John 1:1-18; Hebrews 1:1-12
In These Last Days...
After all the presents are unwrapped, after all the cookies are eaten, after all the decorations are finally put away, what will remain of Christmas? Today is a day of joyful celebration. It’s a time to be with family and friends. It’s a day that we’re meant to take a step back from the stress of everyday life and see what’s actually important. While it may be Christmas today and the joy of the day is abundantly present, I don’t want you to forget this tomorrow, or in a week, or even a month. Maybe some of you already started the festivities yesterday so today is almost like day two of Christmas. We extend Christmas at times just to celebrate with more family which renews for a moment our Christmas joy. We know though that these presents won’t last forever. We know that the food we savor today will tomorrow be an afterthought. And we know that as enjoyable as the time is with family, these feelings will also diminish. So, today must take on a different focus. Christmas isn’t about presents, or food, or family traditions even. It’s about a word that will stay with you forever. Christmas is the light that is meant to come into our lives and brighten the darkness of our world. It’s meant to reveal to you a whole new view of our world.
Today, we hear not about a child laid in a manger, but about the Word made flesh. John brings us all the way back to before the world began to realize the significance of the one who lays before us. This small child seems no different from any other, and yet, he’s the one who has existed before the foundation of the world. As we marvel at this miraculous child, let us learn today:
JESUS WAS BORN TO HAVE THE FINAL WORD!
I.
Now, I’m not disillusioned that I expect you to remember everything I say today. To be honest, I can hardly remember what I talk about from week to week. I find each week I’m inundated with more things I’m trying to remember than things I can... well... remember. This is why I need constant reminders about the things that are important. For this can also work to our detriment. Consider how the devil works, as Peter writes for us, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour,” 1 Peter 5:8. The devil is constantly on our shoulder, whispering lies and half-truths into our ears. He speaks a word of temptation that rings around in our head. He’s constantly speaking and reminding us just how terrible we are. And so often, we listen and then we become our own worst enemy. How often are the words and statements we remember the most the ones that we tell ourselves in criticism? It's not hard to remember something bad and to become fixated on it. It’s much harder to focus on the good and not let the evil drain you.
It’s all about the word. It’s about what words we remember and what words we keep with us. This is why Isaiah writes, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns,” Isaiah 52:7. How beautiful are the feet of him who brings good news, who speaks to us good words and not bad. We hear enough evil in the world, and we tell ourselves even more because we become trapped in the echo chamber of our minds. Yes, it’s hard to see past your own faults which is why another voice must speak up to drown out the voice inside our own heads. I often think of David and one of his psalms when I struggle overcoming that voice, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me,” Ps. 51:3. Even on Christmas, we can’t get away from recognizing our own sinfulness and fallenness lest Satan drive us to complete despair with his words.
II.
For consider Christmas in this light. Consider Christmas in the context of Israel’s history and our history. Before Christ came, God had been silent for over four hundred years… the time without the prophets was the time when God ceased to speak. But then we get these words from Hebrews, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,” Hebrews 1:1-2. Jesus was born to speak. He was sent down from heaven that he may be God’s final word… because Jesus is the very Word of God as John reminds us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made,” John 1:1, 3. Jesus is God’s Word. He’s the Word that was spoken in creation; he’s the Word that shook the foundation of the earth; he’s the Word that goes out from the mouth of the Lord and doesn’t return to him empty! Jesus is the performative Word of God and he was sent to be that Word… even the final word!
The baby born in the manger is the eternal Word of God. Before the foundation of the world, the Son of God was there as the divine Word. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth,” John 1:14. Jesus has “tabernacled” among us that he may be the Word made flesh. He may come and be God’s word to us. A word of forgiveness and grace. A word of mercy and peace. A good word that is for all people. Indeed, Jesus was born so he could be God’s final and ultimate word to us… and that word is the cross. It’s his birth in our flesh so that he may die in our place, and pay the price that we couldn’t, so he could say the final word… Forgiven. Free. Redeemed! For just as he was born among us, Jesus died and rose from the grave so that he may be both the first word and the last word, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. Indeed, Jesus doesn’t return to his Father empty handed. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” John 1:12.
This is what Christmas is all about… it’s about Jesus, the eternal Son, the Word of God that became incarnate for us. By his birth, he now speaks the precious Word of God to us; and through his death, he now owns the final word over your life, both now and forever! In Jesus’ name! Amen!