Last week we spent a few minutes
with the young people thinking about the imminent arrival of
the celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ's birth. We were thinking
that in a few weeks' time, everyone was going to be very pleased
and very happy at the prospect of the gifts and the presents
that are part of the whole Christmas experience for so many people. And we thought that we would
take the opportunity to think about a few interesting facts
about the Lord Jesus Christ's birth. and that we would think
about that in these short sessions on Sunday when we are gathering
together. Last week, we thought about how
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was foretold in the Old Testament
scriptures. Our Bibles are the Old Testament
and the New Testament, and the Old Testament scriptures especially. There was much said about the
Lord Jesus Christ's birth, when it was going to happen, how it
was going to happen, all the circumstances related to it. We realize that right in the
very earliest book of the Bible, the book of Genesis in chapter
three, all the way through to the announcement that was given
by the angel Gabriel to Mary, that there had been this foretelling,
this prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus. Men and women
looked forward to the coming of Jesus and he was to be the
salvation for sinners. He was to be the bringer of peace
from God. So in a sense it ought not to
surprise us when we discover that this birth of this child
was so long foretold that the actual birth itself was strange
and unusual. It was wonderful and it was marvellous. It was itself a miracle when
it took place. And it's good for us to both
realise and remember that, especially today, because many people seem
to forget that in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, God became
man. They will look at the birth of
Christ as an example of the prospect of new life and all that that
means and the potential that it brings, or that Jesus was
a good example for us, or that Jesus taught us things by which
we should practise and guide our lives. And while there's
an element of truth in these matters, the most important thing
to remember is that at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, God
became man. So the second interesting fact
about Jesus' birth is this, that it was a miracle. The first one
that we thought about was it was foretold long ago. The second one is this, that
it was a miracle. And there are three things that
I want you to remember about Jesus' miraculous birth. The first is this, that the Lord
Jesus Christ did not have an earthly human father. Now everyone that is born in
this world, one way or another, has an earthly human father. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
different. He was born as the direct result
of all three persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, engaging together in the birth of this special
child. It was the combined work of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, all three
persons being involved in the birth of Christ, because we are
told in the book of Hebrews that the Father prepared a body for
the Lord Jesus Christ to inhabit. We are told that the child that
was conceived in the womb of Mary was conceived by God the
Holy Spirit. And we are told that the Lord
Jesus Christ himself purposefully and actively took upon himself
our human nature. He took our flesh and he took
our blood. So in Hebrews 10, verse 5, we
read these words, Wherefore, when he cometh into the world,
he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body
hast thou prepared me. The Father prepared a body for
the Lord Jesus. And then we read about the Holy
Spirit coming upon Mary, that before they came together, that
is before Mary and Joseph were ever united together as a couple,
before they ever came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. And that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. Remember what Gabriel said to
Mary when he spoke to her about this miraculous thing that was
going to take place. He said, the Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee. Therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Hebrews again tells us that as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ, took part of the same and joined
himself to our nature. So you see, the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit were all involved in this miraculous birth
of Jesus. The most extraordinary thing
that this tells us is that the child Jesus was made flesh of
our flesh and blood of our blood, that he might be one with us,
like unto his brethren. Another amazing thing about this
birth is that Mary was a virgin. In Matthew 1, 21, we are told,
behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a
son. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child. See that little word in there,
behold? We don't use that so very often
these days, but that is a wow word. That's a wow word. Do you know what a wow word is?
It's a word that says, wow, wow. And that's right, because virgins
can't have children. It takes a man and a woman to
come together, and it should be a marriage situation for children
to be born. But this was a wow thing. This
was a virgin who gave birth because God himself had brought that
little child into her body. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was
a virgin who had never known a man. So while Jesus had a natural
mother, he did not have a natural father. And that proves the word
of God to be true because Jesus is described as being made of
a woman. He was not made of a man and
a woman, he was made of a woman. And Galatians chapter four and
verse four tells us, when the fullness of time was come, God
sent forth his son made of a woman. The third and last thing that
I want to draw your attention to is this, that this birth was
miraculous because it was the means by which God was going
to enter into our world and into our humanity and into our race. God didn't come as a spirit to
represent us, nor did he send an angel to represent us, but
because we needed help, because as a race we are a fallen people,
because sin is in this world, God came to redeem his people
from their sins and he came and joined himself to us as one of
us. in order to fulfil that wonderful
role. In Matthew 1.21, again, we read
these words, The Lord Jesus Christ has a lot of
names in Scripture, and each name that he has given tells
us something special and particular about him. And here the name
that is given to him is Emmanuel. When Jesus came into the world,
God came into the world. When Jesus took our flesh and
nature, God took our flesh and nature. When Jesus dwelt with
his people as one of them, so God dwelt with his people. So now when we need help, we
go to the Lord Jesus. We go to that one who knows all
about us. Do you sometimes feel sad? Jesus
knew what it was to be sad. Do you sometimes feel as if you
are lost and alone? Jesus knew what it was to be
alone. Do you sometimes see those people
around you and wonder what's happening and what's going on?
The Lord Jesus Christ dwelt with men and women and He knows, He
is touched with the feeling of our infirmities so that all of
the weaknesses that we have, all of the trials that we face,
all of the difficulties that we endure, we can go to the Lord
and know that He understands. And that's a wonderful resource
that we have. That's a wonderful thing to be
able to do because as young people and as older people, we often
have trials and troubles and we can go to Jesus with them. He understands and he sympathises
because he is a true man like us. But the greatest thing is
this, that he is able to save us from our sins. because he,
as God, has power over sin, power over death, power over hell,
power over the grave. Let us never think that the birth
of Jesus is simply a story that is told. that it is simply the
message that allows us to hang a lot of festivities and good
times and fun and holidays and good eating and gift giving.
The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is much more important than all
of those things, good as they might be. Because this is the
message of a miracle that happened in this world. that our sins
might be forgiven through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God with us, into this world in a most miraculous way. We need to know this story and
we need to believe this story, for this is the truth of the
word of God. Amen.