Luke 1:35 34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since
I am a virgin?” 35The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.
In yesterday's post we looked at the Holy Spirit's miracles of the incarnation and virgin (conception) birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two days ago we considered the Spirit's Divine inspiration of the scriptures as the miracle needed to get ready for the first Christmas. With these three miracles we turn our attention today to a fourth Christmas miracle: namely the hypostatic union.
Hypostatic Union -
What the Holy Spirit actually did in connecting and uniting a complete, sinless human nature to the One Person
Jesus Christ who already had an eternal Divine nature
If the incarnation describes what the Spirit did in making it possible for Christ to come into this world, and the virgin birth describes the means by which He did the incarnation, then the hypostatic union tries to explain the details of what took place. This rather strange sounding
phrase "hypostatic union" can be broken down in the following way.
First, "hypostatic" comes from a Greek word "hypostasis"
meaning "substance, nature, expression of one's existence". The
second term "union" refers to how the already pre-existing Divine
nature and the newly conceived human nature would function "united" to
the Person of God the Son. A brilliant conservative Christian Theologian,
W.G.T Shedd, writes the clearest explanation I have found on this point:
"A common illustration....is the union of the human soul and body in one
person, and the union of heat and iron, neither of which loses its
properties."1
God the Father planned and The Holy
Spirit prepared the womb of Mary to receive the Divine nature of the Person of
God the Son. (Hebrews 10:4-7) The Son in turn worked as well in the uniting of Himself
to the Holy Spirit conceived humanity in Mary's womb. (Hebrews 2:14) Fully and completely,
from beginning to end, the Holy Spirit is credited with the process of bring
both human and Divine natures to function equally but distinctly in the One
Person of the Son. Thus Christ has a human will and divine will, a human mind
and Divine mind and human qualities like weakness and tiredness while retaining
His Divine qualities of omnipotence and the like. The only thing being of
course that while on earth, Christ chose mostly not to exercise many of His Divine
attributes, but rather, by the Holy Spirit, chose to function primarily through
his humanity.
Application
The point of
this discussion was to show the great lengths that God the Holy Spirit went to
in order to bring God the Son into this world. Christ's hypostatic union was
crucial, since He could now experience what it was like to be fully human and
to empathize with us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15) The Virgin conception
meant that He could be fully human without sin, qualifying Him to be our Savior
and to intercede for every Christian before the throne of God. (Hebrews
7:24-25) Finally, without the incarnation - salvation, the fabric of sacred
scripture, Christ's death, resurrection and Second coming would all be
jeopardized. Let us praise God for the Holy Spirit's work in the Scriptures, incarnation, virgin birth and hypostatic union -
since He points us to Jesus.
Endnotes;
1. W.G.T Shedd. Systematic Theology
Volume 2. Pages 327-328
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been
betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by
the Holy Spirit.
Yesterday we considered at length the first great miracle that led up to Christmas: The Spirit's work of Divine inspiration of the scriptures. We considered the meaning of inspiration, as well as its attendant doctrines of inerrancy, infallibility, clarity, sufficiency and Unity. We concluded that without a Bible like this, the Holy Spirit could not had prepared for nor explained the otherwise inaccessible truth of the Divine identity of the baby in the manger. Today we turn our attention to two more Christmas miracles wrought by the Holy Spirit: namely the incarnation and virgin birth.
The significance of the Incarnation to Christianity and salvation
When we speak of the term "incarnation", we are referring to the event in which the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, came and assumed in the virgin Mary's womb a fully human nature. Incarnate literally means "in the flesh" (Latin "en" (in) and "carne" (the flesh). The incarnation, the event of God in human flesh, has along with it two other miracles: the virgin birth and the hypostatic union. Though we are treating these other two as miracles unto themselves, they all fit under the main event of the incarnation. As Bible believing Christians, we can certainly explained what happened: the incarnation. We can also describe what God used to bring it about: the virgin birth. We can even explain the outcome: the union of Divine and human natures in One Person (hypostatic union). However no man can explain how the Holy Spirit did what He did. The "how" part is enveloped in mystery, however this does not take away the fact that the miracle did take place and that we can communicate its details and outcomes to other people. (1 Timothy 3:16)
Great Christian minds weigh in on the incarnation
Dr. B.B Warfield, a Bible believing, Conservative Theologian of the late nineteenth century had this to say about the foundations of Biblical Christianity and the incarnation: "Were I asked to name the three pillars on which the structure of Christianity, as taught in the New Testament in its entirety, especially rests, I do not know that I could do better than point to these three things: the supernatural, the incarnation and redemption."1 Warfield later concludes in page 165 of the same book: "The incarnation appears in (the New Testament), not for its own sake, but as a means of a further end - redemption."
In terms of explaining comprehensively what took place in this miracle, no man can say. However what we can say is clear enough to show that the event of the incarnation was a real event, in time. Another wonderful theological mind, the late Dr. John Walvoord in his book "The Holy Spirit", has this to say about the incarnation: "The inscrutable mystery can be stated then, that Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit; the life which was joined to humanity was that of the Second Person, and the First Person became the Father of the humanity of Christ."2
The Virgin (conception) birth - The significant means used by the Holy Spirit to bring Christ into this world
So we have already seen the miracle of the incarnation. The next miracle, a miracle which explains the way in which the Holy Spirit brought about the incarnation of God the Son into His humanity is the miracle of the virgin birth. Think of the Incarnation as the total event of Christ's arrival into this world, with the virgin birth describing more specifically the way He arrived.
Mary was predicted by scripture to be the vessel used by God to bring into this world the Messiah - Jesus Christ. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23; Luke 1:35) The virgin conception preserved the humanity of Jesus from being corrupted by the inherited sin nature of Adam, something of which is passed down the human father's side. (1 Peter 1:17-18) The Southern Baptist Faith and Message 2000 makes the virgin birth of first priority in its article on Jesus Christ: "Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary."3
Practical significance of the incarnation and virgin birth (conception)
To see the practical and theological significance of the Christian Faith, one only has to turn back the pages of history to the early twentieth century. A century ago the Bible believing church affirmed the Virgin birth of Jesus as one of five fundamentals of biblical Christianity, meaning that if one were to be considered a true Christian, they had to affirm the Virgin birth. Without the virgin birth, the other four fundamentals (biblical inerrancy, Christ's substitutionary death, Christ's resurrection and Christ's literal bodily return) would not had been possible. No virgin birth would mean the Bible was in error when it predicted such an event. That in turn would mean Christ would had been disqualified to be the Savior, thus leading to no forgiveness of sins to all who believe. Furthermore, this would had led to no resurrection, of which Paul asserts would leave us as a Christian people most miserable and without hope, still lost in our sins. (1 Corinthians 15:19). With all those doctrines, there would then be no hope in Christ's Visible bodily return, which functions to cleanse the Christian now and give hope for the age to come. (1 John 3:1-3) The reality of these other doctrines demonstrate the reality of the virgin birth, without which we would have nothing upon which to base the Christian faith.
More tomorrow.....
Endnotes;
1. B.B. Warfield. Biblical and Theological Studies. Page 160
2. John Walvoord. The Holy Spirit. Page 84.
3. Baptist Faith & Message 2000. Article 2 "God", Part B: "God The Son"
Matthew 1:1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of
Abraham:
As you read the infancy narratives of the first Christmas in Matthew and Luke, you are struck by how often the Holy Spirit is mentioned. As I read the birth accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ as they pertain to His humanity, I find five miracles done by the Holy Spirit that provide the foundation for our Lord's coming into this world that first Christmas:
1. Inspiration of the Scriptures.
2. Incarnation of Jesus' humanity
3. Virgin (Conception) birth
4. Hypostatic Union
5. Infinite Providence of the Holy Spirit
Today's blog will look more in detail at that first miracle behind the first Christmas: the inspiration of the scriptures.
The Inspiration of the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit: The great miracle leading up to Christmas
In Matthew and Luke's accounts, we see evidence of the product of the scriptures as the work of the Holy Spirit in preparing for the first advent of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:10-11 "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would
come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11seeking
to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as
He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." As much as these past few blogs have been about the Holy Spirit's work in Christmas, I must hasten that the whole ministry and purpose of the Holy Spirit is to point to God the Son. His chief method is through the production of inspired scripture.
What then is the nature of Divinely inspired scripture? In the opening of the Christmas account in Matthew 1:1-17, we can note six qualities of Divine Inspiration that the Holy Spirit used in getting His people and the world ready for the Savior's arrival:
1. Inspiration of the Scriptures. Inspiration is the work of the Holy Spirit "breathing out" the words of God through and into the prophets and Apostles writing of the Bible books. Passages such as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 1:21 testify to this unique act of the Spirit of God. The remaining five terms below define further why Divinely Inspired Scripture was the required tool produced and used by the Holy Spirit to prepare His people for Jesus' first coming in the first Christmas (Advent).
2. Inerrancy of Scripture Matthew 1:1-17 covers over 2,000 years of time, mentioning 52 generations of people from Abraham down to Joseph. Inerrancy has to do with the Holy Spirit producing scripture without error. In their original production they were without error, with the subsequent copies and translations carrying the authority of inerrancy. Think of how accurate the scriptures had to be throughout the Old and New Testaments. The Holy Spirit gave the Prophets the words to write in their own writing style to record perfect history, scientific facts, geographical information, family bloodlines and theological truth. Information from history contained between the close of Malachi to the beginning of Matthew (some 400 years!) is included in Matthew's opening geneaology. It was perfectly edited through Matthew to represent the chief men in the royal blood of Christ's humanity.
3. Infallibility of Scripture By reading the Christmas accounts of Matthew and Luke, can I trust that they will lead me accurately and not lead me to error? Absolutely! If inerrancy has to do with the fact that the scriptures have no errors, then infallibility deals with the fact that the scriptures cannot err in how the lead God's people into all truth. The Holy Spirit had to produce an inerrant and infallible book so that God's people would know and recognize the true Messiah and His arrival as the baby boy in Bethlehem. But notice the third trait of divinely inspired scripture: its unity.
4. The Unity of Scripture
Matthew 1:1-17 is a summary of the major people and events stretching through the 39 books of the Old Testament. Think of how the Holy Spirit brought together information from each of the three major sections of the Old Testament. The Law (first five books) are appealed to as seen in the mention of Abraham and the patriarchs. The Psalms or the Writings, authored by men such as David, are alluded to in the songs that dot the infant narratives of Luke. Then the Prophetic writings, such as Isaiah and Micah, find their place in Matthew and Luke's narratives, especially concerning the virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) and Christ's birthplace. (Micah 5)
5. The Clarity of Scripture
Is the scripture clear, or obscure? Did the Holy Spirit clearly communicate and connect the dots for God's people to see the Messiah by faith? Consider the response of the Magi in Matthew 2. They affirm the identity of the then two year old boy as God in human flesh by their appeal to Micah 5 and Genesis 49:10. Or how about the songs of Elizabeth, Zechariah and Mary? They use several Old Testament texts to declare the clarity by which they see this baby boy as none other than the Messiah. Only through scripture could the Holy Spirit make an otherwise difficult to grasp truth so clear to believers.
6. The Sufficiency of Scripture
As we read the birth accounts of Jesus' humanity in Matthew and Luke, as well as the prophecies and pictures of the Old Testament pointing to His first coming - we ask the question: are these scriptures sufficient? In the time following the completion of the New Testament, several documents claiming to be divinely inspired were produced by a heretical group called the Gnostics. They speculated about Jesus making mud birds and making them come alive, uttering full speeches from the manger and playing pranks on his childhood friends.1 When people begin to stray from the scriptures, false doctrine and speculation will soon follow. In 1871 at the Vatican I Council, the Catholic Church invented the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, claiming that she was born without sin.2 To add to or deny the sufficiency of scripture leads to an adding to or diminishing of Jesus Christ. We will either add untrue details, compromising the Savior's sinless character (i.e the gnostic gospels) or detract from the Savior's glory, making Christmas to be more about Mary than Jesus.
More to follow tomorrow....
Endnotes______________
1 The Gnostic Gospels were a group of writings produced from 150-250 A.D, some 50 to 100 or more years after the death of the Apostles. A document called "The Infancy Gospel of Thomas" reports of Jesus making the clay birds as a child and playing pranks, while the "Infancy Gospel of James", written before 200 A.D, reports the baby Jesus speaking from the cradle. In both these works, the doctrine of Jesus Christ is way different from the Biblical portrayal. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas gives the sense that Jesus as a child had a propensity to sin and be mischievious, something of which is alien to scripture, which affirms His sinless nature in passages such as 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:22 and Hebrews 4:15 and 7:24-25. The other forged gospel, the "Infancy Gospel of James", diminishes the true humanity of Jesus, since as an infant, he would had developed normally as any other child in his mind, motor skills and emotional life (yet without sin of course). (compare Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:12-15) These false gospels were immediately rejected by the early Christians due to their not being written by an Apostle, their erroneous theology and Gnostic source.
2. The Roman Catholic Church affirmed the Immaculate Conception of Mary in the 1 Vatican Council of 1871. This move represented a theological shift towards elevating Mary in status that had been occuring for more than a millennium. In 1950 the Pope affirmed the doctrine of her assumption, wherein she ascended into Heaven much like Jesus did in the Biblical Book of Acts. Neither of these doctrines (Mary's Immaculate Conception nor her bodily Assumption) are found anywhere in scripture. Rather they are church tradition that Rome has used to bolster her belief in Mary's function as a co-redeemer with Jesus and the cult of the saints.
Hebrews 9:11a "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come...."
Yesterday we began exploring how the Holy Spirit prepared for the arrival of Jesus Christ in His first coming. We noted that the Holy Spirit used the entirety of Old Testament history to prepare for the Son's arrival at Bethlehem. Today I want to get more specific and help the read understand a little bit more of what the Holy Spirit did in making it possible for God the Son to enter into this world as a virgin born human being.
The Holy Spirit's involvement in bringing Christ from eternity into time
How is it that Jesus Christ, God the Son, came into this world from eternity into time? Answer: by the working of the Holy Spirit. If it had not been for the Holy Spirit's active involvement, the first Christmas or Advent of Jesus would not had been possible. Think of how the Holy Spirit was involved in Christ's arrival into this world by consider three main activities: His work of inspiration, the virgin birth (incarnation) and His working of Providence.
1). Inspiration of the Scriptures. 1 Peter 1:11 tells us concerning the Old Testament Prophets: "seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." In Isaiah 7:14, we see such an example of the Spirit's work of Divine inspiration: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."
2). The Virgin Birth (incarnation). As we just read, the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah predicted the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Bible scholars refer to the whole journey of God the Son from Eternity to humanity as His incarnation (literally His coming "in the flesh"). The virgin birth's relationship to the truth of Christ's incarnation explains "how He arrived", with the term "incarnation" simply explaining "what took place". Both truths are cornerstone doctrines of the Christian faith. The angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:35 - "The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."
The Holy Spirit's work in the virgin Mary's womb enabled the Divine Son to journey from eternity into time, since it was the Spirit who worked with Mary's DNA to fashion a body of humanity for Christ to assume. (Hebrews 10:5-9) The Holy Spirit's work in the virgin birth preserved Jesus' humanity from inheriting the original sin of Adam, since the sin nature is transmitted through the father's bloodline going all the way back to Adam. (1 Peter 1:18-19) 1 Timothy 3:16a gives insight into the Holy Spirit's preservation of Christ's human nature from sin: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit...." (KJV).
In a miracle that we cannot fully comprehend, the Holy Spirit used the womb of Mary to create a genuine human nature for God the Son to assume. Simultaneously the Spirit bypassed the need for a natural human father to ensure that the Son's human nature would be sinless. Quite literally Christ in his humanity was the genuine Son of Mary while in His Deity remained Eternally the Son of the Father, equal in power and glory. (John 1:1)
3. The Spirit's work in providence in Christ's first coming. We alluded to the Holy Spirit's work in yesterday's blog with regards to His usage of time and events in the Old Testament. When we speak of God's right to reign - we call that "Sovereignty". When we refer to God's ruling reign - we call that "Providence". Being that the Holy Spirit is as much God as the Father and Son are God, it only stands that He too works forth in Providence. (compare Acts 5:4-5; 2 Corinthians 3:16-17). The Holy Spirit is the one who in conjunction with the Father, orchestrated and synchronized times and seasons. Consider Galatians 4:4 - "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law". Who "made" Christ's humanity in the virgin's womb? The Holy Spirit.(Luke 1:35) Who revealed the coming of Jesus as a virgin born baby? Again, the Holy Spirit. (Isaiah 7:14). Who then providentially used time itself to bring about the right moment in which the humanity of Jesus would be conceived and birthed? The Holy Spirit. (1 Peter 1:10-11)
Hebrews 9:9-11a -
9 "
The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has
not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing, 10 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and
sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience since they relate only to food and drink and various washings,
regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. 11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest
of the good things to come ....."
The Holy Spirit through the writer of Hebrews signifies that the entire history of the Old Testament was orchestrated by God the Father and spoken forth by the Holy Spirit through the pens of the prophets to prepare for the first coming of God the Son. In Numbers 28-29 for example, we see a listing of every major sacrifice, Jewish Festival and Priestly activity to be carried out in the Jewish calendar.
Who the Holy Spirit was pointing to in the Old Testament
When you read such chapters and scratch your head saying: "so what?" The so what of the details of the sacrificial system point us to the "So Who" of eternity. In Hebrews 9:9-10 the writer tells us that all of the little details and ceremonies were imposed by God "until a time of reformation". The word for "reformation" speaks of "straitening, improving, healing a broken limb, making better". In other words, the Holy Spirit was working through the "times of the Old Testament" to get ready for the ultimate season, the fulness of time in which Christ would come in the virgin birth. The Old Testament way of doing things was not adequate to cleanse the conscience. God had a better system, a better covenant in mind - whereby He was going to take every promise and prophecy and bring them to completion in the Person of Jesus Christ.
How the Holy Spirit prepared for Christ's First coming
All times, ceremonies and people of the Old Testament were but shadows of the True Light who was to come - Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2 states: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and
in many ways, 2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son,
whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." What God the Holy Spirit was moving all of human history and redemptive revelation to bow at the feet of the One who would be in the cradle, hang on the cross and rise to be the victorious Conqueror - Jesus Christ. As Hebrews 9:10 tells us, all of these things were "imposed" by God. That word "imposed" speaks to the idea of "insisting or driving home the point". The Holy Spirit was persistent and progressive in the revealing of the 109 prophecies, dozens of foreshadowings, rise and fall of empires and 39 Old Testament books.
The Holy Spirit's involvement in bring Christ from eternity into time
Hebrews 9:11a states: "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come...." How is it that Jesus Christ, God the Son, came into this world from eternity into time? Answer: by the working of the Holy Spirit. If it had not been for the Holy Spirit's active involvment, the first Christmas or Advent of Jesus would not had been possible. Think of how the Holy Spirit was involved in Christ's arrival into this world:
1). Inspiration of the Scriptures. 1 Peter 1:11 tells us concerning the Old Testament Prophets: "seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow." In Isaiah 7:14, we see such an example of the Spirit's work of Divine inspiration: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."
2). The Virgin Birth. As we just read, the Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah predicted the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. This truth is a cornerstone doctrine of the Christian faith. The angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:35 - "The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child
shall be called the Son of God."
The Holy Spirit's work in the virgin Mary's womb enabled the Divine Son to journey from eternity into time, since it was the Spirit who worked with Mary's DNA to fashion a body of humanity for Christ to assume. (Hebrews 10:5-9) The Holy Spirit's work in the virgin birth preserved Jesus' humanity from inheriting the original sin of Adam, since the sin nature is transmitted through the father's bloodline going all the way back to Adam. (1 Peter 1:18-19) 1 Timothy 3:16a gives insight into the Holy Spirit's preservation of Christ's human nature from sin: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in
the flesh, justified in the Spirit...." In a miracle that we cannot fully comprehend, the Holy Spirit used the womb of Mary to create a genuine human nature for God the Son to assume. Simultaneously the Spirit bypassed the need for a natural human father to ensure that the Son's human nature would be sinless. Quite literally Christ in his humanity was the genuine Son of Mary while in His Deity remained Eternally the Son of the Father, equal in power and glory. (John 1:1)
More tomorrow.....
Numbers 28:2 “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present My
offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their
appointed time.’
Yesterday we began to look at how the Lamb of God is central to God's plan of salvation in regards to Christmas. We traced the idea of the lamb from the Old Testament sacrifical system, noting how God had the lamb as the centerpiece of the timed cycles of sacrifice throughout the Jewish year. Timing was everything in the Old Testament, which is why it is even moreso in the New Testament. We closed yesterday noting how Jesus Christ came in the fulness of time as the Lamb of God. (Galatians 4:4). Today we want to take this same idea and consider how the Lamb of God is central to the mission of Christmas.
The centrality of the lamb in communicating the mission of salvation
In thinking on the centrality of the lamb, we know that the lamb is used to picture the Lord Jesus Christ in His first coming. John the Baptist for example spoke the following words about Jesus John 1:29 "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" As John states, Jesus, the Lamb of God came to do a mission: to take away the sin of the world.
In Numbers 28, God prefaces his summary listing of the major sacrifices with the notion that they were all prescribed to provide a "sweet soothing aroma" in His sight. This idea speaks to how when a sacrifice was offered in the place of a repentant sinful human being, satisfaction of God's wrath would be accomplished. This is why the word "atonement" or "propitiation" is used through the Old and New Testament, since both terms describe how satisfaction of God's just wrath was made in the shedding of innocent blood. (Leviticus 17:10-11; 1 John 2:2)
The mission of that first Christmas was for Jesus to come as a virgin born baby, the Lamb of God. The angel for instance tells us what the baby was to be named in Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His
people from their sins.”
What Jesus came to do in His first coming is spelled out through His title as the Lamb of God. The New Testament has over twenty five passages that describe Jesus' mission with this idea of Him being the Lamb of God:
1. John 1:29 "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world"
2. John 1:36 "Behold the Lamb of God"
3. Acts 8:32-34 Phillip explains a passage from Isaiah 53 of the prophecy about the Lamb, and then proceeds to tell the Ethiopian Eunuch about Jesus
4. 1 Corinthians 5:7 "Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new
lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also
has been sacrificed."
5. 1 Peter 1:18-19 redeemed by the blood of Jesus, likened unto a lamb without blemish
6. 1 Peter 2:22-24 we see the Lamb who was without sin and guile
In addition to these references, we find almost twenty references in the Book of Revelation concerning the Lamb of God and His mission.1 Interestingly, for a Book that is focused on the events surrounding Christ's second coming, it reminds us that without His first coming accomplishment, the second coming adoration would not be possible.
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is the center piece of Christmas. Without Him, that first Christmas would have no mission nor purpose.
End Notes____
1 For those interested, here are most of the references in Revelation pertaining to Jesus the Lamb of God. They are as listed from Nave's Topical Bible, an excellent reference tool: Revelation 6:16; 7:9, 10, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1,4; 15:3; 17:14; 19:7; 21:9,14,22,23,27; 22:1,3
Numbers 28:4 ‘You shall offer the one lamb in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer
at twilight"
Today I want to talk about the centrality of the Lamb of God to Christmas. Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God no less than 25 times in the New Testament. Being that this title speaks primarily to His first coming, and being that Christmas celebrates God the Son coming to this planet as a virgin born baby, we simply propose that Christmas' center is the Lamb of God. In thinking on this theme, we we want to look at how the Bible uses the Old and New Testament to show us some truths about how Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the focus for God's plan for the first Christmas. In today's post we will deal with the centrality of the Lamb of God as He pertained to the timing of Christmas.
The centrality of the lamb in communicating the timing of the sacrificial system
In Numbers 28 we see a summary list of all the major sacrifices and festivals that were to be celebrated by the Jewish people. Lambs figured quite significantly into God's provision of the sacrifical system in the Old Testament. For example, with regards to the timing of the sacrifices, Moses writes in Numbers 28:2 - “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present My
offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their
appointed time". That phrase "appointed time", as well as the word "festival", communicate the combined idea in the Hebrew a dress rehearsal. The sacrifices and feasts of Israel were like dress rehearsals, with Jesus Christ being the final and only performance of salvation. As you go down through the remainder of Numbers 28, we see how lambs were significant in the daily, weekly, monthly and the annual Passover celebration:
-Daily there were to be two lambs offered, one in the morning, and one in the evening. (Numbers 28:1-8)
-Weekly, or every sabbath, two male lambs were to be sacrificed. (Numbers 28:9-10)
-Monthly, at the beginning of each month, the people were to sacrifice seven male lambs without defect, along with other types of animals. (Numbers 28:11-15)
-Annually, once a year, at the Passover celebration, commemorating the Jews Exodus from Egypt, the Bible speaks of the people roasting a lamb for the passover meal and spreading its blood over the door posts of their homes. (Numbers 28:16; Exodus 12:1-13)
We could go further into the chapter, but the point is made: lambs were central to the cycles of time in the Old Testament sacrificial system (mentioned some 30 times or so in Numbers 28-29 alone).
The Lamb of God - central to God's timing in accomplishing salvation
Truly the Old Testament is used to prepare for Christ's first coming in the New Testament, with His title "The Lamb of God" being no exception. In the New Testament, the Bible is very clear about Jesus, the Lamb of God, coming at the right time. We know that from eternity Jesus was regarded as the Lamb of God. Consider for example Revelation 13:8 "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written
in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (KJV) Being regarded as the Lamb of God in eternity, He came to become the Lamb of God in time. Galatians 4:4-5 tells us: "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, 5 To redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
The timing of Jesus' coming into the world was no doubt perfect. The first Christmas centered on the Lamb of God coming at just the right time. In Luke 2:1-7, we see several indications of the timing of Christmas being centered around the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ:
1. The timing was right historically - Luke 2:1-3 tells us of a census taken in the Roman world which prompted Joseph and Mary to go up to Bethlehem, some 90 miles from Nazaerth, where Joseph and Mary resided.
2. The timing was right for His birth -Luke 2:5-7 tells us that Mary had reached full term with the God/man in her womb, revealing that the timing of His birth was right.
3. The timing of heaven and earth was right - Luke 2:8-20 that shepherds were in their fields, watching their flocks of sheep (lambs!), and suddenly the hosts of heaven made the announcement of Christ's birth.
4.The timing of creation was right - Then in Matthew 2:2 we see the magi coming to worship the now two year old Christ child upon seeing a star which appeared over the night skies of Persia in their land. For two years they traveled to see this wonder of wonders - the Lamb of God.
God brought all this together to reveal this truth of the lamb of God coming at the right time that first Christmas.
