Shalom! I’m so glad you have come tonight. Do I have a story for you!
Many, many years ago, in a little town outside Jerusalem, a young woman gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. I should know. I was there! By all appearances, he looked like every other Jewish child. He sounded like one, too. He cried when he came into the world. His mother wrapped him in swaddling clothes to keep him warm.
My only regret that night was not finding a more suitable place for the baby to be born. A stable is no place for the birth of the King! You heard me right. He was no ordinary baby. He was the King, I tell you!
Long before, when Israel was a sovereign nation and not under the thumb of those infernal Romans, God promised that an heir of King David would rein on the throne forever. God said He would rule in righteousness and wisdom and bring salvation to all the nations of the earth and His kingdom would never end.
Well, many years passed and Israel had many kings, some good and some bad, but none of them fulfilled God’s promise. When we refused to follow God’s ways we were defeated by one pagan army after another and ruled by many pagan kings. Worst of all was Herod the Great, but he was no real king and he wasn’t great either. He served Rome and himself more than he served Israel.
That’s about the time my soon-to-be wife came to me and told me the unexpected news. She was pregnant. I said, “How can this be? You were to be my bride.” But she said she had conceived by the power of God’s Spirit. She said the angel Gabriel appeared to her and told her the baby was David’s heir, the promised King of Israel, God’s own Son.
I didn’t believe her. How can a virgin conceive a child? How can this child be the promised King? How can He be the Son of God? But then Gabriel appeared to me, too. I’m telling you the truth. He appeared to me in a dream and told me the same thing and told me the child’s name was Jesus. And he said He would save us from our sin – that rebelliousness that resides in every heart and separates from God.
Indeed, our sin does more than separate us from God, it condemns us! And there’s nothing we can do to change it. That’s why we needed a Savior.
We lived in Nazareth at the time, a small village in Galilee. But because I myself was a descendant of David, we had to go to Bethlehem, David’s city, for the Roman census. Of all times! The baby was soon to be born! When we finally arrived no one had room for us. The only thing available was a stable. And it was there that the King of Israel was born. What a happy moment that was.
That very night a group of shepherds from the fields found us. They said an angel had just appeared to them telling them the King of Israel had been born and they could find him here. They said the angel called Him a Savior and a whole host of angels cried out, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!”
The next month, when we took him to Jerusalem for the Jewish custom of purification, an old man and an old woman ran up to us in the temple. They took Jesus up in their arms and blessed God for allowing their aged eyes to finally see God’s promised King. And later that year, while we were still in Bethlehem, star-gazers from the east showed up on our door step with extravagant gifts for the child. They told us they knew the King of Israel had been born and followed His star to worship Him!
Can you believe it? The King of Israel, the Savior of all men, the Son of God, born to my wife and sitting on my lap, calling me, Abba. Me! A carpenter from Galilee!
But that’s not the best part. He wasn’t an ordinary king. He was good through and through and instead of fighting for an earthly throne He lived a life of humble service to God and before the age of thirty-four He was rejected by His own people and put to death on a Roman cross and buried in a borrowed tomb.
But I’m here to tell you, that wasn’t an accident and that wasn’t the end of Jesus, either. Remember, He’s the promised King and Savior. By His blood He ransoms people for God from every tribe and language and nation and makes them a kingdom to God. On the cross, Jesus took our sin and our condemnation so we could be forgiven and three days later, just as He said, He rose from the dead.
No, Jesus was no ordinary baby and He is no ordinary King. Today, this is no lie, He sits at the right hand of God and he reins as king in the hearts of all who believe in Him. And one day, He promises to return again and everyone will see Him and He will judge all men and those who have their sins forgiven by faith in Him will rein with Him forever. Glory to God for the birth of the King!
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Folks, this is the greatest story ever told and it’s not a fairytale. Jesus is the King of Israel, He is the Son of God born of a virgin, and He is the Savior of everyone who repents of their sin and believes in Him. Tonight, we invite you to place your hope and trust solely in Jesus. The Bible says everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved. If you’re trusting in Jesus this evening for the first time or want to learn more, complete the card on your table and place it in the box and someone will contact you this week.
Paul Gore
2011 Christmas Concert
copyright 2011
