The Coming of Christ (1)
The Battle of the AgesJim Davis
It is only natural for us at the birth of any child to think about what that child will grow up to be. Our hopes, dreams and aspirations for a newborn are endless.
"In the Mediterranean world the birthday of a ruler was sometimes celebrated with a proclamation of the benefits of his birth. An inscription found in Priene, celebrating the birth of Augustus Caesar in 9 B.C., reads in part:
"Providence has brought into the world Augustus and filled him with a hero's soul for the benefit of mankind. A savior for our descendants, and us he will make wars to cease and order all things well. The epiphany of Caesar has brought to fulfillment past hopes and dreams." (As quoted by Robert Deffinbaugh in: The Birth of the Messiah, from F. Danker, Jesus and the New Age, p. 24, http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/luk/deffin/luke-05.htm)
Augustus is seen as fulfilling ancient hopes and seen as one who will bring peace. The benefits are proclaimed on his birthday.
When John the Baptist was born, everyone who heard about the mysterious details surrounding his birth asked, "What then is this child going to be?" And his father Zechariah prophesied:
Luke 1:76-80
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel. (NIV)Heaven Heralds Christ Birth
We must view Christ's initial coming to this earth from eternity’s vantage point. An angel of the Lord said, "you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) In Luke's account of the birth of Christ Gabriel told Mary, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:32-33)
When Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple to dedicate him to the Lord, they came upon a righteous and devout man, Simeon, who spoke by means of the Holy Spirit. When Simeon saw the infant Jesus, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
Luke 2:28-35
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." (NIV)There was also a prophetess, Anna, at the temple at Jesus' dedication. "She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem." (Luke 2:38)
"The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him." Even to Jesus' parents, Jesus looked like any ordinary baby. As Joseph and Mary listen to the proclamations of these wise individuals they marveled. Jesus, at age twelve, told his parents that he must be about his Father’s business, "But they did not understand what he was saying to them." (Luke 2:50) There was never anything astonishing about how he looked. If you had lined Jesus up with at least six other children of Joseph and Mary, you would have been hard pressed to figure out which one was God. The religious leaders in Jesus' day were saying, "Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. (Mark 6:3 NIV) (So much for the perpetual virginity of Mary. She was also as human as we are.)
We go to great lengths to prove Christ was God, but the Bible writers placed great emphasizes on God becoming man. The apostle John gives us one of the most touching descriptions of Jesus' birth. John had just finished describing the "Word" as God, now God has become flesh to dwell among us. John writes, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NIV)
Paul wrote, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time. (1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIV)
In December 1903, after many attempts, the Wright brothers were successful in getting their "flying machine" off the ground. Thrilled they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas."
Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, "How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas." He totally missed the big news-- man had flown!
Many people today make a similar mistake when they think about Christ’s birth. They don't think of Jesus and His miraculous birth or the purpose of his coming. Instead, they think of family, gatherings, festive meals, decorations and gifts. They miss the whole point of Jesus’ miraculous birth and the purpose of his coming.
The humanity of Christ was not meant to be a disguise. It was for the purpose of revealing God's true nature. God came to reveal himself in human form. Jesus told Philip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." (John 14:9) He took upon himself humanity.
1 John 5:19-20
We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-- even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (NIV)One stormy night a country doctor in Wales received a call for help from a concerned husband whose wife was expecting a child. The weather was so bad that it was dangerous to venture outside. Knowing that the family was very poor, the physician was tempted to refuse the man's urgent appeal. But he also knew that without his assistance the woman might encounter complications, so he disregarded his personal comfort and braved the raging elements. When he arrived, he realized how much he was needed. With his help a son was finally delivered. Many years afterward the doctor said, "That night I never dreamed I was saving the life of a future leader of our nation." You see, that baby boy was David Lloyd George who later became Britain's Prime Minister.
Little did the world know who had just been born and placed in a feeding stall by a couple of poor peasants?
The Battle with the Old Dragon
It is impossible to count all the galaxies in our universe. Yet, it was on this small planet called earth that God chose to take his ultimate stand against the eternal struggle between good and evil. In a very real sense, the final battle was waged in Palestine as God descended to earth in the restraints of mortality refusing to call heaven to his rescue. Jesus said, "Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" (Matt 26:53-54 NIV)
It took blood-sweating courage for God to come to earth to live in the restraints of mortality. God entered this terror stricken world spending his infancy in Egypt fleeing the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem. The Eternal One wandered among the hills of time having no place to lay his head or a place to call his own. He spent his last hours on earth being spit on and cursed as he hung on a cross.
Too often, when it comes to the birth of Christ, we only see a baby in the manger with all the images of the nativity scene. We are very familiar with the scenes we see on the front of Christmas cards and in the front yards of those celebrating Christmas. Revelation 12 gives a much different perspective of what was going on when Jesus entered into this world.
Revelation 12:1-12
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down-- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. (NIV)How many Christmas cards have you seen with Satan portrayed as an enormous red dragon? The dragon has seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his head. His tail is powerful enough to sweep a third of the stars out of heaven. He is furiously seeking to kill the infant Jesus.
(Drawing by 8 year old Isaac Sheets. A few weeks after the sermon was preached I discovered that Isaac drew this picture while I was preaching the sermon. Jesus quoted the psalmist saying "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise." Matthew 21:16. So here it is from the "mouth of a babe" or should it be the "pen of a babe.")
When Jesus was born, the Seed of woman had come for the purpose of destroying Satan. The very first proclamation about Christ birth is actually found in Genesis 3:15-15: "So the LORD God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’" (NIV) "He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." (1 John 3:8 NIV)
We see this very battle transpiring, as the wise men came in search of Jesus. Jerusalem was filled with fear upon hearing the news of Jesus’ birth. In an effort to destroy Jesus, Herod had all the babies less than two years old killed. Joseph and Mary spent the first years of Jesus’ infancy as refugees in Egypt. Rather than return to their hometown, they were directed by God to return to Nazareth. Joseph and Mary took their child to Nazareth because it was the least likely place to look for the king of the universe. When Philip told Nathaniel that he had found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel naturally ask, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:48)
It wasn't just Herod seeking to kill Jesus as he killed all the infants below two years of age. Herod was working under orders directly from Satan's throne. Satan was moving Herod, although Herod would have denied it.
The demons trembled in terror at the thought of Jesus. They knew who Jesus was. James says the demons believe and they tremble at the thought of Jesus. (James 2:19)
Luke 8:26-28, 30-33
They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" (NIV)Luke 8:30-33
Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. (NIV)
Luke 8:38-39
The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. (NIV)Why would the appearance of Jesus on the other shore of the Sea of Galilee be a cause of fear for the demons? The demons had no doubt about the identity of Jesus. Because they knew the coming of God’s Messiah spelled destruction for them. Jesus himself said, "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of the world shall be cast out." (John 12:31) (Robert Deffinbaugh, The Deliverance of the Demoniac or "Unholy Fear" http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/luk/deffin/luke-28.htm)
As soon as Jesus was baptized, Satan faces Jesus head on in the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying before he began his public ministry facing Satan head on. When the period of fasting and praying ended, Satan met Jesus saying, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'" (Luke 4:3-4 NIV)
Satan was relentless in his pursuit of Jesus. The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'" (Luke 4:5-8 NIV)
Luke 4:10-13
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. (NIV)Satan came to Jesus saying, "If you are God, then dazzle me. Act like God should act." Satan gave Jesus every opportunity to become the kind of Messiah the world is looking for. It is hard for us to envision a human being possessed with this kind of power and not using it to his own benefit. (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995, Pg. 71.)
Luke 22:31-34
Jesus called Peter Satan once because he thought the Messiah would come with power that would dazzle the world. Jesus told Peter on another occasion: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." But he replied, "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death." Jesus answered, "I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me." (NIV)How often do we pick up Satan's battle cry? We may deny it like Peter, but the world today has the same thoughts about Jesus. The Devil rages in each of our hearts asking the same age old questions. We may ask, "If God is real, why are there hungry people in the world?" Often Rome distributed free bread to its subjects to promote the Caesars. There have been governments that have given away cheese to do the same thing. Why not have a Messiah who distributes this world's goods to win the favor of the people. Jesus says we cannot live by bread alone!
We often cry asking, "If Jesus is real why has there been so much corruption in the religious community?" We expect Jesus to eradicate all the evil. In essence we are saying, "Jesus, if you are truly God, eradicate the evil from the religious community!" We seek to tempt God. Jesus didn’t come to force his will upon anyone. Corruption is the result of free will.
Or we may want a God who will give us more of the world's goods. We may be like Jacob and say, "Lord if you bless my business plans, I will give you 10% of everything I make." We do this rather than give out of our poverty as the poor widow did. (Mark 12:42) Jesus says we must worship God!
Or we may take an attitude, that no matter what I do, I can't fall from grace, for after all I am his child, and he will not allow his children to be lost. Jesus says we must not tempt the Lord our God!
When Jesus succeeded in facing Satan's temptations in the wilderness the battle wasn't over. It had only just begun. Jesus heard the same questions in one form or another all his life. The Pharisees were constantly coming to Jesus seeking a miraculous sign to prove himself.
John 8:43-45
Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! (NIV)When Jesus told his disciples how he would die in Jerusalem, Peter said, it will never happen! Be it far from you Lord! Jesus failed to do it the way we would do it. Jesus responded to Peter saying, "Get behind me Satan!" Satan's attacks on Jesus had not ceased. When Satan left Jesus in the wilderness, Luke says it was for the purpose of waiting for a more opportune time. (Luke 4:13) Satan was very active in the lives of Jesus' disciples placing doubt and planning betrayal.
Even on the cross Satan was scoffing at Jesus as the criminals on either side of Jesus ask, "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us?" Spectators took up the cry, "Let him come down from the cross, and we will believe in him." Later the people said, "He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Matthew 27:43 NIV) There was no rescue, no miracle, and no easy, painless path to glory. For Jesus to save others, he could not save himself. (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995, Pg. 73.)
From the world's point of view Jesus passed up his opportunity when he failed to meet Satan's demands to dazzle us with miracles, mystery and power. Jesus should have welcomed the occasion. Some still believe Jesus will return to earth in power to set up his kingdom by force and reign on the earth for a thousand years. They believe that human freedom will be taken away and those left on earth will be forced to bow their knees in confessing Jesus is the Christ. They will certainly be forced to do so in the final judgment.
How often do the evil forces in the world pierce our souls? We too, are engaged in a battle with the demons. The demons are just as relentless in our lives and hearts.
Our cry today is, "God, if you will become the kind of God I think you ought to be . . . then I will believe in you!" Think about how absurd this really is. Limiting God to what I know would be fatal for all of us. Too often our view of God is limited to what we see on the front of a Christmas card. You want to create your own God! Isn’t that what the whole world is trying to do! The god of this world is more than willing to blind us as to who Jesus really is.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (NIV)Conclusion:
The proclamation made for August Caesar was: "Providence has brought into the world Augustus and filled him with a hero's soul for the benefit of mankind. A savior for our descendants, and us he will make wars to cease and order all things well. The epiphany of Caesar has brought to fulfillment past hopes and dreams."
A summary of the Bible’s proclamation of Jesus’ coming into this world could be worded in this way: "The providence of God has brought a savior into the world to crush Satan and his demonic forces for the benefit of all mankind. He will be a savior to all God’s children and will make wars cease and order all things. The epiphany of Jesus Christ has brought to fulfillment the eternal dreams of God through his church."
All the Caesars are dead and Jesus Christ is on his throne. Remember what was said at Jesus’ dedication. An angel of the Lord said, "you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21) In Luke's account of the birth of Christ Gabriel told Mary, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end." (Luke 1:32-33)
Paul said he was sent to preach the gospel "to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ." (Acts 26:15-18 NIV)
Initially, God came in human flesh, but when his second advent occurs we shall be like him. It is encouraging to know that when Jesus comes again in judgment, he will not appear in human form, but rather, we shall be like him. John writes "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. (1 John 3:2) Our bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. (1 Corinthians 15:52)
In a very real sense, when we choose to die with Christ in this life we are born anew into his kingdom. We are resurrected to a new life with Christ to join in the battle against the evil forces of this world.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (NIV)Bibliography
I leaned heavily on the resources below for this presentation.
Robert Deffinbaugh, The Birth of the Messiah, http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/luk/deffin/luke-05.htm
Robert Deffinbaugh, The Deliverance of the Demoniac or "Unholy Fear" http://www.bible.org/docs/nt/books/luk/deffin/luke-28.htm
Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1995