Matthew 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets…
There has been a war on Christmas for many a year, and I don’t think it is really a war on Christmas. It is not a war on having a holiday, on commerce, on advertisements for jewelry and new cars; it is a war against Jesus. I’m not trying to make more of this than there is, but I am not. People have a problem with Jesus, and, the fact is, the growing war on Jesus is the result of people being a little more honest. I don’t think this kind of honesty is a virtue. In fact, it is an amplification of rebellion. Yet, people are getting to the point that they just don’t want to put up with Christmas at all because they acknowledge to some extent that it is more than just a time of commerce.
The truth is you and I need to see Jesus for all He is. We don’t even know who He is. In Matthew 1:22-23 the Bible says, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” In Matthew 1 you realize that Jesus is Jewish born just as the prophets said He would be, and He is virgin born just as the prophets said He would be. He is God. He is begotten of God. He is the Son of God. He is God the Son, God with us.
Notice the response of some of those who first came into early contact with Him, the wise men. Matthew 2:11 says, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him.” In contrast, God warns Joseph by saying, “Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.” So, in one case you have wise men who sought the young child to worship Him, and in another case Herod sought the young child to destroy Him.
The wise men were not worshipping a child, and Herod could not destroy God. Jesus is not a child. Jesus is God the Son. Coming as a child was His form; it was not His essence. If you read the startling picture of the Lord Jesus is Revelation 1, you have to come to the conclusion that it is the same Jesus as in Matthew 1. His essence is undiminished, unchanged. Nothing is different. It is just that His form has changed.
I’d like to encourage you today to not diminish Jesus because of His humble form or appearance in coming as a child. Sometimes when there is someone whom we greatly admire, we admire them because we don’t know them. We’ve never seen them in their fuzzy slippers. We have only seen them on a screen, on a platform, or far away. Sometimes familiarity breeds contempt. Well, that Jesus would come in human form and be among us should not diminish our worship of Him. It should be the very reason for it.
Today, it is important for us to see Jesus for Who He is, Emmanuel, God with us.