The King is Coming
As we continue now to kind of reflect upon this Advent season, there are, there are some who have called it the greatest love story of all that. Out of all the stories, there are about love that have ever been told that this is the greatest love story out of all of them, and it's true. I mean, Jesus being born into this world is ultimately a story of his love for us in the unfathomable lengths that he would go
to win us over.
Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish theologian, philosopher in the 1800s wrote a parable called the king and the maiden to just try and attempt to capture what this story is all about, and I want to read it to you now. He says, suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. Now this king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power, no one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How in the world could he, as the king, declare his love for her in an odd sort of way, his kingliness tied his hands. I mean, if he brought her to the palace and crowned her head with jewels and clothed her body in royal robes she would surely not resist. I mean, no one would dare resist the king. But the question is, would she love him? I mean, she would say she loved him, of course. But would she truly love Him, or would she just live with him in fear, nursing a private grief for the life that she had left behind. Would she be happy at his side? I mean, how could he know for sure if he rode to her forest cottage in a royal carriage with an armed escort waving bright banners that too would just overwhelm her. He did not want a cringing subject. He wanted a lover an equal. He wanted her to forget that he was a king and she was a humble Maiden, and to let shared love cross the gulf between them, for it is only in love that the unequal can be made equal. The king, convinced he could not elevate the maiden without crushing her freedom, resolved to descend to her clothed as a beggar, he approached her cottage with a worn cloak fluttering loose about him. This was not just a disguise. The king took on a totally new identity. He had renounced his throne to declare His love and to win
hers incredible.
I mean, Isn't it incredible? The King became like her so that she could become like him to win her over. He became what she was, the king, became a peasant, so that she might become what he is and share in His royalty. That's really what Jesus did for us. That's why it's the greatest love story that's ever been told, because Jesus became what we are so that we might become what he is. That's what Christmas really is. Jesus became what we are, so that we might become what he is. Jesus, like this king that we read about in the parable, lowered himself to a whole other status, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the great I AM, lowered Himself and became one of us so that he could win us over, so that he could be in a relationship with us now and forevermore. Now. That is true love,
the greatest love that there is
now you may be asking at this point, where do we see this in the Bible? I mean, that's a cute parable and all, but where do we really see this in Scripture? Well, I'm glad you asked. You know, a lot of times when we think about the Christmas story, we go to Matthew and we go to Luke, because there's historical accounts about Jesus's birth there, and we certainly learn about the love of Jesus, even when we're studying those but today I want to take you to the book of Galatians. It's really not a book, it's a letter. This was written well after the birth of Jesus by the apostle Paul, whom we're going to read about when we start our life in the series, message series, back after the new year, but the Apostle Paul was in. Inspired to write to the church in a local area called Galatia to address some different problems that were going on within the church. And what he writes here that we're looking at today was specifically speaking to them about that very thing, but we also see what Christmas is all about. And so I want to read it and then just come back and dive into it a bit deeper, so that we can fully appreciate it and understand what is being said here. Galatians four, Chapter or Chapter Four, beginning in verse four, says, but when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law that we might receive adoption to sonship, because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba Father, so you were no longer a slave, but God's child. And since you are His child, God has made you also an heir. Do you see it? It's the Christmas story, the greatest love story that there's ever been God, the son being born of a woman, lowering himself to our level, becoming one of us, so that we could become like
him, a son,
no longer a slave, but a child of God,
part of the royal
family. Just what Christmas is all about.
There is no greater love. There's also no greater stooping, the one, the uncreated being, the uncreated God of the universe, lowering himself to become one of his creations, to rescue us from slavery, to adopt us into His family, part of the royal family, to elevate us to His status. What a story. What a love story. This is a totally different kind of love. This is true love, real love. Let's look closer at what Paul says here to really appreciate again, what is being said. The very first thing that Paul said here was but when the set time had fully come, which tells us this was no accident, this was no mere chance, no random event. This was part of a plan. It was part of a plan that God had been working for a very long time, for 1000s of years, God was putting things into motion. He was allowing certain things to happen that he would be able to work with. And he was putting things into place so that at just the right time, when the set time had fully come, God would come to rescue the world. And this plan was there all the way back in the garden when sin first entered the world in Genesis, chapter three, verse 15, we're given what is known as the proto Evangelium. It's just a big fancy word which means the first gospel. It's the first announcement of the good news of Jesus on the opening pages of your Bible. All the way back in Genesis, three is the first announcement of the good news of Jesus Christ that God had a plan to deal with what went wrong. Sin had just entered the world, and God declared that there would be one of Eve's offspring that would crush the head of the serpent of the enemy one day. In other words, God already had a plan to fix what went wrong, he would come to rescue his beloved creation from the enemy. From that point on, we begin to see the plan revealed more and more of the plan revealed as time goes along. For example, God meets with Abraham in Genesis chapter 12, and he tells them that he's going to make a great nation through him, that he's going to bless all people one day through him. And then he begins to build that great nation through Abraham and his offspring. And then we're told in Genesis 49 that that Abraham's grandson, Jacob is is dying, but he had had many sons, 12 sons that would become the 12 patriarchs of this great nation that was going to bless all people, that God was going to bless all people through. And he's on his deathbed, and he's praying blessings over each one of them. And he gets to one of those sons whose name was Judah, and the blessing that he prays over him is that one of Judah's descendants will be a king who will usher in a golden age one day that things may not be great now that the world may be broken, but one day, through Judah, there would come a king who would usher in this golden age where everything. Thing would be made right again. Later on, we see that God meets with a guy named Moses, and he sends him to rescue his people from his slavery, or from the slavery that they were in. And then Moses declares, in Deuteronomy, 1818, that there would be another prophet coming one day that would be raised up one day that would be like him. He was sent to be a rescuer and deliver people from slavery, and there would be one similar to him that would be coming in the future to also rescue others. Little further down the line, we see King David and how God declared in Second Samuel that one of his descendants would establish God's Kingdom and that he would rule and reign forever again. There's this king that's coming, the tribe of Judah through the line of David, and he would establish this kingdom that would reign forever more. And then we see that God began to speak through the prophets and reveal more about this plan that he had to rescue the world and to send this king that was going to come. And we looked at one of those last week, whose name was Isaiah. God. Used Isaiah to declare that there would be a child that would be born, and his name would be wonderful counselor and mighty God and everlasting father and Prince of Peace, and that the government would be upon his shoulder, that he he would rule, he would reign again. The King is coming. Finally, we get to a prophet named Micah. And in Micah, five two, he says, But you Bethlehem, ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, again, all the way back Genesis, 49 blessing Judah among the clans of Judah out of you will come one for me who will be a ruler, a king over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times. So we learn even more about the plan that this child that would be born. We're told specifically where he would even be born, all of these prophecies, all of these promises made by God throughout Scripture to declare that he had a plan that he was going to send a rescuer. And now in the letter that Paul is writing to the church at Galatia, he says, When the set time had fully come, at just the right time, God put His plan to motion, and honestly, it had been in motion, but he sent him at just the right time, as verse four continues when the set time had fully come. God sent His Son. He sent His Son, it says, and it's born of a woman. Now we can read that and it's only four words in the first little phrase there and four in the second, and brush over it really quickly, especially around Christmas time. But when you pause and when you think about what's really being said here, it can take you to a place where you truly begin to appreciate this plan that God had set in motion. When he says that God sent His Son, that means that he had to come from somewhere. I mean, we think about the birth of Jesus, and he just now he's here. Well, that wasn't the start of Jesus. He came from somewhere to be born as a child here, where was it that he came from? Well, heaven. God, the Son, the second member of the Trinity, resides in heaven. And so when he says that God sent His son, he's saying that God Himself left the glory of heaven, he left the riches of heaven, he left the comfort of heaven to come here in a sin infested world, a good world. At one time was a perfect world, but now there is sin, the curse, everything had been broken. Do you see in that those four words right there that God sent His Son, how he stooped. I mean, the God of the universe, who resides in heaven,
was sent here.
You see how he lowered himself just to even come, but then to read on and go, Okay, not only did God send His Son, oh, lower himself to just come here and leave that place. He says, born of a woman. So now we're talking about the humbling aspect of how far God stooped to be come one of us to become like us, the uncreated, Eternal God squeezing himself into humanity, becoming like us in every way. Do you see how far he stooped to rescue us from the situation that we were in because of his love for us? This. Was the king, the king chasing after the maiden, leaving his throne behind to become a servant like her, out of his love for her, to win her over. Oh, the depths to which he lowered himself for us. But not only would he have he have to be sent here, not only would he have to be born of a woman, he would also have to be born under the same conditions, the right conditions. And so that's what Paul tells us next. But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son born of a woman, born under the law. Remember that the Jewish people were were under the law at this time that Jesus was born into the world, God had given the law to mosaic. He had established a covenant with them and said, Be careful to do everything written in it. And Paul's reminding them that at the set time, whenever the set time had fully come to enact God's plan, that He sent His Son into the world, and that it required him. It required him to be born under these conditions, at this specific time, under the same law, under the same covenant that the Jewish people were. Why? Tells us in verse five, but when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman born under the law. Why Paul to redeem those under the law. To redeem means to be bought back, to buy back, to purchase someone out of slavery. And so even in just hearing that, that's what Jesus came to do, make sure that we don't misunderstand what the problem really was. The problem was that people were trapped in slavery, that those who were living under the law at this time, that Jesus was born underneath or into, they couldn't fulfill it. They couldn't obey it because of their sin, problem because of the sin that had entered into the world all the way back in Genesis three, in the garden. And so with that happening, that left them as slaves, trapped in their own sin, trapped slaves to the law. But Jesus was different. Jesus was born under the law, but he was not born as a slave to sin or a slave to the law. Why? Because even though he was born as one of us to be like us in every way, there was yet one aspect of him that was different than us, and that is that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And so although he was like us in every other way, he had no sin. He was not born into this world as a slave to sin or a slave to the law like the rest of humanity was, he existed outside of that, and so therefore he could come into that from a different way to rescue the people from out of the situation that they were in. It was the only way. It's the only way Jesus was free born under the law to pay the purchase price to buy his people, those he loved out of slavery who were in slavery to sin and to the law. But the purchase price was great. Purchase Price, of course, was death. And so again, the uncreated God of the universe stooped just to come here. He stooped even lower to become a human being, a created being. The uncreated became the created. But then we're told to redeem those under the law. Do you see how far he had to stoop, even there? The way Apostle Paul puts it in Philippians chapter two, is that he became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Why? Because it was the most humiliating way that someone could die. I mean, the most highly exalted one to lower himself to come here, to be born, and then ultimately to die and on a cross. Do you? Do you see how far God stooped to rescue you. Does that change the way that you see? How much do you have to love someone to stoop from that eye to that low to rescue them out of a situation that they got themselves into? That's how much God loves you. He did that so that we could be exalted to the status of being in the royal family. Guys, this is the Christmas story Jesus becoming what we are, so that we might become what he is, Son of God. And that's what we get into. Next look at the rest of the verse. But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. Why to redeem those under the law ultimately, so that we might receive adoption to sonship. Isn't that amazing? God sent Jesus to become like one of us so that we might become like Him. Jesus is, of course, God's Son. We're going to become like a god, but as his son, he came so that we could be one of God's sons as well. Talk about the greatest love story ever told again Jesus becoming what we are, so that we might become what he is, a son of God. So what's our role in that? This is what the plan was. This is what Jesus did. What's our role where we're told in the last section, that we're looking at right now, that we might what receive, receive adoption to sonship. This isn't something that we earn. It's not something that we prove ourselves in. This is something that we received. And so the question simply is, have you received it? Jesus really was born into this world. He really did fulfill the law. He really did go to the cross and pay the penalty for all of your sins. He paid the purchase price for your freedom and your potential adoption into the royal family, God's family above all families. But have you received it? Because the reality is is if you have not received it, then you're still on the outside of the family looking in. But it's even worse than that, you're not just on the outside looking in like you're on the outside and trapped. You're behind bars. You're in a prison, locked underneath the slavery of your own sin, a slavery to the law that you cannot fulfill because of your sin problem. But what we're told here is that the key to the gate, the key to the prison cell that you're locked in behind, is being held out to you. Jesus is standing at the gate, and he's holding his hand out with the key, saying, I've done it all. Here's the key to unlock you from the slavery to sin that you're in and to bring you legally into the royal family, all you have to do to receive it or is receive it. Will you? Will you do so those who have
received benefits,
or even told that in the next two verses, that's what the next two verses were all about. Look again at what he said, Because you are his sons. He's writing to the church. He's writing to a group of people who have received it, who've received the key, and he's unlocked it, and they're now free from the slavery to sin and death. And so, as a result, he's saying, because you are his sons, because you're already part of the royal family, God sent His Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out Abba, Father. And so you are no longer a slave if you've received His free gift of salvation, but you're God's child, and since you are His child, God has also made you an heir. And so if you've received God's free gift of salvation, then you are no longer a slave. You're a child of God and and not, not A, not a child with a with a father who's like a drill sergeant, he says, He gives you the Spirit who calls out what Abba, this intimate term for, for Father, you've been adopted into this family, and you have a father who's not like a drill sergeant barking orders at you all the time. It's a relationship where he's your Abba, like a loving, caring father, who, who loves you, who who likes you, who enjoys spending time with you and providing for you, and so does that? Does that describe your relationship with God? Do you have an Abba Father kind of relationship with God, or is is God more like your drill sergeant, constantly barking orders at you and you can never do enough to please Him? Because that's not the relationship that he's invited you into. He's your Abba. Guys. Jesus didn't go to all that trouble. I mean, think about what we talked about earlier, how far he stooped. He did not leave the glory, the comfort, the riches of heaven to be sent here. I. To be born as a created being, to die the most humiliating, painful, excruciating death on a cross in front of other people, all so that he could be a father figure that just barks orders at you all the time and you could never please.
He did so because of his love.
It was his love
that allowed him to stoop that far, not so he could just spend his time barking orders at you. So he could enjoy you. He could love you. You could love him and experience what real love is like. And so if that's you, if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, you've received His free gift of salvation, you've been adopted into his family as his son, then enjoy him, continue to receive from Him, live as the child of God that you've already been made into through Jesus, and if you never received God's invitation, you've never received the key to unlock the cell that you're living in in this moment, why wouldn't you do so today? God already knows who you are. He knows what you've done. He knew what you were going to do before he ever sent Jesus from the place and allowed him to stoop as far as he did. And yet, his love for you, even though he knew who you would be and what it is that you would do, loved you that much that he would still allow him to stoop and so he's done everything that's needed to be done. He's lowered himself to your level. He's paid the penalty for you. He's been resurrected from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death forever. Everything made possible for you to receive forgiveness and be adopted into the royal family has been accomplished. All that's left for you to do is receive it.
Will you receive it today?
If so, you've got to put
your faith and trust in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, and I want to give you that opportunity to do so as we enter into this time of response,
