Glorious Birth

Sunday, September 5, 2004

Pastor Timothy Phillips

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you that you have revealed yourself to us in your Word, that you have given us a solid foundation on which to build our faith. Bless us now as we hear your Word. Let it find a place in our heart. Let it find a place in our lives, in our actions, in our thoughts, in our words. In Jesus' name, Amen.

For the next two weeks, we're going to be talking about the glory of God. And when I first looked at that topic, I thought, “How am I going to talk for two weeks about glory?” I thought, “I'm going to have to be really creative, come up with a lot of humorous stories.” Then I prayed about it. And, with God's help, I came up with a way of talking about it in two different ways.

The first is today we're going to talk about a glorious birth, the birth of Christ, and the glory of God being revealed in that. And the second part next week will be a glorious return. That's a very clear division. I can work with that.

Today we're going to start talking about the glorious birth, though. In the world we live in today, glory is a very fleeting and brief thing. Famous athletes who were superstars 15 years ago are homeless today. We hear all kinds of stories about that, rags to riches and then back to rags. And it's very sad. The glory we achieve in this world from a human prospective is very fleeting.

As a young Junior High student, I can remember really being impressed with the Olympics and going for the gold and all those kinds of things. This is back in the ‘70's. I can remember some of the Olympic heroes of that time. Today, unless their records are being broken, nobody knows about them. For instance, Mark Spitz. When I was a kid, Mark Spitz was a big Olympic hero and he was winning all kinds of gold medals. Unless Michael Phelps was going to break his record, we'd never hear of Mark Spitz. So Michael Phelps this year was the big star, and he did a great job. But he didn't break the record, so maybe for a few more Olympics we'll hear the name Mark Spitz, the great swimmer.

Human glory is brief and fading, and it's kind of funny how many people who were stars in high school live the rest of their life reflecting on that glory that's gone, thinking of the time when they scored the touchdown or made the winning shot or some big thing. But God's glory is not fading. It is not temporary, and it is not dependent on the wins or the memory of man. God's glory is eternal, and the glory we're talking about today is the glory surrounding the birth of Christ. Think about that event, the birth of Christ. What was so glorious about it? I mean, here is Joseph and Mary and they're in these extremely humble circumstances. They had gone to this place because there was a census taken. They had to register, and they were kind of caught. No place to stay. No room at the inn. And they ended up having the baby in a very humble stable. Where is the glory?

Well, it was a very unique birth. All births are a miracle, but what made this birth glorious? Conceived by the Holy Spirit? Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He's the only one who ever was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus is the only one who was ever born of a virgin. But does that make it glorious? I'd say unique, special, wonderful. But the glory is found in something else. When we read those words a little while ago from Luke 2, listen for the word “glory.” “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David , a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.'” Glory to God. Why? Why give glory to God at the birth of a baby? Because it's a manifestation of His love, His goodness, His magnificence, that He would send His Son to be our Savior.

To understand this concept of God's glory, let's go all the way back to Exodus 24. I have a bunch of passages so if you brought your bible, get ready. And if not, just listen carefully. This is God's Word, and it's awesome. Starting with Exodus 24:15-18, “When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord settled on the mountain. For six days, the cloud covered the mountain and on the seventh day, the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud to the Israelites. The glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of a mountain. Then Moses entered into the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.” I'll give you a little background history. This is after the children of Israel had escaped from slavery in Egypt , and they were led by Moses through the wilderness, through the Red Sea . God provided manna for them to eat and quail for them to eat and water out of a rock. God provided for His people. He went before them and He protected them and He kept them safe. And now they're camped at the base of the holy mountain, Mount Sinai , an awesome and terrifying place to the Israelites. They looked up at the top of the mountain, and it was completely covered by a dark cloud. And they could hear thunder and lightening, and they could see fire on the mountain. This was God's glory dwelling on the mountain.

Now in the Old Testament, this word is shâkan and it means to settle, to live, to inhabit. This word is connected with God's glory on Mount Sinai . The glory of God settled, dwelled, inhabited that area. God's presence was obvious to His people, and they were scared. I don't know if you've ever seen a forest fire, but I had one opportunity to see one up close and it was when I was a student pastor, a vicar, in Washington State . The road ran right along the base of this mountain, and the whole mountain was on fire. And looking at that smoke and the charred trees and the fires burning, this gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, all the devastation and destruction. It was very frightening just to look at. I imagine that's how the Israelites felt when they were camped at the base of the mountain and on the top was this glory of God, power, authority, God's might revealed, God's presence indicated.

Psalm 26:8 says, “I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells.” When you think of the word ‘glory,' think of God's presence. Think of Him being with His people. Think of Him providing and protecting. That's what we read in Exodus 40:34-38. “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted above the tabernacle, they would set out. But if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night. In the sight of all the House of Israel during all their travels, God came to His people. He guided them. He protected them. He went before them. It says that as they were going out from Egypt and Pharaoh had a change of heart and he sent his army after them, the cloud, the pillar of fire stood between God's people and their enemies. God, in His Shekanyâh glory, blessed and protected His people.

1 Kings 8:10-11 talks about the temple of Solomon , that beautiful, glorious, architectural wonder that Solomon had poured all the resources and wealth of Israel into to build a temple fitting for God. And when the priests would go to serve God's glory, this awesome power and cloud of fire would inhabit the temple. When the priest withdrew from the holy place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled His temple. Just imagine what that would be like here in our congregation, in our facility, this awesome cloud comes in. The presence of God is here, and we're afraid because God is a consuming fire. God is awesome. God is the creator of the universe and now He's with us? I can see how the Israelites felt.

Psalm 72 says that it wasn't just a bad feeling, though. When God was present, they were thrilled and excited. It says, “Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to His glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.” The glory of God is a wonderful blessing indicating His presence with His people, His continued guidance and protection.

There is a period in Israel 's history that wasn't so wonderful, and this also had to do with God's glory. You see, the people of God had rejected Him. They had rejected God's ways and God's Word. They had chosen false gods and, as a result, God allowed their enemies to come in and invade, to conquer them, to subject them to slavery. And, at that time, God's priest was corrupt and his sons were even more corrupt. And they thought, “Well, if we go out into battle with the ark of the covenant, we'll carry it out into battle and God will give us victory because that's what He did in the past.” So they took that precious memento, that precious object of their worship, the ark of the covenant, and they carried it out confidently into battle. They were still defeated because they were using it like a good luck charm. Their faith in God didn't exist. They had now put their faith in their own ability and in false gods, so the ark of the covenant was taken away. The sons of the priest that carried it out died in battle. The father, when he heard the news about his sons, fell over backwards and died. And the wife of one of those sons of the priest was about to give birth. When she heard the news of her husband's death and that the ark of the covenant was now in the hands of foreigners, she began to lose her spirit. She was giving birth, in the middle of labor, and she received this horrible news. She said, “My son that I give birth to will be called Îy-kâbôwd,” which means no glory. The glory of the Lord departs from His people. The ark of the covenant is now in the hands of foreigners. She died during childbirth. The baby was born, and his name was Îy-kâbôwd, which we say Ichabod. It means no glory. The glory of God was gone. That's a terrible time in the history of Israel , and it's a terrible time in our lives when we rebel against God and, in our sin, we ignore His Word. We push it aside, and we choose to go our own way. And we lose the blessings built into the obedience that comes from faith. But God doesn't abandon us, does He? He doesn't abandon us in our sin. He comes to us like a loving father. He seeks us out. He comes to us and invites us to confess our sin and receive His forgiveness.

John 1:14 reminds us of God's glory. “The word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only who came from the Father full of grace and truth.” Jesus, the ultimate revelation of God's glory. You know what, in the Old Testament, God's glory was His presence among His people protecting them and guiding them. Jesus comes as a savior of the world. God has returned. Again, He is present with His people.

In Luke 2:1-14, we read about His birth, the birth of the Christ. And in the names that are ascribed to Jesus, we see the glory of God revealed. Emmanuel. This is in Matthew 1:23. Emmanuel. What does it mean? God with us. The glory of God is back. God is with us. in Matthew 1:21, we read the name Jesus. “You shall call Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.” The name Jesus literally means Yahweh saved. Jehoshua is the Hebrew. The Lord saved is how we translate it today. God saves us through His Son that He has sent. The third name of Jesus that we commonly hear is Christ or Christos in Greek. Christos is the Greek word and the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word messiah or mâshîyach. What does it mean? What does Christ mean? It means anointed one. It first referred to the ancient Israelite kings, Saul, David, Solomon, and on and on, because they were anointed by God. They were chosen by God to lead His people. And the prophet of God directed by God would go to that person who was selected, and he would anoint him with oil marking him as the messiah, the anointed one. But this was messiah with a small “m” and their leadership, their selection by God pointed to the time when God would send the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the anointed one of Israel, who would come and reconcile God's people to Himself, restore that loving relationship that began with creation.

Philippians 2:5-8 speaks about God sending us His Son. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!” The glory of God is revealed in the birth of Christ because here God Almighty, the creator of the universe, the most powerful being that exists, confines Himself to frail flesh, to a human body. Think of it. Omnipotent God in the form of a helpless baby. I can't imagine anything more glorious than the love God displayed in coming to be our Savior.

We sing a hymn, a song at Christmastime. It's very familiar and, when we sing it, usually we're holding a candle or we're just celebrating, having relatives gathered around us at Christmastime and all the decorations are all over the place and we're thinking about the gifts we're giving and the gifts we hope to receive and all kinds of things, what we're going to make for Christmas dinner and things like that. So sometimes we're a little distracted from the words, the beautiful words in our songs. This is Hymn 60, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The fourth verse, “O Holy Child of Bethlehem , descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell. O come to us. Abide with us our Lord Emmanuel.” You've sung those words a hundred times probably. But just think the God who appeared to Moses on the mountain in that awesome fire and cloud, that's the God who lives in you, who dwells in you. His glory never fades. All kinds of things will come and go, but God's love, God's truth, God's glory will never change. And His love for you will never fade either. Amen.

Copyright 2004 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church