From the First Christmas Message
(Message delivered by Pastor at the True Life Church 10.30 am Service, Dec 18, 05)
Text: Gen 3:15; Isa 7:14; Lk 2:15-19
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen 3:15) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:14) And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. (Lk 2:15-19)
We have just returned from Perth after a month-long vacation leave, and we have had a taste of an Australian pageant of Christmas since early Nov. Twenty Santa Clauses jumping out of sledges, followed by seminude dancing girls advertising price deductions because of Christmas. Cheap sales, cheap, cheap sales. All the talk of Christmas is money, money,money. And did God have to wait 4000 years before the birth of His Son?
But the Bible tells us that the first Christmas message was given by God in Gen. 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This verse gives us the first gospel message, the first Christmas message, whereby God puts enmity between the Serpent’s seed and the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman is Jesus Christ who will crush Satan’s head and Satan will bruise His heel. Isn’t this the first Christmas message since it refers to the Virgin born Son of God? It is given in Gen. 3:15 and long before Luke.
The second time it talks about the Virgin born Son of God is Isa. 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” These words were spoken by Isaiah the prophet to wicked King Ahaz of Judah who pretended to trust God never requiring a sign. The fact was Judah was hard pressed by the Northern Kingdom the ten tribes of Israel. Judah needed God’s help.
The third time, we have Mary the Virgin participate in giving birth to the Saviour and the visit of the shepherds to the manger on the advice of the Angel. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Mary pondered how she gave birth to Jesus as the Virgin mother. Mary pondered that Jesus was born to die to save us from our sins.
O the thought that God’s Son is born!
Sweeps o’er her soul this first Christmas night.
O the thought that He’s born to die!
Sweeps o’er her soul this first Christmas night.
If we ponder how Jesus was born to die for our sins, it will be our first Christmas and it will be worth its while. – From the First Christmas Message out of the Garden of Eden.
THE GOSPEL OF LIFE: Chapter XVII
John 17:6-15
3. For the Safety of Believers from (a) The World; (b) The Evil One
In this extended passage Jesus shows a caring concern for His disciples, like a loving mother for her children. As a mother cares for the brood she has brought up, from conception to birth, from birth to infancy, from infancy to adolescence, so our Lord thinks upon His own as the elect of God (the men which Thou gavest me out of the world) who have received the message He preached, and His person as from the Father above. These chosen ones come under Christ’s High Priestly Prayer, not those outside in the world.
Now that He was to leave them in person, He did not leave them to fend for themselves. He prayed for their safekeeping, inasmuch as “none of them is lost, but the son of perdition” (v. 12). Here is a most comforting thought to you and me who are trusting in Him. We have “eternal security”, divine guarantee of our salvation, unless we become traitors like Judas, the son of perdition. (“Perdition” means “utter ruin”). Truly, the eternal security we have in Christ is a most comforting thought even as our Lord expects “that they (His disciples) may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (v. 13).
Christ keeps us safe not by removing us out of this world, but rather that we might be protected from the world’s hostility and from the machinations of the evil one. Why? Because we are His hands and feet to continue His witness unto the Truth while He is ascended on high. (Read v. 18).
The story is told of an angel enquiring of our Lord upon His arrival at the portals of heaven, “Before You ascended here, You told your disciples to go into the world to preach the Gospel to every creature. What if your disciples will not?” The Risen Saviour replied, “I have no other way. I depend on them, my hands and feet on earth.” We who enjoy peace and protection from the world and the devil cannot abuse that peace by doing nothing for the Lord.
