Why a Baby?
A Savior is Born • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro.
Intro.
If you were in trouble who would you want to rescue you?
This guy? {Rambo}
or maybe....
Him? {baby}
Definitely the Rambo character, right?
Well… not if you’re God.
God has a different.... approach to solving problems.
When God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, but Abraham and Sarah couldn’t have children:
God solved the problem and send a baby… Isaac.
When God was really to branch Abraham’s family out to the 12 tribes of Israel:
God’s solution was to send a baby… Jacob.
When the Hebrew people had been in slavery in Egypt for over 400 years, and the people cried out to God for deliverance from their captors:
God answered their cries by sending a baby… Moses.
When the Philistines had oppressed the nation of Israel for 40 years:
God gave them a champion, by sending a baby… Samson.
When Israel cried out for God’s voice to be present:
God spoke to them by sending a baby...Samuel
With each of these babies there were special circumstances that drew attention to their births
With Isaac: his parents were DECADES past child bearing age, Sarah being barren to begin with.
With Jacob: he was the younger of a set of twins, but was elevated above his brother.
With Moses: all the baby boys were being killed to keep the slaves from gaining too much strength, but Moses survived by being place in a basket in the Nile River.
With Samson: His mother was unable to get pregnant. The “angel of the Lord” came to them and said, “yes you will have a son, andddddd don’t cut his hair.
With Samuel: His mother Hannah also was unable to have children. She prayed to God and God gave her a son.
Each of these babies had circumstances making their births significant.
It’s as if God was drawing attention to these children.
“Hey everyone, over here. You need to see this. Watch what happens here.”
When God wants to do something REALLY BIG, His answer is to have a baby born.
So if you are sitting there this morning thinking,
“Great, I have to wait for a baby to be born and grow-up to have my problem solved,”
Then, I have great news for you.
Your baby has already been born.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
It’s a beautiful picture; the baby in a manger.
But have you ever wondered why didn’t we go straight to the:
Mighty God, Everlasting Father part
Have you ever wondered...
WHY A BABY?
WHY A BABY?
Back in 1993, a song pondered the incarnation from Joseph’s perspective.
The song has Joseph contemplating how each of them was selected for the parts they play… “Why me?”
He sums up the situation at the end of the chorus with these lines:
Now I'm not one to second guess what angels have to say,
but this is such a strange way to save the world.
So this morning we’re going to unpack why Jesus had to come as a baby in order to be your “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
To get us started, let’s read Matthew’s account of Jesus
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.
As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife… and Joseph named him Jesus.
Matthew 1:18-25 NLT
Now let’s get into the “whys”.
Why a baby?
Because of Prophecy
Because of Prophecy
Here in Matthew, the bible describes for us the event of Jesus’ birth as a baby in Bethlehem.
Jesus was born this way order to fulfill specific prophecies of His birth.
The Old Testament contains more than 300 specific prophecies concerning Jesus and the events of His life.
A number of these prophesies are fulfilled specifically with His birth.
This passage alone points to at least 4 different facts of Jesus’ birth that fulfill prophesy.
Jesus was of the lineage of King David.
Jesus was born of a virgin.
Jesus would be the savior.
He will be named “Immanuel” because He is God who has come to be with us.
In addition, the Bible tells us in Luke 2, that
Jesus was born in a town called Bethlehem.
This fulfilled a specific prophesy from the prophet Micah who lived in the same general time frame as Isaiah.
But this still begs the question “why a baby?”
God intended to identify, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that Jesus was the Christ – His anointed sacrifice for sins.
“Hey over here, take notice of this One!”
God chose to present Jesus’ birth as a central point of these identifying prophecies because the birth of a baby cannot be faked, controlled, or manipulated.
Babies come when they want to come.
You cannot plan a birth, and time it in such a way as to meet a series of specific parameters.
What are the chances that you can plan a birth (especially during 1st century Israel) to insure that:
It is a male child
From a specific family
Was born in a specific town
On a particular date.
Just these facts alone are impossible to control.
The occurrence of these circumstances would give clear proof that Jesus was God’s planned Messiah because only God could have caused all of these prophesies to come true in the birth of this baby.
On to the 2nd reason of:
Why a baby?
Because of Humanity
Because of Humanity
Jesus came to be the Christ.
The words: Christ (Greek) and Messiah (Hebrew) both mean “the anointed one”.
Anointed means “set apart for a specific purpose.”
For what specific purpose was Jesus anointed?
The angel told Joseph the answer to that question in verse 21
“...you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21 NLT
The Bible teaches us 2 facts:
All of mankind has sinned.
Without the shedding of blood there can be no payment, for sin.
In order for Jesus to die a death that would count as an effective sacrifice for human sin, Jesus had to be a human.
By being born a baby from a human mother, there could not be any question of Him being made human flesh so that He could die a human death for human sin.
Jesus became a baby… to become a sacrifice.
3rd reason.
Why a Baby?
Because of Deity
Because of Deity
The Bible also makes it abundantly clear that Jesus was the Son of God.
...“Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 1:20 NLT
The angel also pronounces the deity of the baby by describing His name:
“Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
Matthew 1:23 NLT
Jesus was both all God and all man.
While He had to be human in order to properly pay the price for sin,
Jesus had to be God in order to afford the price.
The Bible says in
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
The book of John makes it clear throughout that Jesus was God as well as man.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In verse 14, the Bible goes on to say that
John 1:14 (ESV)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us...
The man Jesus was also the Son of God.
God designed His plan to have Jesus born as baby so He could establish His deity as well as His humanity.
Matthew tells us Jesus was born of a virgin and conceived of the Holy Spirit.
By having Jesus born as a baby, God could establish Jesus’ deity.
The deity of Jesus proclaims His ability to live a sinless life because He was not haunted by the sin that has followed mankind since Adam and Eve.
It also proclaims His ability to defeat death.
Jesus actually died a complete death in every human and medical sense.
He also died a spiritual death as payment for our sins.
But Jesus, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, had the power to conquer death through His resurrection.
He HAD this power and USED it to conquer death and sin.
In order to fully accomplish all of salvation, Jesus had to be who He was.
4th Reason
Why a Baby?
Because of Availability
Because of Availability
Jesus came from the throne room of Heaven.
There is no place on Earth that is (or was) worthy of His birth.
But… still. He deserved the classiest place we could provide.
The palace of Herod
The palace of Caesar
He chose neither.
He picked a little farming village.
He picked a stable.
He picked a feeding trough.
If He was going to connect with all the people, He had to be touchable.
The manner of Jesus’ birth makes it clear to every person that no one is left out of God’s plan for salvation.
It is available for everyone.
Reason #5
Why a Baby?
Because of Ministry
Because of Ministry
In Hebrews 2:17-18 , scripture explains the importance of Jesus being made human like us.
...it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God.
Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people.
Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.
Hebrews 2:17-18 NLT
Since He experienced earthly life for Himself, He is able to know what it feels like, looks like.
He shows us how to live in victory
And He shows us how to heal from life’s pains.
Jesus was born as a baby so that:
He could grow up and experience life as a child.
He could face puberty and the temptations of childhood.
He could face the major life choices we face as we become an adult.
At some point in His life, He lost His earthly father.
He chose a career and worked for a living.
He learned how to choose companions, deal with family, avoid sin, face the devil, go to church, and apply scripture to real human experiences.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
All of these things Jesus did because He started out life as a baby.
When we call on Him now as our Savior, He knows perfectly how to help us because He has been there personally.
Whatever you are going through today, I can tell you what you need to help you get through it....
You need… a baby.