God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

—The Coming of Jesus, part 2

Andrew Fountain – Dec 4, 2022

Click on this slide and then press the spacebar to advance slides: ➜ (or swipe on a touch screen)

Last Week: Prophecies
and Preparations
for Jesus’s Coming

Preparation of the World
Prophecies from Genesis to Malachi
Focus on Isaiah

Goal for today

To be able look at your hand and say “Jesus had a hand like this!”
To honour Jesus and the huge step that he took for us.
To understand why he did it and what it means for us.

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

The Line of Jesus
Historical setting of the world Jesus was born into
The Reason why God took on a human body

Expectation

Eve ➜ someone who would defeat Satan
Abraham ➜ a blessing to the whole earth
Moses ➜ a prophet
David ➜ a king
+ ➜ a priest
Isaiah ➜ a suffering servant
Many other prophets

But none of them remotely imagined that God himself would become a human
- That this Messiah would actually be God taking on flesh

Matthew 1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
and Isaac the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar
…
But Judah was Tamar’s father-in-law!

Matthew 1 cont’d

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rehab,
and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,
and Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon
by [Bathsheba], the wife of Uriah…

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

The Line of Jesus
Historical setting of the world Jesus was born into
The Reason why God took on a human body

Pilate Inscription

The partial inscription reads (conjectural letters in brackets):
[DIS AUGUSTI]S TIBERIÉUM

[...PO]NTIUS PILATUS

[...PRAEF]ECTUS IUDA[EA]E

[...FECIT D]E[DICAVIT]
The translation from Latin to English for the inscription reads:
To the Divine Augusti [this] Tiberieum

...Pontius Pilate

...prefect of Judea

...has dedicated [this]

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

The Line of Jesus
Historical setting of the world Jesus was born into
The Reason why God took on a human body

3. The Reason why God took on a human body

Actually, how could God become a human?
- God is infinite in just about every way ➜ power, knowledge, time, space, love, creativity
- We are finite and limited in just about every way
Jesus did not lose his Godhood, he just took on something else
But although Jesus didn’t lose his Godhood, he had to voluntarily limit himself
So why did he have to become a human?
- Like when a house is on fire, to rescue someone trapped inside, the fireman actually has to go in
- What if someone is way out to sea, drowning?
  - Someone has to go out there, whether by boat or whatever, they have to actually go
- But can’t God do anything? Could he not simply decree that all our sins are forgiven?
Jesus accomplished two things by coming to earth and dying on the cross:
- He enabled our sins to be forgiven
- He sets us free

First: Forgiveness of sins

We know that when Jesus suffered and died on the cross, he was suffering in the place of his people
- Isaiah tells us that he was “wounded for our sins, he was crushed for our sins”
We often put salvation like this:
- someone has broken the law, let’s say for parking in the wrong place and the wrong time
- In the law court, they are fined $100.
- But that doesn’t work for going to prison—you can’t usually go to prison for someone else!
We don’t totally understand how God’s justice works, but
- If Jesus had not become a human, but suffered as a “spirit”, we could not have been saved
- But God’s justice allows another human to pay the price, if they are very closely associated
However, there is more to it than that
- The idea of paying a price for us is only part of what happened on the cross
  - It is not the heart of what happened
- The heart of our salvation is being joined to Christ

Get out rope
Have you ever heard of climbers on a mountain being roped together?
- Sometimes one falls and drags all of them to their death
But what if one climber is totally immovable? (Like Jesus is)

The only way for God to help us was to literally “get his hands dirty” and become a human
- At the moment we become a Christian, we become inseparably connected by that rope to Jesus
- Jesus defeated death, and so do we
- Jesus is beloved by the Father and so are we
- Jesus has been through God’s judgment and come out the other side, and so will we.
- Jesus is pure and spotless and so are we

Second: He sets us free

What Jesus wants is a relationship with us
- An error back in the 20th C in the southern states
  - Salvation and Lordship (just sign a card)
Being saved is not so much about legal payment for sin, as coming into a relationship
- Jesus became a human, lived a perfect life, and actually broke the power that doomed us to constantly sin
  - Romans 8:2 says that the Spirit of life in Christ has set us free from the forces of sin and death
  - This would not have been possible if Jesus had not become a human
So why did he become a human?
- because to save us, he had to make it possible for us to be united in this close relationship

What does it matter to you and me?

He came so far, and suffered so much, in order to save us...
- How was he received? —Did they welcome him with open arms?
- “He came to his own and his own received him not”
- Why do you think not?
- Jesus came very humbly, so what did it require to accept him?
  - This is why people are offended today—I’m doing ok myself thank you!
- Suspicious of something free (Candid-camera: bowl of $1 bills)
The question is, do you receive him this morning?
You ask, “What do I have to do?”
- Look at verse 11

Luke 2

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Pay attention: I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people:
For to you is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.

You have ask him to be your Saviour, your Lord
- To do that you must humble yourself by saying “I need you—I can’t make it by myself”
- You ask him to join the rope to you.
- That will do many things
  - Your sin will be forgiven, and all your guilt will be gone
  - You become part of God’s family
  - You will now be joined to Jesus and will want to follow him and do what pleases him
- Some people don’t like the idea of giving up their freedom
  - Ridiculous: a drowning man wanting freedom more than a lifesaver “too constricting”
He has come so far, will you reject him?
- “what is the catch?”
- the only catch is if you don’t accept him, because then you will feel God’s anger
- No, there is no catch, what he offers is the perfect free gift.
Who wants Jesus to be joined to them, to be rescued by him?
- Let’s pray together that we’ll receive Jesus like the shepherd’s did, not the religious Jews.
Let’s honour Jesus this morning and put the spotlight on him!
- What an amazing thing for him to humble himself in the way he did.

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

—The Coming of Jesus, part 2

Last Week: Propheciesand Preparationsfor Jesus’s Coming

Goal for today

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

Expectation

Matthew 1

Matthew 1 cont’d

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

Pilate Inscription

God Takes a Human Body (Matthew 1)

Luke 2

Last Week: Prophecies
and Preparations
for Jesus’s Coming