O, Come Let Us Adore Him
John 1:1;14
Emmanuel Christian Church 12.21.25
INTRODUCTION: (Luke 2:1-20) In those days Caesar Augustus
issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman
world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius
was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to his own town to
register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in
Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he
belonged to the house and line of David.
5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be
married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there,
the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her
firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a
manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,
keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord
appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and
they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby
wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared
with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." 15
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds
said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that
has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16 So they hurried
off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
manger.
17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning
what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it
were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The
shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things
they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
PROPOSITION: The shepherds did not give glory to God at the
angel's announcement. Neither did they on the road leading to
Bethlehem. No- their praise came after they had seen the infant
Messiah!
Like them, we need to "see" Jesus before we can worship and
adore Him.
Our path is not the dirt road to Bethlehem, but rather the
astounding Word of God found in John 1:1;14
(John 1:1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.
(John 1:14) 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.
TRANSITION: The first verse of John's Gospel makes three
stunning pronouncements regarding Jesus. As easy as this verse
is to say, it is difficult to understand. In reality, these few words give
us three mental pictures of our Lord.
If we just begin to understand what we see, we'll fall down next
to the shepherds in adoring worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus.
See Him before the "beginning"
- “In the beginning was the Word" -To understand this picture, we
must understand the language used to paint it.
- The verb "was" is in the past imperfect tense. The idea of this
phrase might best be expressed by the translation: "When the
beginning began, the Word was already there.”
- Here, we find ourselves confronted with the mental Chinese
finger trap of existence without beginning.
- As humans, we define most of our lives by the constraints of
time, schedules, beginnings and endings. (Why the very fact
that most of us have a wristwatch is testimony that we live out
our days on this earth as prisoners to the dimension of time.)
- As we draw near to the manger bed, we see One whose
existence is beyond the realm of time. Scripture describes
Him as the One who was and is and is to come!
APPLICATION: When we look at the infant Christ in the manger of
Bethlehem, the timeless Author of the ages is before us- cleverly
disguised as a little baby, born in the dimensions of time and space!
See Him at the Father's side
- John’s second statement gives us another picture of Christ. "…
and the Word was with God…”
- The term "with" can mean physical proximity- yet that is not
the intent here (nor is it logically excluded)
- The term "with" can indicate relationship.
- John IS speaking of the relationship of the "Word" (our Lord)
and God the Father.
- A literal translation of these words might be "The Word was face
to face with God.”
- Jesus' own description of His relationship with the Father is simply
this: "I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)
APPLICATION: The intimate relationship of God the Father, and His
Son gives us confidence in the knowledge that through Jesus we
have come to know who God IS.
The infant of Bethlehem was with God long before He was in
Mary’s womb!
See Him as God
- This third statement is the most stunning of all: "and the Word
was God”!
- This simple statement requires no theologian to make its
meaning clear. Jesus (who is the Word) IS God.
- This simple statement does require a theologian to explain it
away. (As a matter of fact, the Jehovah Witnesses have done
great violence to the language of this passage by asserting
that it should read: "and the Word was a god." They have
even gone so far as to publish their own version of the
Scripture that carries their own false rendering of the
passage.)
- The literal rendering of this passage is this: "And God was the
Word.”
- The deity of Christ is absolutely central to Christianity.
- Every cult that has ever come down the road has attacked this
basic truth.
APPLICATION: At Emmanuel Christian Church, we do not waver on
the subject of who Jesus is- HE IS GOD.
See Him come to earth
- Verse 14 constitutes the final statement of truth in John's opening
comments on the identity of the infant Messiah. It is simply
this-"The Word became flesh.”
- Just think about the significance of that statement:
- The One who Scripture says created everything through His
own powerful word, became part of that Creation!
- The One who Scripture says "holds everything together"
through His own powerful Word became as weak and
helpless as an infant!
- The One who Scripture says is "life" put on human flesh that
is subject to death so that He might taste of death for all of
us.
CONCLUSION: Why did God do all of this? Simply, to save you and
me from our sin. The birth of Christ in Bethlehem was the beginning
of a rescue mission aimed at US!
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke
19:10
The ultimate “search and rescue” mission!
