Four Amazing Realities:
1. Reality #1: God Came To Earth.
John 1:1-3 (NLT), In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make…
John 1:14 (NIV), 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.
Theologically, the term for the union of both natures in Jesus Christ is HYPOSTATIC UNION… It’s something that the church felt so convinced of that they issued a creed in A.D. 451 called the Chalcedonian Creed that basically said, “Jesus Christ is ONE PERSON with two natures (human and divine) who is both fully God and fully man.”
“This is, without question, the greatest miracle recorded in Scripture. The parting of the Red Sea is nothing in comparison. Fire from heaven that consumed Elijah’s altar? No big deal. Even the raising of Lazarus from the dead takes a backseat to a moment that no human eye saw. In the womb of a virgin, a human life was conceived. But no human father was involved… The Holy Spirit, in a miracle too wonderful for the human mind to comprehend, overshadowed a young woman (Luke 1:35). And in a split second that the cosmos is still reeling from, God ‘incarnated.’ He took our humanity.” ~ Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep
“The God who came to earth came not in a raging whirlwind nor in a devouring fire. Unimaginably, the Maker of all things shrank down, down, down, so small as to become an ovum, a single fertilized egg barely visible to the naked eye, an egg that would divide and re-divide until a fetus took shape, enlarging cell by cell inside a nervous teenager.” ~ Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew
“God the Son, existing for all eternity, not became dependent, floating in the amniotic fluid of a female womb. The One by whose power the whole world is sustained, now nourished by an umbilical cord. The God-man would have a bellybutton…” ~ Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep
Luke 2:10-11 (NLT), …the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David!"
The most amazing word in Luke 2:11 is the word “born.” GOD had been BORN…
“…BORN in the painful, screaming, sweaty, pushed-out-between-the-legs-of-a-woman sense. Born in all the bloody, slimy mess of real human birth. Squeezed and prodded from the darkness of his mother’s womb by the powerful rhythmic contractions of her uterus…” ~ Joshua Harris, Dug Down Deep
“The God who roared, who could order armies and empires about like pawns on a chessboard, this God emerged in Palestine as a baby who could not speak or eat solid food or control his bladder, who depended on a teenage couple for shelter, food and love.” ~ Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew
How Do We Know Jesus Was Really God?
• He matches all the “fingerprint evidence.”
Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel”
Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel"
Matthew 1:18-23 (ESV), “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”
In his book, Jesus, Who Is He?, author Tim LaHaye says that there are at least 109 distinct prophecies which the Messiah had to fulfill.
1) Prophecies Concerning His Birth and Heritage.
• Seed of woman - Genesis 3:15
• Descendant of Abraham - Genesis 22:18
• Descendant of Isaac - Genesis 21:12
• Descendant of Jacob - Genesis 35
• Descendant of Judah - Genesis 49
• An Heir to David’s Throne - Isaiah 9
• The Virgin Birth - Isaiah 7:14
• Born In Bethlehem - Micah 5:2
• Travel In Egypt - Hosea 11:1
• Son of God - Psalm 2:7
2) Prophecies Concerning His Life and Ministry.
• Preceded By A Messenger - Isaiah 40;3
• Ministry Would Begin In Galilee - Isaiah 9:1
• He Would Teach In Parables - Psalm 78
• He Would Perform Miracles - Isaiah 35
3) Prophecies Concerning His Death.
• Betrayed By A Friend - Psalm 41:9
• Sold For 30 Pieces Of Silver - Zechariah 11:12
• Spat On And Struck - Isaiah 50:6
• Hated Without Reason - Psalm 35:19
• Hands and Feet Pierced - Psalm 22
• Scorned and Mocked - Psalm 22:7-8
• Side Pierced - Zechariah 12
• No Bones Broken - Psalm 34:20
• He Would Die Of A Broken Heart - Psalm 22
• Soldiers Would Gamble For His Clothing - Psalm 22
• The Sun Would Go Down At Noon Day And Darken The Earth In Broad Daylight - Amos 8:9
Isaiah 53 contains a Messianic Prophecy. In fact, it’s a chapter that’s all wrapped up in Messianic hopes, descriptions and expectations. It’s stacked with loads of “fingerprint evidence” that prophesied various aspects of the Messiah’s life and death, approximately 700 years before Jesus was ever born. For instance, it predicts that the Messiah…
• He would stand silent before His accusers…
• He would be wounded, beaten and bruised…
• He would die with thieves…
• He would pray for His persecutors…
• He would be rejected by the Jews…
• He would be buried with the rich..
• By His stripes we are healed…
A mathematician by the name of Peter Stoner, in his book Science Speaks, calculated the odds or probability of any one man fulfilling just 48 of the prophecies concerning Jesus that are contained in the Old Testament.
According to Stoner, the chance or probability of any one man fulfilling just 48 of those prophecies is 1 in 10(157)! That’s incredible! The chance or probability that anyone could fulfill just 48 of the prophecies concerning the Messiah that are contained in the Old Testament is actually 1 in 10 with 157 zeroes following! Yet Jesus Christ fulfilled every prophecy!
• His Virgin Conception.
Luke 1:35 (NLT), The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.
• Jesus performed miracles.
• Jesus actually claimed to be God.
Matthew 16:15-17 (MSG), “And how about you? Who do you say I am?” 16Simon Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus came back, “God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.”
John 10:30, I and the Father are one.
John 8:58-59, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
“…in naming Himself ‘I am,’ Jesus was declaring Himself to be the SAME GOD who revealed himself by the title ‘I am’ some fourteen hundred years prior when he spoke to Moses through the burning bush. As a result, those who heard Jesus rightly understood him as declaring himself to be the eternal God who saved Abraham and called Moses.” ~ Mark Driscoll, Vintage Jesus
Colossians 2:9 (NLT), For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body…
• Jesus forgave sin (Cross Reference: Luke 5:20-21; 7:47).
“Can you even imagine someone saying that he is God and has the authority to forgive your sin? Sin is the human problem. All sin is ultimately committed against God. Subsequently, God alone has the power to forgive the sins of sinners. Jesus could only forgive sin because he was and is, God. In making this claim, Jesus is inviting us to confess our sins to Him so that we may be forgiven through His substitutionary death and bodily resurrection…” ~ Mark Driscoll, Vintage Jesus
• Jesus rose from the dead!
2. Reality #2: God Became A Man!
Luke 2:11-12 (NLT), The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”
"His name is Emmanuel – the God who is with us – who is made out of the same stuff we are and who is made out of the same stuff God is and who will not let either of us go." ~ Barbara Brown Taylor
Philippians 2:5-11 (NLT), You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Hebrews 2:17 (NLT), …it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
Hebrews 4:15 (NIV), …we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
3. Reality #3: God Came To Ordinary People.
Luke 2:12, “….this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a MANGER, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”
4. Reality #4: He Came For Our Benefit and God’s Great Glory.
Ephesians 1:9-10 (ESV), And he made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to UNITE all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Galatians 4:4 (NIV), But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Ephesians 1:21 (NLT), Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.
2 Timothy 2:5 (NLT), For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.
"What is both Good and New about the Good News is the wild claim that Jesus did not simply tell us that God loves us even in our wickedness and folly and wants us to love each other the same way and to love Him too, but that if we will let him, God will actually bring about this unprecedented transformation of our hearts Himself.
What is both Good and New about the Good News is the mad insistence that Jesus lives on among us not just as another haunting memory but as the outlandish, holy and invisible power of God working…in countless ways to make even slobs like us LOVING and WHOLE beyond anything we could conceivably pull off by ourselves." ~ Frederick Buechner
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