What Child is This

What Child Is This?
“Child of Promise”
Galatians 4:4-7

Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor

   While the character of Jesus has been fictionalized, satirized, and mythicized over the years, according to the most recent survey, most Americans still believe Jesus was a real person who lived on the earth 2000 years ago.

• While most adults admit their lack of Bible knowledge and, therefore, find it hard to believe that Jesus was sinless, they do believe He was a good man who died a horrible death to pay for the sins of lost mankind.
• However, while most senior adults believe Jesus was truly God in the flesh, middle-aged adults believe He was a spiritual leader like Mohammed or Buddha. Less than half of the millennials and less than a third of the young adults believe Jesus was God in the flesh, and while they see Him as a loving, caring friend, less than half of today’s youth believe Jesus was the Savior sent from God.

   Contrary to the Hallmark commercials, Christmas is more than a season to reveal our very best to those we love. Christmas is the anniversary of the day “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

• While the circumstances of the Lord’s birth were not what Joseph and Mary had desired, especially knowing it was God’s child, the sovereignty of God was in control.
• Jesus was born in the right place, at the right time, and not only at the completion of Mary’s pregnancy but at the right time in both prophetic and human history.
• While Jesus’ birth did not occur on December 25, it is possible the “immaculate conception” did occur during the Jewish months of “Kislev or Tevet” or from November to January on our calendar.
• The Catholic church chose the date of December 25 to correspond with the pagan holiday of Saturnalia – the celebration of the end of the short, dark days and the return of the sun.
• The word “Christmas” is not in the Bible. The term “Christmas” is really “Christ-Mass,” which is a special worship service commemorating the birth of Christ as our Savior and Lord.
• Why couldn’t Jesus have been born at another time in human history? Why did Paul say in Galatians 4:4, “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son”?
• In His sovereignty, God the Father set the exact time for this event to occur in human history, even before He created the world.
• In His sovereignty, God the Father determined the day, the date, the time, the place, and every person involved – even before the world began!
• While God is eternal – from everlasting to everlasting – His story of mankind’s rebellion and His plan for our reconciliation has a beginning and an end.
• We are living in the daily progression of prophetic history – a timeline of ordained events that will conclude with the second coming of Jesus Christ and our reign with Him on the earth!

1.  There was the PROMISE to be fulfilled – Vs. 4 – “When the fullness of time was come!”

   The Christmas Story began in Genesis 3:15 with God’s promise to send a Child, who would be born of a virgin girl, to defeat the one (Satan) who had led Adam and Eve to disobey God’s commandments.

• Satan would try to kill that child by his attempts to destroy the “seed line,” but in all his efforts, he would only be able to “bruise His heel!”
• That Child of promise would, by His death and resurrection, “crush Satan’s head” and set free those he held in bondage to their sin.
• That “seed” from “Eve” (contrary to laws of reproduction) would pass through the generations of people, yet through those of God’s choice: (Election/Predestination)
  • The family of Noah – his son, Shem
  • The family of Abraham – his son, Isaac
  • The family of Isaac – his son, Judah
  • The family of Judah – his son, David
  • “And to Jacob was born Joseph, the husband of Mary, (the virgin) by whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ!” (Mt. 1;16)
• The Apostle Paul said Jesus was born to fulfill God’s promise in Genesis 3:15!
• This was only ONE of the 7,000 promises God made in His Word, and “there hath not failed one word of His good promises!” (1 King 8:56)

 2.  There were PREPARATIONS to be made – Vs. 4 – “When the fullness of THE TIME was come!”

• In His sovereignty, God chose the Hebrews to be the channel of the promised Savior!
• For thousands of years, they lived in the “shadows” and “types” and “illustrations” of the One who would come to be the Messiah!
• Their bondage in Egypt and their deliverance from Egypt was a “picture” of their future salvation!
• Their sacrificial system prepared them to accept Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

   In His sovereignty, God chose the time and place to reveal His Savior to the world!

• Negatively: The pagan world had rejected God, and the people were spiritually starved! Man had no answer for the increase of evil!
• Positively: The nation of Rome had built major roads and highways, and Alexander the Great had given the world a universal language which could be used to spread the gospel.
• Personally: God had moved the hearts of world leaders to make decisions so Joseph and Mary would be in the right place at the right time!

3.  There was a PURPOSE to be achieved – Vs. 4 – “God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons!”

• Jesus Christ was born of a woman – His humanity! – Born a human being, so He could physically die!
• Jesus Christ was sent by the Father – His deity! – The Son of God, so His death would pay for the sins of all who would receive Him as their Savior and Lord.
• God’s son, Jesus Christ, who was born Mary’s Son, lived among us and became our Savior, fulfilling God’s promise and accomplishing God’s purpose!
• To really understand Christmas, we need to view the Manger through the Cross – Jesus was born to die!
• William Chatterton Dix said it this way:
• Alleluia! Not as orphans are we left in sorrow now;
• Alleluia! He is near us; faith believes, nor questions how.
• Though the cloud from sight received him when the forty days were o’er, shall our hearts forget his promise: “I am with you evermore”?