His Name Shall Be Called... Mighty God
Titus 2:11-14; John 5:16-18, 8:48-59
Perfect Person!
“If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?” But in all seriousness, when you have a problem, who are you going to call to fix it? For instance, if you have a roof that is leaking all over, are you going to call a plumber? If you have a car that just broke down, would you call a carpenter? And if your finances are all askew, would you turn to a doctor for help? Of course not! We all understand that when we have problems, there are specific people we need in order to fix the problem. You can’t simply find the first professional and expect them to be the professional you need. So, why do we do this with our faith? If you have a faith problem, you shouldn’t go and find your local fortune teller and ask them for help. That would be worthless. Nor should we think that we can figure it out ourselves. No matter how handy you are, if you’re not a professional in that field, there’s a good chance you may make the whole situation worse. Especially in the era of social media and Google, everything thinks they can be an expert online... until they have to do it themselves. So, let this not be the case with our faith and salvation. There’s no do-it-yourself tricks. There’s no substitute for the real professional. There’s only one who can do it the right way all the time. That’s the one who we must seek.
This week, we consider the next name given to Jesus... Mighty God. It’s a title that reminds us all that God did for us. It shows us also that it couldn’t be just anyone to take up the mantle of Messiah. It had to be one very particular person. For the issue we have in our world required a very specific individual... so let us learn:
OUR MIGHTY GOD HAS MADE HIMSELF LIKE US!
I.
We must first consider our condition and the problem we seek to fix if we’re going to understand how we’ll ever get out of it. For that, we must return to the Garden of Eden. In the beginning, God created earth and heaven, land and sea, animals of all kinds, and as the pinnacle of it all, man and woman. When God created it, he made it all perfect. There was nothing that God couldn’t look at and call “very good.” Until it all fell apart. As Paul wrote, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned,” Romans 5:12. Sin and death spread to all people, man and woman, because we ALL have sinned. We all have eaten of the forbidden fruit which God commanded us not to eat. Thus, by transgressing God’s holy law, by eating of the fruit of the tree, we have gained a debt that is owed to God. A debt not of money or trinkets, but of flesh and blood. This is why Isaiah calls us “people who walked in darkness”. The darkness of our sin has overshadowed everything we do, and no matter how hard we work, how much wealth or intelligence we gain, it’s never enough to repay our debt.
But then comes the other problem. If man is incapable of paying off his own debt, then our only hope is for it to be pushed to the side and ignored. While as humans, we may consider such a proposition from time to time, God is incapable of such action. He is just, and good, and righteous. He cannot allow evil and sin into his presence lest he destroy us or cease to be God. Yes, because God is just, he cannot wave a magic wand and pretend that all is well. The only way to be reunited with his creation was for the debt to be paid and the wrong done by man to be made right. Nor can God lessen the debt or make it easier for us. He can’t lower the bar so that we can achieve it. For as much as God wants to be with us, he cannot assume man’s debt on his own. Nor can man ever come up with enough to pay back the debt to God. This is the trap with which we struggle. Sin has condemned us and God cannot rescue us himself.
II.
But it was in the infinite wisdom of God that he alone could find a way to solve the unsolvable problem. If man was incapable of paying the debt, then God had to. But if God couldn’t assume it himself, then it had to be another man to do it. For so, we have all the prophecies of the Old Testament pointing us to the very act of salvation that God had found. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” Isaiah 9:6. God would take on human flesh. He would become like us in every way, yet would remain “Mighty God.” The God of all the universe, the creator of the heavens and the earth, would now walk among us in flesh and blood. Or rather, a man, a lowly flesh and blood man could finally call God... Father. As Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working’... It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him,” John 5:17, 8:54-55. Hence, we call Jesus both True God and True Man.
It would thus be Jesus who alone could fix our sin problem. It would be Jesus, as true man, to assume the debt of the whole world. It would be Jesus who would offer up himself to God on the cross. The punishment and payment which sin demanded yielded only one person capable... Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In this mystical incarnation, God would pay our debt through Jesus. He would give it all for you and me, so that he may redeem us and grant us eternal salvation. As Paul wrote to Titus, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” Titus 2:11. As we look towards Christmas, this is the child whom we celebrate and adore. It’s the God-child, Jesus Christ who comes into our world, becomes as we are in every way, so that he may save us from our sins and death. Jesus is truly Mighty God as he reveals to us the path unto eternal life!
So, who are we going to call? Jesus! The one who is God-incarnate, fully man and fully God. So, may we look towards Jesus and his word so that we may walk in his light unto the paths of eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!