Luke 2:1-7 – What Makes Christmas New? – Bible study

Luke 2:1-7 What Makes Christmas New? Christmas. There is something about that word. It is a word that is very old. Everyone one here, from the youngest to the oldest, as had some kind of celebration of Christmas every year of their life. And yet those years are nothing compared to the age of Christmas, well over 2000 years now. But for all of the years that Christmas has been around, there is still something new about it. Something exciting about it. Why is that? What makes Christmas new? What could there be about something so old that could be new? Lets review some of the old details of Christmas and see if we can find out. What happened on Christmas so many years ago? I. A Time Came Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days. A. Something began to happen. Something important. Something divine. Something that had been hoped for for a long time. B. Another Bible verse describes it as. Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 1. It happened when time was full; that is, when everything was set and ready. 2. We need to understand that God lives outside of time. a. That means that time has no control over God. b. In fact, it is the other way around. God has control over time. c. Time is a tool that God has created, like gravity, or the sun. d. And just like God can turn the sun off or Jesus could ascend back to heaven despite the laws of gravity, so God controls time. 3. So these verses are saying that when everything was set, when everything was ready, something important, something divine, something longed for began to happen in those days. C. Now, I have to wonder what it was that had to be gotten ready. 1. Did the Jews have to get so hard that they would not recognize their Messiah? 2. Did the world have to be so unified that the news of what God was doing could easily spread across it? (1 language, 1 ruler, 1 currency exchange, 1 education system) 3. Did the world have to become so wicked that they would allow such a thing as the crucifixion of God? D. I do not know but I will tell you, just as God has used time in the past, so He is using it today. 1. He brought you to this place today. 2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 2. Just as Jesus came the first time when all things were ready, so Jesus is going to come the second time when all things are ready. II. Virgin conceived. Matt 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. A. The Bible makes it very clear that Mary knew no man in a physical sense. 1. The Bible says that an angel named Gabriel was sent Luke 1:27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgins name was Mary. 2. This angel had a message: Luke 1:31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 3. To which Mary responded. Luke 1:34 How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 4. And the angel explained Luke 1:35 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. B. This conception was to accomplish many things: 1. It was to give God a body. a. Jesus has always been. b. Jesus, God, and Holy Ghost are all one Being; yet, they are all unique Individuals. c. In the eternal past, Jesus, God, and the Holy Ghost were always one God. d. When God decided to create man, He knew what man would do and He decided that each member of the Godhead would fulfill a role in bringing sinful man back to Him. e. Way back then, God decided that the second member of the Godhead would be born in flesh. f. From that time, that member of the Godhead has been called the Son. g. But Jesus is not the Son because He had a beginning. He is the Son because He would be born in a human body. 2. This body would give God the opportunity to walk among man, to teach him, to help him. 3. And this body would give God the ability to pay the price of sin for mankind. a. God knew that man would sin. b. Even so, God being a just God, declared the price for sin would be death, both of the body and eternal separation from God. c. But being loving and merciful, God also decided that He would pay that price for every human being. d. When Jesus put on the body, the infinite eternal God took to Himself the ability to die. III. \#Luke 2:1\ A King Taxed A. There is certainly nothing unusual about a king taxing people. 1. We still live under kings that tax today! 2. But there is something unusual about this taxing. B. God was working to provide man redemption, but He was doing it all without mans knowledge or help. 1. God could have send angels to the different people in redemptions story and TOLD them what He was doing and what they needed to do to make it work. 2. But that is not Gods way. God wants to do ALL of the work so that He can get ALL of the glory. C. God had made a promise about WHERE the Messiah would be born many years before. Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 1. The problem was that Joseph and Mary did not live in Bethlehem. They lived several miles away in a city called Nazareth. 2. Now, God needed them to move from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but He did not just want to tell them to move. 3. So God had a king issue a tax. D. And what a tax it was. 1. This tax required every man in the empire to go back to back to the town of his birth. 2. Apparently, there were no exemptions or exceptions since even having a wife about to bear a Child was not one. 3. And the timing of it placed Mary and Joseph back in Nazareth at just the moment she was to bear the Messiah! E. Here, God uses not only time but also kings, taxes, circumstanceseverything that we think of as our kingdom and our abilities. 1. This tax demonstrates the greatness of our God to bring to pass His will in the lives of all men. 2. And yet, with all of this power, God did not force anyone to do anything. a. It was the kings decision to create the tax. b. It was the messengers choice to announce the tax. c. It was Joseph and Marys choice to go to Bethlehem to pay the tax. d. And it will be your choice to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior or not. IV. A Baby Born A. This is the part of the story that is best known and, by far, the most important. 1. As I have already pointed out, this Baby is not another child. 2. He is the eternal God being born in flesh. 3. With Jesus birth, God can now teach us about Himself. 4. With Jesus birth, God can now die for mans sin. B. Yet, as important as the birth of Jesus is, it is not the birth of Jesus that saves souls. Several others things still have to happen. 1. This Child must live to the cross. 2. This Child must be tempted by sin but never sin. 3. This Child must fulfill every prophecy given in the Bible about Him. (One source said there 353 prophecies!) http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html 4. This Child must give His life for our sins. 5. This Child must rise from the dead. V. \#Luke 2:9-20\ An Angelic Announcement A. Announcements are made so that people will know what is going on and participate in them if they so choose. 1. I suspect that this is what the angels were doing as well. 2. But it was not just this angel or set of angels that had made announcements. B. God had made others. 1. God used a star to invite the wisemen from the East. 2. God used the wisemen to invite King Herod. 3. God used King Herod to invite the religious leaders of Israel. 4. And God used these angels to invite the shepherds from the hillside. C. By these four invitations, all of the population was invited to the first Christmas. 1. The wisemen picture people like some of us: a. Educated enough to know when something is going on. b. Free enough to travel when we choose. c. Wealthy enough to purchase a gift for those we want to honor. 2. King Herod pictures people of more power, influence, stature, and wealth than we. 3. The religious leaders picture all of the people on this world who believe in a god, a divine being, and feel a need to reach out to him. 4. And the shepherds picture those who are working stiffs. Those who pull the 3rd shift hours and seem always to be at work. D. And so everyone was invited to come greet Gods entrance into this world. That is the old story of Christmas, but did you catch what it is that makes Christmas new? "What Makes Christmas New?" What makes Christmas new every year is the fact that God is still inviting all people to come to Him, to accept what Jesus did for them on the cross, to receive the gift of forgiveness; and by so doing, have a new life in Christ. That is what makes Christmas new and exciting. The opportunity that you would celebrate your first Christmas as a forgiven child of God!