God Has Spoken By His Son
CHRISTMAS DAY
“GOD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son”
The Christian God is the god who speaks. Since the very beginning God has revealed his plan to reverse the curse brought about by the sin of our parents, Adam and Eve. In the garden, God said, that from Eve would come one who would crush the head of the serpent; that crafy creature who beguiled and deceived them. To Abraham God promised a posterity as numerous as the stars in the sky, from which nations and kings would come. To David, God promised a king who would come from his house, whose throne would be established forever.
In times past God also spoke through Israel’s prophets who foretold of One who would come “with righteousness to judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips slay the wicked.” One who would be miraculously born of a virgin, the promised seed of Eve, of whom the Angel Gabriel said “would be great, and called the Son of the Highest” the fulfillment of God’s promise to David, the One whom the Lord God would give the throne of his father David: to reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there would be no end.
Yes, in times past God spoke in various ways, through prophets, priests, and kings, of a future day when he would come and begin to make things right. And all of human history has existed in a never ending Advent season of waiting and anticipation, hoping for the revealed promises of God to finally come into being. Waiting for the full disclosure of God’s redemptive plan- made known without ambiguity or shadow.
“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” On this day, Christmas Day, God has spoken to us in a final glorious manner and by a far more excellent Person than he had done in the former times, for today he speaks to us by his Son; not a prophet, priest, or King, but a Son, born of woman, born into history. The incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ is the final announcement and revelation of salvation to our broken and weary world. Yes, “In these last days, he has spoken to us by His Son.” And, through His Son, God our Father speaks life.
On this Christmas morning God desires to speak to us of the wonderful things he has done in Christ, that we might know and acknowledge what great a gift we have received. For the very day in which the eternal Son, the Word which was with God from the beginning, took on our flesh and became man that he might dwell amongst us poor miserable sinners, is the very day in which the trajectory of death and decay was redirected towards renewal and life; eternal life.
“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” On Christmas, the light of life shone into the darkness of death, the dayspring from on high visited us to bring salvation to men by making peace with God the Father. The Christ-child was born into the world to die for sinners. By his obedient death, he would by himself purge our sins, that we might be reconciled back to our Father. And by One faithful and obedient Son, we too, by faith, have been made sons and daughters of God. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
In Christ God speaks to us not as slaves, not as enemies, but as sons and as daughters. Through Christ we have obtained sonship by rebirth, by being born of God. A rebirth only made possible by the pre-existent, divine, and eternal Word of God being manifested in the flesh, in the birth of Jesus the Christ, the True Light which has come into the world. By this light both our hearts and minds are illuminated, no longer confounded in our understanding, no longer lost in darkness, but rather, seeing and understanding without fear.
Because the Father loved so very greatly, he sent his only begotten Son… He sent His son: not an angel, not another earthly king, neither did he send a prophet. Rather, it is His Son who speaks a final message of salvation and eternal life. The Son to whom he has appointed heir of all things.
This same Son who with the Father, created the world. The Son who is the express image of His Father, in whom is the brightness of God’s glory. The Son who upholds everything that is by the word of his power and sits at the right hand of the Father, in the highest place of preeminence and authority. He is vastly superior to anything that is created, even better than the angels, for his name is far greater than any other: for He is called Son. The Son who was born of a virgin on this day to reconcile men to the Father.
In the birth of Jesus, the world was given not only a real and tangible picture of God (If you have seen me, you have seen the father), but the very reality of God: “In Him was life.” You see, life IS the reality of God: abundant and eternal. Beloved, open your ears and hear the Son who proclaims, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” God has spoken through his Son. Life has come to a dying world. This is what Christmas is ultimately about. “And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Amen.
