, Jesus emerged through a normal human birth canal. Jesus learned how to put his socks and shoes on, or his sandals, by observation and by instruction.

Jesus' DNA was unique to him. He came to fulfill the role of Savior, of mediator, so as to bring together God in all of his holiness and man in all of his need. Only a God could bring this about.

Only man should. And so the could in his divinity and the should in his humanity meet in the work of atonement. He is not only the mediator, but he is also the Redeemer. And you have that on the front of your bulletin this morning. You can research this on your own. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law into our sinful world.

Why? To redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. That's the significance, again, of the prologue.

He came to his own. His own received him not, but to as many as received him, he gave the power to become the sons of God, adopted into God's family as a result of his exercise in the role of Redeemer, purchasing our salvation. In Glasgow last week, in a shop front of essentially a church, there had been placed a large Christmas card.

And the Christmas card had writing on it, and it said, This gift may not mean much to you, but it cost me everything. And it was signed, God. Because you will notice that not only is a child born, but we're told a son is given. A son is given. Speaking to us again of the reality of the eternal sonship of Jesus, that there was never a time when he was not. When he enters into our world, his glory is veiled, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. This is my beloved Son, says the Father, on the occasion of his baptism.

This is my beloved Son. Listen to him, says the Father again, in the transfiguration. And John puts it so carefully, doesn't he, when he says, For God so loved the world that he gave us his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, when Peter writes concerning this, he actually wants to make sure that his readers understand what he is conveying concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus.

And this is what he says. Listen carefully. For we did not follow cleverly devised myths—cleverly devised myths—when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the majestic glory, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, we ourselves heard this very voice, born from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. So Peter says, Now look, if you know anything about me, you know that I flat-out denied Jesus of Nazareth. On the occasion of his crucifixion, I said I didn't even know him, and I was one of his key followers.

But I'm writing to you today to let you know that this Jesus whom I denied is actually alive, that he rose from the dead. And what we're conveying to you is not some kind of mythology that has been cobbled together over time, but we're actually conveying to you the reality of what took place in time and space at a geographical point on a compass and at a moment in time and history. We were there.

We were on the mountain. We heard this voice. And keep in mind that he was about to get himself killed for the sake of his affirmation. That's how strongly his life was impacted by the message that he conveyed. And when you take your Bible like this and you read it, you realize why we do a disservice to every aspect of Jesus when we isolate one piece from another, when we take, for example, the story of the incarnation, of Christmas, and try and understand it apart from the story of Easter. Because the incarnation only makes sense in light of Easter. Or when we try and consider Easter apart from, in terms of his death, apart from the reality of his resurrection. Because it is only insofar as we have a Savior who is alive that his death has any significance, and his birth is even worth considering. I mean, why gather together to revere the memory of a Galilean carpenter who lived for 33 years? Why would the whole world stop just to think about somebody who did a few miracles? No, you see, it is the fact that he is alive today. And because he is alive, it proves that his sacrifice was accepted by the Father, and his sacrifice was that for which he came.

There can be no salvation from sin unless there is a Savior who is alive. His identity is as a child born, as a son given. We'll say just a word concerning his authority. Notice, And the government shall be upon his shoulder. The government shall be upon his shoulder.

We've already had mention of the shoulders. Verse 4, For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor you have broken. Now, you see, it is on account of the fact that he shoulders the burden of rule that he is able to relieve the burden that is upon our shoulders.

We often say to one another, Why would you worry about all of that? Your shoulders aren't broad enough to handle it. Are your shoulders broad enough to bear the burdens with which you've arrived this morning? Do you have broad enough shoulders to contain a head that is wise enough to deal with the battles and disruptions and disquietudes that mark your life?

Now, you would have to be honest and say, No, I'm going to have to look somewhere outside of myself, somewhere beyond myself, if I'm going to achieve that. And here again is the staggering claim that the child that is born is born a child and yet a king. When the wise men showed up, do you remember what they asked? Where is he who is born king of the Jews? For we have seen a star in the east and have come to worship it. Because this child is born to rule.

There is dignity in this child, a dignity that is obscured, albeit by his birth. Nobody would have gone to the stable in Bethlehem and said, Oh, this must be in here this morning, where this slip of a girl is the answer to the issues of the entire universe. Nobody would have gone there to say that. In fact, at the other end of his life, nobody would have gone to the hill outside of Calvary and said, Oh, they are up on that cross, that bloody piece of humanity. That must be the answer to the universe.

That must be the answer to all of our disquietude and our battles and our burdens. Nobody would say that, would they? Nobody did say that.

His disciples didn't even say that. Do you know the only person that did? The only person that we know got it was the thief. Suddenly, in a moment of insight, the man says, We're up here getting what we deserve. This fellow's up here, and he hasn't done anything wrong. Then he must have said to himself, Well, maybe what he's doing is paying the price for what I've been doing.

I might as well ask him. Hey. Hey. You got a kingdom or something? Yeah. Can I get in it?

Any chance? I mean, I ain't going nowhere fast, or I am going somewhere fast, but I mean, yeah. Yeah, today you'll be with me.

Now, where do you get the authority to say that? Who are you on this cross? Today you will be with me in paradise. What do you know about paradise? Who gave you the keys to paradise?

How could you determine what you're going to do? You see, when you read the Bible, you're stuck with this Jesus, this incontrovertible Christ, this unruly character. That's what the disciples discovered. We're the fishermen. We know about boats. We know about currents. We know about seas.

We're in charge of the seas. Don't you worry about a thing. Have a sandwich, Jesus.

Lie down at the back. We got you covered. We'll see you at the far end of the voyage. And Jesus is asleep. They wake him up. Jesus, we're all drowning. We thought we'd just let you know before we all go down.

So they wake up the Creator of the universe to let him know he's finished. His number is up. He stands up, and he says, Hey, that's enough. That's enough for now. Calms the seas with a word.

And what do they say? What manner of man? What manner of man is this? They didn't say this is a phantom. They didn't say this is a Hindu avatar. What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him? Because they knew, as good Jews, that the Old Testament taught them that the only person that was in control of the universe was God himself. Only God can control the universe.

He stands up in the boat, and he controls the universe. And they said, Who is this? Do you see, that's the real question. That's the question you've got to answer as a skeptic. That's the question you've got to answer as an inquirer. You've got to finally decide for yourself, Who is Jesus of Nazareth?

Who is he? His authority is unparalleled. Who else could tell the demons to come out and be silent? Who else can say to the paralyzed man, Take up your bed and go home?

And everyone goes, That's unbelievable. Who is it can meet a lady at a well who's had five husbands and a live-in lover and tell her, If you listen to me, I'll give you living water, and you'll never thirst again. And he himself is the living water. Who is he, as the hymn writer puts it, in yonder's stall, in the manger's stall, at whose feet the shepherds fall? Who is he who stands and weeps at the grave where Lazarus sleeps? Who is he who from his throne rolls through all the world alone? He is the one on whose shoulders all authority lies.

Is there anything as staggering as such a claim? And we need this Christ. Since I last stood before you for our last study in Advent, our society has witnessed once again its complete inability to enjoy the peace for which men and women long.

Horace, the Latin dramatist, taught his students in the art of stage playwriting that they should never introduce a god—small g—never introduce a god into their play unless things had got into such a dreadful tangle that only a god could bring about the resolution. What the Bible says is that our things are in such a dreadful tangle, and only God can bring about the resolution. If education could do it, we'd be fixed, wouldn't we? We're as educated as any nation in the world. If social engineering could do it, we would be absolutely fine.

People would be coming here for vacation just to see the tranquility of it all. They're not doing that. They're looking across the nation. They're looking across the oceans going, Who are those people over there?

How do they get themselves like that? The policies of government are not irrelevant, but they're ultimately incapable. The progress of man in science and in medicine is unable to heal the heart, soothe our disappointments, bear our burdens, or relieve our guilt. Where are you gonna go? Where are you going to go? And the Christmas songs make it worse. You say, Now you've lost your mind. No, I haven't lost my mind. Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

How? Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Does that mean have a merry little Christmas by yourself? You know, lock yourself in a room and have one by yourself, because you sure can't have it with Aunt Mabel, who just showed up, or with, you know, Cousin Tommy, who's got his miserable dog with him again this year. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. The person says, I can't have a merry little Christmas. I am an unhappy little soul. The burdens suppress me. I'm embattled. I'm bittered. I'm dreaming of a… What a sad song that is! It is! The fellow is in Los Angeles wishing he was in the snow.

We're in the snow wishing we were in Los Angeles. There's no answer, you see. The answer is here.

The answer's here. I don't know if you've gone to see The Hobbit. I haven't yet. I will when I pluck up the courage. But when we get there, it's going to be great.

At least some of it'll be great. Because you've got all these little creatures with the little, you know, green aprons and yellow hat and everything. I love those things. Because, as I've told you before, I actually believe in them. I believe in them.

I want so badly to believe in them, don't you? You see, that's why Tolkien wrote that stuff. He said, I wrote those fairy stories for adults so that I might cut the umbilical cord to the fact that they are entrenched in what he referred to as worldliness—that they are trapped in the here and they're trapped in the now, and they know that there must be something beyond here, beyond now. There must be something beautiful. There must be something transcendent. There must be another place where love triumphs over hate, where peace rules over war, where nations live in harmony with one another, where the lion lies down with the lamb. And the fairy stories point to that reality.

And, said Lewis, when he and Tolkien got together in the pub in Oxford, this is the answer then, is it not? That when you come to Jesus of Nazareth, when you come to Isaiah 9, you come to the reality to which all the fairy stories point. Where are you going to get this world?

How are you going to get this burden dealt with? How will all these battles be brought to an end? There is nothing as staggering in the entire world as the story of the incarnation, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us, because he was counting our sins against him, so that he who knew no sin became sin for us in order that we in him might become the righteousness of God. There's a lot to think about, isn't there?

There's a lot to be thinking about. And when Jesus takes his leave of his newly invigorated followers, he looks them in the eye, and remember what he said to them? All authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Think of the greatest ruler that has ever existed. They don't have all authority.

Only one person has all the authority. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. Let me end by asking you this. Have you bowed beneath the authority of Christ? Have you bowed down and admitted that your shoulders cannot carry your burdens, cannot alleviate your battles, cannot fix your dilemmas? If you will, you will discover that he takes them. Takes them, as Bonhoeffer says, on his shoulders in the cross in order that we need not. There's no story I have discovered that is as good as this story.

I commend it to you. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. He has titled today's message, A Child Is Born. You know, this is the perfect time of year to strike up gospel conversations. Maybe you have plans to invite unbelieving friends or neighbors to your church's Christmas concert or the Christmas Eve service.

Well, we have a resource to recommend to you today that will help you follow up on those efforts in the new year. When you give a gift to support the ministry of Truth for Life, we'll invite you to request a three-pack of the Gospel of John. You'll receive three small booklets that are very accessible for folks who have never opened the Bible. The text is the English Standard Version.

It's presented in a format that's easy to read. The books are pocket-sized, so they're perfect for sharing. Ask for your three-pack of the Gospel of John when you give a year-end donation at Truth for Life. You can do that today. Give through the Truth for Life mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for joining us today. This is a time of year when we find ourselves singing about the holy infant so tender and mild, but tomorrow we'll learn how Jesus fulfilled many mighty roles, and we'll discover why each of these roles makes a difference in our lives today. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.