======================================================================== (LUKE) 07 - GREATNESS OF HIS COMING by Ed Miller ======================================================================== Summary: The sermon explores the greatness of Jesus' coming, highlighting his humility, poverty, love, mercy, and grace, and showing how his birth was a carefully planned and executed act of God's sovereignty. Duration: 53:26 Topics: "Incarnation Of God", "Divine Humanity" Scripture References: Luke 2:1-38 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the greatness of Jesus Christ as the Son of all mankind. He emphasizes that the truth of the Bible is not valuable because it is new, but because it is true. The preacher encourages the audience to approach the familiar passage of Luke chapter 2 with fresh eyes and open hearts. He outlines three points to explore in the chapter, but only covers the first point in this particular sermon. The main message is that God became man in Jesus Christ, and this is a remarkable and significant event that should deeply impact our lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ and for the purpose to focus in a living way our hearts upon the Lord Jesus. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who lives in our hearts, whose ministry it is to ever take the veil off of our Lord Jesus to open our eyes and to give us a transforming revelation of and so we commit our meditation unto you as we share together in your word and around your word we pray that you'd lift our hearts unto your greatness and that we might see you deliver us from cold academics and we just pray that you might speak a living word to our heart you know where we are you know our needs our hungers our capacities meet us where we are and take us where you'd have us we ask in the all prevailing name of our Lord Jesus amen i'll ask you to turn in your bibles please to the gospel of Luke and chapter 2 Luke chapter 2 uh for those that are just with us i'll or for the first time or just for a couple of times uh let me just say this much by way of our approach to the bible we pray that every lesson will be a study in itself and will stand on its own two feet in other words we do build lesson one leads into lesson two and lesson two into lesson three for example we're in lesson seven and i think if you had the first six then lesson seven might mean a little more to you however if you only have lesson 13 or lesson 9 or lesson 7 don't think you'll be lost because our focus is the Lord and when you see the Lord you can come in anywhere and leave anywhere and still be blessed because we're trying to see him so i pray you don't feel lost we welcome you and we're in chapter 2 and let me just give this much by way of review the gospel of Luke presents our Lord Jesus as the son of all mankind it's a unique emphasis and he just shows how humble and how low our Lord Jesus did stoop in order to reach us and Luke emphasizes that all the way through now for several weeks we've been looking at chapter one certainty through faith and the chapter was outlined this way first God gave us a an illustration of unbelief Zacharias the son of i mean the father of John the baptizer he did not believe and then he gave us a picture of faith Mary was the great picture of faith and then at the end of the chapter he shows us unbelief turned into faith when Zacharias finally came to believe after our discussion of the main theme of chapter one certainty through faith we picked up a few ideas that we hadn't touched on though on that development namely that Luke has an unusual emphasis on the Holy Spirit and we talked a little bit about that and then we look last time at the two great hymns in chapter one Mary's Magnificat and then the great song of Zacharias now there's one more thing I'd like to look at in chapter one but not today I had planned to do it today the prophecy and the relationship between John the baptizer and that prophecy that Elijah was going to come the Lord Jesus compares John to Elijah and I want to show you that I want to trace that out with you but since the ministry of John the baptizer begins in chapter three I think I'll just save that until we come to chapter three and then take it as a package so that we'll be able to just focus then on the revelation of Christ given through John the baptizer what that means practically is that this morning I'd like to begin to introduce to you chapter two of Luke so if you'll turn to chapter two you'll recognize if you just glance at the chapter you'll recognize this as the Christmas story this wonderful wonderful chapter we're sort of in the right season for it too getting ready for the Advent and all a quick glance at this chapter you see his birth there in the manger at Bethlehem and you see the angels appearing to the shepherds you see the baby eight days old being brought by his parents for circumcision and the whole record there of Simeon and Anna in the temple and then it ends up when our Lord Jesus was 12 years old and so you remember chapter two it's a very familiar chapter from the teaching standpoint there's sort of a problem with coming to a chapter like this and you can guess what it is and the problem is that it's such a familiar chapter my guess is that probably the average Sunday school student is more familiar with Luke chapter two than any other single chapter in the New Testament everybody seems to know this particular chapter and the problem I have as one who's going to try to teach that is that don't get this wrong but we're not looking at the Christmas story we're looking at the gospel of Luke now yes the gospel of Luke does touch on the Christmas story but most of the time we just take it out of its context and look at the Christmas story and it's wonderful out of context but it's also wonderful in contact and so we're going to try to look at the Christmas story in terms of the message of Luke Luke is presenting our Lord Jesus as the son of all mankind now trust the Lord with me as we go through these marvelous stories to home in on that great message of Luke before our Lord can present himself as the son of all mankind he's got to become the son of all mankind and Luke chapter two shows us God becoming man it shows us and that's why it's at the beginning because he's now going to become the son of all mankind in order that he might be the son of all mankind in my bible right over this chapter I've just written the word Emmanuel God with us because that's what this chapter is about in order to get the maximum benefit from Luke chapter two here's the outline we're going to follow I'm going to give you three points divisions of how we're going to look at the chapter and then having said that we'll only begin to look at the first one this morning in no way are we going to finish this this morning first of all all through this chapter we see the greatness of the son of all mankind and I want to show you the greatness of how he came and that's what we'll begin to look at this morning just the method that he came shows his greatness and then I want to show you for whom he came and his greatness is revealed in for whom he came and then I want to show you why he came the purpose for which he came and that's also illustrated in chapter two through the shepherds through simeon the priest and through anna the prophetess and so we'll look at it we'll break it down that way so this morning I just want to show you the greatness of the son of all mankind in the method by which he came now since we're in luke chapter two let me just stay say right at the start we're on familiar ground I am not going to tell you this morning anything that you haven't heard before the truth is wonderful not because it's new but because it's true and so I just pray God will quicken our truth we don't have to see anything novel so what we're going to do is just sort of look at what we already know and ask God to deliver us from la la la sometime we just read the bible la la la and those facts just seem to get by us these are tremendous facts and they ought to thrill our heart and so I just pray as we look at this that it will thrill our heart uh if you just think of the content of chapter two you already know what a tremendous thing it is and apart from the revelation of God to your heart you'll never catch in other words God became man if you want to try to get the idea what a great step it was for God to become man think of it the other way around what kind of a step would it be for you to become God I think sometimes if you think of it that way you realize what a step he took when he became man let me give some illustrations of the stooping love of God illustrated in these chapters I'll give you about five or six or seven or eight illustrations that Luke calls attention to the first is that he came to the Jewish virgin of Nazareth let me read a couple of verses first I'm going to go back in chapter one verse 26 and 27 and glance at that please now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David and the virgin's name was Mary and then if you look at chapter two beginning at verse five speaking about this taxation in along with Mary who was engaged to him and was with child and it came about while they were there the days were completed for her to give birth and she gave birth to her first born son she wrapped him in cloths laid him in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn it was a tremendous thing for our Lord Jesus to leave the bosom of his father God and enter the bosom of this virgin from Nazareth I know there's a lot of mystery in the trinity you know we believe in God the Father and in God the Son and in God the Holy Spirit and some folks try to explain that it's very mysterious to explain that but some things are clear for example do you know which member of the Godhead was the creator did God the Father create the universe did God the Son create the universe who was the agent of creation God the Holy Spirit create the universe see the we have no doubt about it it was God the Son that created the universe it was Jesus in John chapter one we read in the beginning was the word remember the word became flesh the word of Jesus the beginning was the word and then in John chapter one and verse three it says all things came into being by him and apart from him was not anything made that was made now one other verse listen to Colossians 1 15 talking about the Lord Jesus says he's the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created both in the heaven on the earth visible invisible whether thrones or dominions whether rulers or authorities all things have been created by him and for him why do I call attention to that I call attention to that because Jesus created Mary he's the creator created his mother and then he entered into her womb it's an amazing thing the Lord Jesus chose his mother uh when any baby chooses the place he's going to be born and chooses his own mother you better listen to that baby because that's someone very very special uh I can only state it for you because it's too big for anything but faith but here's the amazing step when Jesus came to this virgin the infinite became infinite and he who was the source the fountain of all creation is now drawing nourishment from the breast of the creature this is an amazing thing and Luke calls attention to this because he's going to be the son of all mankind he had to be made like one of us you can use your strongest mental powers and meditate on what a step it was Luke calls attention to this great step now we're going to do more on the virgin birth when we come to chapter three and the great genealogy that Luke gives so different than Matthew so I'm going to sort of leave it there for now a glance at chapter 2 verse 21 please our Lord Jesus not only came to this virgin Mary but verse 21 says and when eight days were completed before his circumcision his name was then called Jesus the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb and when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the law and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons a glance at verse 24 please a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons and the Lord not only condescended to a virgin of Nazareth but the Bible shows she was a poor woman and it's illustrated by these two turtle doves or these two pigeons now you know he could have been born to a queen he could have been born to a princess could have been born in a palace why does Luke call attention to her poverty you see in chapter 12 verse 8 of Leviticus God lays down a law he said if a sinner is going to come to God he must bring a lamb chapter 12 verse 8 says you've got to bring a lamb but then the problem came what if you can't afford a lamb what if you don't have the money to buy a lamb and the answer is if you can't afford a lamb you can bring two birds two turtle doves or two pigeons which were almost free almost anyone could afford the turtle doves or the pigeons you say what if someone was so poor they couldn't afford two turtle doves or two pigeons which were almost free is it possible that some were that poor and the answer is yes and Leviticus 5 11 says if you can't bring a lamb bring the birds if you can't bring the birds bring a pinch of flour but come come don't stay away and so God made provision for everybody to come there was no excuse not to come to the law now Mary's sort of in the middle the Bible teaches that she was poor she couldn't afford a lamb but she could afford the two birds and so she came with the two birds there were some even more poor than than Mary and Joseph and they had to bring the pinch of flour Luke presents the fact that our Lord Jesus stepped down to this virgin this maiden of Nazareth and then the fact that she was poor a glance at verse 4 please says Joseph also went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family of David the Lord not only came down to a woman not only came down to a poor woman but Bethlehem now I think you know there are two Bethlehems in the Bible a one Bethlehem is a larger Bethlehem it was in the territory of the tribe of Zebulon but this Bethlehem was the smaller one Ephrata Bethlehem Ephrata in the book of Joshua remember when they were going in to claim the land of Canaan Joshua divided up the land and in order that there wouldn't be any fights he named all the towns you take this town you take this town you take and he divided it all up and he named all the towns did he name Bethlehem Ephrata no because the Bible says that was too small to be named and even when he divided the name I've divided the town this one was not mentioned by name you know it was prophesied in Micah that our Lord Jesus would be born in Bethlehem when Micah wrote the prophecy listen to Micah 5 2 it says but as for you Bethlehem Ephrata too little to be among the clans of Judah that's how small it was from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel you see Luke only tells you Jesus came forth from Mary the Bethlehem prophecy said Jesus came forth from eternity so he came from eternity through Mary but Luke is calling attention to this little place in Bethlehem an insignificant place we know from chapter 2 verse 7 they only had one in it's not plural there was no room for them in the end and by the way when you think of in and you read in the Bible Luke chapter 2 don't think of quality in or holiday in it wasn't like that at all in fact there is a Greek word for in that is motel or hotel a guest house there's a Greek word for that not in Luke it's not used here that's not the word that's used this isn't the ordinary place where you'd say oh we're on vacation let's stop at the inn in Bethlehem no the Greek word that's used here has to do with a shelter more than hotel or something like that it's like a shelter in fact in chapter 10 when we come there and do the the story the great of the Samaritan remember the good Samaritan and remember that robber that was all beat up and he was brought over to the shelter and he said now whatever's left over that's the same word that's used for the in here the word comes from two words one means all and the other word means received and all were received at the end and there's a good chance it was not expensive this idea that they didn't have the money to stay there I'm not sure that's true I think if they had gotten there in time they could have been in there there was no room you could have got in for free that's what this in was and it's one thing not to have room in the holiday inn it's another thing not to have room in this shelter and to be put out and our Lord Jesus there was no room for him even in this inn and so you see Luke's emphasis God comes down he comes to a virgin woman and he comes to poverty and homeless almost and then he comes to an insignificant place called Bethlehem I love to meditate on how God got Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem you know I had to go there the prophecy said Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem if I were Gabriel I would have leaked it out when I gave the news I'd say now the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you and you're going to have a son and he's going to be the son of David and you're going to call his name Jesus and by the way he has to be born in Bethlehem and you're 70 miles north now you're going to have to move down there before the time comes if I was Gabriel I would have told him that but the Bible doesn't say that Gabriel told him that I think it would have been and I speak as a fool more spiritual to read remember when the angel came to Joseph and had to convince him because you need convincing if your wife shows up pregnant and you say it's not from another man and so an angel came to Joseph in order to convince him and you would think it would be more spiritual if it read something like this and after he knew that his wife was carrying Messiah he began to study the Scripture it would have sounded spiritual if the Bible read and now knowing that his wife was carrying Messiah he began to study the Scriptures and as he studied the Scriptures he came upon Micah 5 and Micah 5 says Jesus was going to be born in Bethlehem and so he said Mary we've got to go to Bethlehem that would have been better but that's not how it happened there are many ways he could have gone to Bethlehem he could have gone there on a honeymoon he could have gone there just to visit or trace out his family tree but what we read is chapter 2 verse 1 it came about in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of the inhabited earth this was the first census taken while Cornelius was governor of Syria and all were proceeding to register for the census everyone in his own city Joseph also went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem because he was of the house and of the family of David and so God didn't take them to Bethlehem because they knew the prophecy or because God could have raptured them there just lifted them up and taken them to Bethlehem but in this wonderful way God controlled Caesar and politics and the government Caesar was not to fulfill Micah 5 he was trying to fill his coffers a new way to get more money taxes let's somebody's getting away with it let's get everybody to pay taxes and so everyone had to go and register and Caesar didn't have a clue that he was being used by God God was determined that the scripture would be fulfilled and so he overruled everything to fulfill his purposes it's not the first time he did that he did that with Pharaoh remember how he used Pharaoh in order to accomplish his purposes my favorite reference to it is in Isaiah 10 Isaiah 10 tells about Assyria that wicked wicked nation Assyria and they were out plundering the world and the Bible says that God needed them so God whistled for them and I could just picture like a dog whistle and God was and Assyria came running and Isaiah 10 described it and called Assyria the rod of his anger listen to chapter 10 6 I sent it against the godless nation I commissioned it against the people of my fury to capture booty to seize to plunder trample them down like mud in the streets now here's the verse yet it does not so intend nor does it plan so in its art rather its purpose was to destroy and to cut off many nations so the king of Assyria Sennacherib he just said let's go kill another nation he didn't know God whistled for him he didn't know God was using him so they did not intend and so you can see Jeremiah 1 12 Jeremiah 1 12 I love that verse it says I am watching over my word to perform not a great person watching over my word to perform when you start claiming promises in the Bible they claim them with other verses take a Bible verse like he'll provide all your needs and then Jeremiah and chapter 1 12 I'm watching over my word to perform I'll never need to leave you or forsake you I'm watching over my word to perform and so on claim one verse and claim it with another I love to do that kind of thing let's get back to Luke the point is that he's presenting Jesus becoming the son of all mankind and he stepped down to a woman and he stepped down to poverty and he went into a place of insignificance of course the reality even if he had come to a palace it would have been an infinite step of condescension in of my Bible for manger it says feeding trough okay again we don't want to read that la la la this is the same God that Solomon wrote about the heavens of heaven cannot contain him and now we see this Lord Jesus in a manger what's a manger it's a cow ditch it's a place where they put food fodder for the animal in my own heart I see more grandeur in the Lord of heaven being laid in a manger than in all of the galaxy spinning around in space this is a tremendous thing God has honored that manger more than a thousand thrones this is a tremendous thing so much has been said and written and sung about the manger we're apt to lose the wonder of what took place here again I don't think that I'm going to say anything that you haven't heard before but just consider the fact that our Lord was laid in the manger everybody was welcome here that's one of Luke's emphasis he comes for everybody sometime you go to a place and you'll see a sign on the door no animals allowed no pets allowed I have an idea where animals are welcome anybody's welcome and that's why he came he came there on purpose in order to show that he's the son of all mankind in a manger I doubt if you'd have any class distinction I think everybody's on level ground at a manger you know what the word Bethlehem means what's the word Bethlehem mean anybody know house of bread isn't it wonderful that our Lord Jesus was born in the house of bread he's called the bread of life the bread of life in the house of bread and the first time you see him he's on a supper dish he's in a manger he's in a feeding truck that's not a mistake God is writing a Bible and God is saying he came down to a virgin he came down to poverty he came down to insignificance he was laid in a manger he was born in the house of bread as the bread of life and laid on a dish so that anyone could come this is a marvelous revelation of God you see the manger was God's provision for his son the inn was man's provision there was no room in man's provision for him and so God's provision always lies outside of man's arrangement by the way and there are times that God's going to just deliver us from the inn and bring us to the manger Matthew presents the Christmas story but Matthew presents the other side in Matthew he's a king in Matthew we see the star shining over the Gentile world in Matthew we see the wise men the mad guy we see the gold the frankincense the myrrh Matthew presents that Luke says and they laid him in swaddling clothes and put him in a manger you don't have this kingly emphasis in the in the gospel of Luke in verse 12 it says this will be a sign for you you'll find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger the idea of swaddling clothes that's sort of strange in our culture it's a little bit obscure we don't swaddle children like they used to swaddle children this week I saw my grandson for the first time he's two weeks old and he's super but he was laying on the floor and I went to pick him up and I got in trouble by my mother-in-law and she said don't pick him up he wants to stretch and I thought about this if they had swaddling clothes he couldn't stretch but you know what the swaddling clothes were like a straitjacket they would just wrap them up so that they could not move their member spiral after spiral of convoluted bandages they put around this little child and he would just be the closest thing in our culture I think is a papoose where they're just sort of tied to the board you know but that's what they used to do and I believe this is also a picture the God of heaven the first time you see him he is swaddled he's limited he's tied up when you come to the end of the chapter you're going to see it in verse 40 it says the child continued to grow become strong increasing in wisdom the grace of God was upon him verse 52 the last verse it says and Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man one of the ways that the greatness of God is seen in his condescension is in his limitation doesn't it strike you in an amazing way that our Lord Jesus had to grow he had to learn how to walk he had to learn how to talk learn how to add learn how to read he's presented as asking questions trying to inquire growing in stature and wisdom and knowledge how an uncreated omnipotent being boundless in every way could be contracted to a span and then swaddled in such a way that he had to be confined within the circumference of human life this to me is one of the most amazing things about the incarnation as God he numbered the stars and call them all by their name measured the dust of the earth in a minute and yet as man he had to learn gradually he had to grow up and so on and I think the swaddling band just illustrate that some say the word the Greek word used for swaddling bands is the same word used when they wrap Lazarus and some say there might be a picture here that these are death bands and it wouldn't be surprising if they're in the manger you have a baby wrapped in death band because you know he came in order to die but I want you to see the condescension that God was becoming man the son of all mankind and so we had to do it in such a way that he wouldn't frighten us away so that he would be a savior for all not some and so he comes to a virgin he comes to a humble and a poor family he comes to an insignificant place he comes outside of man's arrangement he comes as the bread of life to the house of bread in order and is on a supper dish you know he's transformed the crash he's transformed the manger every time the presence of the Lord touches anything it transforms it the original crash the original manger is not what you see in the stores today they're quite beautiful it wasn't like that at all let me just say this in passing I don't know your opinion about that poor innkeeper he sort of takes a no room in the end all that innkeeper I don't know whether he's to blame or not maybe he was maybe wasn't I know this when Christ first appeared to him he appeared to him unborn in other words that innkeeper I don't think he had a clue he wasn't saying I don't have room for Messiah get out of here I don't even think he had a clue he just saw a pregnant woman and a man and I don't think he was rejecting Christ when he said no room I know I'm convicted by the innkeeper because Christ appeared to him unborn and there was no room Christ appears to me born and sometime there's no room and so it's us that that gets condemned whether he's to blame or not I know this is clear I don't think he was rejecting Christ but I know that the way there was no room was that Christ was crowded out and I think that's true today there's just this preoccupation the reason there was no room for Christ was there were other things in place and the rooms were filled with other things and I think the treatment he received then when he first came into the world is very much repeated over and over again he just sort of crowded out it's a busy time and there's no room and there's other things and so on but all through this I hope you see the Lord stooping and stooping and stooping coming to a virgin coming to poverty coming to homelessness coming to insignificance and then the shepherds were given this sign and the sign is really humility wrapped in swaddling clothes laying in a manger down down down down down he came now this is so opposite of our thinking we think if someone's great then they ought to be given the greatest pleasure God is the one who stoops man soar ambition is human condescension is divine and all through this we see our Lord coming down down down down down you know at this time the heathen also had their views of Messiah and they were writing it in in their myths and they said we have signs to listen to some of the men you know how are you going to know Messiah when he comes said you'll know him by the swarm of bees that gather honey at his lips that's not how he came with a swarm of bees gathering honey they said how are you going to know it they said because they'll be strangled serpents all around his cradle well I suppose the spiritual fact of that is true how are you going to know it because there's going to be a nimbus around his head a glowing light and the artists have picked this up you know to show the deity there'll be this light now what does Luke say Luke says you'll find him wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger how humble how condescending he's the son of all mankind let me call attention to another step in this condescension actually I probably should have mentioned this one earlier but you notice all of the emphasis given on angels in these first two chapters chapter 1 verse 11 and 12 Gabriel appears to Zacharias and then in verse 26 to 30 he appears to Mary and then in verses 8 and 9 of this chapter we haven't touched it yet but they appeared to the shepherds the angels appeared to the shepherd and chapter 13 or verse 13 and 14 they begin to praise God this choir of angels in the sky I believe Luke is calling attention to the fact that God stepped by the angel he didn't become an angel he became a man it would have been a step of infinite condescension if he had become an angel Hebrews 1 6 I love that verse in this connection Hebrews 1 6 says let all now how many angels are there the Bible says an innumerable host I know this there were 100 million angels on Mount Sinai 10,000 times 10,000 when he gave the law I don't know how many angels there are but Hebrews 1 6 says let all the angels of God worship him however many they are they were created to worship Christ every one of them now that showed you a little bit of how high the Lord Jesus is if I took a cherubim no that's plural if I took a cherub or a seraph the highest angel and I multiplied it by itself an infinite number of times all I would have is a super cherub I could have this big angel instead of no matter how many times you multiply an angel by itself he is still infinitely in distance removed from Christ now we think of a step that he took and he stepped by angel in order to become one of us when Isaiah prophesied of his birth he said that a child is born it says unto us a child is born unto us a son is given unto us to human when the angels came to the shepherds they didn't say unto us they said we've got good news unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord it's not for them it's for us now chapter 2 11 today in the city of David there's been born for you a Savior who's Christ the Lord did you notice when God talked about the angels in chapter 1 and 2 in every case there was fear and tremor Luke chapter 1 verse 12 Zacharias was troubled fear gripped him and the word in the Greek has to do with knocking knees and so this priest saw him in his knees not together tremble at the angel in chapter 129 and 30 it says Mary was greatly troubled and the angel said don't be afraid in verse 8 and 9 the shepherds were terribly frightened they saw angel if you're frightened when you see an angel how do you think you're going to feel when you stand before God and yet look at the record these shepherds came in to the manger and saw Christ all the angels of God worship in did their knees not together did they tremble were they frightened I'll tell you why they didn't the Bible says in chapter 2 verse 20 they were glorifying and praising God I'll tell you why they weren't right I saw my grand boy two days ago I told you about that gotta tell you again I didn't tremble I wasn't frightened who's afraid of a baby who's afraid of a baby nobody's afraid of a baby that's why he came that way you see an angel you tremble you're frightened here is God himself and he comes in such a way that no one is left out nobody trembles in the presence of a baby and so by the way Luke presents he's just trying to tell you that he is the son of all mankind he came to the poor to encourage the poor he came to Bethlehem to encourage those who think they're insignificant he came to the manger to encourage the hungry Luke's the only one that told us he came at night why does Luke tell us he came at night because people are afraid of the dark and afraid of the darkness I'll tell you this nothing harmful can come out of the darkness from which the Lord Jesus emerged this is the darkness he passed through and there's nothing to be afraid of and he came as a baby so that no one would be intimidated look one of Luke's emphasis is and we'll see it as we go on that Jesus did not come as a visitor he came as one of us you know the idea if he come as a visitor then he's going to leave again sometime we get the wrong idea we think what a salvation God became man for thirty three and a half years no he didn't become man for thirty three and a half years when he made that decision to become man he made the decision to become man for all the ages of eternity he is a man now in heaven he will be a man forever through all the ages of eternity wasn't just for thirty three and a half years and and Luke later on Luke takes the other side right now he's starting off don't be afraid of him you say you're poor you say you're you're simple you say you're humble you say you have nothing you're insignificant you're frightened it's dark don't be afraid of Jesus he came for you later on he's going to Luke begins Jesus comes in clouds Luke ends he's coming again in clouds and that's a different and the first coming in the second coming are contrasted in the gospel of Luke and we'll pick more of that up later but the point is that he stooped he's going to become the son of all mankind now we've looked at it only this first part how he came Lord Lord Lord Lord Lord and we haven't seen the whole thing because we've yet got to go through Gethsemane into the cross and to the death he's going to stoop yet again in Luke but he starts off to show us don't be afraid he's come for you and next time we'll finish that and then pick up to whom he came and why he came and so on but we'll leave it there comments or questions part of part of it was that that they were fleshly and looking for a deliverer to deliver them from Roman bondage but as he went on in his ministry and as he became the grocer and the doctor it was exactly the kind they were looking for and they tried to make him king because they wanted someone that could fill their bellies and so on but the Bible says the final reason they rejected him that John tells us he left no cloak for their sin he was too holy and it was his holiness was the reason that they finally rejected him but it's true that he wasn't the kind of Messiah they they were looking for that as well but there was this holiness that they could not stand other comments or questions let's bow please father we thank you for not what we think we know Luke chapter 2 means but for everything you've inspired it to mean thank you so much for the incarnation thank you for coming in such a way that we're not intimidated and we're not frightened away but you came to bring salvation to all mankind you became one of us forever all Lord we'll never take it in make it real in our hearts and we thank you for this record thank you for everyone who's calm and burn these truths we pray in each of our hearts bring us back again so we can focus more upon you we ask in Jesus name ======================================================================== Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/15/SID15107.mp3 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/ed-miller/luke-07-greatness-of-his-coming/ ========================================================================