There have been many events and people who have changed the
world: the creation of fire, the invention of the wheel, the invention of
gun-powder; the discovery of Penicillin, the splitting of the atom and the decoding
of the DNA double helix, not to mention to the invention of the internet that
heralded a new digital age of technology. These events and many others like
them have all had a profound and important impact upon humanity, technological
progress and the advancement of civilization as we know it.
But there is one event – a birth – that changed the world
forever and that is no hyperbole. The birth of Jesus is the single greatest
event in human history. Luke’s Gospel tells of what a monumental event the
birth of Jesus was and would be to the world:
“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring
you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke
2:10-11
The angel was speaking to shepherds as they watched their
flock at night. The significance of this visitation would not have been lost on
Jewish audiences as the shepherds were caring for the very lambs that would
have been used in the Passover Festival, the annual commemoration of the
Passover in Egypt, where God passed over the first born of Israel sparing their
lives for the sacrifice of the lamb made in their place. The Passover Lamb
therefore was by nature a sacrificial lamb, an innocent life killed in place of
the guilty in order to bring salvation for the people of Israel.
The parallelism here between Jesus’ birth and the lambs crazing
on the hills awaiting the Passover is no coincidence: Jesus was born to die as
the Lamb of God, the One and ultimate, atoning sacrifice for the sin of
humanity. Yet this is only part of the reason why Jesus’ birth was the greatest
event in human history. Matthew’s Gospel focusses on another aspect of the
importance of Jesus’ birth, namely his sovereignty as long-foretold and
prophesised Messiah and King of Israel:
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days
of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, “Where
is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and
have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and
all Jerusalem with him.” Matthew 2:1-3
Jesus’ birth was fulfilment not just of Messianic prophecies
that spoke of salvation but also of Messianic prophecies that spoke of Davidic
Kingship. ‘Messiah’ in Hebrew means “anointed” or “chosen” one of God. The
kings of ancient Israel, such as David and Solomon were anointed ones of God
and Israel had long been expecting God to fulfil His covenant (promise) with
David to raise up an heir to reign over his thrown and kingdom forever. Bethlehem,
the small village roughly 6 miles south of Jerusalem, was called the city of
David as this was where David was born. Any heir and potential Messiah must
therefore have been born in Bethlehem, just as the scribes confirmed to Herod
when he inquired of where the Messiah would be born:
“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means
least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will
shepherd my people Israel.” Micah 5:2
Jesus then was no ordinary person, He was no mere infant.
Jesus was God’s chosen King and sacrificial Messiah to His people. Through
Jesus would come salvation and eternal life as well as kingship, justice and
peace. John’s Gospel elaborates on the divine nature of Jesus calling Him the
Word (of God) made flesh (John 1:14). Jesus is the personification of God’s
revelation and Law. The apostle Paul, who encountered the risen Jesus on his
journey to Damascus also wrote of Jesus’ unique identity and personhood
explaining that in Jesus the fullness of the deity (God) dwells bodily
(Colossians 2:9). Jesus, as Scripture tells us, was none other than God incarnate.
Jesus changed the course of human history. Jesus’ birth
marked a new way of dating chronology, we still talk today of CE (Common Era)
and BCE (before Common Era) referring to His birth. Jesus inaugurated a new
religion – Christianity – that would go on to become at this point of writing the
world’s largest religion. Jesus has been the focal point of inspiration and
influence from the high art of the Renaissance to the pop culture of the 20th
and 21st centuries as indicated by characters such as Superman and
Harry Potter. Jesus has influenced social revolution, theological reformation,
religious iconoclasm as well as civil rights. Mahatma Ghandi, leader of Indian
independence from the British Empire and devout Hindu once said of Jesus:
“What then
does Jesus mean to me? He was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever
had.”
Albert Einstein, physicist and discoverer of the Theory of Relativity famously said of Jesus:
“No man can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that his sayings are beautiful…I am a Jew but I am enthralled by the aluminous figure of the Nazarene.”
Again let us return to what the Bible teaches of Jesus, He
was given the name Jesus because in Hebrew it means “God saves”; His name was
to foreshadow His atoning sacrifice upon the cross. But Jesus was also given a
title Immanuel (Matthew 1:23), meaning “God with us”. Jesus who is Immanuel,
the Son of David, the Son of God, Messiah and God’s chosen One to be King.
Israel was pregnant with hope and expectation for the coming of their Messiah
at the time of Jesus’ first coming. Two thousand years later and Christians
across the world await patiently with expectation His second coming, not as
baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, but as King the rider upon the white horse
(Revelation 19:11) who will bring judgement upon Satan and the world.
Do not neglect the birth of Jesus this Christmas, nor
underestimate its phenomenal importance to human history and to your very own life; a birth of cosmic proportions that has changed the shape of life as we
know it altogether. Jesus is the bridge between heaven and earth.
David Crowder Band 'O Come O Come Emmanuel'
