Christmas from Jesus' Perspective/Jesus Response to the Incarnation

 Christmas from Jesus’ Perspective

Jesus Response to the Incarnation

Luke 1:27-35

27  To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

28  And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

29  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

30  And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

31  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.

32  He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

33  And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

34  Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

35  And the angel answered and said unto her, 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.

No doubt Heaven sang joyously when the Holy Spirit hovered over Mary at the time of her conception. All of heaven and earth had been waiting for this moment all throughout the Old Testament when the Savior would come in the flesh, tabernacle among us and glorious redeem a people for himself.

This was the very instance of Jesus’ incarnation when through the Divine overshadowing of God the seed of the Father was place in Mary’s womb.

Although we do not know the exact moment when Mary was divinely overshadowed and conceived by the Holy Spirit, two things stand out. It could have occurred when she said, “Let it be done unto me according to thy word but this we do know that by the time Mary reached Elizabeth’s house, Mary had conceived. We know this because the child Elizabeth carried leaped at the sound of Mary’s voice this was because Mary had already conceived the Holy Son of God.

The book of Hebrews gives us a larger picture of the Christmas story. It expresses the very words of the Second Person of the Trinity as he is just about to be conceived.

This is the Christmas story as told by the Second Person of the Trinity.

From the earthly side of the Christmas event, we know much. We know of the birth of Jesus who was placed in the manger and around him were various animals. All creation was waiting this moment.

We can hear the glorious voices of the angels as they sing aloud that Christ had come in the flesh. We know the shepherds were the first to be told of the birth of the Savior. By the way, the Jews despised shepherds. Jesus comes first to those that were looked down upon—the shepherds-, for he came to all call sinners to repentance.

Caesar’s taxation degree was the very thing that steered Joseph to Bethlehem. Who can give can give thanks for taxation? It was Joseph and Mary probably no one else can appreciate taxation. We don’t know how many wise men came to see Jesus. The tale that is told is that three men came but this is not verified in the Scriptures. They were led by an unusual star that directed them exactly where our Lord was living.

There is more to the Christmas story. It is told us in Hebrews 10:5-7. It is here that we find the very words of Jesus prior to his conception in Mary womb.

Hebrews 10 tells us what exactly was on the Second Trinities’ lips when he was being conceived.

The Scripture clearly tells us what was on his heart. Please turn to Hebrew 10:4-7. “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body [without sin] thou has prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God” (Ps. 40:6-8). Ps. 40:6-8 “I delight to do thy will Oh God.”

The blood of bulls and goats was only a temporary measure. The thousands of thousands of animals that were offered could never take away sin. It took the blood of a human sacrifice. The only spotless person (or lamb) was Jesus. His blood alone could take away the sin of the world.

(Verse 5) Wherefore when he cometh into the world this is Christmas message. The moment he was conceived into the world in Mary, Jesus was saying in verse 5 “Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body [without sin] thou has prepared me. God prepared Jesus a body. Every other body in the world was sinful, so God had to prepare Jesus a body, a sinless body. The Jews believe that sin is passed down from one generation to another through the father. Jesus did not have a human father. His father was God the Father and Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. She provided a womb and a body in which he could grow and finally be birthed into the earth.

Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body [without sin] thou hast prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God” (Ps. 40:6-8).

Here are the words spoken by the Second Person of the Trinity as he left heaven to be implanted in Mary. “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God” (Heb.10:7; Ps 40:6-8).

Jesus left heaven to do God’s will. He came to earth to do God’s will. The apex of God’s will was that his son would die an ignominious death on the cross. The Trinity had agreed this was the only way for man to be redeemed. Jesus willingly took this path because he loved the Father and he loved humanity. The Scripture says that he [Jesus] was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

Jesus words are the very first words celebrating Christmas. It was his ultimate joy to do the will of his Father. Listen to Proverbs 8 and see how close a relationship the Father and the Son had with each other. “Then I [wisdom] was with him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him” (Pr. 8:30). What a close relationship they have had and can’t you sense the joy they had in each other?

Hebrews 10:5-7 is the message the Second Person of the Trinity gave at the beginning of the Christmas revelation.

This is the expression Jesus gave for Christmas. “As he was coming into the world” is essential theology. It expresses Jesus’ preexistence in heaven. And in heaven Christ knew exactly what would take place during his earthly journey. Men would hate and revile him. Men would close their ears to the Father's message from heaven and they sought many means of doing away with Jesus. They sought fervently to kill him. They had no love for the Father or the Son. This did not turn Jesus away from loving man. This did not turn away Jesus from his ultimate goal in fact their hateful response to him was driving him to his predestined goal that of going to the cross.

Going back a little, Bethlehem was not were life began for Jesus. Again, he is the preexistent one for in (Jn. 8:58) Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.”

It is of interest that the birth of Christ is no mentioned in Mark or John. There must be an important reason for this. Let’s dig in a little deeper. The answer is found in the fact that all four gospels have a different design or aim in mind. Mark is the Servant Gospel. It aims at showing that Christ is the ultimate Servant for the express purpose of giving his life for the world. To present Christ as Servant there is no need to show where he came from but to show to the reader where he was sent from and to show by what means or mode the Servant was sent.

John’s gospel is totally different in design that Matthew, Mark and Luke. John’s gospel does not give us the story of the birth of Christ. John is inspired by the Holy Spirit to go back to the beginning far away from Jesus’ birth place in the city of Bethlehem. John goes all the way back through time to eternity. The book of John begins with the eternal preexistence of the son of man as the one who was and is the eternal unchangeable Word of God (John 1:1).

Mysteries surround the Godhood but there is one thing we do know that Bethlehem was not Jesus’ beginning. The celebration of the Christmas season joys in the human birth of Jesus. It does not delineate the eternal Jesus as the preexistent one that is the eternal Son of God. As Proverbs 8 and John 1 so beautifully tells us that Jesus was always with the Father long before his coming in the flesh.

The purpose of the coming of Jesus was specifically to remove the burden of our sin. The blood of bulls and goats did not take away sin. There was a reminder in the consciousness of man every year of his sin. Jesus had to do away with this old system of sacrifice. He in love chose to be the offering of human blood. It took the perfect sinless Lamb of God to satisfy the Father. Once offered, the Father was satisfied and a New Creation was born. Jesus came to deal with our sin once and for all.

The Father in heaven deliberately prepared a body for Christ. This was God’s eternal thought for man. He knew man would sin but he prepared a sinless body that could once and for all deal with sin.

The Second Person of the Trinity loved his Father so much that he made an oath that he would do the will of God. And he delighted to do so. Jesus completely knew what lay before him yet his will was to do what the Father willed. Jesus completely fulfilled the Father’s will when he gave himself a perfect sacrifice on Calvary. No one could take the place of Jesus because all were sinners. Jesus, the perfect one, could intervene on our behalf. And he did and our sin was washed away in the atoning blood of efficacious blood of Jesus.