Jesus Christ as Scripture Presents

Transcript

GRM 824
12/15/2002
Jesus Christ as Scripture Presents
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 6. Talk about the birth of Jesus Christ throughout the world people’s attention is centered on an event that many do not understand. Walking through a mall or a store in the last week or so, listening to some of the music that was being played, some of the secular music especially that you hear has a, I don’t want to say morbid, but a sentimental sad flavor to it. I was listening to one song and boy that almost makes you want to cry, sing about not being home for Christmas and how much you miss people. You think oh boy I really feel like shopping today. I think I’ll get a box of Kleenex and go home. You know there’s a certain sentimentality that goes with holidays and perhaps especially with Christmas. Many of our times we remember, we look forward to with family and friends and so on, but I think it’s important we keep a Biblical perspective as God’s people on what is really taking place at Christmas. This is an awesome event, and the scripture never deals with it in a sentimental, merely emotional, nothing wrong with sentiment, nothing wrong with emotion, but there is an awesome, striking event taking place.

One of the things that makes that clear in my mind is the presentation the scripture gives of just who Jesus Christ really is. Several times in the Bible He appears. In the Old Testament He did so to Isaiah in chapter 6, to Ezekiel in chapter 1, to Daniel in chapter 9. Then in the New Testament, the New Testament closes out with the book of Revelation. In Revelation chapter 1 we have another glorious appearing of Jesus Christ now following His resurrection from the dead. I think as we look at these presentations of Christ, we get a proper perspective and balance on why Christmas is so significant, so awesome, and in many ways so inconceivable. I know the truth that is presented, we’re going to review some of that. But I have to say it still goes beyond what I can conceive, that the one born in the stable at Bethlehem is the very one described in the passages of scripture we’re going to look at.

We’re going to look at Isaiah chapter 6 first, then just touch on another passage or two before we close out by looking at John’s confrontation with the resurrected Christ in Revelation chapter 1. Perhaps I ought to note first, verse 10 in Isaiah chapter 6. We’re not going to be going into the details here, but you’ll note verse 10, “render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull and their eyes dim. Lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and return and be healed.” What I want to draw your attention to on this verse is the Apostle John when he wrote his gospel, the Gospel of John, in chapter 12 he quotes this verse. Then in verse 41 of chapter 12 he says Isaiah wrote this when he saw Jesus Christ. The vision that Isaiah has of God in Isaiah chapter 6 is nothing other than a vision of the glory of Jesus Christ before He was born at Bethlehem. In John chapter 17 verse 5 Jesus will pray to His Father just before His crucifixion, “restore to me the glory which I had with you before the world was.” We get some glimpse of the glory that belonged to Him as God in the description given by Isaiah in chapter 6.

This vision was given in the year of King Uzziah’s death. Now King Uzziah was a godly king, and he had a long reign. He ruled for 52 years. We are coming to a crisis in the nation Israel. The 52-year reign of a godly king is coming to an end, and I say godly because the general tenor of his reign was godly. Sadly, he did not finish well, the closing period of his reign was weak. The nation in their hearts is turning from God, where do we go from here? Well, the first reminder is there is one who is still on the throne. All is not lost, Uzziah is dead, but God is alive. Isaiah will see the sovereign God enthroned in glory and it’s a reminder, earthly rulers come and go but God sits enthroned in the heavens. He will also be seen on the throne as a judge, because as you noted in the verse that we read, in verse 10 of chapter 6, Israel will not listen to the message that Isaiah is going to preach. Isaiah is usually known as the greatest of the Old Testament writing prophets, for sure. Some would see him as the greatest of the prophets until John the Baptist. Certainly, no prophetic scripture in the Old Testament rises higher than Isaiah’s prophecies. Yet here is a man who is going to preach to a people who will not listen to what he has to say. They are a people coming under the judgment of God. Isaiah will see a vision of God enthroned, the sovereign ruler of Israel and the sovereign judge of Israel as well.

The year is 740 B.C., 740 years before the birth of Christ. Uzziah the king died, and Isaiah was given this vision. In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of His robe filling the temple. The Lord, Adonai, the sovereign ruler of all, He is the one that is sovereign, He is the one that rules and reigns. Uzziah died, the Lord sits on His throne. He is lofty and exalted. As I mentioned He sits on this throne both as the ruler and as the judge, and those two aspects of His character are repeated again and again through the scriptures. The train of His robe is filling the temple. It’s a scene of glory here, as you can imagine. His robe and the train of His robe fills the temple. There is room for no one else, He is everything.

There are seraphim there. The only other use of this word is in the context of meaning fire or fiery. It’s the only reference to angelic beings who are called seraphim. Some people would say well they’re probably the same as cherubim, but I would assume that if they were cherubim they would have been called cherubim. Now if you ask me what is the difference between cherubim and seraphim, I don’t know. But that’s not surprising, because I don’t know what the difference between seraphim and cherubim and other angels are, either. We get little glimpses into the angelic realm and see certain responsibilities perhaps entrusted to certain classes of angelic beings, but there is no developed explanation for us because it is not necessary for us to know this at this time. The word means burning, these are the burning ones. The other use in the Old Testament was the fiery serpents in the wilderness in the book of Numbers, that bit the people, so they made a bronze serpent and all who looked to the serpent lived. The fiery serpent, that word fiery, because when they were bit it was burning, it was a burning bite. Well, here we have the fiery ones, the seraphim who stood above the Lord, Adonai, enthroned, each having 6 wings. These are personal beings, but they are distinct in appearance. They have faces, hands, feet, mouths to speak, they speak language that can be understood. They also have wings, three pairs of wings. One pair is used to cover their eyes, the other pair to cover their feet, and the other pair to fly. The picture here is of awe and reverence covering the face and the feet, humility, unworthiness. You see here even the burning ones, the seraphim serving in the presence of the Lord cover their face and feet in awe and reverence and humility. Unworthy. There is always an unbreachable chasm between God and everything and everyone else. Everything, every creature, every person has been created apart from God Himself. He is unique.

In these references to God, we have what we refer to theologically as His transcendence and His immanence. The transcendence of God refers to the fact that He is separate and apart from His creation, He is the creator, He is separate, distinct and removed from His creation. His immanence is His closeness and involvement with His creation. We tend to go from one side to the other without maintaining the Biblical balance. He is both. Those who would emphasize just transcendence would see God as distant and removed and uninvolved and so of no real help to us personally. But those who put their emphasis on the immanence of God emphasize the fact of His closeness, His involvement with us. Pretty soon He is just reduced just to a close friend who is like us. We sometimes lose the concept of awe and reverence and humility in His presence.

The seraphim had a sense of awe and reverence. The wings that fly show that they are there to do His bidding. They are ready to serve Him, to go as He directs. They have an ongoing ministry as they cry out to one another. We’re not told how many seraphim there are, some say probably two, some say four. We don’t know, maybe six, maybe ten, I don’t know. It doesn’t say how many. The “im” in Hebrew, as many of you are aware, is the Hebrew plural. Just like we put an “s” on the end of many of our words to make them plural, if we were going to do this in English the seraphs with an “s”. There are plural seraphim here, how many we’re not told. But they are crying out one to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Their role is to continually declare His praises.

The first thing they cry out is holy, holy, holy. Holiness is one of the attributes of God. Now today if we were writing this according to our thinking, we would probably have them crying out love, love, love. That would not in any way diminish the love of God, the demonstration of His love toward fallen humanity. But you understand the burning ones cry out as Isaiah is ushered into the presence of the Lord, holy, holy, holy. The word holy basically means to be separate. This is the God who is separate from His creation, who is separate from all sin. When we come to the New Testament the word for holy is the same basic word as the word for saint and sanctify. The saints are those who have been separated by God from sin for Himself. Sanctification is that work of the Spirit to separate us from sin to God. We are to be holy, separated from sin to the God who is in His very being holy, holy, holy. Some would see in the threefold repetition of holy the reminder that there are three persons who comprise the triune God. That may be so, for our purposes right now we just focus on the fact His holiness, His prime as He reveals Himself here. Thrust to the fore He is holy.
The whole earth is full of His glory. Numerous passages in scripture, just turn back to Psalm 19, it’s close, just before Isaiah, when I say just before there are a few smaller books between. But the book of Psalms chapter 19 verse 1, “The heavens are telling of the glory of God. Their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. Day to day pours forth speech, night to night reveals knowledge.” The point is all creation is constantly declaring God’s glory, and it goes on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week everywhere. Stop at night and look at the heavens and the stars and the billions of stars. Now with our advance in science and technology and so on we talk about galaxies and are in awe. We look at creation, we’re still finding creatures. They’ve found a way to go deeper in an ocean and they find out there are creatures down there they didn’t know existed. They see how involved each of them is and have to function. I think that God called them into existence with the speaking of His word, and it all had to be conceived, you know, in order. How would you look with a light coming out of the top of your head, put your nose in your armpit so you couldn’t breathe when you put your arm down. With all these things we say well that takes for granted that God didn’t have to speak and say oh boy what a mess we made out of that group. Just like you do Play Dough, you know well just put it all up, let’s try it again. He had it all conceived, every organ, every part, and in all creation. You look at the flowers and the splendor and the beauty, everything awe-inspiring. Romans 1 speaks of this, the whole creation. There is not a person on the face of the earth who is ignorant of the glory of God as revealed in creation.

There are multitudes of people on the earth who know in their heart of the existence of this glorious God who refuse to acknowledge Him. But Romans 1 says everyone knows in their heart and mind there is that sovereign God. They just suppress that knowledge in unrighteousness, because if they acknowledge Him then they will be required to recognize His authority over them. They are unwilling to do that.

The seraphim declare the whole earth is full of His glory. Then with this the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of Him who called out. The voices crying out have such majesty and power, the very foundations are shaking, rumbling. The temple was filling with smoke. The clouds, the smoke depict the glory and majesty of God. When Christ returns it will be on clouds of glory. He ascended in Acts 1 in the same way. Depicting here the glory and majesty of God.

What is the impact on Isaiah? Verse 5, then I said, “Woe is me; I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips, I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” One of the indications the people have no concept of the character of God and His being is the casualness they equate with knowing God. You don’t find Isaiah here saying, it’s good to see you Lord. What’s the immediate impact? His unworthiness, that he is a sinner. I’m a man of unclean lips, “I’m a man characterized by sin; and not only am I a man personally sinful, I’m surrounded by sinful people, and I have seen the Lord of Hosts.” It’s my ruin. His expectation is that He will be destroyed. The first recognition he has is what? When you’re confronted with the holiness of God you’re confronted with your own miserable sinfulness, your unworthiness. I’m ruined, I’m on the verge of destruction. It would be true but for God’s grace and intervention. This is the call of Isaiah, his appointment to the prophetic ministry.

You’ll note what happens in verse 6, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said behold this has touched your lips and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” You’ll note there is no debate here. Isaiah is right, he’s a man of unclean lips, he dwells among a sinful people. Woe to him, he is ruined, he is a sinful being in the presence of a holy God. But God intervenes in grace. There is nothing Isaiah can do here; God has to do something. God provides a cleansing, a purifying, a forgiveness for him by having a burning coal from the altar brought to purify him from his sin. Then he is commissioned to go and tell a people who will not listen, a people of a hardened heart who will not want to hear about a God who is holy, a God who is righteous, a God who is the judge of all, a God who commands all everywhere to repent. Their hearts will be closed to that. It was the glorious God enthroned in heaven who was born in a stable at Bethlehem 2000 years ago, was the God who humbled Himself, did not think equality with God was a thing to be held onto. He voluntarily, didn’t cease to be God, but ceased to live with the display of His glory and power and attributes, and humbled Himself to be born into the human race. Without ceasing to be God added to His deity humanity. So now He was the God-man, we call the thean thropic union, God-man, theos anthropos, God-man, union. I cannot conceive it in my mind. I believe it, I know the scripture says it, but that baby born in Bethlehem was the one described 700 years earlier by Isaiah, such glory and power and He is the one who will be nailed to a cross to pay the penalty for sin. Awesome. Amazing. I wonder how many people busy with celebrating Christmas stop to consider this one we are talking about is holy, holy, holy, and I am ruined, I am a sinful being, I cannot stand before Him. My only hope is His provision for me.

Look over in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 3 large prophetic books. Ezekiel had a similar experience as Isaiah. He saw a vision of God in glory. In Ezekiel chapter 1 and we don’t have time to read through all this. Encourage you sometime in these days to read again Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, Daniel 10, Revelation 1 and impress upon your mind the glory of this One whose birth we’re celebrating. God comes in the wind in a storm in verse 4 of Ezekiel 1” I looked a behold a storm wind was coming from the north, great clouds with fire flashing forth continually, a bright light around it. In the midst something glowing like metal in the midst of a fire.” Similar things, the fire, the cloud the smoke. It’s a glorious, awesome sight being revealed here. Within it, verse 5, “there were figures resembling four living beings.” So here we’re told there were four living beings. We think well maybe that’s the seraphim so there were four. It could be, but these in verse 6 have four wings, the seraphim had six. It would seem we have another class or group of angelic beings. Remember the opening chapters of Revelation where you get a glimpse into the throne room of heaven and you have myriads of myriads, ten thousands of ten thousands of angelic beings serving in the presence of the living God.

They are described, and we won’t go through their description. You come down to verse 26, “Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, and on that throne a figure with the appearance of a man. Now I noticed the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around was in it.” Something like fire from the loins down. The appearance of the rainbow in the clouds. How do you describe this awesome scene of overwhelming glory? If you’re familiar with the description of the resurrected Christ in Revelation chapter 1, you’re aware that some of the descriptions are drawn from Ezekiel chapter 1 as you would expect. Of the One who is restored to the glory which He had with the Father before the world was created. It’s another vision of the glory of Christ before He was born at Bethlehem.

We won’t stop at Daniel chapter 10 for time, you can put that on your list to read, but come over to the gospel of John. Stop at John’s gospel chapter 1. You’ll note how John began his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” He was in the beginning with God. When you get to the beginning the Word already was. “All things came into being by Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being”. Understand that. We’re talking here about the second person of the triune God, the one we know as the Son of God. He created everything, and without Him nothing came into existence. He’s born as a baby in a stable in Bethlehem, He’s going to be crucified on a cross. All the fullness of deity dwelt in Him in bodily form, Paul wrote to the Colossians. How does my mind get a grasp of that? I believe it’s truth, but it is overwhelming to contemplate. He never ceased to be fully the God of all glory who created everything when He was born at Bethlehem and became a man as well as God. He was not two people living in one body, He was one person, human and divine. I believe it, its truth, I understand some of it because of what the scripture says, I grasp so little of it.

Down in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This Word that was with God before the beginning, this Word that created everything, He became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. How will He be introduced to the nation by John the Baptist, the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets? Verse 29, “behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” The awesome truth we’re celebrating, that the God who created all things stepped from the throne of glory to be born in the stable at Bethlehem. Why? Because we are sinful people. The wages of sin is death, we need one to provide cleansing for us, forgiveness. That can only happen by the Son of God taking our place and dying on the cross so we could have forgiveness and cleansing by believing in Him.

Turn over to the book of Revelation, the last book in the scriptures, the first chapter of Revelation. What you see here, if you will, nothing has changed in the sense the glorious God is the glorious God. He has not been diminished in any way. But what He has done is become the savior for fallen humanity by His own sacrifice. John the Apostle is on the Isle of Patmos, evidently in exile, suffering because of His testimony for Christ. He’s aged at this time; many years have gone by and now Christ appears to him. Now again if we were going to write this from our own minds, we’d have a sentimental picture of what a reunion. Here is the apostle who reclined on the chest of Christ at the Last Supper, who from the indication of scripture enjoyed the most intimate and close relationship. He is the disciple whom Jesus loved. He loved them all, but there was a special relationship that John had with him. The one who has testified for Him, served Him faithfully and now is in exile, if you will, on the Island of Patmos. Christ appears to him. We think He appears to him, and the description will be of this loving, warm figure who just puts His arms around him, and they hug each other for awhile and sit back and talk as friend to friend. Well, if you think that’s the way it is, you haven’t read Revelation 1. The description is like Isaiah 6, the description is like Ezekiel 1, the description is like Daniel 10. You see the awesomeness of this One who is our Savior. John hears a voice behind him in verse 13, he heard a voice in verse 10 like a trumpet and he turned. In verse 13, having seen seven golden lampstands he sees a figure in the middle of the lampstands. We’re not going through all the details of this, we’ve done it on other occasions. But the lampstands represent the churches, we’re told that as this chapter moves along. Seven lampstands, seven churches that are to be giving off light, making Christ known. The figure in the midst of them is none other than the glorified Christ who stands in the midst of the lampstands as the one who is their Savior, is their Lord, is their judge. The voice comes, not as a soft, warm inviting voice, but as the sound of a trumpet. The command is to write letters to the seven churches. Verse 12 “And I turned to see the voice speaking with me, and having turned I saw the seven golden lampstands, in the middle of the lampstands one like the Son of Man.” That comes from Daniel 10, we didn’t go there. But in a vision Daniel has he sees one like a Son of Man come before the Ancient of Days, the Son of Man, the preincarnate Christ, the Messiah who will receive a kingdom from His Father. So, the description here of the Son of Man, “Clothed in a robe, reaching to the feet, girded across His breast with a golden girdle.” Each of these descriptions is pertinent. The garments are the garments of the high priest who acted on behalf of the people. He will also serve as their mediator and judge. It was a responsibility of the high priest to see that the lamps in the tabernacle were kept burning. So here Christ is here to see that the lampstands are burning as they should; and in that He will be exercising discipline over them that they might burn brighter. He’s got a golden girdle around His loins, His head and His hair are white like wool, like snow. In the description of the Ancient of Days, God the Father, in Daniel 10 His hair is white like wool. You would expect, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, He is the One who is from eternity. As Micah said in prophesying His birth at Bethlehem, the One born at Bethlehem would be the One who dwells in eternity. The white hair depicts His eternality, He is the pre-existent One, the One who has existed before anything existed.

“His eyes were like a flame of fire.” Maybe when He appears before His enemies His eyes are like…………, but this is John the Beloved Disciple. He appears, not with warm eyes that drew me to Him, but eyes that were burning like a flame of fire; they are all knowing. Remember Christ is the One in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and they are all discerning. He is the judge of all. These burning eyes see things as they are, the One who will judge the motives and intentions of the heart, the One who has appeared before John. They are like flaming torches. Verse 15 “His feet were burnished bronze that had been caused to glow in a furnace.” You know what bronze symbolizes? Remember the brazen altar in the tabernacle, then the temple? Judgment. His feet were burnished bronze. He’s the One, according to Isaiah 63, who will trample His enemies in the winepress of the wrath of God, a prophecy that will be fulfilled in Revelation 19. An awesome scene here. We see the glory, the majesty, the sovereignty, the position of this One as judge has not changed from 700 years before Bethlehem until now, years after His resurrection. He is the sovereign God. I say this, not that we ought not to appreciate the warmth that this Savior, this Lord who is the One who will never leave us or forsake us, the One who abides in us, the One who is with us always, even to the end of the age, the One who will come and get us to receive unto Himself that where He is there we may be also. But don’t sentimentalize that into some kind of mushy, meaningless feeling. We lose sight of who He is, His majesty, His holiness. We soon think that our sin is not too serious. Whether we serve diligently and faithfully is not that serious, you know, He’s, my friend. We just put our arms around and talk like friends, and we just know things don’t always go well and that’s okay and He comforts me. Understand the seriousness of this.

We have to appreciate both the transcendence of our God and the immanence of our God. Praise God for His immanence, but never forget His transcendence. He is always God. John is John the beloved disciple, but he does not cross the line. Jesus is God, John is by the grace of God a redeemed servant. The line is never crossed. John must always have that reverence and awe. Somehow, we get to thinking we can just become casual and indifferent with God, that He’s happy and pleased no matter what we’re doing. Remember this one called holy, holy, holy. You know what He demands of His people both in Leviticus and in Peter’s letter? You shall be holy for I am holy. You know what He’s doing in the midst of His candlesticks? Evaluating their holiness, their faithfulness. “His feet are like burnished bronze, His voice was like the sound of many waters,” His voice like the sound of a trumpet calling for attention. It’s like the roar of the ocean waters, the power and majesty and authority. I have to say again I sit and read and think this is John the beloved disciple, reclining on His breast at the Last Supper, who suffered and struggled and now is an old man on the Island of Patmos. Christ comes and addresses him is with the voice that is as the sound of many waters. We like to write sentimental stories. Does it mean that Jesus doesn’t love him, doesn’t have compassion for him? No, He does, but He is still God and John is not. There is a line we will never cross. In all the ages of eternity that we enjoy the presence of our God, there is a line that will not be crossed. We as created beings privileged by His grace to enjoy fellowship and intimacy with Him will never cross the line. He is the creator; we are created beings. He is the One who must always be shown reverence and awe, we are the ones who worship Him.

“In His right hand He held seven stars,” and we’re told a couple of verses down the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. They are in His right hand, under His control, His authority. He will tell them what must be done. Verse 16, “Out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” Oh my, this picture is not warming up. A sharp two-edged sword, you know what that is? That’s judgment again. Revelation 19. He is serious about this. What a privilege I have to know Him as my Savior, to love Him as my Redeemer. To never forget He is the awesome God who demands holiness and will judge sin, who never will allow our relationship to just become a sentimental connection. But always demands and expects from me reverence and awe and respect and obedience. The manifestation of His character.

“His face was like the sun shining in its strength.” You see the awesomeness of it here. I’ve described him as a man with gray beard, wrinkles around his eyes, grandfatherly. John, it’s good to see you after all this time. Now here the face is like the sun shining in its strength. You know what John does? He says Lord, glad you’re back, let’s sit down and talk. You know what he does? Plunk. Falls over like a dead man. “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.” You know what Ezekiel did when that vision concluded? Same thing basically. What did Isaiah do? Woe is me. What did Daniel do? I had no strength left in me. Remember the account Jesus told of the wedding feast and the man came in without a wedding garment. The master of the feast said to him, what are you doing here without a wedding garment? He was speechless. People say oh when I stand before Him, I’ll just tell…… You know what they’ll do? Speechless. John falls at His feet as a dead man. This is the one that walked with Him for three years, ate with Him, talked with Him. He confronts Him in the splendor and glory of His person and falls at His feet as a dead man.

Does that mean there’s no intimacy? Purpose of this for us to recognize there’s distance, we should view God as distant and formal. No. The scripture tells us for those who have been redeemed there is the loving relationship and warmth. But never cross the line. In my redemption I have not joined the Godhead. I’ve been brought into a relationship with the Godhead. He will always be the Creator; I will always be the creation. He will always be the Redeemer, I the one redeemed. He will always be God; I will always be man. I must never lose my reverence and awe and respect for Him. Even in the intimacy of our relationship there is a reverence and a respect and a submission and obedience and a fear of displeasing Him.

The great tragedies of Christmas, multitudes of people clamoring about in ignorance, singing carols that proclaim, “Oh Holy Night”, proclaiming the birth of the Son of God. It’s like hearing the song “Amazing Grace” playing on a secular station, no concept of the need for grace, the beauty of grace. Why did Christ come to earth? It’s not a matter of sentimentality, it’s a matter of dire need. We are a people who are sinful, we are doomed to destruction before a holy God who can be nothing but holy. But the greatest demonstration of the love of God is simply this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. I read this description and I say this is the One born in Bethlehem who died for me, who bore my sin in His body on the cross. That feels good, to know that I might die to sin and live to righteousness, that I might be cleansed by Him so that some day, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, in the glory of heaven He would present me before His Father as holy and blameless and beyond reproach. That’s the greatness of our salvation. As we celebrate Christmas, I’m excited about the birth of Christ, I’m in awe of it, but I don’t want to be sentimental. I want to face the reality the God who is holy, holy, holy has come to this sin-cursed earth for one reason. To provide redemption for sinful people that we might be holy before Him. There will be no acceptance in His sight except on the basis of faith in the redemption He provides.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord for such a Savior. Thank you that your Son stepped from glory beyond description to be born into the human race so that He might redeem sin-cursed human beings. We are here as testimonies of your grace today. Lord, we pray that the proclamation of Jesus Christ might be used of you to soften hearts and bring men, women and young people to the Savior that we love and serve, the One in whose name we pray. Amen.