HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY NICENE CHRISTMAS:
Luke Introduces Us to the Son of God
An Orderly Account: Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Luke 1:26-38
GRAB THEIR ATTENTION
“When the first Christian emperor, Constantine, conquered the Eastern half of the Roman Empire in 324, he found the Eastern Church divided by a fierce doctrinal dispute. It had begun in Alexandria in 318, where an elderly, cultured and ascetic presbyter called Arius (256-336), a popular preacher from Libya, had started teaching that the Father alone was God. The Logos or Son, Arius said, was a created being – formed out of nothing by the Father before the universe was made. There was once a time, [argued Arius] when the Son had not existed.
According to Arius, the Son was the first and greatest of all that God had created; He was closer to God than all others, and the rest of creation related to God through the Son… But only the Father was truly God, infinite and eternal and uncreated.”
With these words, historian Nick Needham introduces the Council of Nicaea in his expansive book, 2000 Years of Christ’s Power. It’s a wonderful multivolume church history well worth your time if you chose to read it.
RAISE THE NEED, SIGNPOSTS, STATE THE DESTINATION
As we read the Nicene Creed this morning, you likely noticed it was much longer than the Apostle’s Creed. Specifically, the Nicene Creed expands the doctrinal statements regarding the Son of God. Even more specific than that, the Nicene Creed expounds upon the doctrine of the Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God.
The Creed says that Jesus Christ is:
- Begotten of the Father before all worlds.
- God of God
- Light of Light
- Very God of Very God.
- Begotten, Not Made
What does it mean that Jesus Christ is “very God of very God”?
Haven’t we already said that he is “God of God”? When you heard the words “very God of very God,” you likely thought to yourself, “Is this just a way of saying Jesus is really really really really God”?
If that’s what you thought, then you are correct. That’s exactly what the church sought to express—that Jesus Christ, is co-equal to the Father according to his divine nature. And it’s this doctrine of Jesus Christ as true God, or very God, that I want to draw our attention to this morning.
A few weeks ago, Jim Brooks concluded a long series on the humanity of Christ; our belief that Jesus is true man. That series explained that when the Son of God assumed a human nature, he had genuine human experiences just like us: hunger, weariness, grief. That he was tempted in every way, like us, yet without sin. It was a wonderful series, and Jim would surely share his notes with you if you wanted to think more deeply about the humanity of Jesus.
The title of the sermon this morning is, “Have Yourself a Merry Nicene Christmas.” We’re exploring, from Luke 1, the doctrine of the deity, or the “Godness,” of Jesus Christ in three movements:
- The Deity of Jesus Set Forth
- The Deity of Jesus Proved
- The Deity of Jesus Applied
Or, to put it another way: One, where does the Bible say Jesus is the Son of God? Two, how do we know that means he is of the same nature as God the Father (and not a lesser being), and three, why is the deity of Christ necessary?
THE TEXT:
The text for the sermon today is Luke 1:26-38. Our text can be found on page 856. These are the words of God:
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
- THE DEITY OF JESUS SET FORTH
We see this doctrine set forth in our text as Luke introduces us to Jesus with exalted language. Gabriel comes to Mary, as he had previously come to Zechariah in the last section, announcing the birth of a baby. But this announcement differs in significant ways.
First, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the Temple—a place of prominence. He appears to Mary in Nazareth, a place of obscurity.
Second, Gabriel announces that Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were barren, will conceive a child by natural means. But Mary will conceive supernaturally, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, meaning they were legally married according to custom, but had not come together as husband and wife. Therefore, this conception is of a higher supernatural order than Elizabeth’s.
But the greatest difference between these two births is this:
John the Baptist, born to Zechariah & Elizabeth was merely human, whereas the baby born to Mary, will be: “great,” “called the Son of the Most High,” will “receive the throne of his father David, “ and “reign over Jacob forever,” of whose kingdom, “there will be no end,” and don’t miss this: will be the “Son of God.”
This is the divinity of Jesus set forth in the gospel of Luke. Jesus Christ, says Luke, is true man because he is born of woman. But unlike John the Baptist, is not merely human. He is the eternal Son of God. This is the universal testimony of the New Testament.
This is the confession of Mark in his gospel:
39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39)
This is the confession of Matthew in his gospel:
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:22-23)
This is the confession of John’s gospel:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 14 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.
This is the confession of the Apostle Paul:
9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9)
This is the confession of the author of Hebrews:
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3)
This is the confession even of Jesus’ enemies:
33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:32-33)
So, here is the doctrine of the divinity of Christ set forth. The universal witness of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He is Very God of Very God. He is begotten, not made. In other words: Arius was wrong and a heretic. Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is uncreated, eternal, and of the same substance as the Father.
But let’s prove it. It’s one thing for the Biblical authors to say, “Jesus is God.” But how did they know?
- THE DEITY OF JESUS PROVED
We must acknowledge that the person of Jesus Christ, that he is true God and true man, is mysterious. We cannot hope to exhaustively explain the depths of the Incarnation. Gabriel’s announcement in Luke 1 is met with holy fear, humility, and even confusion.
Mary, the one who would bear the Son of God in her womb, the one in whom the incarnation would take place, wrestles to understand what exactly is taking place, and how it is possible.
When Gabriel says that the baby born to Mary will be the “Son of God,” how do we know this means Jesus is co-equal with the Father, not a lesser being such as Arius argued in the 4th century?
Christians have classically produced four strands of evidence in claiming that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is of the same substance as the Father—very God of very God.
First, the names of God are attributed to Jesus.
Second, the attributes of God attributed to Jesus.
Third, the works of God attributed to Jesus (namely the work of Creation)
Fourth, the divine worship that is given to Jesus.
We don’t have time to exhaustively cover these but let me touch on each of them in short order.
Names of God Attributed to Jesus
From our own passage this morning, consider the name “Son of God.” Your Bible likely has that name capitalized, because the translators rightly understand this name to refer to Jesus as the eternal Son who is equal in nature to the Father and the Spirit.
The entire focus of this passage is the virgin conception of Jesus. He had a human mother. He had no human father, biologically speaking. So, who was his father? Well, says Luke, because he is the Son of God, the first member of the Trinity, God the Father, is the eternal Father of the Son.
Theologian Louis Berkhof calls this Jesus’ “supernatural paternity.” (Berkhof, Systematic Theology) And notice how the Nicene Creed speaks of this: Christ is begotten, not made. He is begotten of the Father eternally. But he is not a lesser, created being. Though his human nature was assumed in the womb of Mary, his divine nature is eternal. Why? Because God is eternal.
You could spend weeks studying the other divine names attributed to Jesus: Christ, Messiah, Lord, Immanuel, and the Alpha & Omega.
Attributes of God Attributed to Jesus
As Gabriel is explaining the nature of the child which Mary will bear, he says in verse 35:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy
John Calvin, remarking on this verse says: “the angel shows that Christ must not be born by ordinary generation, that he may be holy, and that he may be the Son of God; that is, that in holiness and glory he may be high above all creatures…he who had been the Son of God in his eternal Godhead, appeared also as the Son of God in human flesh…as it was necessary that he should be a real man, in order that he might expiate our sins, and vanquish death and Satan in our flesh; so was it necessary, in order to his cleansing others, that he should be free from every spot and blemish, (1 Pet. 1:19.) Though Christ was formed of the seed of Abraham, yet he contracted no defilement from a sinful nature; for the Spirit of God kept him pure from the very commencement: and this was done not merely that he might abound in personal holiness, but chiefly that he might sanctify his own people.”
Works of God Attributed to Jesus
The Gospel of John attributes the work of creation to Jesus Christ:
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Here in Luke, it is not creation that is attributed to Christ, but everlasting dominion. Verse 32 &33:
And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
How can he do this unless the man Jesus is at the same time true eternal, unchanging God? He cannot. Only God’s kingdom is eternal. Only God can rule over a kingdom which cannot end and cannot be destroyed.
Divine Worship Attributed to Jesus
Though we do not see worship take place in Luke 1, in the very next chapter we see the heavens opened, angels announcing Christ’s birth, and shepherds going to pay homage and reverence to the child. (Luke 2:8-21)
In Matthew’s gospel, when the Magi arrive and present their gifts to the Christ child, Matthew says:
11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.
This is a wonder of wonders: grown men bowing before a babe.
Friends, we could spend weeks examining proofs of Christ’s divine nature. The New Testament does not leave this doctrine in doubt.
I want to conclude our time today by asking, “Why does the deity of Christ matter?” How does it affect us personally?
- THE DEITY OF JESUS APPLIED
Why must it be absolutely essential that Jesus Christ, our mediator, be very God of very God? It’s difficult to answer that question without answering this question: Why must it be absolutely essential that Jesus Christ, our mediator be true man? For this is what we affirm concerning Jesus: that he isn’t 99.9% God and .1% man. He is not a 50/50 mixture. He is true God and true man.
He does not truncate or trample his divine nature to assume humanity. Nor does he float above the ground avoiding the mundane, common experiences of human life, sickness and death, all of it, sin excepted.
When Mary conceived, the person living within her womb, at the same time both relied on nourishment from an umbilical cord and upheld the universe by the word of his power.
Calvin says of the Son’s descent and incarnation. “Here is something marvelous: the Son of God descended from heaven in such a way that, without leaving heaven, he willed to be borne in the virgin’s womb, to go about the earth, and to hang upon the cross; yet he continuously filled the world even as he had done from the beginning!”
In other words, he came down from heaven in such a way that he never left.
Why was the union of two natures (divine and human) in one person absolutely essential:
“when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4)
Being true man, Jesus can stand in as our substitute. He can live the life of perfect righteousness that man owed to God, which we failed to give him. He can die as a sacrifice for sin which is accepted by God. God can look on him and pardon us.
And, being true God, his atonement, his sin-and-wrath-bearing death at the cross has infinite value. His righteousness is infinitely perfect. And when he dies, he can die not just for me, or a few of us, but for all who will come to him.
The uniting of the divine and human nature in the one person, Jesus, opens the way, the only way, to God. He is the mediator, being God and man, who reconciles man to God and God to man.
The sending of the Son means that the Father is offering you pardon, life, adoption, and eternal life. And there is nothing for you to do to earn this approval. There is no working for this pardon. It is God’s free gift to you.
You say, “Not to me. You don’t know what I have done.” Friend, because Jesus is God, he knows all things past present and future. He knows everything you’ve done, everything you’ve thought, everything you’ve desired. And he offers himself to you in the gospel.
In Jesus, true God has come for your salvation; your redemption. All you must do is accept this with a believing heart. So come to Jesus today. Look to Jesus with the eyes of faith. Stop trusting in what you are doing for God, and rest in what God has done for you through his eternal divine Son.
Christ, by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail th’ incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus our Immanuel.