Gabriel Announces Christ’s Birth
Luke 1:26–33 (NKJV)
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
The Baby Jesus
The Baby Jesus… oh, how sweet sounding. And I’m sure He was. But have you ever imagined yourself standing there, looking down not at the man Jesus, but the little baby, contemplating who that tiny infant really was?
- He was fulfillment of prophecy
God told Satan after tempting Eve that Jesus would be his downfall:
Genesis 3:15 (NKJV) And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”- The baby Jesus would do battle with Satan, the outcome predestined and unchangeable
- Satan could only “bruise” the Baby’s head (suffering) while the Jesus would bruise Satan’s head (a fatal blow)
- We (Believers) are “of the woman’s seed” as well, so when we gaze on the Baby, we gaze as participating victors over Satan (Paul speaking similarly to the Romans: Romans 16:20 (NKJV) And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. )
- He was to be the sacrifice for our sins
Hebrews 2:9 (NKJV) 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.- With His Birth (incarnation), and sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled all the requirements to satisfy God’s wrath over our sin. (Romans 6:23, 1 John 4:10)
- For a short time, as a “man”, the Baby was a little lower than the angels so that He could live the life Adam was supposed to live as a perfect human, restored to perfect fellowship with God
- Only a perfect, blemish free Baby Lamb could be sacrificed for the sins of humanity
- Jesus was exalted by God because He was obedient even to death (Phil 2:8-9)
- The Baby tasted death for everyone so that all who would believe might be saved from their sins
The Baby will fulfill all prophecy, become the spotless sacrifice for our sins and He will…
- He would reconcile man to God
1 Timothy 2:5 (NKJV) For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, To provide the believer with a high priest- A mediator is a “go-between”, an “intervener”, often a defender
- The Baby would stand between us and God’s wrath, intervening on behalf of our defense
- One God, One Mediator – another clear declaration of the exclusivity of salvation… there is not other name under heaven but the Baby’s name by which you can be saved (Acts 4:12)
- “the” is not in the original… the suggest correct reading would be “Christ Jesus, Himself a man”… only a perfect God/Man could bridge the gap between humanity and the Creator
- He would destroy the devil and his works
1 John 3:8 (NKJV) He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.- The Baby is the mediator or defender of humanity; Satan means “accuser” and “adversary”… Satan is opposite of everything about Jesus
- People ask “where did sin and evil originate?” With Satan… he had free will, was the greatest of all God’s creatures and he chose to rebel against God
- The Baby was born to once and for all destroy Satan and everything he represents (“the works”): rebellion, temptation, worldliness, persecution, false teaching and finally death.
The Baby will fulfill all prophecy, become the spotless sacrifice for our sins, defend us before God as our Mediator, destroy Satan and all the devil’s works and He will…
- He would save us from the sin curse
Romans 5:12–15 (NKJV) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.- With one man, sin cursed all humanity… with one Baby, sin would be defeated and grace would come to all who believe.
- Humans are not sinners because they sin…they sin because they are sinners; we inherited the sin nature from those before us going back to Adam
- Adam was “a type of Him” (Jesus who was to come) in that they both did something that would affect the entire human race… the Baby came to fulfill what Adam was meant for (a perfect existence in perfect fellowship with God)
- The Baby represented the fullness of God’s grace that would be given to “many”.
- He would heal the brokenhearted and set free those in bondage
Luke 4:18–21 (NKJV) “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then Jesus closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”- Preach the gospel to the poor (“poor in spirit” Matt 5:3, not exclusive to an income status)… all those who recognize their predicament, helplessness and need of rescue)
- Heal the broken hearted – the sin curse has ruined God’s creation and caused unfathomable suffering
- Proclaim liberty to captives – we are slaves to sin until set free from it by Jesus
- Give sight to the blind – Jesus did physical miracles, but this primarily refers to spiritual blindness that is complete and incurable except by the Great Physician and the Gospel
- Liberate the oppressed – far more than liberation from worldly persecution by Satan’s followers, we will be freed from the oppression of the sin nature and evil in general
- The baby was the total fulfillment of these promises
The Baby will fulfill all prophecy, become the spotless sacrifice for our sins, defend us before God as our Mediator, destroy Satan and all the devil’s works, forever remove the sin curse from humanity, heal the broken hearted, set the captives free and He will…
- He would bring abundant life
John 10:10 (NKJV) The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.- In stark contrast to Satan whose only purpose in life is to steal, kill and destroy…
- The Baby came to give life
- Life now – freedom from guilt, peace, power over sin, hope of eternity
- Life later – eternal salvation in God’s presence
- Life more abundantly – the fullest of life: wisdom, power, purpose and ultimately: eternal reward
- He would bring ultimate glory to the Father
John 17:1–5 (NKJV) Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.- The Baby had one mission: to do whatever brought glory to God
- God was glorified through Jesus sinless life, his ministry to others, his declaration of truth and finally, his willingness to be sacrificed for humanity
- Here we see Jesus acknowledging success, and soon He would be returning to His rightful place alongside the Father where he had been since eternity past
The Baby will fulfill all prophecy, become the spotless sacrifice for our sins, defend us before God as our Mediator, destroy Satan and all the devil’s works, forever remove the sin curse from humanity, heal the broken hearted, set the captives free, bring us life more abundantly, shine ultimate glory on God… but most importantly:
- The Baby Is God
John 1:1–5 (NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.- “In the beginning” is parallel to Gen 1 which doesn’t mean “at the start of something” but rather uniquely refers to eternity past, before time existed… The Baby Jesus existed as The Word God in eternity past
- He was only a baby in ‘incarnate time” but in reality was eternal God… do you ever wonder about that?
- “the Word” was both on OT term and a philosophy term meaning “mind”, “wisdom” or “divine reason”… Jesus the Baby was the Eternal Mind, the Everlasting Wisdom… it was a term of personhood… “the word” was something but someone
- “the Word” – Jesus – was with God… that’s where He came from before his incarnation… He was WITH God and also WAS GOD – the full essence and attributes of God…
- The “baby” was the willing choice of Jesus to temporarily subordinate His Divinity to His Humanity (which is why Jesus couldn’t sin… Jesus humanity and divinity were inseparable; so his human experience was real but he could not sin… it wasn’t possible from a divine viewpoint even though he was tempted in all ways from a human viewpoint). NO – I CAN’T EXPLAIN IT J
The Baby in the manger would fulfill all prophecy, become the spotless sacrifice for our sins, defend us before God as our Mediator, destroy Satan and all the devil’s works, forever remove the sin curse from humanity, heal the broken hearted, set the captives free, bring us life more abundantly, shine ultimate glory on God and while being totally human was totally GOD.
Understanding who this Baby is, my challenge to you today is “what gifts to you bring to a Child?” Turn to Matt 2:11…
Challenge: What Gifts Do You Bring To The Baby?
When we get to the word “child” do you think of it a little different now?
Matthew 2:11 (NKJV) 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child (who would fulfill all prophecy, become the spotless sacrifice for our sins, defend us before God as our Mediator, destroy Satan and all the devil’s works, forever remove the sin curse from humanity, heal the broken hearted, set the captives free, bring us life more abundantly, shine ultimate glory on God and while being totally human was totally GOD) … [they] fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
We live in an era where Christianity is much more about “what’s in it for me?”, “what do I get out of this?”, “Jesus will improve my life”… it’s a very self centric faith… “God, what gifts do you have for me? After all, I took a chance on you and believed you…. “
Seeing the Baby Jesus for who He really is, what gifts do you plan to bring to Him on Christmas?
What gifts do you have for him this coming New Year?
What kind of gifts is this kind of Baby worthy of?