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Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer
The
words are very familiar. We know them all, don’t we?
“And she brought forth her first-born son, and laid
Him in a manger. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger
because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Or
we sing “Who is He in yonder stall at whose feet the shepherds fall?”
And
the amazing thing is that the answer that you give to that question determines
your eternal destiny.
There
is no question on Planet Earth that is more important than that one. Who is
this child?
Well,
we know that there are different answers to that question.
The
answer of popular culture is that this child is a baby, at best a teacher, but
He’s harmless. He’s one who puts his arms around everybody and tells us that we
should simply love everybody.
But
He’s not the kind of Jesus who would interrupt your lifestyle. He’s not the
Jesus who might offend you.
No,
he’s not the Jesus who might point out your sin. He’s not that Jesus. He’s the
Jesus of popular imagination, and as long as He stays a baby, nobody fears him.
In
fact, there are all kinds of warm feelings that we have about this Jesus.
He’s
a wonderful universal man and He applies himself to everyone and all that we
need to do is to take Him like a book at Christmas.
We
bring Him down at Christmas and then we put Him back on the shelf and that’s it
for another year. That’s the answer of popular culture.
And
then there’s also the answer of Islam. Islam says that Jesus was a prophet, a
very revered prophet.
Islam
mentions Jesus 93 times in the Qur’an. But it also teaches that Jesus didn’t
die on a cross.
Surah
4:157 and following says that they thought that they were crucifying Jesus but
they were wrong. They didn’t crucify Him.
As
a matter of fact, Islam says that they revered Jesus more than we do because
God loved Him so much He never allowed Him to die.
Now
no matter how we might understand that, the fact is that this sincerely and
greatly misunderstands who Jesus is and why He came, and why the cross is the
best expression of God’s love.
And
then there’s also the answer of the merchants. Who is Jesus for the merchants?
Jesus is a commodity to be advertised, and He’s one who can be sold.
Yesterday
I was riding in the car and on the radio it said that this year one-half
percent more has been spent up until this time for Christmas than last year.
It’s really all that matters. It’s the bottom line.
Christmas
on the news is not about the birth of Jesus. Christmas on the news is what do
the retailers think and how much are we going to spend on ourselves at
Christmastime?
Well,
those are the answers that we have floating around in our culture, but what is
the biblical answer?
The biblical answer is that Jesus was God. “Unto us
a Child is born. Unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His
shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God.”
Jesus is God. And the Apostle Paul says, “Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.”
Almost
every Christmas I tell you about our oldest daughter when she was about 7 years
old, and she asked me this question.
She
said, “Who was taking care of the world when God was a baby?”
It’s
an excellent question and it’s the kind of a question that only a child would
ask. Who was taking care of the world when God was a baby?
Well,
I’m going to be answering that question in a few moments, but I’d like to spend
a few moments today giving you a rationale for the fact that Jesus of necessity
must be God.
If
we are to be redeemed from our sins, and the Bible says that He came to redeem
His people from their sins, why does God have to do it? Can’t somebody else?
Can’t some other creation do it? Why God?
There
are a couple of reasons. First of all, it’s because of the extent of our
predicament, because of the extent of our problem with sin.
You
see Horace was a playwright, and he commented on the various plays that were
used in Rome in the theater of his day. And he said that the writers sometimes
brought God onto a stage.
You
see, what happened was that as the plot developed it became so complicated that
no human being could resolve it, so what the playwrights would do is they would
bring God onto the stage and a god would do a miracle and then the plot would
be resolved.
Horace said that they were bringing God onto the stage
too soon. He said, “God should not be brought onto the stage until the plot
is so incredibly difficult, until there is absolutely no way out, and only then
should God be brought on the stage.”
My
dear friend, today our situation, our predicament is so difficult that only God
could unravel it. You see if you are sick you need a doctor. If you are
drowning you need a lifeguard, but if you are dead you need a God to resurrect
you.
And
the Bible says that we were dead in our trespasses and in our sins, and as a
result of that we need God to deliver us.
And
so, we need to keep in mind, folks, that we needed God resolve our problem. And
you see the problem is that if sin were only eating chocolate we might be able
to redeem ourselves.
We
might be able to better ourselves, but the Bible talks about us not only being
dead in trespasses and sins, but also not knowing that we are dead in
trespasses and sins.
Like Luther said, “The natural man is blind and
deaf and dead, but he perceives himself to be able to see, and to be able to
hear, and he sees himself as being alive because physically we are, but we are
separated from God and only God can enter into our world to redeem us.”
There’s
another reason, and the other reason is because of the fact that God’s holiness
demanded it – His justice.
You
see in Islam, Allah forgives and there is no sacrifice for sin. He just chooses
to forgive.
But
let me ask you a question. The other day I read an account where somebody was
so angry at somebody else that they took a car and rammed it in a parking lot
to hurt the other person, to try to kill them.
Now should we just simply say, “Well, you know he’s
asking forgiveness, and so we just grant it.”
No,
there’s something within us that says that this person must pay. Justice must
be satisfied. Now you multiply that and you magnify it in the case of God and
what you discover is that God must be satisfied.
Justice
must be appeased. A sacrifice for sin must be given. Somebody needs to pay. The
question is who.
Could
an angel have paid? No, an angel could not have paid and let me explain to you
why.
It’s
because the person who pays has to become one with the people whom he is
redeeming, and angels are not human beings. So very immediately they are
disqualified.
What about a perfect human being? Could God have
created a perfect human being and said, “You die on the cross; you make a
sacrifice for humanity because I’ve created you perfect”?
The
answer is no because even if that human being could redeem one person – one
human being in the place of another human being (even if that were possible),
you couldn’t have one human being bear the sin of millions and billions of
human beings. No, God had to do it.
God says, “I’m going to become one like those who
I’m going to redeem. I’m going to become a man to redeem humanity, and on that
perfect person will be laid the iniquity of the world.”
Your
awful sin and your inability to even realize your sin will be laid on Him – the
iniquity of us all, and in six hours time He is going to endure the suffering
of an eternity of hell so that you and I could go free. And that’s the Gospel.
And thank you to whoever you are over here saying
thank you. I appreciate that because all of us should say, “Thank you,
Father, for that gift in Jesus Christ.”
And
so you see, God was in flesh – perfect humanity, perfect deity to do what no
human being could do.
And
of course, if God delegated it to some created creature we’d give that created
creature honor and glory, and God wouldn’t receive the honor and the glory.
But
God receives it because the Bible teaches so clearly that God is a redeeming
God. Jehovah is salvation. He does it.
Now
the question is how did the two natures relate together?
Sometime
ago I was in a panel discussion and a Muslim asked me this question. It was an
excellent question. That’s why we need more dialog. We need more discussion
with those who disagree with us because sometimes there are misunderstandings.
And this Muslim said to me, “Do you believe that
Jesus Christ is God?”
I
said, “Yes.”
He said, “Do you believe that Jesus died on the
cross?”
“Yes.”
He said, “If that is the case then you are saying
that God died. How can God die?”
Well the answer to that question is, “Of course,
God didn’t die as God.”
It’s
unthinkable. You see Jesus died in His perfect humanity. His body died, but God
didn’t die.
And
that actually is the answer to my daughter’s question. Who was taking care of
the world when God was a baby?
When
you held that baby in your hand there was much more to Him than you could have
possibly seen with the human eye because God was doing what God does, upholding
the Universe, and governing the world, and He continued to do that all
throughout the redemptive process.
God
cannot die. But Jesus as a man died. His humanity died, and on Him was laid the
iniquity of us all.
Now
with that background, I want us to see just briefly what Jesus has to say about
Himself in the book of Revelation – chapter 22, and let’s spend a moment
contrasting this with the fact that Jesus also was a baby. Let’s notice this.
First of all, you’ll notice that Jesus is speaking
there in verse 12. “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing My recompense with
me, to repay each one for what he has done.”
And then he says in verse 13, “I am the Alpha and
the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
That’s what Jesus said about Himself. You could say,
in terms of figures of speech, that this is an alphabetical figure of speech. “I
am Alpha (That is the beginning.), I am Omega (That is the last
letter of the Greek alphabet.).”
We
would say, “I am A, and I am Z.”
Notice He says, “The first and the last, the
beginning and the end.”
Jesus
is affirming here His deity.
As it says in the Old Testament, “From everlasting
to everlasting, Thou art God.”
And
Jesus here is emphasizing His eternality, the fact that He is the Lord and the
fact that He is God.
Now
the Encyclopedia Britannica, as you know, has thirty volumes I think on science
and history and philosophy and all of the knowledge of humanity, and Jesus, of
course, being the Alpha and the Omega is the A to Z.
It
has all of this knowledge, and it’s all communicated in 26 letters. Jesus
contains within Himself all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the Bible
says, and in Him are all things. Wow!
Who
is Jesus? Well, I can tell you this about Jesus. He’s the creator of the stable
in which He was born. All of the elements that went into the building of that
stable, whether wood or stone, He created them.
He
is the owner of the inn that rejected Him. He owns the place because He owns
everything.
He
is the One who is going to be judge and He is the One who is going to rule, and
so you have Jesus Christ here as the beginning and the end.
He
was here at creation because He was the One who did the creating. He was here
at His birth, veiled in flesh the Godhead see.
You
couldn’t see everything that belonged to Him, but nonetheless He was here
always doing His thing, ruling the world by the word of His power. So that’s
the first figure of speech. It’s an alphabetical figure.
Let’s go to a second figure of speech and that is in
verse 16. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things
for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David.”
If
the first one is an alphabetical figure of speech this is a botanical figure of
speech – the root and the offspring of David.
Don’t
you find the Bible fascinating?
Just
think about this for a moment. Jesus Christ, in being the root of David, and David
being a branch, indicates that He is David’s Father, because as creator, of
course He belongs to David and belongs as the Creator and the Father of David.
But
also the Bible says very clearly that He is the offspring of David.
Jesus used this Himself, you remember, in the Gospels.
He loved to ask questions that people couldn’t answer, and one of the questions
that He asked them was, “The Messiah – whose Son is He?”
And
they said, “Well, He’s the Son of David.”
And He said, “You are right but why did David also
call Him Lord? How can He be David’s Son and be David’s father – David’s Lord?”
Well
the answer is He is both. As God, He is David’s Lord.
As
God, He is David’s Father, but as man He is also the offspring of David.
That’s
why you have the genealogies that talk about the birth of Jesus and who Jesus
really was, and so Jesus here is presented to us as man.
So, first of all the first figure of speech is Jesus
is God. “I am Alpha and Omega – the first and the last.”
He’s
God. But from the second figure of speech – He’s the root and the offspring of
David, it seems very clear that He is man. He’s man.
Now
what is the next figure of speech? We could say that it is one based on
astronomy – astronomical figure of speech.
Notice He says, “I am the root and the descendant
of David, the bright morning star.”
That’s
probably a reference to Venus. The morning star is the star that comes out
indicating that dawn is on its way.
The
sun is about to rise, and what Jesus is saying is that in His coming He is
predicting the day when the Son is going to arise, and of course He’s going to
return to earth, and He is a reminder of that.
And
His star, the bright star, outshines all of the other stars that might be out
there.
In
fact, one day I was speaking to someone who belongs to another religion, and
this other religion has a prophet.
And
I was talking to him about it and helping him to see that once the bright star
comes out all of the other stars fade into insignificance, particularly when
the sun comes out, they all fade into oblivion.
And
in the presence of the Son of God, all other human stars disappear, and Jesus
now is the bright and the morning star. That means that He is King.
In the book of Numbers, it says in chapter 24, “I
see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near.”
Now listen carefully. It says, “A star shall come
out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel (and unto Him shall the
gathering of the people be.)”
Notice
their kingship is directly connected with being a star.
So,
we have in these three figures of speech that Jesus Christ is God, Jesus Christ
is man and Jesus Christ is King – King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now notice that in light of the fact that He is a
King, notice what the text says in Revelation 22:17. “The Spirit and the
bride say ‘Come.’”
What
they are welcoming is the King. They are saying that in light of the fact that
You are the King, You come and You come to us, and let the one who is thirsty
come, or the one who hears say come.
That
refers to all of us doesn’t us? All those who have accepted Jesus Christ as
their Savior, they all desire that the Lord come.
In
fact, the Bible says that there is a special crown given to those who love His
appearing.
And
of course, all believers, if they are honest, unless they are living far away
from God, desire the appearing of Jesus because they love Jesus and they want
Him to return.
And
so, we join the Spirit. The bride is a reference to the Church.
We join the Spirit and the bride, and we all say, “Come,
Lord Jesus, and let the one who hears (That’s all of us as individuals), we say
‘Come,’” and then suddenly in the middle of the verse (and I hope that you
are looking there at Revelation 22:17) we have a switch.
“And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who
desires to take the water of life without price, let them come.”
So now the coming in the first half of the verse is, “We
are asking Jesus to come,” and now Jesus is asking those who are thirsty to
come.
And
right after this service those of you who are thirsty you can come and take of
the water of life without price. This is such a beautiful figure of speech.
I
want to talk to you just for a moment because there are those of you who are
listening to me today who have never trusted Christ as Savior, and you have
tried all the watering holes of the world.
You’ve
tried your sexuality. You thought that happiness and fulfillment would be
there. If you’ve been disappointed, you feel hollow and you feel empty.
You’ve
tried money. You thought that surely it would reside there. You thought that
success would finally bring it to you and fill that huge vacuum in your heart,
and that hasn’t happened.
Then
you thought to yourself if you become well known and other people think well of
you and you establish your reputation and everybody respects you that will be
the means of fulfillment. And that hasn’t worked either, so you are thirsty.
Within
us there is a desire for God that cannot be quenched any other way except by
God Himself, and so God bids you to come to Him.
You
come. Admit the fact that there’s hollowness in your life that you yourself can
find no answer to. It’s found in Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Now notice the blessing that Jesus gives to those who
come, and for that I want to go to verse 14. “Blessed are those who wash
their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they
may enter the city by the gates.”
Now
isn’t it wonderful to realize that when you come to Jesus Christ your robes can
be washed white and clean.
Keep
in mind that Jesus Christ is the One who created the Holy City, and Jesus is
the One who controls the gates of the Holy City.
And you’ll notice it says in verse 15, “Outside are
the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters,
and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
What
a division!
Now
if you are here today and you fit into the category of verse 15 (that you are
sexually immoral, into sorcery, etc. etc. and all the other sins that are
listed), there is such good hope for you that you can fit into verse 14.
“Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they
might have a right to the tree of life.”
Heaven
is going to be filled with all kinds of people who were referred to as dogs and
sorcerers and the sexually immoral and the murderers and those who love a lie.
Heaven
will be filled with those who allowed Jesus Christ to redeem them and to wash
their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
Today
I’m speaking directly to you now, one on one. When you think of the question of
who is this baby in the manger, don’t be beguiled or misled because of the
ordinariness of it all.
Ordinary
baby! Supposedly ordinary parents! Yes. Ordinary crib! Ordinary manger!
Ordinary clothes!
Don’t
allow that to obscure the fact that this is God – the beginning and the end,
the root and the offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star, the Savior,
the creator and the One who distinguishes between those who can go into the
heavenly city and those who can’t.
Jesus
invites you today to Him. Do you know Christ personally? Have you received Him
as Savior?
Do
you fit into the category of verse 14, or verse 15? Who are you?
Notice
that the Spirit and the bride say come to Jesus, and then the one who is
athirst comes, and the one who is thirsty, let him take of the water of life
without price. It is free and God wants you today to believe on Christ.
Isn’t it interesting how the book of Revelation ends? “I
warn everyone who hears of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them,
God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes
away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God will take away his share
in the tree of life and the holy city which are described in this book.”
I
know that this warning refers primarily to the book of Revelation, but in a
sense, it refers to the entire New Testament, that we should not take away
God’s words, we should not add to them, we should revere them, we should study
them.
And then verse 20, “He who testifies to these
things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of
the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”
I
might say that at this point God has nothing more to say.
Do you know Christ as Savior? Have you believed on
Him? Is the Holy Spirit of God speaking to you, and saying, “Come to Christ;
come to Him?”
He
is all that you need to have your sins forgiven, your robes washed so that you
can enter into the holy city.
Let’s
join together in prayer.
Father, we ask in Jesus’ name that You might take
these words however imperfectly given, and that the Holy Spirit might use Your
word and by Your Spirit speak to those for whom this message was intended. And
we pray that You might not give them rest until they come to know You
personally and receive You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Moody
Church Media is a donor-supported
ministry of The Moody Church in Chicago, Illinois.
We’ve
been sharing the good news of Jesus Christ since 1864. Our founder, D.L. Moody
came to Chicago looking to become a businessman and ended up as one of the
greatest teachers of God’s Word around the world. His passion was to share the
Gospel with every one, everywhere—to the very ends of the Earth—a mantle we
carry today.
Within
this site you will find the teaching of The Moody Church’s Pastor Emeritus, Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer—over 35 years
of sermons! We want to help you in your walk with the Lord, find materials for
personal study, or, if you don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we
want to share the plan of salvation with you.
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