Christmas Reflections

In the form of a sermon! This season has been the oddest mix of sorrow and joy for me, and I know that some (many?) of you experience the same odd juxtaposition of wondrous and joyous truth residing alongside the raw reality of life with its pain. The sermon that I will preach this morning at church addresses the paradox of life for the Christ-follower, so I will share it for those who would like to reflect on these mysteries along with me. Should you decide to take the time to imbibe, I would suggest that you have an open Bible, preferably a Study Bible, and to be more specific (as you will read again), one of the new ESV Study Bibles. May God's richest blessing - Jesus - be yours this season!

Encounter Jesus:
Son of Man
Hebrews 1:1-3; 2:6-9

I had not wanted to use power point this month. There is no way, though, that I would subject you to this morning’s message without power point. One of the reasons I am using it is that I want you to take notes so that you can come back and study our topic more fully on your own. We will just get our toes wet this morning in the ocean of what Jesus meant when He called Himself the Son of Man.

There is not anywhere near enough time to explain that name fully, nor is there time to define all of the terms we will encounter today. In fact, I am going to talk about the first Adam and the last Adam as if you know what I mean, even though I know some of you do not know. So I want to issue a challenge to you this morning. If you are introduced to truths and ideas you have never heard before, or that you have heard but do not understand, write down terms, Scripture references, and questions, then commit to learn this week about the Son of Man. A good place to start would be to purchase the brand new ESV Study Bible, a resource that is most helpful if you want to go further in your understanding of Scripture.

Before we get into our study, I want to tell you that it has been a rough start to the Thanksgiving/Christmas season for me. It is a sad time, I can’t deny that. That is not to say it is a bad time, though. In fact, this Christmas, while quite painful, is also perhaps the richest Christmas I have ever experienced, with deeper meaning than I have grasped to this point in my walk with Jesus. It is not that I have learned more about the facts surrounding the Christmas story, it is just that I get the whole thing more deeply.

Christmas is a time of joy. If you are a Christ-follower, Christmas is a time of joy – period! It does not matter whether or not there is sadness in your life, even sadness at the loss of a loved one. In fact, the loss of a loved one who was a Christ-follower should bring us to a far greater appreciation of Christmas than ever before.

Christmas is such a spiritual time – but it is wrapped in the ugly brown paper of the raw human condition. That’s the way the first Christmas was, right? The rawest conditions possible greeted the Savior at His birth. But, there was rejoicing! Shepherds came to tell Joseph and Mary what the angel had told them and about the angels’ jubilant praise for God because of Jesus’ birth. Joy to the World is, as a Christmas carol, a wonderful expression of the happiness of that night.

Some 40 days after Jesus was born, when Joseph and Mary took Him to the temple in Jerusalem for their purification, as was prescribed in the Law, they were confronted with somewhat of a reality check. A devout man, named Simeon, approached them and took Jesus in his arms. Luke 2 records his prophecy:

28 He (Simeon) took Him (Jesus) up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now You are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your word;
30 for my eyes have seen Your salvation
31 that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”
33 And His father and His mother marveled at what was said about Him.
34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed
35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
“A sword will pierce through your own soul, also.” That’s the problem with Christmas, isn’t it? No matter what joy there is, bad news is in every person’s future. But the bad news is mitigated because Jesus has come. Before Jesus, bad news was disastrous. It was final. Now, because of Jesus’ appearance and work among us as the God-man, bad news is only temporary for His followers.

Do you know this Jesus? Our theme this Advent season is “Encounter Jesus.” Today we will do well to encounter Jesus as the Son of Man, Jesus’ favorite name for Himself, one that He used over 80 times. Our initial text does not come from the gospels, though; it comes from 2 short readings in the first and second chapters of Hebrews. Part of the Hebrews 2 text is quoting Psalm 8, bringing light to the prophetic nature of that Psalm. If you will get the ESV Study Bible, it will help you make the connection between Psalm 8, Hebrews, and Jesus. Enough said. I am almost out of time, and we haven’t even read our text, yet. Would you please stand as we read God’s Word.

Hebrews 1:1-3

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Hebrews 2:6-9

6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that You care for Him?
7 You made Him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned Him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under His feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not see everything in subjection to Him.
9 But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

Why did Jesus refer to Himself as the Son of Man? His listeners would have been familiar with the term. It was used in the book of Ezekiel over 90 times referring to the prophet Ezekiel. In Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days, however, it clearly refers to a divine being who lived in heaven, though somehow this never crossed the Jews’ minds. Daniel 7:13-14:

13 I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.
14 And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

In Daniel’s vision, the Son of Man came on the clouds (indicating his home was in the heavens), He was given a kingdom by the Ancient of Days, clearly God the Father – and it was a kingdom that would be absolute and eternal. The Jews expected a Messiah, there is no doubt of this. Their conception of the Messiah of OT Scriptures had really only been worked out during the 100-200 years before Jesus’ birth, and it was done so in the context of the deep sorrow that resulted from their oppression under the rule of one nation after another. They were looking for a military ruler. It never occurred to them that God would come to earth and live as a human. So what did the Jews expect in a Messiah?

For starters, they expected a human being – and a human being only – but one who would be recognizable as a leader who would throw off the yoke of Rome. This individual would likely be someone with great military skills, but would also be imbued with supernatural powers. Those powers, given directly by God, made the hope for Israel’s deliverance plausible in the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees, even though it would be like a country today such as Hungary defeating the United States and then conquering the world. Such a Messiah would surely be recognizable! The Jewish leaders absolutely did not expect the Messiah to come as the son of a poor carpenter from Nazareth! Yet, when Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, the Jewish leaders knew that He was claiming to be the divine one of Daniel’s vision.

In calling Himself Son of Man, Jesus emphasized both His divinity and His humanity. Often when using that term, Jesus claimed to do things that only God can do, as in Luke 5:17-26 when He forgave the paralytic’s sins. The Pharisees who were present were scandalized and said, “Who is this that speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” Jesus replied, in essence, “You need to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then, Jesus healed him and he got up and walked away. The Pharisees, amazingly, were unimpressed.

The Jews were looking for the Messiah to come from the line of David. They were looking for a son of David. Jesus was a son of David, and, if you will read between the lines in John 8, they knew Jesus’ heritage well enough that they should have given Him a closer look. In Matthew 22, Jesus challenged the Pharisees’ contention that the Messiah must be only a human with no divine essence.

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to Him, “The son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls Him Lord, saying,
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet?’
45 If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son?”

The Pharisees had no answer. Jesus had the same kind of exchange with the Pharisees in John 8 about His relationship with Abraham. We will not take time to go there, but I would encourage you to study it on your own. Jesus was a son of Abraham – but, greater than Abraham. Jesus was a son of David – yet, greater than David. Over and over, Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, but often claimed divine attributes when calling Himself by that title. Jesus was 100% God and 100% human. He was the Son of Man.

It was necessary for Jesus to come because we messed up in the very beginning of our time. In Romans 5:12-14 and 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, the Apostle Paul tells his readers that Jesus represents the last Adam, fulfilling the role for humanity that God had intended in the first Adam. We forfeited the place God had designed for us. We were a mess. Perhaps that’s why Jesus’ birth and life were so messy, even though He lived a perfect life. He had to take on human flesh and frailty in order to be a legitimate sacrifice for sin. One of His reasons for coming was to save the lost. (Luke 19:10)

So, where are you in your relation to the Son of Man? When you stand before God, some day, you will either be there as a son of the first Adam or as a child of God, redeemed by the Son of Man. If you have never trusted Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for your sins, please do so today! You can do so at this very moment, or if you need more understanding, please talk with me or with any of our elders or staff or with the person who invited you here today. If they can’t answer your questions, they can get you in touch with someone who can.

As I told you at the beginning of our time together, I am sad this Christmas. It’s OK, though. There is more than enough pain to go around, but Jesus tasted death for us so that we might live! I want us to read the passage in Hebrews 2 one more time. Let’s read it out loud, together. Would you please stand?

6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the Son of Man, that You care for Him?
7 You made Him for a little while lower than the angels; You have crowned Him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under His feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside His control. At present, we do not see everything in subjection to Him.
9 But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.