The Incarnation of Jesus

Galatians 4:1-7.  This Christmas sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 24, 2023.

It is an amazing reality that the Creator of all things took on the nature of a human in the man called Jesus. 

It is called the incarnation as a reference to God coming in human flesh.  He did not come merely in the appearance of human flesh.  Neither did he materialize like angels do. I am referring to the fact that angels can take on material form, and when they do, they look like men (i.e., humans).  Yet, it is always clear at some point that they are not men when they do things that men cannot.  A case in point would be the Angel of the LORD in Judges 13.  When the “man” ascends into heaven in the flame of a sacrifice, they know that this is not a human (i.e., a man of human flesh and bones).

This is a very important point.  Jesus didn’t even jump in as an adult.  Rather, he went through the full gestational process, was born, and experienced all the things that we experience as humans.

Have you ever had someone complain that, “You don’t know how it feels to have (insert tragedy here) happen in your life!”  This is often used to shelter a person from any input in their life from others.  There can be some truth to this, but, even with other humans, this is often over-played.  A man doesn’t have to carry a baby for 9 months and birth it in order to understand that this is simultaneously a difficult and wonderful thing.  Yes, he can’t know exactly how it feels, but he doesn’t have to in order to empathize.  If a man has his arm hacked off by a sword, everyone on the planet who saw it, or the aftermath, can empathize with the horror of what has happened and the urgency of medical attention he needs.  We don’t have to have an arm hacked off to deeply understand what a trauma this person is going through.

If this argument fails to completely hold water with humans, how much more the Creator of the Universe?  To everyone who would shout, “God doesn’t know what it is like!”  He is God.  He created all the sensory perception that you have.  Does He not know what you are feeling?  Yet, in the incarnation, God has completely taken it off of the table.  Not only can he understand your pains and difficulties, the chances are that He endured far worse than you did.  Maybe, it is us who can’t understand God.

Still, we should notice that God didn’t have to do this in order to counter our complaint.  Yet, in His grace and mercy, He takes on the nature of a human and goes through life.  In Jesus, God lets us know that He knows it is tough, and that life can cause you to want to quit believing.  Yet, there Jesus is, hanging on a cross, bidding you to pick up your cross and follow him.

Yet, Jesus came to do far more than just let us know that he is aware of how difficult it is.

Let’s look at our passage.

Jesus came when the time was just right (v. 1-5)

Paul is writing to the churches in the interior of what we call Turkey today.  The Christians there have been told by certain itinerant teachers that they had to obey the Law of Moses in addition to believing upon Jesus in order to be saved.  Paul was writing to counteract this teaching with the truth about why God gave Israel the Law, and how it functions for Jews and Gentiles.

This is an important point because we can have large assumptions about the purpose of the Law without even knowing it.  Did God give Israel the Law to save them?  Were Israelites saved by keeping the Law?

Paul uses the analogy of a tutor, or governess, for a minor child who would first step into the family business at adulthood, and then later inherit it all.  Paul is essentially describing this setting as a picture of what God the Father was doing with Israel His son.  The Law was given to be a tutor, a schoolmaster, to help Israel be ready for the day when they would be ready to step into adulthood.  This is where we are at in chapter 4 of Galatians.

Even though he is an heir, the child has a status that is like that of a slave.  They have to listen to a teacher, who may themselves be a slave of the child’s father.  This status of a slave is temporary and Paul equates it to the period from Israel’s establishment at Mt. Sinai to the presentation of Messiah Jesus.  This is over 1,400 years.  During this period, God has been using the Law of Moses to teach Israel some things so that they will be ready for the day when Messiah appears.

This brings us to the statement in verse 4 that Jesus came at just the right time, “in the fullness of time.”  There is a quantitative aspect to this because it is time, but time is not the essential element.  There is a qualitative aspect that has to do with learning that is even more important. 

We might argue against this claim of perfect timing.  In fact, Israel herself often complained of God’s timing.  They felt God was taking too long.  Perhaps, we feel that he came to soon.  Maybe that is a sign that this was the perfect timing.  Yet, the perfect timing has nothing to do with what we, or the ancients, thought about it.  For us, yesterday is the perfect time for a savior to come forth from God.

This is a statement from God’s perspective.  Notice how verse 2 reads.  Paul states that it is the Father who determines the metrics for the timing of when the young man is ready to step into adulthood.  Though Paul doesn’t mention this, we can also add that this doesn’t mean the son quits learning.  It is simply that he is no longer under the tutor, but begins to help out in the family business. 

From God’s perspective, the Law had taught Israel all it needed to know in order to embrace Jesus as Messiah, and then, to move forward in what God had for them as adults who were no longer in a slave status.

We  have been talking about Israel as a whole, but the truth is that lessons are learned individually as we corporately walk through things.  Not everyone really understands what the lesson was teaching.  Some people perhaps “learn” that they are tired of listening to a boring teacher and would rather do other things.  Others may “learn” things that are quite wrong.

Is the Law necessarily teaching that God doesn’t love the Gentiles because He never gave it to them?  Does it teach that they are irredeemable because they weren’t given the Law? 

In fact, we might ask just how the Law “teaches” us?  I would say that the Law teaches us each time that we sin, and also in the times that others sin.  It teaches us each time the prophet calls us to repentance by pointing back to the Law, and forward to right relationship with God.

This demonstrates the great wisdom of God in setting the exact right timing for the things that He does.  It is right because the experience of the “child” will have done its proper work to prepare them for the decisions to which God will bring them.   Paul boils this argument down in Romans 1 through 3.  In chapter one, he establishes that the Gentiles were separated from God by their own actions of exchanging the One True God for worshipping created things.  Every Jew would be giving a loud amen at this point.  Yet, in chapter two, Paul turns around and demonstrates that the Jews are also separated from God and guilty before Him because they have broken the Law.  Those under the Law are guilty because they have broken the Law, and those outside of the Law (Gentiles) are guilty for reasons outside of the Law.  They are both in the same place of guilt.  Chapter three follows up with a powerful statement of the purpose of the Law in Romans 3:10.  “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”  There you have it.  The purpose of the Law is to show even the relatively “righteous” of the world that they are sinners in need of God’s mercy.  Israel had been under slavery to a law that showed them their failures at every turn long enough.  It was now time to receive God’s mercy in Jesus.

We see this perfect timing concept in other areas.  In Genesis, God tells Abraham that He would give the land of Canaan to his offspring, but not until 400 years had passed.  This was because the “sin of the Amorites” was not yet complete, or full.  They were already sinful, but it wasn’t the perfect time to judge them yet.  God would give them the perfect amount of grace, and even a witness of Yahweh through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and his family.

Another example of this is given by Paul in Romans 11.  There he talks about the partial blindness of Israel in rejecting Jesus as Messiah.  Paul tells us that this blindness to Christ would not be forever.  When the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then Israel as a whole will have their eyes opened to who Jesus really is.

We could even ask ourselves this.  What if Jesus had been born to Adam and Eve instead of Cain and Abel?  Would they really have understood the depth and the seriousness of the problem of sin and its solution?  I don’t think so.  In fact, as I said above, not everyone learns the lessons as they should.  Even today within His Church, there are those who do not treat the problem of sin as a serious issue.

If God had seasons of learning for Israel under the Law, wouldn’t it make sense that He also has seasons of learning for the Church.  We are waiting for Christ to return, and he will do so at the perfect time.  Yet, that time is connected to God’s people and the world being taught some things.

The early Church saw persecution up into the early AD 300’s.  Think about the lessons regarding enduring persecution and the reward for those who are faithful until death.  By the end of the 300’s things changed drastically as Theodosius I became the emperor of the Roman Empire.  He was raised a Christian and even outlawed paganism.  This is why historians to this day will treat this era as the end of the Roman Empire and speak of a “Byzantine Empire.”  Pagan Rome under pagan Caesars was very different from the Christian Empire.  Yet, they are one and the same.  This season of the Church seems to teach some new lessons.  What will Christians do when they are in charge of the Empire? 

Christianity was very successful within Europe due to this turn of events.  It is interesting that Christians continued to be enamored with kings, monarchies, and emperors, and it makes sense.  God allowed Israel to have kings, and Jesus is the king of kings.  Yet, we see over and over again that no amount confessing Christ, or becoming the “Defender of the Faith,” can make a man really be like Jesus.  For 1400 years Christianity doubled down on kings, until 1776.

Did American independence transition us into a new period of learning about self-governance under “No king, but King Jesus”?  I think so.  I believe that God allowed us to establish a new kind of government that was not the failed democracies of the past, and uniquely modified the Republics of the ages.  We would now be a self-governing people with constitutions that put our servants on notice of how they were to operate.  The true human sovereignty was now collectively held by The People.

What lessons are we just beginning to understand now?  It is easy to say, “No king, but King Jesus!”  However, it is harder to live that out.  Is Jesus the king of America?  Yes, he is in position by God’s decree, but not in practice of its people.

The return of Jesus has an aspect to it in which there are lessons that we need to learn.  Yet, it also has an aspect of the fact that God will not judge the world until the sin of the nations has reached its full.  May God help us as believers to be learning the lessons while rescuing sinners out of a spiritually decaying humanity. 

This Second Coming of Jesus is a transitional point for the world.  Yes, it seems like God is taking too long, but in truth, God has just the perfect time for it to happen.  It is not ours to worry about the timing, but to be faithful to what God has given us to do for now.

Is it possible that I am spending far too much time complaining to God that He is taking too long?  Perhaps, I even have hints of threatening to leave the faith under my complaints?  Would I not do better to spend more time seeking the Holy Spirit to open my mind to the lessons that God is teaching us through His Word, and through the history and activity around us today?  Yes, I am very sure that I would.

Jesus was sent forth to redeem us

It was at this perfect time that God sent forth Jesus in order to redeem us.  There is a lot happening in that sentence, so let’s begin with the fact that Jesus was sent.

The Gospel writer clearly show that Jesus was not doing his own thing.  He was on a mission for God the Father.  Of course, this is a common problem of all the human servants of God, mixing our plans and purposes with God’s.  This is true even of the political “saviors” who rise up in our Republic, or around the world.  Ultimately, they are doing their own thing and coming in their own name.  Yet, Jesus said that he would only speak and do what the Father had sent him to say and to do (John 5:19-20; 12:49-50).  The cross itself becomes the proof that he was not just talking smack.  He put his body where his mouth was.

God wanted something done, and it wasn’t pretty.  Have you ever had something that you knew God wanted you to do, but it was a difficult thing?  Think about Mary and Joseph.  As the angel explains to Mary that she will become pregnant, but not by a man, rather, a miraculous conception, she can look ahead and see all the ways in which her society will not accept such an explanation.  She can imagine the heavy price that she is going to pay if she goes along with this.  Yet, she responds, “Let it be to me according to your word.”  Similarly, the angel appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.  Joseph knows exactly what others will say and do, if he marries her.  They will see it as admission of unrighteous, sexual activity.  He too will have to pay a price.  Yet, he marries Mary anyways.

Now, Israel knew that Messiah was coming, but they believed his mission would be all about putting down the Gentiles and lifting Israel up over them.  To be sure, that is part of the work of Messiah.  We can be guilty of crying out to God for help with a long list of the things that we think He should do.  Yet, many times we do not understand what is best for us.  The first coming of Jesus is a rebuke that tells us that our greatest enemy is our own sin and its spiritual tyranny.  Only having defeated that enemy can we even talk about tyrannical forces outside of us.

This is politics in our Republic, and in any nation end up being.  A stomach churning event in which we all point the finger at the other side, or other nation.   “You are the problem!” “No, you are the problem,” comes the reply.  “Let’s lock up those people, kill that guy, etc.”  Of course, the targets of today will change tomorrow in a never ending circus of avoiding the true enemy, the sin of my own heart.

In the Bible, deliverance from spiritual tyranny is pictured as redemption.

Just what is redemption?  It starts with a person who has fallen into a state in which they have lost their inheritance, and are too poor to redeem it back.  That is, they are unable to pay the price to get it back.  The book of Ruth pictures this perfectly.  Ruth will not only be unable to pay for her husband’s inheritance in order to get it back, but she has no children to give it to.  The solution in that case had to be another Israelite who was a near kinsman, and who would be willing to pay the price of buying the land and marrying her in order to raise up a son to inherit it.

If we take that story and lay it over humanity and our sin problem, then you begin to understand why God’s solution involved incarnation.  Sin is so bad that we are debtors to God with no means of making it right.  The problem is that many humans do not believe that they are that sinful, or that sin is a big deal.  We have been cut off from our inheritance as humans (not just a problem for Israelites) because of our sins.  We are spiritually poverty-stricken and are in need of a redeemer.  This is where Jesus steps in.

Jesus qualifies to redeem us.  He is a kinsman (for Israel, a fellow-Israelite, and for the rest of humanity, a human).  This is why Paul emphasizes in verse 4 that Jesus came forth “born of a woman and born under the law.”

Being born of a woman, ties back to the original promise of God when He cursed the serpent.  He said that the seed of the woman (one from her line) would crush his head, even though he would crush the seeds heel.  This mortal wound versus an injury is the promise that a deliverer would come.  Jesus qualifies as a seed of Eve.  God could not just wave a scepter and whimsically decree that sinful humanity should have its birthright back.  A price had to be paid, and we had to agree to the terms of that payment.

Being born under the law, ties back to the covenant that God had made with Israel.  Israel saw itself as righteous among the nations.  They could understand that some Israelites needed redemption, but that as a whole, the nation was righteous before God.  It was really Gentiles who needed redemption.  Yet, the death and resurrection of Jesus under the law, and the rulers of the Law at that time, is proof that perfect laws (a divine source) can not make us righteous, or help us to inherit eternal life.  The sin-problem has to be solved.  Of course, humanity seems intent on not hearing this lesson that God has been showing us.  We appear to be doubling down on fixing things by  more and more human laws.  It won’t work because those who operate the system are just as much sinners as those who come under their purview.

Even the Millennial Kingdom shows that if we had a perfect Executive (Jesus), perfect laws, and glorified, perfected administrators (the resurrected believers), it still would fall apart if God wasn’t restraining evil.  The problem will always reside in our mortal hearts, and in the heart of the spiritual interlopers, the devil and his angels.

America is part of God’s argument to humanity about freedom.  It is great to be freed from under a tyrannical power, but now you are responsible.  You can’t blame it on King George III any more.  Politically, we haven’t gotten out of bed in order to go to work.  We’ve allowed a new tyrant class of criminal “servants” to rise up over us.  Freedom is easier said than done.

We have received the adoption of sons (v. 6-7)

We have received the adoption of sons because of what Jesus has done, because of his redemption.  In Ruth, the solution was marriage.  This image is also used of Jesus and the Church, the Bride of Christ.  However, in Galatians the solution is the Adoption of us into God’s family.  Jesus is the one true son, but we are adopted into the family of God through the work of Jesus.  The true son died in order for you to be adopted into a greater family.  When you place your faith in Jesus as your redeemer, the one who paid the price for your sins, you are then adopted by God as His child.  In fact, you enter as an adult-child.

It is one thing to be 19, 22, even 26, stepping into adulthood for yourself.  However, there is still a whole range of adulthood before you with a number of seasons filled with a number of lessons that you will need to learn.  So yes, a new Christian is a baby-adult.  We are not under the Law of Moses and so we are adults, but we have a lot to learn through the world and the Word of God, both by the Holy Spirit’s help.

We still have a lot to learn, and we are not in our glorified bodies yet.  We need to pay attention to Jesus because he is preparing us for an eternity with the Father.

Notice in verse 6 that the same words used of Jesus are used of the Spirit.  He is sent forth by the Father.  The Holy Spirit is on a mission for God too.  When you are adopted into God’s family, His Spirit takes up residence within you in order to help you become like Jesus.  Just as Jesus was on a mission of redemption, the Holy Spirit comes alongside of us to help us walk in faith through the wilderness of this world, this new adulthood.  He helps us to overcome our own sins and to become an incarnation of Jesus by proxy to the world around us.  This is referred to as a down payment on the fullness that we will receive at the resurrection.  So, think about that!

Through Jesus, God has brought you into a familial relationship that is intended to be intimate.  The Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are a child of God, and He helps us to cry out to God in intimate terms, “Abba, Father.” 

It used to be very popular to emphasize that Abba is equivalent to “daddy” or “papa,” something a very young toddler would use.  Of course, that is a beautiful picture, and the word was (and still is) used by little kids for their fathers.

However, we should notice that it is used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to the Father.  He was asking if the cup of crucifixion might be avoided.  Regardless, we see him resigning himself to doing the will of the Father.  “Not my will, but Yours be done.”  Jesus sweat great drops of blood as he was praying this.  This is no little kid crying out papa in the night.  This is the eternal son of God gearing up to go to war against our deadliest enemy by dying on the cross.  This is one warrior speaking to another warrior.  The word essentially means Father, but it carries with it the complete intimacy of a son, whether child or adult. 

We too can cry out to God in the midst of our difficulties and know that He hears us with full love, even when a difficult task lies ahead (especially when so).

To the world and worldly Israelites, the death of Jesus was proof that He was a sinner and not loved of God.  However, they don’t understand that this is not about the Father’s love.  His love has never been in question.  It has always been our love that fails.  No, the crucifixion is proof of the Son’s perfect love for the Father, and the resurrection is the response of the Father.

Paul ends this section by concluding that the Galatians, and we who believe in Jesus today, are no longer slaves under the Law of Moses.  We no longer need God to give us a bed-time (a superficial law that points to something deeper).  Rather, as adults, we tell ourselves that we had better go to bed because we have a lot of work to do for God in the morning.  We have stepped into the relationship of adult-sons.  We are not running the business yet, but we get up each day and report in to Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  What are going to do today, Lord?

There will be another transition to our relationship with Christ.  Whether we die or not, the resurrection will forever deal with our sinful flesh.  We will have glorified heavenly bodies and be like Jesus, perfectly in his image.

Those lessons learned by Israel over 1400 years of servitude must be absorbed by us today, while also learning the lessons taught by the Lord to his Church over 2,000 years of working for him.  In fact, we need to remind ourselves over and over again.  Praise God that His Holy Spirit helps us to war against sin in our own hearts and minds, and then helps us to be a help to others.  Christians are a people who have learned to go to war, and are still going to war, against the sin of their own flesh.  It is in that bloody battle that the grace of God brings us through, and it helps us to minister to others.

The problem today is that too many people are on the warpath to fix the sin in your life, or worse metaphorically crucify you for it.  Yet, they lack Jesus because they haven’t lifted a finger to fight sin in their own heart and mind.

All through this, Paul has referred to us as heirs of God.  We are spiritual adults, but we have only received a portion of what we will inherit.  It is not yet fully manifest what we are and shall have.  We are to show ourselves faithful with the little that we have, so that God will reward us with much by His grace.

Let every day be an adventure of discovering even more that, if it wasn’t for Jesus, we would still be stuck in a poverty-stricken state of being a slave to sin, and judged by the Law of God as unworthy.

Praise be unto Jesus!

Incarnation audio

Such Love-Part 1

Subtitle: He Became One of Us

John 1:14-18; Philippians 2:5-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Palm Sunday, April 2, 2023.

Today we begin a 6-part series about God's love, and how we should respond to it.

Love is a matter of call and response, or action and response.  In a way, God is always the initiator of love because of His eternal nature.  We are always the responders.

I want to refresh our memories of just how much God loved us in the coming of the one we know as Jesus, or in Hebrew, Yeshua.  On top of His love 2,000 years ago, we have His great love for us today, for you, and for others.  Do you not realize that God's amazing love will be embracing you even unto your last breath?  His amazing love will even be with humanity to the end of this age, and into eternity.

Let's look at our passage today, and remind ourselves of God's great love.

The Word became flesh (John 1:14)

In this chapter, John speaks of the One called "the Word" who is identified in verse 17 as Jesus Christ.  The Word becoming flesh points back to that moment in time when Mary first conceived.

The miracle of the incarnation is often doubted.  It is believed that Mary clearly made up the story.  However, does this square with all of the evidence?

Let's just go with the cynic on this one and assume that Mary did make it up.  Her pregnancy would have either been by Joseph, or some other man that she is unwilling to name.  Modern man may scoff that they didn't know science like we do today.  Thus, the people of Nazareth were easily duped.

Of course, this is not what happened and is very snobbish towards that generation.  They knew exactly how a woman became pregnant.  No one believed Mary's story at first, not even Joseph.  He was going to put her away silently.  However, Joseph changed his mind and married Mary.  They lived their lives with the stigma hanging over their heads that they had not waited for the proper moment to be intimate.  No one would have bought their story.

Here is the rub.  If Mary was lying, then Jesus should have fallen within the range of the Judeans of his day.  He might be a little smarter or not, but we would not expect him to stick out among the greats of Israel, much less all mankind.  The miracles of Jesus, his death and resurrection, are not explainable by a natural conception.  Of course, the skeptic continues to deny everything.  None of the miracles happened.  The resurrection didn't happen.  Over the top of all the eye witness testimony, the skeptic's biases reign supreme.   There is just too much evidence that something strange was going on with this Jesus of Nazareth.

In the opening verses of this chapter, it is clear that John is using language from Genesis chapter 1, "In the beginning..."  The apostles of Jesus had come to see the reality of who Jesus really was.  He is the Son of the Most High God, but not in the way that humans would understand sonship.  Even before anything was created, the eternal Son existed as the eternal Word of God.  How does John come up with the idea that there was a "Word" of God in the Genesis 1?  Well, primarily he doesn't "come up with it."  He understands it by the revelation of Jesus and the Spirit of God.  However, it is important to see that Genesis 1 describes the Father saying, "Let there be light,"  When we speak, words go forth from us.  Of course, God is not flesh and blood and there is no air around Him to propagate sound waves.  However, something greater is being revealed.  The One who created man, with the ability to speak and send powerful ideas out into the world around him, is able to "speak" and send forth "word" in a greater way.  What is not made clear in the text of Genesis 1 is explained in John 1.  The eternal Word was the eternal Son who went forth to accomplish what the Father desired.  John is also probably looking at Proverbs 8, in which wisdom is personified and depicted as working with God at Creation.  In a sense, John is saying that Proverbs 8 is not just poetry.  It is revelation that is not clear until the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, took on flesh.

This is the amazing part.  This One who has eternally existed not only with God, but as divine, became human.  This speaks to the depths that God was willing to go in order to save us, to show His love for us.  Yes, God is good and therefore He will do good things, but He doesn't have to be that good!  This call and response of love cannot be broken down into "laws."  Anyone who says, "This is what you have to do in order to love me," has something wrong in their heart.  They are not speaking with love themselves.  Love must be free to act and to respond.  Love must not be controlled and manipulated; true love will not dictate to other how they "must" show love.

This brings us to Philippians 2:5-11.  It uses language from Genesis 1 as well (verse 26).  In Genesis, man is made in the "likeness" of God.  He is not God, but is like Him enough that a personal relationship can develop between them.  We see this in Genesis 3 when it tells us that God would come down in the cool of the day to meet with Adam and Eve.  In Philippians, something is happening in the opposite direction.  Though man is made in God's likeness, through Jesus, God has taken on the nature and form of a man.  The Word didn't just become like a man.  Rather, He became a man.

This begs the question, "What was He thinking?"  The context of Philippians 2 is the kind of mind that Christians need to have.  Thus, Paul points back to the incarnation, taking on of flesh, of the Word of God in Jesus.  We need the same kind of mind that Jesus had when he agreed to such a plan.

Of course, becoming human is nothing to us because we are human.  Jesus was divine and the creator of all mankind.  Taking on the nature of a human is a big deal.  In fact, Paul parallels the act of Jesus taking on the likeness of humans with him taking on the form of a slave.  He didn't just become human.  He became a human slave for God the Father. 

Again, what was the eternal Son thinking?  What is this love of God that would go to such lengths, to such depths, in order to save us?  As humbling as becoming human is for God, this was not the depths of his love.

The Philippians passage uses three verbal phrases to describe the depths of God's love for us.

First, he "emptied himself."  It doesn't say exactly what he emptied himself of.  In the context, the mind of Christ is in view.  Thus, we might ask ourselves this question.  What would I have to empty myself of in order to do something like that?  Of course, Jesus is not proud and arrogant.  However, he did create all things, and has dwelled in eternal glory with the Father.  He would have to empty himself of all the reasons and thinking that would object to such a plan of salvation.  It would be an attitude that says, "I am this (a glorious God); I shouldn't have to do that (become human, etc.). 

As humans, we are altogether too familiar with that attitude.  It is not an attitude of love.  This is why Paul is pointing us back to the incarnation.  We need to first understand just how amazing it is that the Word would do this for us, and then make the leap to the fact that we should do the same for others.

Second, Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus "humbled himself."  At its root this word speaks of a lowering of position.  The eternal Son abased himself in taking on human flesh.  Yet, as a man, we see him washing the feet of his disciples.  He wasn't just becoming a great king of the earth that everyone would serve.  Instead, he was a slave of God to serve us.  He lived without purpose and will of his own, and instead, lived out only the will and purpose of the Father in heaven.  Since the men whose feet he washed were his disciples, they would then have to figure out how to lower themselves even lower than their master.  How is that possible?  Only by the grace and help of God's Holy Spirit; that's how.

Palm Sunday is all about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  It represents all that we want in the natural.  Jesus presents himself to Jerusalem as her awaited Anointed King from God.  We do not object to God coming down and becoming human in order to conquer our foes and lay them at our feet.  However, we do balk because we do not know what our true enemy is.  One day we are saying yeah for team Jesus, and then he does something we don't understand and we are ready to crucify him.

Just as Israel was looking for Messiah to show up and conquer the Romans, so we do today.  The Ukrainians hope for God to show up and crush the Russians.  Americans may complain that if God would just show up and destroy those who are taxing us to death, then we would be good.  Really?  The truth is that Israel's problem was not actually the Romans, and the problem for American's is not your tax-happy State capital, or Washington D.C.  Our problem is sin that is entrenched in our own hearts.  We will point out every sin, but our own.  This is our greatest problem: we are in bondage to sin.

The Word dwelt among us

Back in John 1:14, we are told that the Word became flesh and then dwelt among us.  John again uses language from the Old Testament, this time from Exodus 25-40.  The word for "dwelt" connects back to the animal skins of the tent, or tabernacle, God had Israel build in the desert.  This verb could be translated as "and tented among us."

Yeshua is literally God,  Yahweh, tenting among us.  Remember, the whole purpose of the tabernacle was to create a place that God could dwell in among the people of Israel.  As they camped in the wilderness, the tabernacle was there in the center of their camp.  The presence of God was visible in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

This visible presence of the Lord had become a thing of the past by the first century.  However, it is important to understand this picture of God dwelling among His people within a structure of animal skins.

This brings up the age old contention between Christians and Judaism, the idea of the Messiah being divine.  Is this just a Christian perversion?  Are Christians teaching things that are not in the Old Testament, either because they don't understand Hebrew, or they are purposefully twisting the Scriptures?

The presence of God was always understood to be a mystery in ancient Israelite worship.  If one pays careful attention to the text, you might accuse the writer of contradicting themselves.  On one hand, the Scriptures pound home the idea that mortal humans cannot see God without dying, and yet God is able to reveal Himself in lesser, or mediated forms.  The bush that Moses sees is somehow Yahweh, and yet it is not fully Yahweh.  The fire and smoke on Mt. Sinai is somehow Yahweh, and yet not fully Yahweh.  The same scary manifestation of fire and smoke on the mountain, then moves to the tabernacle as a less scary pillar of cloud (a somewhat different manifestation, yet of the same).  We see Moses speaking with God in the tabernacle, but at the same time he asks God to look down from heaven (Deuteronomy 26:15).  Moses was not contradicting himself.  He simply knew that God was capable of manifesting in a mediated form on the earth, while still being God in heaven.

This is the mystery of the presence of God.  It is never fully explained.  It is simply revealed and discovered by Moses and Israel.  Even the New Testament does not completely demystify this mystery of the person and presence of God.  Yet, Moses had no problem accepting that God could be "tenting" among His people within animal skins (the tabernacle) while still being resident in heaven.  Thus, before the first century, rabbis would speak of the Invisible Yahweh and the Visible Yahweh (a mediated form of the invisible God).  God is One, and yet He can somehow localize without leaving heaven.

This comes to a head in Exodus 33 to 34.  There Moses is talking with God.  He is asking God to go with them, even though Israel has been sinful and rebellious.  God promises to send His Presence with them.  At this point, Moses asks God to see His glory.  God agrees to let him see His receding glory, that is, not its fullness, because Moses could not handle it. 

The even is described in chapter 33, but happens in chapter 34.  God tells Moses to stand on a certain rock.  God would then come down and pass before Moses.  God's hand would simultaneously place Moses in a cleft of the rock, and shield him from seeing God's face.  Yet, as God passes by, He removes His hand so that Moses can see His back as He goes away from him.  Meanwhile, God is "declaring" the name of the Lord.  I will come back to this declaration of the name of the Lord in a moment.

Notice that in this passage God is spoken of in human terms: face, hand, and back.  This is a mediated human form, yet not a human.  Thus, we can see that there is no great leap to understand that just as Yahweh could tent among His people in animal skins, appear to Moses in human form, all while being resident in the heavens, so in Jesus, Yahweh could tent among His people in human skin, while still being resident in the heavens.

Why would He do this?  What love is this?

We beheld His glory

Finally, John 1:14 tells us that they beheld his glory.  Just as Israel saw God's glory come down upon the mountain, then onto the tabernacle, so God's glory was made visible in the person and work of Jesus.

I would like to point out that God's glory is not just one thing in the Old Testament.  There are many different expressions, forms, and even layers to the manifest glory of God.  No human has ever seen the unmitigated glory of God.  We cannot handle it.  Then, we see the powerful glory that scares people like at Mt. Sinai: smoking fire, Loud voice, trumpet blasts, shakings, etcetera. 

Then, there is the kind of glory that Moses saw that is a human like figure.  This connects with the Angel of Yahweh passages as well.  This Angel is more than a created spiritual messenger for God.  God's Name is somehow in Him, and he forgives sins (Exodus 23:21).  Moses saw this human form of God's glory declaring the "Name of the Lord."  What was the declaration?  Exodus 34:6-7, "And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”  God's glory is displayed in God allowing Moses to glimpse what He could of Him, but it is also wrapped up in the truth about God's nature.  He is Mercy, Grace, Patience, Goodness, Truth, Forgiveness, and the fear of the guilty.  Thus, John alludes to this passage as well when he says of Jesus in John 1:14 that Jesus is full of grace and truth.  In Jesus, Israel receives a greater glimpse of what Moses saw on the mountain. 

Of course, some of Israel saw a greater glory in Jesus than the others similar to Moses seeing God's glory greater than Israel did.  The disciples saw Jesus do things that others didn't, like walk on water and calm a storm with just the words, "Peace, be still."  However, James, John, and Peter saw the Lord's face transfigured into a glorious brightness that the other nine did not see.

Yet, the miracles and such demonstrations were probably not the greatest glory that Jesus expressed.  A case can be made that his death on the cross was the greatest display of the glory of God.  On that day, he fully revealed the heart and nature of God the Father, not only to Israel, but also to the Gentiles.  The heart of God is full of Grace, and yet also full of Truth.  He will bend over backwards to save us, even to the point of dying for us, but we must turn to Him in truth.

Today, I want us to understand what it says about the love of God that He would even come down and take on the nature of a human.  The heart of God has always been about relationship with us, and to dwell with us.  Revelation ends with us dwelling with God and the statement, "They shall see His face."  We will have been fitted to not only dwell in His presence, but also to look into the face of the full glory of God without dying!  This relationship has always been His goal.  It was there in the Garden of Eden until the serpent and sin broke that fellowship.  It was there with Israel in the wilderness, until sin and rebellion broke it.

All humanity is full of rebellion against God, and against His Anointed King, Jesus.  Yet, even now He holds out His hand in an offer of peace.  He offers the joy of dwelling with Him throughout eternity.  This is the love of God.  How can I say no to such love?

Such Love 1 audio

The Day Truth Came to Earth

John 14:5-6; Luke 2:39-40.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 25, 2022, Christmas Day.

We are going to start with a passage that is not a traditional Christmas passage.  However, it will give us insight as we go back and talk about that day when Jesus took on human flesh.

The Christmas story focuses on Jesus coming into the world.  However, let’s make the technical point that this is not the first time Jesus (the Word of God) came into the world.  It is the first time that he came into the world as a human being, an incarnation (in human flesh).  This unique human being was both God and man in a way that we can only speculate.  He was fully God and yet fully human.

The second part of the focus is that He is the Savior of the world.  This is a good thing because humanity has been looking for a savior to fix this mess for a long time.  In fact, we have not fixed the mess still in this modern era.

It is also important for us to recognize that the Incarnation of Jesus was also a day of identification.  Human beings were created like God in the sense that we could image Him in some ways.  Yet, we were not God in any way.  Jesus did not become “like” us.  Rather, he became one of us in order to identify with our condition, experience, and need.  From then on, no one could claim that God doesn’t understand what it is like to be a human.

Think about what this says to our foe, the devil.  God did not identify with fallen angels.  He identified with fallen humanity.  Why would He identify with humans?  For centuries now, we have been hammered with the reality that humans are just one species on a small planet, a speck within the universe.  What is humanity that God would be mindful of us?  It is interesting that even the ancients could understand the absolute smallness of mankind before the God of the universe.  Yet, He chose to identify with us. 

We are His creation, created for His purposes.  We were made in such a way that the incarnation could happen.  The uniqueness of humanity is not found in us, but in God’s creation of us for an amazing purpose, that the Word of God could become human and dwell among us!  Men have striven to become gods throughout history, but here, God becomes a man.  We are not fit to become gods in our mortality, but our mortality is somehow fit for God to become one of us.  Hallelujah! 

It is one thing for God to identify with us, but that only puts the ball in our court.  Will you identify with Him?  This is what needs to happen in our hearts, minds, and life.  Think it through.  He became one of us, and because of that, he has claims from within humanity as a human.  You can identify with him and connect in a living relationship, a relationship that is symbolized by marriage.  His future is your future because He has identified with you, and you have identified with Him.

I want to start with the John 14 passage.  Jesus is speaking with his disciples about leaving.  There he reveals something about himself that makes the Incarnation even more spectacular.

Let’s get into our passages.

Jesus is the Truth

Jesus makes several categorical statements here that involve his identity.  He says that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  These three pictures are a response to the question from Thomas about not knowing where Jesus is going.  Jesus makes it clear at the end of verse 6 that he is speaking about going to Father God in heaven. 

How do we get to the Father?  Jesus states that he himself is the Way.  Not, I know the way; I read a book once about the way; I can show you the way.  I am the Way!  Jesus is not pointing out the way to the Father in the sense of pointing over there.  Instead, he is pointing to himself.  I am the way.  It is about relationship with him.  If you have Jesus, then you have the way to the Father.  To be in relationship with Jesus is to be on the way to the Father, and you have nothing to fear.

The last picture speaks about life.  Not, I have a life; I can show you how to have a life.  I am the Life!  The Father is the Lord of life.  To dwell with Jesus is to have the life of the Father, eternal life.  Jesus was not teaching them the secrets to having a good life.  He was teaching them to come into a relationship with Life itself!  To have Jesus is to have eternal life, and to have eternal life is to have the Father!

It is the middle picture we are going to focus on for the rest of our time today, Truth.  Jesus does not say that he knows the truth, or that he climbed a mountain in Tibet and received the truth from a guru, who had received from a guru before him, ad infinitum (hmm, I wonder where such truth first came from).  He says that he is the Truth!  Yes, Jesus definitely taught Truth, but more than this, He is the Truth.

At Christmas, Truth came into the world, and this is a big deal!  In fact, this shows us that God has designed humans with the ability to seek out Truth, and as a loving Father, He has been faithful to give us Truth all along.

Let’s talk about Truth versus truth (uppercase “T” versus lowercase “t”).  We are a cynical age similar to the days of Jesus.  We also say as Pilate, “What is truth?”  On our lips, this question drips with much more cynicism and derision than it did from Pilate.  Our philosophy of truth has advanced to an even greater degree of hopelessness about the subject.  The “Enlightenment” of the 1600s AD have left us without hope of ever knowing absolute Truth.  We are taught that the best we can do is obtain a perception of things around us that are almost guaranteed not to be the “absolute truth.”  The only thing we can have is a personal perception of the world around us.

Let me just say that there is a thread of truth in this.  Much of our understanding of the world around us is merely perceptions, and perceptions have a reality of their own even if they don’t match the reality around us.  This relative and situational truth is not to be capitalized because it is in contrast to the absolute Truth (with a capital “T”) that modern philosophy says is impossible for us to know.

Now, I wonder just who in the universe has a vested interest in human beings believing that they cannot have a relationship with absolute Truth?  Where do you think such doctrines of demons come from?  Of course, you may protest that we don’t have doctrine of demons in our modern enlightened society.  O, to the contrary, my friend!  The devil does not show up one day with a pitchfork, wearing a red Halloween costume, and saying, “I have a teaching for you!”  No, he works upon men’s weak hearts and minds to draw them into accepting lies that are contrary to the Truth of God.  Brilliant but lost people write books and give lectures promoting the doctrine of demons despite their best intentions.

How do you build a society upon relative, perceptive truth?  In Truth, you can’t.  Our society is falling apart because of our exchanging God’s Truth for man’s relative truth.  We are responding to the dissolution by amassing more and more power for really smart people to tell us all how to live and how to fix the world.  It will not work because those “really smart people” refuse to believe that there is an absolute reality, Truth.

The Bible presents this absolute reality, this Truth.  It has concrete reality.  It is transcendent to us.  We cannot change reality by not perceiving it, or even refusing to accept it once we suspect it is real.  Humans were created to be able to know absolute Truth, and have a relationship with it.  Jesus is the lynchpin to this whole thing.  We were made to know Him, and therefore we can know absolute Truth.

Yes, we do not know everything absolutely.  We don’t have to.  Think about a light switch.  I don’t have to know all the cutting-edge physics behind how and why it works.  I only need to know that it works.  I can flip the switch and have power.  If it doesn’t work one day, I don’t quit believing in electricity, or those who designed the circuit.  I just know that something has gone wrong and will call an electrician.

Similarly, we do not need to know everything about the universe in order to live life.  We just need to know some absolute Truths, the ones that matter most.  God has been faithful to give us this.  Humans were designed to live by faith upon those Truths that God has given us.

-Truth as a baby-

So, what does Truth coming as a baby say to us?  To a world that was cynical (is) in regards to Truth, God gives the gift of Jesus, the Truth incarnate.  Why would he come as a baby?  Why would he even go through nine months of gestation?  Birth into a stable, a manger, a small village, a small country, a dangerous time?  All of these questions are meant to provoke us to think about the day that Truth came into the world.  How could the title “Truth” begiven to such a baby who was so small and vulnerable?  Yet, we even have bureaucrats today declaring, “I am science!”

I believe that God is showing us that Truth can be found.  It may not look like we expected, and it may not be all that we wanted, but there it is, Truth in a manger.  Even shepherds are able to find Truth in this wonderful world that God has made.  You do not need to be a genius to find Truth because God wants you to find it; He made you to find it!

Truth as a baby also tells us that God is absolutely the humblest being in the universe.  He doesn’t drop in as a fully developed man in his prime speaking our language proficiently.  Instead, He truly identifies with what it means to be a human, what it means to be the average human within human existence (something that Americans know nothing about).  God knows what you are going through.  He really does, that is the Truth.

This also tells us that there is something about Truth that cannot be sped up, or skipped.  We can’t just download to our minds quickly and be experts overnight.  This is because God is Truth and to know Truth is to have a relationship with Him.  You may have just been saved.  Well praise God.  You have just come into a new relationship with Truth.  Be faithful to the end of your life, and you will grow in your understanding of Truth.

It also tells us that our lives on this planet are Truly important and worth living because God Himself lived as one of us.  In fact, I would say that it is impossible for an American to be happy in this world.  Praise God that all things are possible with Him!

-Truth as a man-

Luke 2:39-40 describes Jesus growing up.  He grew up into a young man just like any of us do.  Yet, he did so without sinning like we did.  What does Truth becoming a grown man say to us?

It tells us that no station in life, or hindrances, should keep us from being what God called us to be.  Jesus carried the social stigma of being conceived outside of marriage.  He was an “illegitimate” child.  He grew up with adults and other kids continually making him aware that there was something wrong with him.

Notice how modern society wants to blame this on God.  “If we didn’t have these rules, then no one would ever carry a stigma in society.”  It’s God’s fault.  Yet, the same God who said that sex outside of marriage is sinful, also chose to be born in a way that put him under such suspicion.  Yes, Jesus was not born of fornication.  He knew it and Father God knew it.  However, the perception of society was that there was no way this young girl was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit of God.  That was their truth.  Jesus knows what it is like to be born into a state where the world around you continually lets you know that you fall short in their judgment.  There is a whole discussion on this in John 8 where the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being a bastard.  The problem wasn’t God.  It was them.  That is why God sent Truth in human form.

Truth as a man also tells us that God is not afraid to tell us the Truth.  The little baby didn’t stay a baby.  It grew up and began speaking Truth.  Too many “Christians” in the US have only embraced a baby Savior that only says, “Goo-goo gaga.”  This is a pretty, innocent, vulnerable baby that cannot threaten us by giving us Truth.  We have no problem giving lip-service to Truth, as long as we don’t have to face it in actuality.

If you think your life is dull, then read the Bible and start speaking the Truth of God to our society (even to other Christians).  You will find out really quick that the problem has never been that God is holding out on us, but more on that in a bit.

Truth as a man tells us that God wants to walk with us through life.  We are not alone.  He is Truly with us.  Even before the incarnation, this was True.

It also tells us that we can have hope in the future.  Do you really think that Jesus would do this if there was no hope?  We can hope in the future because we are not at the mercy of the “brights” of our age, just as Israel was not at the mercy of the “brights” of their age, whether Israeli or Roman. 

Truth lived among us, and His impact upon this planet is still rippling across this world like the aftershocks of a great earthquake.  In schools today, they will teach that time is divided between C.E. and B.C.E.  Of course, this is a rejection of the previous A.D. and B.C.  Yet, notice that it still divides upon Jesus Christ.  They cannot escape the reality, the Truth, of who He really is.

-Truth being executed-

It seems fitting in a tragic way that the crucifixion of Jesus symbolically shows us our problem.  We nailed Truth to a cross, and put it to death!  God had been giving us Truth all along the way.  Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden and He told them the Truth.  Still, they believed a lie and went down a path of discovering what evil is.  Praise God that He has gone down that path with us and did not abandon us!  He also gave us Truth in the heavens and the world around us, but we believed a lie and worshiped the creation instead of the Creator.  Down through the ages, God was faithful to speak Truth to us through holy men, but we believed a lie and didn’t like what we were hearing from them.  Most of them were killed.

The execution of Truth tells us that our problem has never been that God has made it too hard to see the Truth.  The Truth is stated in John 3:19. “this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  Men love darkness rather than The Light.  Men love shortcuts rather than The Way.  Men love the shadowlands of lies rather than The Truth.

Praise God that we do not have to live that way.  Yes, you will have to live through this mess, but you don’t have to live like it.  It is only when we see our own penchant towards rejecting Truth, and chose to embrace the Truth instead of ourselves, that we can find the eternal life of Jesus.  God help us to be a people who are repenting of embracing lies and half-truths.  In Jesus, we can Truly find our way out of the mess. 

It is fitting perhaps that we celebrate the Incarnation during the darkest period of the year, but our need of the Light, of Truth, is year-round.

-Truth being resurrected-

This world tried to kill The Truth!  This is down in our hearts as humans.  We will kill the Truth and bury it, or put it under a tarp in the basement so long as it never gets out.  This is America; this is our world; this is me without Jesus!  Without Jesus, we are all struggling to live our lie.

What does Truth being resurrected say to us?  Can I just state the obvious?  It tells us that humanity will never be able to kill the Truth.  The Truth is that you can’t hide the Truth.  You can’t get away from the Truth.  Everything that you deal with and run into in this world was built on the foundation of Truth, even if it is rejecting the Truth.  To a person bent on getting away from Truth, this world, this universe, is a horror show filled with the rebukes of Truth everywhere.  We can manipulate much of God’s creation, but Truth is the framework upon which all of the creation operates.  Truth is the operating system of the creation, and we will never be able to create our own reality.  No matter how good our false path, false truth, and false life are in the moment, they are always headed over the cliff of Truth, and down the river of no return.

It is unavoidable, and it is not because God hates us.  He loves us too much to leave us trapped in deception and lies, and then lost forever.  No young person after a car wreck calls their dad and says, “Daddy, the perception in my mind has been wrecked!  Can you come and get me!”  So today, the Father of creation is waiting for you to cry out to Him in response to the reality you were trying to avoid.

The resurrection of Truth tells us that God will have His way in the end.  Those who embrace Truth will dwell eternally in the goodness of God.  Humanity will dwell in perfect Truth one day, and in fact, He has made it possible for each of us to taste of that Day in the now.

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus, The Truth?  Truth may have physically left this planet twenty centuries ago, but He did not leave us without Truth.  He gave the Truth to His followers, and also had them write the Truth down.  He gave the Spirit of Truth so that they and we could be guided into all Truth that we need.  Yes, Truth can dwell in your heart today by the Spirit of Christ.

Truth audio

The Savior of Humble Beginnings

Luke 2:10-12; Micah 5:2. December 19, 2021.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner. 

Here are some great quotes on humility.  Sir J.M. Barrie, “Life is a long lesson in humility.”  C.S. Lewis, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”  It has been also said somewhere that “Pride is about my glory; humility is about God’s glory.”

Today, we are going to take a deeper dive into the idea that God requires humility from us, not in order to keep us down (i.e., that is beneath Him), but rather so that He can lift us up.  In short, God is not proud; He never has been, period.  Therefore, Jesus the Son of God did not begin to be humble at the incarnation.  Don’t get me wrong.  It is an incredibly humble act, and yet, he chose it.  Only a humble person chooses a truly humble action.  Jesus has been eternally humble just as the Father.

This may sound like a small point at first.  However, it is huge.  It is the context of our hearts, minds, and the hearts and minds of the world around us that gets us all mixed up on pride.  It just doesn’t sink to us that the only being in the universe that “deserves” to be proud isn’t.

This world needs a Savior and the good news is that God has already sent us one.  The reality is that the world is still looking around for someone to save us, or some group.  “Yeah, we’ve heard of Jesus, but he just doesn’t cut it for us,” is the attitude that this world has, and many Christians as well.

Let’s look at the birth of Jesus and focus on the humble nature of it all.

O little town of Bethlehem

Everything in the natural about the birth of Jesus smacks of humility.  God did not pick the great Roman Empire, nor even the greatest city in Israel.  This would be the equivalent of God ignoring the united States of America today.  We might even say that He had to use Israel because they had been given the prophecies.  Yes, but that is exactly the point.  God overlooked all the great countries that existed and created a new country out of one man, Abraham.  God spoke to this small people in ways He didn’t with far greater empires.  Why would God do this?  Of course, He has a purpose, but it also goes to the heart of God’s own nature.  He is the kind of Being that is neither drawn towards our great prideful works, nor willing to draw near to those things. 

Jesus is born in Bethlehem.  Bethlehem was a small town that was 6 miles south of Jerusalem.  We don’t have population figures from that time, but scholars believe it to be from 500 to 1,000 at the most.  Even its name is quite humble.  It means “House of Bread.” 

If there is any distinction for Bethlehem, it is that it was the hometown of King David.  Of course, the only town that cares about things like that is the hometown, especially a small one.  People from small towns who go on to do great things, almost always do those great things somewhere else, often in the great cities of the world.

Bethlehem was also a place of humble occupation, which David had learned as well, shepherding.  Just as David come from humble origins, so too would the Savior of Israel, and the Savior of the world.  Being so close to Jerusalem, Bethlehem was a place that supplied sheep for the temple sacrifices.  This is an honorable thing, and yet, I am sure that no one in Jerusalem were thinking that this made Bethlehem something great.  Bethlehem was a humble place with humble people.  However, it had a calling upon it; a calling that was from God. 

Let us always remember that our greatness does not come in the scope of the things that we do.  It comes from the God who calls us to live according to His purposes.  Anything done in response to the calling of God is great because He is great.  We must never forget this.

So, what about Bethlehem’s calling?  The prophet Micah prophesied in Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

It is unclear whether Ephrathah is an older name of this town to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in Israel, or if it is the name of the area that Bethlehem was in.  Regardless, God showed Micah that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem.  This verse is the main reason that the priests and teachers of the law pointed to Bethlehem when the Magi asked about the birthplace of the King of Israel.  Though Bethlehem was small, a great ruler for Israel would come from it.

The phrase “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting,” has a double meaning.  First, the prophecies about this anointed king went back even before Israel.  From the very beginning in Genesis 3:15, we see the promise that one from the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.  However, knowing what we know about Jesus now, these words also point to his pre-existence.  These prophecies did not point ahead to someone who would exist in the future, but looked ahead to the intersection of The One who was with the Father in the beginning and a particular time when God would help Israel, and all the nations.  God loves to call the small and humble to big things!

Enough about the city in which Jesus chose to enter the world.  Let’s look at Jesus the child.

O little child of Bethlehem

The shepherds are told that they would find a baby in swaddling clothes.  This is not an intimidating picture for a Messiah to save Israel.  The Magi coming out of the desert with soldiers and their entourage would have been impressive.  These were not actually kings, but rather king makers.  They came from the Parthian Empire, which Rome was unable to subdue.  Yes, Jesus coming out of the desert as a mature man with angelic armies, that would be intimidating.  Or perhaps, Jesus could have descended on a cloud with the angelic armies during one of Israel’s feasts and touched down in the temple compound.  Yet, God did not choose such for his entry.  If He didn’t, then can we not see that it is because He is humble and not proud?  Those are the kind of things that we gravitate towards and desire.  Our politicians have signs the size of a school bus with their name and the music blasts as they come on the stage.  This was not the way of our Lord.  He is not proud and neither will he play to our pride.

This baby would also be lying in a manger.  This was not normal even for those days.  God knew there would be no room in the inn.  Why didn’t He fix that?  Maybe He did “fix it.”  Perhaps, we wouldn’t know a fix if it slapped us in the face.  In fact, that is part of our problem.  Our need for pride is like a junkie needing a fix.  Our cries for God to fix things are often just the cries of junkies wanting another “fix” from the Lord, wanting something that we think will get us right, but God know is just slavery.  He has a better vision for us than eternal junkies begging Him for another fix.  It was more fitting that Bethlehem would have no room for its most famous child to be born because that is our problem.  We just don’t have room in our proud lives for the humility of God.

There are many things that God doesn’t “fix” because our definitions are selfish.  Maybe God has fixed you life; maybe the things you want rid of are the very things that are necessary to bring you to see the truth.  Can you trust Him?

Something that we often overlook is that the multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men,” happened somewhere else in the fields, not at the manger.  It is not like the angels wouldn’t have done that if commanded to do so, but that was not the command.  This was a journey that Jesus had to take without them.  They reveal the news to shepherd and then send them to attend the baby Jesus.  Yes, shepherds are what every new mother wants right after they have given birth.  Jesus didn’t need the fanfare and sycophantic mob crying out his praises.  He is a humble savior who is looking for some humble repentant people, who will wait for the proper time of exaltation.

Think about it.  God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.  He puts down the proud and lifts up the humble.  How much clearer must He be?  Let us join the Lord in this time of humility (I mean that in the sense of being humble).  If we suffer with Him than we will doubtless be glorified with Him and be exalted in the proper time.

Humble Beginnings audio