John 14:1-14 "Jesus helps me to know God personally"

 

Today is the 4^th Advent. 

The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, which means “coming” or "arrival".  We speak of the four Advent Sundays which come to a climax with the arrival or birth or advent of our Lord Jesus on Christmas day.  This reminds us on a yearly basis also that there is also another advent in view – namely the second coming of Christ. Don’t forget that!

We have taken as our general text 2 Corinthians 5:19 for this advent season: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 

And in this season  we are thinking of at least 5 reasons why we ought to be thankful for God’s indescribable gospel gift:

1. Jesus, the indescribable gift from God makes us have peace with a righteous, holy, just God. We need peace, for through we have become enemies of God.  By trusting in Jesus I may have my sins truly forgiven and His judgment taken away. In Christ, I am truly free! “If the Son set you free, you will be free indeed!” (Jn.8:36)

2. This indescribable gift, the Lord Jesus assures me that beyond the grave I will possess life and joy and not a fearful prospect of judgment.

3. This indescribable gift, the Lord Jesus also satisfies the deepest, ultimate longings of my heart, and not just the superficial desires for personal comfort and prosperity.

4. This indescribable gift, the Lord Jesus helps me to know God personally. We shall consider this fact today.

5. And then lastly, this indescribable gift, the Lord Jesus can really change people. The testimony of the characters of the Bible, and the history of the influence of the gospel of Jesus in the world is an eloquent testimony to this fact. This will be the subject of Christmas morning.

Our anchor text for this message is John 14:9.  

“Jesus said to Philip, ‘If you have seen me you have seen the Father’".  

And our main point is this: When we see Jesus as He is, then we also see and understand God as He is - in His essential Nature and Being. Therefore get to know Jesus as He is revealed in the Bible, and you will get to know who God is and what He is like.  This means that you and I will have to be in the daily presence of Jesus and it means  that you and I  must be engaged in a lifelong study, prayerful meditation of the Bible, both in engaging in it for ourselves and also by listening to sound preachers of the Word. Always remember that God has given us an inspired Word[1] – a Testament in two parts about Himself.  And if you want to hear God speaking, read His Word aloud. Hear it spoken aloud. That is the safest way to get to know God.  

The great church father Augustine, before his conversion, was in a bad state. His life was falling to pieces, but the prayers of his godly mother Monica were being answered. Sitting in a garden, he heard children playing and singing, “Tolle lege, tolle lege” … take up and read. He  grabbed the Bible next to him and  read aloud  the first text that opened – Romans 13:13,14. The rest is history. He was a changed man.

We now consider the 4^th aspect:  God’s indescribable Gift, the Lord Jesus helps us to know God personally. It is this personal knowledge of God which we must now consider. Personal means, ‘near us’ and ‘in us’. We were made for intimacy with God.

7 Reflections: We were made for a Personal Relationship with God 

1. Consider the fact that we were originally made for this purpose

        i.            In the act of Creation we (mankind) were made for intimate fellowship with God. We alone of all creatures were made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27).  We alone, of all creatures were made to have a capacity for a relationship with the Creator.  

      ii.            BUT we also must recognise the fact that we no longer possess that special relationship. We are a fallen people.  The Bible teaches that sin has destroyed that personal fellowship (Genesis 3). This sin has alienated every descendant of Adam and Eve. No-one is righteous – not even one (Rom. 3:9-12; cf. Ps 14:1-3; 53:1-3).  We are far from God – each one of us. And Jesus, God’s indescribable gift alone can deal with this problem of our alienation from God.

    iii.            AND SO CHRIST CAME AT CHRISTMAS! In grace and mercy and unfathomable love, God has created a way to save those who look to Christ the Saviour (John 1:29). Those who look to Christ are freed from the bondage of sin, and they are led back into a personal relationship with God via the road of progressive sanctification. Those who look to Him are radiant, says Psalm 34:5. Why so?  

They have rediscovered their sense of identity, purpose and destiny. They are able to answer life’s three most important questions with confidence: Who am I? What is my purpose? Where am I going?

2. Immanuel is personal! Consider the fact that the holy God has made Himself known to fallen sinners once again in the person of His Son, who is Jesus – Immanuel – which translates as ‘God with us’. (Matt. 1:22;  cf. Isa. 7:14).  ‘With us’ means that He is near, and if He is near  then He is also personal. In Christ, God has become once again accessible to us: Ephesians 2:13-22, “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ… so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God ...”.  If we are born again and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and in fellowship with the household of God  where we are fed through  sound expository preaching we learn to get to know the  God from whom we became alienated. 

3. God the Son: Consider again who Jesus is, and what qualifies Him to make the Father known to us: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father". (John 1:1-4,14).  Jesus is here declared to be One who is from God and not only that. He Himself  is God. More than that, He as God took on flesh – our nature – minus sin (Philip. 2:1ff). If then He is  from God, but also One who became flesh, then He  is qualified to make God known, and that is exactly what the Bible says in John 1:18, ”No one has ever God; the only God  (note the deity of Jesus) who is at the Father’s side has made Him known.”

4. Jesus’ own promises of a continued personal relationship through the Holy Spirit:  Remember that Jesus, at His ascension told His disciples that He would not leave them as orphans (Jn. 14:18), but that He would send one like Himself (Jn.16:7), the Holy Spirit who would “dwell with you and in you” (Jn. 14:17). The Holy Spirit was given by God to bring Himself near to His people, and to maintain the closeness of God with His people. He is the indwelling Spirit. He is with us and in us. That is very personal, but people often forget that the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit is not primarily related to power manifestations, but to the leading of people into the knowledge of God through His Word, so that they might become what He is. It is a tragedy that the intimate Spirit has been abused by carnal men and women who are only after His effects - signs, wonders and miracles, but not after Himself, and not after  the defining virtues of holiness, godliness and Christlikeness.  The Holy Spirit’s main work is to make the person and work of Christ known (Jn. 14:26), and if Christ, then also the Father. Again I must remind you   what this is ultimately all about. We were created for God Himself. We have all fallen into sin. In that state we do not know God. We possess only the remnants of a far and distant and corrupted memory,  and that is why there are so many religions. They are all corruptions and false notions of God. Our greatest need is to get to know God. Jesus,  and the outpoured Holy Spirit ALONE  can  help  us  to find the way back to the one true God.  

5.  Jesus personal prayer for His people: Consider John 17, Jesus’ high priestly prayer, and particularly 17:26, the great conclusion of that prayer: “I made  known to them your Name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love  with which you have loved me  may be in them, and I in them”.  In this prayer Jesus   reveals His primary reason for coming: To make the God  whom the world has lost known, and to reignite a personal relationship  between  those who believe and the Father and the Son.  I remind you from Romans 8:34 that Jesus continues to pray for His people –  and essentially that they may remain intimate with their Father in heaven.

6. In Christ! Now consider one of Paul’s favourite phrases, applied to believers -”in Christ” – illustratively applied to Ephesians 1:1- 14: cf. verses 1b,3,4,6,7,9,11,13. In Christ or ’into Christ’ expresses our nearness to Jesus, the  Mediator between God and men. When we are ‘in Christ’ then we are also ‘in God’.  

7.  Our Future Destiny: The Father’s House – our future personal place. Finally we consider John 14:1-14, the text with which we began as we see how Jesus, in a most touching way leads us back in to the Father’s house and into the Father’s presence. This beautifully connects the parable of the lost Son (Lk. 15:11-32) with our own story. Consider that each  one of us is a lost son and daughter,  and by our conversion we are returning to the Father’s house, where we  are so well received  and where we shall finally see Him for who He is!   

Consider  from that text:

(i)        The necessity of believing in God and in Christ  in order to gain personal knowledge of God  (14:1,10,12)

(ii)       The certainty of being received into  a real place - eternal dwellings - the Father’s house (14:2)

(iii)       The assurance of  being in the personal presence of the Saviour (14:3)

(iv)    God’s patience with our uncertainties in the meantime: He bears with Thomas and Philip,  and in both cases  He reminds them that the way to heaven is  rooted in a firm  attachment (14:6) and a firm look at Christ. Jesus said to Philip, "If you have seen me you have seen the Father" (John 14:9). 

We end where we began. Our grand purpose, the meaning of life and our destiny is rooted in what we were made to be. We were made for God. We were made for intimacy, fellowship. 

Sadly we have gone in search of many things, other gods, other ways (idolatry).

But God who is rich in mercy gave us the very best, His Son. Those who look to Him  will  know the Father!   God wants to be known. He wants to be loved. He wants to be our Father and our Friend in the profoundest way imaginable. Although He is great beyond all imagination, He came near in Jesus so that we could know him. "If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him" (John 14:7). And if you have received this personal friend, who is also at the same time  the Mighty God  then you can truly say this Christmas,

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift."  Amen!

 

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[1] 2 Tim 3:16. We therefore depend on the Holy Spirit to be  the proper Interpreter

Christmas Message 2014 - Matthew 2:1-12

A very blessed  and happy Christmas to you all!

2014  has been a restless  year in the political  spheres  of the world.  But Christian  people are   the  most blessed and happy people, because  the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ has brought about  the fulfillment of  Isaiah 9:1-7 :  “But there will be   will be no gloom for her who was in anguish … the people  who walked  in  darkness have seen a great  light; those who  dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined… for unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon  his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting father, Prince of Peace…”

He is  God’s answer to this  sad world  so much filled with  pride, self- centeredness ,  envy  and jealousy,  lying,  pharisaical  and cruel religious bigotry (as seen in religious groups like  Boko Haram  and  ISIS) . Absence of  Christ is the reason why we  see  all the cold blooded  killings  whether  that of  a mother killing her 8 children in Australia,  or  senseless  high school killings in America ,  or abductions  of school girls and cold blooded assassinations in  Africa,  or ramming your vehicle into an unsuspecting   crowd in   Europe , as happened this past week in France – Jeremiah  called  this: “terror on every side!”[1]

God’s answer  for this  sin-sick and mad  world is the provision of a  good shepherd   of whom Isaiah says : “Turn to me  and be saved , all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other!” (Isa 45:22) . 

Life  in this fallen world desperately  needs a shepherd.  Isaiah  says :  “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way ; and the Lord has laid on him the  iniquity of us all.” (Isa 53:6) . Our world  cries out  for  leadership. We all  cry  “deliver us from evil!” , but unfortunately our hearts  seek solutions  that are not rooted in Christ’s  leadership . Satan knows this and  he   fills this void  with   false shepherds in the forms of  political dictators (such as Hitler, Stalin and Lenin etc.)  and also  with    false prophets  and   with false , self-  serving  priests.  Sooner  or later  people  regret  their endorsements of these  cruel leaders and they cry out for deliverance as   did the Israelites of old in the day of the  Judges. In the meantime God has  given us a  Good Shepherd of whom He said … “This  is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased…”  (Matt 3:17)  Oh how the world needs to hear the gospel  of the kind and good shepherd in these days of political turmoil!   

Our text (particularly  Matt 2:6), which is built on  a prophetic word from Micah 5: 1-6 ,  tells  us   that  God has  provided  the world with  an answer to the tyrannical reign of Satan,  and his anti-christ and the false prophet [2],  that cause so much trouble and lack of peace  in this world. The message of the angels  was  therefore significant: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” (Luke  2:14)   In the provision  of  a  true shepherd in whom the roles of prophet , priest and king  would be  uniquely combined, God ushers in  an age in which the gospel  of the kingdom of God which  Christ came to announce    drives  out  fear , and  lack of hope and  darkness. Wherever  and whenever Christ  takes possession of the hearts of people  there the kingdom of God comes on earth.

“Out of you  shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people  Israel “  - Matt 2:6

Let  us  take note  of the historical context  in which this announcement was  first made to king Herod  by the chief priests.  Jesus was born before King Herod died  in 4 B.C.  Incidentally  it  was  in  the year AD 533 that a  monk called  Dionysius Exiguus [3](c. 470 – c. 544)    invented the  Anno Domini (AD) era,    which was calculated  from  the birth of Christ.  With so many years  having past since the Lord’s birth, it was easy to make mistakes with respect to the  exact date of the Lord’s  birth  and this  in fact, was what happened.

The  wise men  from the east refer  to  members of  a  Persian priestly caste. These  were  steeped in the study of    astrology   and  of the  magic arts.  We see such  people frequently   as  court officials  and  advisors / prophets[4]  to   the kings   of the Middle east .   Since there were many Jews in Babylon (Persia) during  the  exile, these wise men from the east would have had a thorough acquaintance  about the  Jewish faith and the expectation of a Messiah, and even more significantly , they had begun to place their hope  in the Jewish Messiah.  So in  v.2  when they had seen the star  rising , this    was the sign for these three wise men  to get going .  Several astronomical possibilities have been suggested as an explanation of this star[5], but  there is  no satisfactory  explanation. It is best to leave this as a supernatural  occurrence. The point is that  these  wise men from Persia   saw this as a sign from God  indicating that  the Jewish  Messiah – King had   been  born.  They  thought that the king was to be born in  Jerusalem, and  that is why they landed on Herod’s  doorsteps .  Herod  in turn (v.3) was a man who  was  troubled by any report of a possible successor to his throne. He was  no Jew  and he must have been  aware that he  had no right of succession to David’s throne. He  had in fact been   appointed by the  Roman government.  Aware of his status and  aware of the expectations of the Jewish nation with respect to a Messiah  he consults  the Jewish  priests and the scribes (v.5).  It was  actually  common knowledge among the people that the Messiah was going to be born  in  Bethlehem , the city of David’s birth (e.g. John  7:42,52). Jesus was providentially  and circumstantially born in Bethlehem (2:1 à see v. 6 ), but relocated  to Nazareth in  Galilee immediately after this.  The circumstances of the birth of the Lord Jesus were prophesied  in the Scriptures, and particularly here in Micah 5:1-6 . Herod  of course had no intention of worshipping the child. He wanted to kill him and remove the perceived  threat to his throne.

Jesus  our Shepherd King

Against the background of  our introductory  comments on the present state of the world and also the historical  background as it is reflected in the Scriptures ,  we consider the Lord Jesus  the  promised shepherd  of the people of Israel. The shepherd  motif   runs through the scriptures.  Israel in her history has been governed by  good and bad shepherds. In Ezekiel 34 against the background of abusive shepherding , God promises  to  be a shepherd to His people. And, significantly , David  from whom  Jesus’ earthly lineage is traced  was a shepherd  (1 Samuel 16:11) . And according to Luke’s account  (Lk 2:8-18)  shepherds were among the first to be  privileged  to  see the newborn King in Bethlehem. Coincidence ?  Hardly!  All this is part  of God’s  plan  and purpose.

God provided  the   Lord Jesus Christ  as our Shepherd. The amazing truth  here is  that  God made His eternal Son, who is equal  to Him  in    substance , to become a shepherd for His people.  In John’s gospel  Jesus  makes it very clear that this is so (I AM the good Shepherd- see John 10 :1-16). In this passage  we learn  of the work of the Lord Jesus, the good Shepherd   for  us :

1.     The sheep  hear His voice and  they follow Him  (10:3-5). They know Him (10:14) 

2.     He is the door  of the sheep. He protects them (10:7) 

3.     He is the Good Shepherd  who lays down His life for the sheep  (10:11, 15)

4.     He is the Universal Shepherd. He will bring in His sheep from among Jew and gentile (10: 16) There will be one flock – one church comprised  of OT and NT  saints .

5.     Although He will lay down His life for the sheep, He will take His life up again (10:17,18). He is the Shepherd that triumphs  over all that is evil  for the flock (Satan, false shepherds), and  even over death itself.

All this  is implied in  Micah’s prophecy , here repeated in Matthew  2:6. So , the revelation given to us by Micah  and Matthew  helps us to see who Christ  is for us.  It is absolutely important  that we need to  know  who this babe of Bethlehem is.  

We have said it so often, and we say it again, that  Christ is absolutely trivialized  and sentimentalized  by our culture.  We focus  on the baby – but  we forget  that  this baby is called  at once “King of the Jews” (2:2) and  “the shepherd of Israel“ (2:6).  This is Satan’s  plot of to keep  us in darkness   regarding the person and purpose of Christ. The Bible tells us that  Christ was born   to shepherd believers  living   in a world that is  full of  physical and spiritual danger. The Bible teaches us that if we abide in Him   and if we  remain close to Him  and under His  protection we will be safe.  Our good Shepherd  will guide us home through treacherous territory – even in the midst of   our own sinfulness , and  even through our worst  experiences   and even through the portals of sickness and death itself (Psalm 23- the Lord is my Shepherd).

The  Bible pleads with us not to be as blind as  Herod, and the chief priests  and the scribes of the people were  with regard to Christ .

The Bible pleads with us not to  be pretense worshippers  and Christ killers like  Herod and the scribes and the Pharisees were .

The  Bible pleads with us  today  to   believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to  trust Him with all our hearts, even at great expense  and inconvenience , as was no doubt the case  of the  wise men from the east.

Do you know the Good Shepherd? 

The  story is told  of  a contest  in which Psalm 23  - the Shepherd Psalm  was to be  recited.  Two men  took part in this contest . The  one man was  an orator trained in speech technique and drama. He repeated the Psalm in a powerful and dramatic  way, and the audience was  captivated by his polished performance. Then the  other man  who was older but not nearly  as  polished recited Psalm 23.  This man had seen  the reality of Psalm 23  in his life , as he was carried  by the good Shepherd through many ,many  valleys and trials.  As  he began  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...”  the congregation fell silent. People just sat there  in  devotion and prayer.  Then the  first man, the orator got up and said:  “I have a confession to make.  The difference between what you have just heard from my older friend, and what you heard from me is this: I know the Psalm, my friend knows the Shepherd...”

Well dear  people,  it is my prayer  that  this Christmas  babe  whom you celebrate today  is not simply  someone  whom you admire and  about whom you can speak well. I trust  that He lives in  you  and that  He  moves you as you  KNOW that he IS YOUR Good  Shepherd. Amen !

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[1] Jer.  6:25;  20:10; 46:5; 49:29

[2] See our recent exposition in the book of Revelation 

[3] His name  could be translated as Dennis the  dwarf , or Dennis the small . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysius_Exiguus

[4] E.g.   2 Chronicles  18:5  ;  Jer 29:2,34:19; 41:16

[5] E.g. the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn in  7-6 B.C.  ;   Halley’s Comet in 12-11 B.C.

CHRISTMAS 2012 - Micah 5:1-6 : God brings Ultimate Significance out of Insignificance and Weakness!

Text :  Micah 5:1-6 ; Matthew  2:1-6

Title : God brings  Ultimate Significance  out of  Insignificance and Weakness!

Merry Christmas everyone! We, of all people  have  a strong reason  to say this, for with  Christ’s birth  everything has changed  for us. The  true Light  has come into the world , and as Isaiah says : “ The people  who walked in darkness have seen a great light ; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shined” (9:2). Like the Shepherds  we have seen Christ by faith. We have believed   that He is  God’s Messiah who  deals  effectively with  the sin of the world  (and my sin) , now and in the days to come.  He  was born to deal with  the oppression  that the fall  has brought about . He was born to deal with our great adversary , Satan . He was born to set us free ; He was born to  make us holy ; He was born to take us to heaven.    

On this Christmas morning I have chosen for us  Micah 5:1-6 ,  a  well- known text from the OT. It is a well known, but also a very obscure   text, which if you would read without understanding the immediate context (the days that Micah prophesied) , or within  the greater context ( the Bible)  , it  would leave you confused. 

So what I want to do is to  help us to understand  the historical context. From there   I want you to see  that God  delights  to glorify Himself  through what  appears to be  weak and foolish,  and then by way of application  send you away with  a  strengthened  confidence  that   you may  indeed  continue to  have strong confidence and trust  in Christ’s  person and work  for you and for the world !

THE CONTEXT :

v.1.  Micah prophesies  in the same days as Isaiah (1:1). He observes the  present distress of Israel -in this case the Assyrian invasion of 701 B.C.  "With a rod  they strike  the judge  (ruler/ king) of Israel on the cheek" , is an image of Hezekiah's total humiliation before the Assyrians  (see 2 Kings 18 ; Isaiah 36). At this time  even mighty  Babylon (see reference to  the land of  Nimrod  in v.6)  was in subjection to Assyria.

"Muster  your troops", is a summons not to lose hope, but to exercise faith against all hope, for  Micah says  that  God will  intervene in due time.

v.2  It is  therefore in the  context of Israel's humiliation and the demonstration of her powerlessness against  Assyria  that this  great messianic prophecy is given. God will send a  ruler, a king “ whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” He will come from the house of David, which presently in  701 BC   is   a former shadow of itself.  In her own strength  she cannot stand before her  enemy.  

v.3 & 4 :  This time of weakness will last  until the Messiah comes. What may surprise you  is that  we are talking here  about a period of 700 years  from this prophecy to the birth of  Jesus  the Messiah.  That may sound like eternity. Remember however    that God's  timing  is very different  to  ours.  The apostle Peter reminds us  in this regard   that we should not overlook this one fact … “that with the Lord  one day  is as a thousand  years  and  a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient to you…”  (2  Peter 3:9,10) . Don’t be tempted to think  of everything in terms of the scope of our own lives.  God sees history on a much grander scale!   You and I are  reminded that we are not infinite. Our lives  in the grander scheme of things are  of minute proportion.  

So , Micah says  that when  the Messiah comes, the effects  shall be  apparent: He will shepherd His flock ; they shall be secure … He will be their peace !  The  "rest of his  brothers" most likely refers   to the  ingathering of the Gentiles -  a process already underway, but yet to be  consummated in history.

v.5 &6  "The Assyrian" represents the enemies of the kingdom of God. Understand  that the  future is presented here  in the terms of the prophets' own world and  experience.  But  what is clear  from Micah’s prophecy and  from the message of the entire Bible  is that  the victory and the  rule and the kingdom will be Christ's !  Naturally   He will accomplish this  through  the involvement and participation of His people and  His  leaders.  He uses  Abraham, and Moses   and the Judges of Israel .  He even uses pagan kings  ( e.g. Cyrus  in Isaiah 45) to accomplish His purposes. God will raise up  people  to do whatever He desires . “ Seven”  (v.5)  is the number of perfection and “eight”  is one more than that! The Messiah's kingdom will have all the leaders we need and the very best of them; the enemy will be no match for them.  Jesus will reign!  All this  actually  needs to be read in wider context e.g.  Micah 4  where  we read of the golden age  ushered in by the Messiah. The golden age is the  messianic age, the consummation of the kingdom of God in the world will be brought to pass by the rule of this coming King.

I trust  that you are beginning  to see something that you haven’t perhaps consciously seen before . This is all happening now! The  Messiah has come. His kingdom is forcefully  advancing in this  world amidst many enemies.  Don’t  get lost in the details . Don’t let wars in Syria  and Mali detract  you. Don’t let the corruption of governments  and of people  steal your joy. You need to hear and see   the Bible's great vision  concerning the  reign of  Christ in this  world  and through His  church.  Wherever  He comes into the life of people  and communities  He brings peace. Swords are beaten to plowshares and spears  into pruning hooks  (Micah 4:3) . The body of Christ is  the army of God that pulls down the stronghold of  the enemy who is symbolically here the Assyrian.

That is what we see here before us  in the prophecy of Micah . And what I want you to see now is that  God brings life out of insignificance and obscurity. You can only see this  by faith through the careful  meditation  upon the Word of God , and with the help of the Holy Spirit,   who opens our spiritual eyes to these things. If you do not see this by faith , you  will miss it. Unfortunately we fallen human beings  are always looking for the “WOW” factor .  That is what the Pharisees and scribes and people of Israel  were looking for – a Jewish  ruler  who would conquer  the nations for  the glory of Israel . That was not God’s plan at all !

A surprising Observation : The Messiah will  conquer  through   Insignificance !

The chief priests and the scribes  in  Matthew 2  knew that Micah 5 was a clear reference to the Messiah. So  when Herod the king wanted to know  where this  messianic King was to be born (after the visit of the three wise men from the east) , King Herod was plainly told : He will be born in Bethlehem!  So it was written by the  prophet.     So it was determined in the holy Scriptures  by the  God  who  holds the future of the world and all its peoples in His hand.  And in this regard He  had predestined that His eternal Son would  be miraculously  was born  in Bethlehem.  His  mother  would be an  insignificant peasant woman   from Nazareth.  She  became  pregnant by divine design.

The human  reason why Jesus was born in Bethlehem  (and not in  Nazareth in Galilee)  was  because of  a decree  that went out from the Roman  Caesar Augustus,   that all the world should be registered. This required each head of the household to return to his place of birth.  Joseph  the husband of Mary needed to return  to Bethlehem  with his young family, and  with a highly pregnant Mary. And so it came to pass  that Jesus  of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem, and not in Nazareth.  

The divine  reason why Jesus  was  born  in Bethlehem was according to God’s design . This is what He had put into the mouth of  His servant Micah. Not Caesar Augustus , not  Quirinius the governor of Syria , not King Herod the present  corrupt  king of Israel whose design it was to kill Jesus  could resist this  divine design. It had to happen as the prophet had said !  Christ had to be born in  Bethlehem , the city of David   

But not only did the  chief priests and the scribes know this.  It appears as if  many  of   the  common people of Israel also knew this ! Once , when  people were divided in their opinion  about who Jesus was, some observed:   "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" (John 7:42).   

So both the spiritual leaders and the people knew that Micah 5 predicted the coming of the Ruler – Messiah who would be king in Israel.  He would come at a time when Israel was politically insignificant and downtrodden. This was substantially true for these 700 years.  What they  could not see because of the darkness of their own hearts  was  that this insignificant  baby born to insignificant parents in an insignificant town, in an insignificant stable  was much more,   and infinitely  more  than they with human eyes and reason could conceive.

Application:

Dear people,  don’t stumble at the thought of   insignificance and obscurity. Don’t  look for the WOW factor. Look for the faithful, consistent  testimony of  Scripture  concerning the  true nature of the Messiah  in His humble birth , His humble life and  terrible death.

Why does God do this? Because  He will share His glory with no one else!  When  God acts, no man  will have reason  to   boast.  Note – God chooses Bethlehem and not Jerusalem! In fact,  the city of  Jerusalem becomes the city of shame. She not only  killed the prophets in her long history, but she  became the city  of the   earthly grave of  the Messiah. She was the city that Jesus wept over. She was the city that submitted  Him to the cruelest torture and  forms of execution.  

In Bethlehem, God  did not choose the local Hilton hotel. As a matter of fact the was no room at the local inn  (because so many others had come to register).  God chose a stable  for His  Son to be born in.  No one gets the glory. No one  gets  to sainthood  because they made space  in their home for a humble  family from Nazareth who had come to  be registered in the census.

God glorifies Himself  in the things that are not. He comes to us  through the despised and the insignificant – and THAT is the reason why most people cannot see Him! To most people  this is  offensive  and scandalous’

This is precisely what  the apostle Paul  said to the Corinthians  in 1 Corinthians   1:27-31  :   

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Invitation

And now,  I call upon you  on this Christmas day  to  put your faith fully  in  Christ.

·         Do not be intimidated by  Christ’s obscurity in the Scriptures. Marvel that you are able to see Him  in these sacred pages.

·         Do not look for more than what is revealed.  Don’t look  for the WOW factor. Trust Him  with all your heart. What He has showed you now is sufficient.

·         Do not be intimidated by the picture that this world presents to you in the daily news. Remember that God promised  Micah   to deliver His people  in the worst of times . He does it again and again. In fact , the time when Christ came  was the worst of times for Israel as they were groaning under the Roman yoke.  

·         Do not be surprised that the church suffers in the midst of all these things. In the midst of all these things God (Immanuel) is with us!  Remember that Jesus said in John’s gospel : “ In this world you will have trouble , but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

·         Remember  that God  will get  the glory. Not  towns and  cities, not human kings  - no one  shares  His glory!  The angels had it right : "Glory to God in the highest!" Not glory to us.