Sermon 12-24-25

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Christmas Eve.

Born A King

So here we are at an every year celebration of a birthday. But not just any old birthday. The historical records say that from conception to delivery it was the most unusual human birth ever recorded.

There were a number of things that had to line up. First, this birth had to take place in Bethlehem of Judea. So we read in Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

Ephrathah means “fruitful land.” Bethlehem means “house of food.” With names like that the town could have been a great place to start an ancient McDonalds. But, the place was meant to be famous for another reason. It’s the home town of important Jewish leaders. Indeed, it’s the home town of David, the famous king of Israel. David ruled Israel for forty years. His dynasty ruled part of Israel for nearly 500 years.

However, when the prophet Micah received the words we just read, David had long been dead. So, Micah’s prophecy does not refer to David. Nor does it refer to any of David’s descendants who sat on the throne. For, there are peculiar words in Micah’s prophecy that describe the ruler who will come forth from Bethlehem. He will come forth “from of old.” He will come forth “from ancient days.” What does that mean?

From our perspective Micah’s 2700 year old prophecy is itself from of old, from ancient days. Yet, Micah spoke of someone who would come forth in a future time who would be from days long before his. We can get a handle on these terms from a night vision that the prophet Daniel had centuries after Micah. We read in Daniel 7:9-10, “7 As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. 10 A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”

Daniel saw the majestic court of the King of the Universe, the Creator of the Universe, Yahweh Himself. And Daniel was given a significant title to call Him by, the Ancient of Days. So, the one in Micah’s prophecy who comes forth from of old and from ancient days as a ruler of Israel is none other than Yahweh Himself. But, how is it that God Almighty would come from Bethlehem — a tiny town in the Judean countryside? That mystery can only be answered one way. God would have to come wrapped up in human flesh.

Isaiah added to the mystery when he prophesied in Isaiah 9:6-7, “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” How can a human child be Mighty God and Everlasting Father? Yahweh of hosts alone knows the answer to this great mystery.

And it wasn’t just Bethlehem. Galilee was involved in the coming of this child. So, we read in Isaiah 9:1-5, “1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.”

This prophecy means that someone will appear in Galilee who will be like a brilliant light shining in the midst of deep spiritual darkness. He will bring great joy to the inhabitants of Galilee. Most importantly He will win a great battle. He will defeat all who try to oppress and stop Him. As a result the weapons of His defeated enemies will be burned in great funeral pyres. And He will win great treasures from His enemies. Who is this? 

Matthew applied these verses to Jesus. Indeed, Jesus did most of His ministry in Galilee. At the conclusion of His ministry Jesus went to Jerusalem and there defeated all His enemies on the cross. As a result, Jesus is the ruler of the universe. He will eventually come to claim His own and visibly establish His Kingdom forever. He has won great treasure — namely us.

Now, when Almighty God comes to a place like Bethlehem we might expect to see great things. And great things were seen, but only by a few shepherds watching over their corralled sheep in the night. I don’t know about you, but I would be terrified seeing bright supernatural lights and alien beings coming toward me in the night. And that’s how it was initially for the shepherds.

However, when angelic good guys appear from the spiritual realms, they always have a way of calming human hearts so that what they have to say can be heard, understood and acted upon. Remember, angel simply means messenger. Thus, the spiritual alien beings who were sent to the shepherds delivered a message for all people of all time. As we read in Luke 2:10-11, “10 And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” 

These are powerful terms: Savior; Christ — meaning Messiah and Lord. Such a person would be someone worth seeing. So the shepherds went into town looking for a newborn cradled in an animal’s feed box and wrapped in poor rags. And the whole thing was bizarre. For, someone with all those important titles should have been found in a king’s palace. But the manger — an animal feed box — clues us where the Creator of the universe decided to enter the world — a stable.

Having everyone you know gawk at your newborn kid is as old as humanity itself. But when the shepherds found Mary and her baby, it was no ordinary gawking session. Having heard an amazing message from heavenly beings, the shepherds themselves became angels — messengers — as they delivered to Mary and Joseph the message they had heard — that the little one nursing on Mary was Savior; Messiah; Lord; King; God. Only Yahweh would do something so incredible.

We’re told that Mary treasured the shepherd’s visit in her heart. For this reason, we think that Luke had the opportunity to interview Mary before he wrote his gospel. She was still alive at that point and only she would have known what happened that night.

Now, one of the thoughts that coursed through my head as I beheld each of my newborn children and grandchildren for the first time was this. Hello. Who are you? What will you be? What will you do? It takes at least thirty years to find out the answers to such questions. And so it was with Jesus. It would take thirty years to begin to find out what the shepherd’s message meant. And it would take centuries more of study, discussion and controversy to arrive at proper conclusions about Jesus of Nazareth.

To say the least, the doctrinal conclusions reached about Jesus are still in controversy. I read that a Muslim fanatic destroyed Christian Christmas decorations at a Bethlehem church. Why? The “Jesus” in the Muslim’s Koran is just a man and not God. The “Jesus" in his Koran cannot be the Son of God because God has no son. The “Jesus” in his Koran did not die on the cross. Allah tricked the whole world by having someone who looked like Jesus crucified in his place. Therefore, in no way is the Koran’s “Jesus” an atonement for our sins. And this Muslim was outraged, as all Muslims have historically been, that some people — those Christians — would say otherwise about Jesus. That’s why he did it.

The roots of Islam are now under intense scrutiny and study. It’s coming out that the entire religion is probably an invention of Middle Eastern rulers who were Christian heretics who would not accept the Biblical doctrine that Jesus is both God and man. So they wrote their own book. Interestingly, the Koran only directly mentions Mohammed by name four times. It mentions Jesus by name many more times than Mohammed. One thing is for sure. The “Jesus” of the Koran is not the Jesus of the Gospels.

So, what does it mean that the Ancient of Days, He who is of old, consented to have Himself wrapped in human flesh and gestated inside Mary’s womb? What does it mean that He was born as a helpless human infant? It’s simple. He’s truly one of us.

On the other hand, what does it mean that the Ancient of Days was conceived in the womb of a virgin woman? What does it mean that He was born to a woman who was a virgin? It’s simple. He’s also not one of us. He’s very much beyond us. He’s God Almighty demonstrating His unlimited power by being conceived and born of a virgin human female.

But why does Yahweh do all this? It gets complicated. However, let’s look at some easy things. When Jesus stood trial before Pontius Pilate, they had this dialogue in John 18:33-37, “37 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ 35 Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ 36 Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ 37 Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’”

Jesus made several huge claims in this dialogue. First, He was born to be a King. Second, His kingdom is not of this world. It’s from the unseen realm behind this world. Third, He was born to be The Truth with a capital T. For, if this universe has a Creator, if we ourselves have a Creator, then the only possible Truth is what our Creator tells us about what He has done and who we are. Every other conceivable way of thinking about this world and thinking about ourselves is a flat out Lie with a capital L. Jesus had the unmitigated gall to claim that He alone is capable of telling us the real Truth about all things. Therefore, as always, Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord. You make the decision.

So, if Jesus was born to be the King of Truth and He is the Truth, then things get quite simple. There’s nothing complicated about it. You believe what’s in Scripture. You believe what our Creator has to say to us. You believe what Jesus personally said to us.

The complicated part is that we don’t want to believe what’s in Scripture. We don’t want to believe what our Creator has to say to us. We put a big — BUT — after the things Jesus said. We’re not even sure there is a Creator God. 

This is because we’re not born children of our Creator God. Because of Adam’s Original Sin, we’re born children of our Creator’s adversary — the devil, Satan. Jesus even said so. Speaking to a crowd gathered around Him, Jesus said in John 8:42-47, “42 . . . ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 . . . If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.’”

If we were born of God, we would love Jesus. And not just any old Jesus, like the “Jesus” of the Koran. No. We would love the Jesus prophesied by Moses and the Prophets. We would love the Jesus testified to by the Apostles and the Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Those born of God love Jesus and everything He has to say to us. For He is the Truth and was born the King of Truth.

This night of Messiah’s birth, the great danger we all face comes from deadly Original Sin. When Satan tempted Eve, he told her in Genesis 3:5, “‘For God knows that when you eat of it [the forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” A more direct translation of the Hebrew is “you will be god” or “you will be gods” able to discern good and evil for yourself.

Did you get that? You will be God. That’s the problem. There is only one Creator God. If we had created ourselves and brought ourselves into being, then we could be our own god. But quite obviously, that’s not so. Therefore, any human being playing God is the most dangerous thing in this universe. Playing God is responsible for all the evil we see here. It’s responsible for all the evil and rebellion that comes out of each one of us. It’s responsible for the way we either ignore Yahweh or hate His guts.

Playing God is what the devil does. Playing God is what will get the devil and all the rebellious spiritual creatures who follow him put into the Lake of Fire — the Second Death. And all humans who do not renounce their God playing will also follow Satan right into the Lake of Fire.

The only hope for us humans is something that Jesus called being Born Again. It’s the very thing He came into the world for. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3, “. . . ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” And again in John 3:5-7, “5 . . . ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.”’”

This means that in order to see Jesus as He really is — King of the Kingdom of God; King of Truth — and to enter the Kingdom of God through Jesus, we all have to undergo a spiritual rebirth. Peter narrowed down the source of spiritual rebirth when he preached in Acts 2:38, “. . . ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Now, many of us here are baptized. However, baptism only does us good when we believe that we are God-players, and then live in daily repentance. For only in repentance can the joy of the forgiveness of sins come to the baptized. And with the forgiveness of our sins comes the gift of Lord Holy Spirit. And it is Lord Holy Spirit who opens the Word of God to us. Through the Word He works the New Birth in us so that we might have faith to believe the Truth. And in this way Lord Holy Spirit makes us children of God.

Therefore, I’d say that renewing the New Birth of our baptism is very appropriate for this night of Christ’s birth. Wouldn’t you? May it be so. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.