Christmas Day 2013

I love the way in which that last stanza has been written. Son of Adam, Son of Heaven, given as a ransom, reconciling God and man, Christ, our mighty champion. What a Savior, what a friend, what a glorious mystery. Once a babe in Bethlehem, now the Lord of history. I can't see how you can improve on those words. Let's turn now Bibles to Luke and chapter one. It's the passage we looked at last evening, but just want to concentrate on the last few verses of that chapter when Zachariah turns his attention from his own son John, who was being given a name to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. So verse 76 is where we will commence up to the end of the chapter. Zechariah says there, And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. And we are told there, and the child grew, referring to John, and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel. What I want to draw your attention to in this passage of scripture is the way in which the Lord Jesus Christ is described. He is referred to there as the rising sun in verse 78. Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high. I've just been speaking about the poetry of Stuart Townend. And here we have the poetry of Zechariah as he gave this prophetic utterance. Again, I spoke about the fact that it was difficult to improve on what Stuart wrote here. I'd like to add it is difficult to improve on what Zachariah said, especially the picture that he uses concerning the Lord Jesus Christ as the rising sun. Here we are thinking about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world. And what an apt description we need to keep in our own minds if we can only think of His entry into the world as the rising of the sun, an experience that we have each and every day. I think, first of all, the reason why there's such a brilliant picture or parallel between these two is because of what the sun comes to deal with. Notice in our passage that it is about giving light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. In other words, often when we think in terms of the sun rising, we're thinking in terms of dealing with the darkness that surrounds us. In the Bible, darkness is often made to refer to ignorance, your lack of capacity to see reality that is round about you, because your eyes can only see in the light. But also, it refers to the subject of death. We are told here, in the shadow of death. The misery that surrounds our lives is often pictured in terms of shadow, in terms of darkness, invariably leading to death. And we need to see that indeed that is what the Lord Jesus Christ came to deal with. He came to remove the ignorance that we have concerning the way to heaven, reconciliation with God, and everything else that goes with it. We will see that in a moment. He comes to deal with that misery that is invariably part of this life, because sin has entered into the world. He has come also to deal with the ultimate punishment of God, which is death, the judicial act that God has brought upon us because of our sin. Do you think about Christmas that way? Do you think about the baby born in Bethlehem in those terms? That he has come to deal with your ignorance, he has come to deal with your misery, he has come to deal with that judicial act of God. death itself and ultimately even the final death which is eternity in hell. But then the sunrise picture doesn't end there. It's also a picture that speaks in terms of God's progressive work, isn't it? I mean, sunrise is not sudden. It's not like entering into a brightly lit room so that you have to close your eyes for a moment and adjust. It's progressive. Slowly but surely, you begin to see more and more and more. It's getting warmer and warmer feel it is now time to get out and get into activity and continues to rise until noon time. It's exactly the same with the Lord Jesus Christ coming into the world. The truth about him is known with the passage of time. I mean, think of what we heard a few moments ago in prayer. The king of kings and lord of lords, God himself, in human flesh, a little baby bound in swaddling cloth, put in a feeding trough of cows. If you were to be told that this is God, you would turn around and say, blasphemy. It can't be. But as you begin to see that life unfolding, the miracles that he performed, the teaching that he gave that made his hearers say, no man has spoken, ever spoken as this man has done. When you see him dying on the cross in such a unique way that even the centurion acknowledges that this man should surely be the son of God. You see Him ascending to heaven bringing men and women to repentance and faith as we are here worshipping Him. You begin to think that little baby was no ordinary being. And finally when He will descend and call all His own to Himself in their thousands and tens of thousands and millions and billions from East and West and North and South to gather around Him and pay final homage to Him at that point when the sun has risen to noon time you will acknowledge that indeed He is the Son of God. There's something progressive about his self-revelation. And as I preached a few days ago, don't judge him with respect to the beginnings of his earthly life. Read the scriptures, see the full story, and then you will see that like the rising of the sun, when he reaches noontime, you too will bow your knee to him. you will acknowledge him, the rising sun. But there's something else about this sunrise that is such an apt description of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is in terms of giving a sense of guidance to the way of peace. Verse 79, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. Generally speaking, one of the reasons why we need light, especially in darkness, is that we already have a desire to go somewhere. And we know that to get there, we do need light. For instance, if you're visiting, as I'm currently visiting the gods, and you wake up in the middle of the night, you do need to have a bit of light if you're not going to wake up the whole household after you crash into some furniture in the place. You do need light because you want to get somewhere. Or if you're driving and it just so happens that That journey is a little longer than you anticipated. The sun has gone down. You turn on your light because you need to see where you want to go. Our hearts long for peace. We long for peace with one another. We long for peace within our hearts. We long for peace with God. Our consciences tell us we need peace. But we don't know how to get it. Philosophers give us their theories. Ultimately, you and I know that when we've tried out those theories, our consciences still tell us we have not yet found that peace. Well, Jesus Christ being the sunrise, he tells us, he shows us how we may find peace with God. to borrow his own words, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. And that, by the way, explains the very reason why he came to be born the way he was born. It was primarily because that's the only way he could then pay the price that needed to be paid. on the cross to die for our sins. If Jesus Christ didn't come in as a human being, He would not have been our Saviour. Because as human beings, we deserve the wrath of God. It's what stood between us and peace with God the Lord Jesus Christ came, was born, lived a perfect life and finally took upon himself the guilt of our sins and consequently paid that price for us. So what the Lord does basically is to say, do you want life? Do you want peace with God? Come to me. The sun rising answers our greatest need, peace with the living God. Our souls want to get there, we are in darkness. But when we come to Christ, the light shines. In our pathway, we can therefore go towards that peace that we long for. Isn't that one way in which we know that we have now come into a living relationship with God. It is that our hearts are filled with peace. A peace which we long for, but ultimately could not find. When we turn from our sins and put our trust in Jesus, we have peace. We have peace. The Apostle Paul, writing in his wonderful epistle to the Romans, says, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. One more reality concerning sunrise is simply the joy that sunrise gives. A few years ago, we had a total eclipse of the sun in Zambia. and got my family out. We were sitting on the lawn and we saw in the middle of the afternoon the sun eclipsed by the moon. It was interesting that the birds immediately began to rush back into their nests. And then I'm pretty sure they must have been quite confused when a few Seconds later, the sun came up again. And they began to come out. But the thing that still remains vivid before me was the way in which the birds began to sing again. Exactly what happens in the morning. And I thought to myself, wow, there must have been a bit of confusion in the bed kingdom for a few seconds. And then joy returned, and consequently they began to sing again. So when we read a passage like this, those who sit in darkness, we must recognize that this picture is a picture of misery. Or when we read the words, and in the shadow of death, encroaching death, again you can't miss that it's a picture of misery. And therefore, when the Bible speaks about the sun rising and visiting us from on high and guiding our feet into the way of peace, implied there is joy. It's joy. I'm pretty sure you experience it, don't you? In the morning, when the sun comes up. I hope you join the birds. when they begin to sing at sunrise. A new day has dawned. I hope you also have a song on your heart at that point. Well, this is pointing us to the ultimate joy that's going to be ours if we genuinely and truly turn from sin and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is the true source of joy. He will bring true joy to our hearts and to our lives. Listen to me. The world promises you happiness. It's a lie. It's a complete and naked The very individuals that put on those plastic smiles on your glossy magazines are the individuals that have it made without God and without Christ. They are nothing but a bundle of misery. It's a matter of time. I'm sure you see it. But when you come to Christ, it doesn't just fill you with peace. He fills you with a joy that the world cannot take away. A joy that can only ultimately be described with this picture. When birds come out, the world comes alive, the sun has risen. And indeed, when noon time comes, When the Lord himself descends, you will see God's children, pictured in the words of Malachi, like little lambs coming out of the stalls, kicking and enjoying themselves. Finally, the sign of righteousness has arisen. Will you be part of that party, the never-ending joy the joy unlimited, full of glory? You can only be part of it if, as an individual, you recognize that you are in darkness, that you are in the shadow of death, that there is only one way between you and peace with God, Jesus Christ. As you come to Him in genuine repentance and faith, then the sun rises in your heart and continues to rise until you see him on his second coming. Oh, that you might have that repentance and faith this Christmas morning. Amen.