This is the season that the entire world recognizes and celebrates the Miracle of the Ages. Nothing in time or eternity can match the significance of what happened on a Judean hillside nearly 2000 years ago. All of time has been divided into “before” and “after” because of this Divine Visitation. Jesus came. Jesus came from heaven. Jesus was sent by God into the earth. He came in the form of flesh and was born of a virgin. This had never happened before and it will never happen again. This is the Miracle of the Ages. God became Flesh.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The Incarnation is the most significant and awesome and overwhelming work of God since the Creation of all things. It (the Incarnation) is the crowning achievement of the Work of God and is the most complete expression and revelation of His Nature and Character. God became flesh. And He dwelt among us.
He came to earth because of sin. Sin had separated God from His Children and God wanted them back. Jesus came to redeem the human race from the fall of Adam.
Rom. 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Jesus came to earth from heaven for your benefit and for mine. He came in obedience to His Father. As we begin this message, let’s notice at least six reasons why Jesus came to earth:
- Jesus came because God said He would .
Num. 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Isa. 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The heart of revealed Scripture is prophetic and Messianic in nature. God promised our deliverance from sin’s control and dominion in the first Book of the Bible.
Gen. 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The moment Adam sinned; God set in motion a Plan to redeem His Dream. Here God promises to do Something to bruise the head of satan. The “It” that will bruise satan’s head is the seed of a woman. That Seed is Jesus. The bruise that satan renders to the Seed of woman is the Crucifixion of Jesus. Here in the very beginning of the written Word, God accurately prophesies that Jesus will come to earth and do something about the devil.
2. Jesus came to heal hurting hearts.
For 500 years there had been no Voice from God. No prophet. No Divine visitation. No miracle. Human hearts were stricken with barrenness. The whole earth was held in the bondage of a Spiritual drought. Men were desperate. The world was waiting in great need for something to happen.
Godly people were kept in slavery by a fierce anti-God government. Rome. This Empire was governed Ceasars who considered themselves gods. Humanistic philosophers deceived the masses through reason and rhetoric. The armies were cruel, sadistic, savage, and merciless. Injustice prevailed. Slavery was enforced. Oppression was unbearable.
In this harsh setting, there was a cry for God. No visitation. No miracle. No voice from heaven. No prophet. No touch from God. The sick remained sick until they died.
The lame could not be healed.
The blind, deaf, and dumb had no hope of a cure.
The oppressed had no escape.
Men were burdened. Bruised. Broken. There was no answer.
The world was in great need for a Spiritual Awakening.
Jesus came from heaven to answer the cry of a needy world.
3. Jesus came to break the bondage of dead religion.
In spite of the horror of a world without God, Religion flourished. Religion does not need God to flourish. Most religion is without God anyway. It is true today and it was true 2000 years ago.
During the Interbiblical Period, the Judiastic System continued on its path of rule, regulation, and legalism.
Jesus sets men free. Free from dead religion and man’s traditions and denominational customs. Free from laws, rules, and regulations. Free for bondage to carnal deacons and ungodly church leaders and unscriptural church government. Jesus said that we would and could know the TRUTH (the Gospel) and the TRUTH would make us FREE.
The Jews in Jesus’ day lived in total subjection to (1) The Law of Moses (2) the sayings of the Prophets and (3) the Writings that had been handed down from generation to generation. There were 613 separate laws and commandments and rules and regulations that every Jew was required to obey and keep. That is why Jesus said of the Scribes and Pharisees: “They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men’s shoulders: but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…” (Matt. 23:4)
Jesus came from heaven to earth to break the shackles of dead religion. Religion builds walls. Jesus tears them down. Religion separates. Jesus joins together. Religion kills. Jesus gives Life.
The Jews kept God shut up in the Holy of Holies, behind thick curtains and unreachable by man. But when Jesus was Crucified the veil of the Temple was “rent”….
Matt. 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
And God got out! Jesus sets the captive free. Just like He did for you and for me.
4. Jesus came to Reveal the Nature of God. To show us what God is like.
Jesus came from heaven to earth to answer the question: “What is God like?” Jesus is the Perfect Revelation of God. Jesus “condescended” and “made Himself of no reputation…” to reveal to you and me and all creation what God is really like. The Incarnation of Christ is the greatest miracle of all time. This is the season of that celebration. All the world can now know what God is like.
Phil. 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Phil. 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Phil. 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Phil. 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Phil. 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Phil. 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Jesus reveals the Nature of our Father God. He said: “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…” Jesus “condescended” to this earth and “made Himself of no reputation” (He laid down (1) His equality with God (2) The Glory He shared with the Father in Heaven (3) His Authority in Heaven (4) His Divine attributes and outward powers) in order to reveal the Nature and Character of God. Jesus is the Perfect Revelation of God. Jesus “put a Face on God.”
Jesus came from Heaven to earth to Reveal the Nature of God.
5. Jesus came from Heaven to earth to put away sin and destroy the works of the devil. To deliver us from sin’s control and dominion.
Hebr. 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
athetesis {ath-et’-ay-sis} 1) abolition, disannulling, put away, rejection
1John 3:8 …..For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Jesus came from heaven to earth to undo the works of the devil. He came from heaven to earth to put away sin… once and for all. Under the OT system, the blood of bulls and goats, sheep, and lambs was only a temporary solution to the sin problem. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the Mercy Seat with the blood of an unblemished lamb. This act of sacrifice took care of the sins of Israel for one year. Then the procedure had to be repeated. But Jesus came “Once for all…” and “put away sin”… Jesus’ sacrifice did not postpone sin’s judgment, Jesus’ sacrifice did away with sin… once and for all forever!
6. Jesus came from Heaven to earth to Birth a Powerful, Overcoming, Victorious Church. To build a Church.
Matt. 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matt. 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
The Miracle of the Incarnation:
Jesus is more than a Babe in a Manger. Jesus did not come into being at His birth. He is and has been co-existent with God and is without beginning and without end. He is Eternal. He was with God in the Beginning.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
He was and is the Agent of God in Creation.
John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
He is the Power of God that holds all Creation together.
Col. 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
He is the Living Word.
He is the Light about which John the Baptist bore witness.
He is Lamb of God.
He is the Suffering Servant.
He is the Living Water.
He is the Bread of Life.
He is Son of Man and the Son of God.
He is the Alpha and Omega.
He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
He is Messiah.
Rev. 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Rev. 1:14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
Rev. 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev. 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
Rev. 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev. 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
He is EMMAUEL: GOD WITH US
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