CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 40.6-8

6.Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7.Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8.I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”  

1st HYMN: Hark, the glad sound! The saviour comes. [WORDS: Philip Doddridge, 1702-51, as in Scottish paraphrases, 1781; MUSIC: “Credition”, Thomas Clark, 1775 – 1859]

 PRAYER:

 2nd HYMN: Hark! The herald angels sing. [WORDS: Charles Wesley, 1707-88; MUSIC: “Bethlehem”, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, 1809-47.]

 BIBLE READINGS: John 1.1-5, 10-14;

1.In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2.He was with God in the beginning. 3.Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4.In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5.The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 10.He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11.He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12.Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13.children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14.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.

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Let’s look a little closer at the famous opening verse of John’s Gospel to see what it is really saying to us. To do this, I have annotated part of it slightly:

“In the beginning was the Word (i.e. the Messiah; the Son of God), and the Word was with God (i.e. the eternal Father) and the word was God (i.e. one with the Father within the Trinity but, as we see earlier, distinct in His personhood). He was with God in the beginning (i.e. the Son is co-eternal with the Father).”

Then John goes on to tell us that the Word was the agency of creation and is the source of life and light for mankind. The culmination of this discourse on the Word comes in verse 14, “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.”

This is the Incarnation. Whilst it is convenient and common, when we use the term, the “birth” of Jesus, we risk losing sight of the amazing truth that lay behind His coming into the world. The thought of a “birth” brings to mind human procreation – from conception to birth. But this is a misleading thought when we come to the birth of the Messiah. He is the Word – co-existent and co-eternal and co-powerful with the Father. He did not come into existence at His birth (or even, for that matter, at His conception) – He is eternal.

So why did He come? The Letter to the Hebrews tells us: 5.It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6.But there is a place where someone has testified: (here the author cites psalm 8.4-6) … In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. 9.But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10.In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11.Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12.He says, (the writer cites Psalm 22.22) …13.And again, (quoting Isaiah 8.17)…And again he says, (Isaiah 8.18) … 14.Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15.and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. …. 17.For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18.Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Jesus came to reveal God to His people and to stand in their place by dieing the death they should die. 12.Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

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John 3.5-21.

.Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6.Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7.You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8.The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9.“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10.“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11.I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12.I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13.No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14.Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15.that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16.“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18.Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19.This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20.Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21.But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

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Jesus the Messiah came to provide salvation for God’s people. He came to set them free from the power of Satan, which, in turn, leads them into sin; which leads them into death. Jesus came to fulfil the promise of Eden and to remove the curse of Eden.4

He came as the ultimate expression of God’s love for His people, “16.For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18.Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Through Jesus, we are given a new beginning – a new birth. His coming allows us, through faith, to be set right with God – to regain the communion that had been shared between God and man in Eden before the Fall led to banishment from the garden.

MEDITATION: “Messiah ~ Born”

Isn’t it true that most Christians, like the rest of the world, have lost sight of the true meaning of the Incarnation – the birth of Jesus? We may not have completely fallen into the trap of commercialism and materialism, but we have relegated Christmas to a feel-good season we experience for a few short weeks in December each year, only to be left behind by January of the next.

It is fairly common to make note of the relevance of the Easter event at Christmas, but how rarely do we acknowledge the relevance of the Christmas event at Easter. And, to my shame, I am as guilty of this as anyone. But, Scripture emphasises the Incarnation of the Messiah almost as much as the Passion of the Messiah.

The call to worship last night, at first sight, didn’t relate to Easter at all. It was, if you remember, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” [Isa. 7.14; NIV] This is the promise God made through the prophet Isaiah that he would personally break into human history so as to change that history - that the Incarnation would take place. God promised that He would come to the world He created and change that world for the better.

The history of mankind, you see, was on a swift downward spiral – a spiral that would lead to destruction and annihilation. Athanasius wrote, Man, who was created in God’s image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting.5. The death of Jesus is pivotal to forgiveness of sin and salvation from damnation. But, the question left hanging by this is, how could the Messiah die for us, if He had never been born amongst us?

Also, having lost much – if not most – of the image of God man was created with, how could we know what God is like so that we can become God-like ourselves if God did not come to display His glory to us? The birth of Immanuel – God with us – was necessary so that He could display the truth about Himself to us. The birth of Immanuel – God with us – was necessary so that He could die in our place. The immortal had to take on human flesh so that He could pay the penalty humanity accrued through sin. The Incarnation makes possible for us the forgiveness of our sins, our reconciliation to God, and secures for us our inheritance in Heaven.

“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.” The glory of God and the truth about God has been revealed in this world in a way that leaves us with a true picture of Who God is and what we need to be like if we are to regain the image mankind had at creation.

In order to attain this God-likeness - to become the image bearers of God again - we need to be re-born – to be re-created. This is the essential truth behind the words Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

We cannot inherit eternal life in Heaven as we are. We must change. We must regain what man had at creation – we must become Christ-like, and the Incarnation enables us to see what Christ-likeness is. And the Incarnation is the necessary precursor to Easter. Without the birth of the Messiah; without God taking on a human body; without the Messiah living the life we are unable to live - and dieing the death that is rightfully ours – we could never attain the perfection necessary to enter into the presence of the living God.

The Incarnation is the beginning of the end of Satan’s reign over the people of God; the Incarnation is the beginning of the road to salvation; the Incarnation is the means through which God can claim a people to be His own. Without the Incarnation, there is no Easter!

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Most Christians have lost sight of the true meaning of the Incarnation – the birth of Jesus. We have relegated Christmas to a feel-good season we experience for a few short weeks in December each year, only to be left behind by January of the next. It is fairly common to make note of the relevance of the Easter event at Christmas, but how rarely do we acknowledge the relevance of the Christmas event at Easter!

God made a promise through the prophet Isaiah that he would personally break into human history so as to change that history. The history of mankind, you see, was on a swift downward spiral – a spiral that would lead to destruction and annihilation. Athanasius wrote, Man, who was created in God’s image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting.6. The death of Jesus is pivotal to forgiveness of sin and salvation from damnation. But, the question left hanging by this is, how could the Messiah die for us, if He had never been born amongst us? The immortal had to take on human flesh so that He could pay the penalty humanity accrued through sin. The Incarnation makes possible for us the forgiveness of our sins, our reconciliation to God, and secures for us our inheritance in Heaven.

The Incarnation is the beginning of the end of Satan’s reign over the people of God; the Incarnation is the beginning of the road to salvation; the Incarnation is the means through which God can claim a people to be His own. Without the Incarnation, there is no Easter!

1. Have you, perhaps, lost sight of the universal importance of the Incarnation?
2. Do you recognise in the Incarnation the beginning of the end of Satan’s influence over the world?
3. Do you recognise in the Incarnation the beginning of your salvation?
4. Does the Incarnation have an all-year-round relevance for you?
5. Have you closeted the Incarnation, only to take it out at Christmas time?
6. Have you considered what would be the state of the world today had Immanuel not come?
7. Have you seen the shadow of the Cross hanging over the Incarnation?
8. Have you recognised the fulfilment of the Incarnation in the Easter-event?
9. Have you heard the cry of the angels in your own heart? Have you heard them sing to you?
10. When was the last time you thanked God that Jesus was born to die – for you?

PRAYER:

CLOSING HYMN: Thou didst leave Thy throne. [WORDS: Emily Elizabeth Steele Elliot, 1836-97; MUSIC: “Margaret”, Timothy Richard Matthews, 1826 – 1910.]

BENEDICTION:

Three-fold “AMEN”