Sermon Tone Analysis

What Child is This?

Luke 2:8–14 (ESV)

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Matthew 2:6–12 (ESV)

6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’

” 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

9 After listening to the king, they went on their way.

And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

“What Child is This?”

That’s the theme of our message to you this morning.

“What child is this, who laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping/Whom angels greet, with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?”

That’s the Christmas question really, “What child is this?”

The answers to that question are myriad.

Some say He was just a good teacher, but good teachers don’t claim to be God.

Some say He was only a good example, but good examples don’t hang around prostitutes, drunks, and dirty politicians.

Others say He was a religious madman, but madmen don’t speak the kind of words he spoke: clear and lucid and perceptive and penetrating, nor do they draw women and children to themselves, nor are they served by men with the intellect of Peter and John and Luke and Paul.

Some say He was a religious fake, perpetrating a hoax like every other would-be Savior, but fakes have a way of staying dead.

Others say He was only a phantom, but phantoms don’t have flesh to crucify and blood to spill.

And many have said He didn’t exist at all; He’s only a myth, but myths don’t set the calendar for history.

What child is this?

Thomas had it right.

He looked at him and said, My Lord and my God.”

The evidence that Jesus Christ is in fact God is overwhelming.

In John’s gospel, John begins by stating that very fact in verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

When the disciples found themselves in a great windstorm, with waves breaking into the boat, and Jesus calmed the storm, they said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

(Mark 4:41).

They knew the answer from Scripture.

Only God himself can still the seas (Psalm 65:7; 89:9; 107:29); this, somehow, must be God.

But it was too wonderful just to say.

This new revelation of Jesus’s glory was too stupendous to keep quiet, and too remarkable not to say it in some fresh way.

God himself had become man and was in the boat with them.

“Who then is this?”

When we say at Christmas “What child is this?”

We know the answer.

It has been plainly revealed.

And it is almost too wonderful to be true.

God himself has become man in this baby, and has come to rescue us.

The eternal Word has become flesh and dwells among us (John 1:14).

It is clear and certain.

We must say it straightforwardly and with courage.

And it is fitting that at times, like Christmas, we wonder, we marvel, we declare in awe, “What child is this?”

What child is this?

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet

While shepherds watch are keeping?

That’s the kind of arrival we expected.

Heavenly hosts sing.

The heavens are alight with song.

A glimpse of the unexpected.

The angels sing to shepherds.

That’s odd.

Angels, yes — but shepherds?

Shouldn’t there be dignitaries, especially from among the regal and religious establishment of the Jews, who have purportedly long awaited the coming of their Christ?

Shouldn’t shepherds take a number behind the king and his court, the priests and the scribes, and the Jerusalem elite?

That the message came to shepherds first, and not to the high and mighty, reminds us that God comes to the needy, the poor in spirit.

There’s another very interesting note I want you to have here.

Bethlehem is about six miles south of Jerusalem.

In fact, when you … that’s from the city center of Jerusalem, when you’re driving today out of Jerusalem, you don’t even know a break between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, it’s an uninterrupted suburb.

It’s very close.

But the rabbis had made a rule, it’s recorded in the Mishna, in the clarification of Jewish law, that any animal found between Jerusalem and a certain spot in Bethlehem was subject to be used as a sacrifice in the temple.

Now there were sheep grazing in that area purposely to be used as sacrificial animals.

But the rabbis reserved the right in the event that there were more people than available animals to literally commandeer any animals in the area and take them and use them as sacrifices.

And if we remember history, we remember there could be as many as a quarter of a million animals slain around the Passover season.

That’s a lot.

The rest of the year there were thousands upon thousands upon thousands of animals slain.

So they went through sheep rather rapidly and they had the right to go into that area, between Jerusalem and a certain spot, and take any sheep if necessary to be used as a sacrifice in the temple.

Interesting thought, these shepherds may well have been caring for sheep that would be offered as sacrifices.

How interesting that the announcement of the final and full sacrifice, the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world, the Savior of the world, was made to shepherds who very likely who took care of sheep who were offered as pictures of that coming sacrifice.[1]

There is no reason for thinking that Luke’s shepherds were other than devout men, else why would God have given them such a privilege?

But they did come from a despised class.[2]God

comes only to those who sense their need.

He does not come to the self-sufficient.

The gospel is for those who know they need Jesus![3]

What Child is This?

This, this is Christ the King

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;

Haste, haste to bring Him laud,

The babe, the son of Mary!

To do this, the angel listed four titles and announced that they all came together in one person.

What Kind of King ?

Savior, Christ, and Lord—Jesus was given the highest titles that can be given.

Savior points to his role as deliverer; someone who rescues people from death and destruction.

This implies that we need a Savior, which of course we do.

The deliverance that God brings may come in the form of physical deliverance, but it is also spiritual.

Jesus came to save us from sin, Satan, and the righteous wrath of God.

He delivered us from these deadly enemies by dying on the cross for our sins and then rising again to give us everlasting life.

This was more than the shepherds understood, of course, but by saying that Jesus was the Savior, the angel was telling them to look to Jesus for whatever salvation they needed.

Messiah points to his office in terms of the promised Anointed One of God.

Eventually this became part of the Savior’s name, but it is really a title.

“Christ” is the Greek term for Messiah, which signifies the Savior that God had always promised to send.

Literally, the Christ is “the anointed one.”

This calls to mind the kings and priests of the Old Testament who were anointed with oil as a sign of their office and mission in life.