Opening Illustration: I was this age when I learned…Last Sunday, we talked about peace. I told you all about my decision to not be on social media because I allow it to rob me of my peace. Remember me calling you all “unwieldy filing cabinets…?” Well, the internet can have its good moments. I love the memes that are “I was today years old when I found out…” Our lives are full of little moments that change the way we see things. I love those “Aha” moments because it changes the way you interact with this new knowledge. I hope you’ll never look at an owl the same again. The Christian faith should be the same. As you grow in your relationship with Jesus and grow in your knowledge of Jesus, those “aha” moments should change the way you see Jesus. Those moments should cause you to fall more in love with Jesus. My hope is that our time in God’s Word this month has given you a bigger picture and deeper depth to Christmas (Sermon Series: The Arrival). Christmas is full of fun things that we should enjoy. But at the end of the day, the Christmas season should cause us to pause and go “Wow. Jesus really loves me.” Jesus really did set aside His glory and wrap Himself in humanity so that He can be my King and my Good Shepherd. We are going go one more layer deeper today with Christmas. We are going to make the connection between Christmas and Easter. In an odd way, we are barely talking about the birth of Jesus, but of His death today. Here’s why: We can’t fully understand the cradle until we fully understand the cross. We can’t fully understand the gift until we fully understand the Giver. We can’t fully understand Christmas until we understand Calvary.

Why did Jesus come? Why was Jesus born? We sing about the answer every Christmas! Hark! The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled." Christ came to reconcile God and us. The cradle was designed to lead to the cross. All because Jesus loves you. And that’s what I hope you know – and that’s our goal for today. Believe in how much Jesus loves you. Let’s open our Bibles to the book of Isaiah. We are about to hear from God – His alive and powerful Word. Let’s read with expectancy. Read Isaiah 53:1-12. Pray. 

We’re going back to the book of Isaiah today after being Micah last week. I’ll remind you all that there were 3 prophets in the OT that were contemporaries: Isaiah, Micah, and Amos. God was using all three men to relay His message to His people. God’s people were rebelling, and the consequences of their rebellion was in front of them. In the midst of a bleak future, these prophets offered glimpses of hope. God promises His people that He would save them. God promised to send a Savior – a King – a Kingdom – a Good Shepherd. In these verses we just read, God promised to send a Messiah. This Messiah would do the unthinkable for us because of how much He loves us. Isaiah 53 paints a picture of this Messiah and His love for you. Here’s where we start: Jesus didn’t come to fit into your box. Jesus came to save you. 

1) Jesus didn’t come to fit into your box. Jesus came to save you. (vs. 1-3) We pick up in verse 1 and there is a lamenting going on. ¹ Who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm? There is a remnant of Israel that still believes and follows God. They are lamenting that so few remain who believe in God. God has clearly revealed Himself and they can’t understand why someone would not believe. I love the personification in this verse. God has clearly revealed His power throughout the earth. This remnant is lamenting how others have chosen not to see God. But the rejection of God didn’t stop with the nation of Israel in the Old Testament. Verse 2 and 3 predict the future rejection of Christ. Look at verse 2: ² My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. Remember, these are prophetic verses. In verse 2 and 3, Isaiah is talking about Jesus who will come 700 years later. Why does Isaiah say “There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him.” That seems kind of harsh to say about Jesus, right?! “Did Isaiah just call Jesus ugly?” “Doesn’t Isaiah know that Jesus will be a blonde hair, blue eye, white guy?!”

Isaiah isn’t talking about Jesus’ physical, but rather the expectation of Jesus. When the people Israel were waiting on their Messiah, they were living with the expectation that the coming Messiah was one of regality and royalty. They wanted all the pomp and circumstance. They were thinking Aladdin coming into Agrabah. But how do we know Jesus arrived into this world? He was born in the little town of Bethlehem (we talked about this last week). He was born by means of an unwed, teenager in rural town with no money. There was nothing about the arrival of Jesus that met the expectation of the Jews. They wanted Jesus to fit into their box, but He didn’t. What did Isaiah prophecy and what came true? Look at verse 3: ³ He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. The Savior of the world – the Messiah – arrived, but He was rejected and despised. His own family didn’t believe Him. Read Mark 3:20-21: ²⁰ One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. ²¹ When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.” People saw the miracles of Jesus and still did not believe. Look at what John wrote in his gospel account. Read John 12:37-38: “³⁷ But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him. ³⁸ This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted: “Lord, who has believed our message? To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?”

The unexpectedness of Christ led to the rejection of Christ for many. People still reject Christ for the same reason today – He’s not who they want or expect. Some of you experience this when you order stuff online. You get this idea that what you see online is going to translate to something great in person. There is a reason that everything is so cheap on TEMU! People want Jesus to fit into their worldview, into their perspective, into their box. But that’s not who Jesus is – Jesus isn’t about fitting into your boxes. Jesus isn’t about fitting into your life. Jesus is about becoming your life. You have to decide, for yourself, who is Jesus? You can’t mold Jesus into who you want Him to be. You have to accept Jesus for Jesus.

Illustration: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord. There’s a famous quote from CS Lewis in Mere Christianity lays out three options for belief in Christ. I’ve shared it several times, but it’s worth repeating. In this quote, we are given the option that Jesus Christ was either a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord. This quote stems from the idea that some people believe Jesus is simply a great “moral teacher.” That Jesus is someone who had great things to say, and only great things to say. Quote: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to… Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.” – CS Lewis. 

You can’t take Jesus, put Him into the corner of life and think everything will stay the same. That’s not who Jesus is and that’s not what Jesus came to do. He came to save you because He loves you. But the only way to be saved by Him is to go all in with Him. The reason we go all in with Jesus is because He went all in for us. He went all in for us because He loves us. Jesus loves you so much. That’s what we see next: There’s no love like the love of Jesus. 

2) There’s no love like the love of Jesus. (vs. 4-9) Verses 4 through 9 may feel like some of the least “Christmas-y” verses. But remember, we are seeing a larger painting being painted. We are seeing the connection between the cradle and the cross. Verses 4, 5, and 6 answer the question, “Why did Jesus enter into humanity?” “What drove Jesus to set aside His glory and take on the fullness of man?” “What led the Creator to enter into His creation?” What does it say? ⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! ⁵ But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. ⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

The reason Jesus entered the world was because the world had a sin problem with no resolution. I get this is not a very Christmas thing to say: sin exists and we are all guilty. That’s what these verses are saying, that we have turned to our own ways. All of us – since we were born, we have a guilt problem. And this sin, this guilt – if left alone – keeps us away from God. So many people live their lives trying to remedy this problem on their own. They know there is something missing in the lives. They know they don’t feel whole – they feel this sense of guilt. And so, they keep trying to patch it up. Illustration: My grandad put wet tobacco on my bee sting. I don’t know if it actually took away my pain or I was just so disgusted that it took my mind off it. But the problem remained – the bee stinger was still in there. And until I dealt with that, I would never be healed. We spend our lives trying to find someone or thing to take away our guilt, but anything in this world is simply wet tobacco on a bee sting. Christmas about Jesus coming so that the core who we are can be healed and restored. Christ didn’t come to eliminate our temporary pain; He came to end our eternal suffering. That’s exactly what verses 7 through 9 are about.

Jesus stepped in and took our punishment for us. Look at verses 7 through 9: ⁷ He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. ⁸ Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. ⁹ He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. Jesus died for the sins of the entire world knowing the entire world would not love Him back. Who would do that? What kind of love is that? The Bible tells us that Jesus loved the people of the world so much that He died for them so they might have eternal life. Jesus died for you even when you didn’t love Him. Think about that. I’ve heard some of the younger generations talk about their celebrity crush[1] “Who’s your celebrity crush?” Some of you may have had one of those growing up. You had his or her poster on your wall. You came up with this grand plan of how you are going to meet. You were going to fall in love. And you are going to live happily ever after. But at some point, that crush went away? Why? You realized it was not wise to love someone who would never love you back. As a parent, you would never encourage you child to love someone who would never love them back. That kind of love doesn’t make sense. Yet, when we read the Bible, that’s exactly the kind of love we see in Jesus. He loved you before you even loved Him. He loved the world, knowing that the world wouldn’t love Him back. He died for everyone, knowing that everyone wouldn’t know Him. Do you know the most profound truth in all of the world? “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Believe in this love. Believe in the Messiah. That’s the love we see when we look at the cradle and the cross. 

I hope you’re seeing this picture of Jesus. Even if you didn’t expect, Jesus came to save you. Jesus’ love is unlike any other. And finally, God delights in saving you. 

3) God delights in saving you. (vs. 10-12) There is so much we could unpack in these final three verses, but time is not on our side to do that today. Let me at least give you a high-level view of what’s going on in verses 10, 11, and 12. Look at verse 10: ¹⁰ But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. Your translation might read: “Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely.” What’s going on with this? To be clear, God didn’t find joy in the punishment Jesus received. The good and pleasure in this verse is God’s pleasure the victory over sin and death was accomplished. Quote: “This is an infinitely sublime concept, for any human father who delighted in crushing his own son would be accounted as the vilest monster. But Scripture teaches us that the love God the Father has for his only begotten Son is so fierce and powerful that the blazing of the sun cannot touch it for intensity…The delight of the Father in Isaiah 53:10 is the same joy of the Son in Hebrews 12:2—not the cross itself but the glory it would win for God and the salvation it would work for a multitude greater than anyone could count from every nation on earth. “ – Andrew Davis. There was no pleasure in the death of Jesus, but pleasure in seeing a way for people to be reconciled to God.

Let’s go one step further because I think we can get hung up on this idea of God’s wrath. It exists and I don’t want to minimize it, but look at verse 11. What does it say? ¹¹ When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.The “He” in this verse is Jesus. Jesus looks at the cross and feels anguish – Jesus understands the price that must be paid for the sins of the world. But look at the second part of verse 11! Jesus is satisfied because He knows what is to be accomplished! The final emotion of the cross is not anguish, but satisfaction! Jesus knew the pain of the cross and He went anyway because He knew the victory of the cross. 

Look at how the prophet Isaiah describes this victory in verse 12: ¹² I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. This was a victory that was planned from the beginning of time. Christmas is part of the victory plan that you and I so desperately needed. Illustration: “Daddy, I need you! Santa, help me!” – One of my kids. Years ago, around Christmas time, I remember one of my kids getting in trouble with their mom. They were little at the time. I came in to provide support to my wife. As I walked into the room, this particular child saw me and shouted, “Daddy, I need you!” I responded, “I’m here to help your mom, not you.” The child then looked up to the sky and shouted, “Santa, help me!” This child knew they couldn’t win this battle, but someone else could win it for them. And that’s the plan that was set out at Christmas – to secure the victory for us when we couldn’t. Christmas is the arrival of the hero of the story! Christmas is the arrival of the Savior we all need. That’s what God delights. That’s what brings God glory.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION. 

Christmas is in 3 days. Here’s my challenge to you…Stop and take in the fullness of what Christmas means. Think about Jesus as King. Think about this kingdom that Jesus brought to us. Think about this Good Shepherd that knows you, sees you, and loves you. Think about the Messiah that came to save you. To die for you. To give you hope. The birth of Jesus is hope entering the world. I hope that’s an “aha” moment that makes you fall more in love with Jesus and worship Him like never before. Let’s pray. 

[1] Idea from https://summitchurch.com/GetFile.ashx?Guid=1c979030-fa93-4b49-b6fb-18437b45809f

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