The Birth of a King
Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2; John 1
God in the form of a baby. How incredible! But why did God do things this way? Where were the white horse and the armies of heaven? How come the world didn’t fully understand that God had just invaded time and space?
Actually, the story of Jesus starts before His birth. Before Bethlehem and starry nights and wise men and shepherds. The story of Jesus starts before the beginning as we know it. Jesus has always been. He was with God at the beginning of The Story.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Chapter 22
Key Question
What does “the Word became flesh” mean?
The Word: Page 306–310
At the end of our last lesson, Abraham’s descendants had returned to the land, but not to a kingdom. They’d rebuilt the temple, but not filled the Holy of Holies.
As today’s story unfolds, four hundred years have passed since Malachi foretold the coming of the day of the Lord. Palestine is part of the Roman Empire. The people are still waiting for the Messiah, the One anointed by God to deliver the Jews from bondage and be their king.
Now we open the New Testament and read from the Gospel of John of the bigger story of how God reached out to humankind. The Apostle John begins his story long before, with someone he calls the Word.
1. (a) When did the Word exist (John 1:1–2)? With whom was the Word? Who was the Word? (b) What does John 1:3 tell us about the Word?
John then describes what the Word offers people.
2. (a) What does the Word have in Him (John 1:4)? What was that to people? (b) What did the light do (1:5)? (c) Describe a time you needed to go someplace in the dark. Why do we need light? (d) Why do people who live in darkness about God need light?
The Apostle John next explains that John the Baptist testified about the light—we’ll read more about John the Baptist next week.
3. (a) To whom did the Word give true light (John 1:9)? (b) Did everyone recognize Him as such (1:10)? (c) The Word came to His own people (Abraham’s descendants). Did they all receive Him (1:11)? (d) Who has the right to become a child of God (John 1:12)? (e) The children of God aren’t born the way human children are; how are they born (1:13)? (f) Many people assume all humans are God’s children. According to this passage, is that true?
We’ll read more about becoming God’s children next week.
4. (a) What did the Word do (John 1:14)? (b) What did John and others see? (c) From whom did the Word come? (d) With what two characteristics was he filled?
The Word became flesh—we’ll read how that happened in just a bit. After this build up, John finally tells us the Word’s name and title on earth.
5. (a) Who was the Word known as on earth, and what did God give through Him (John 1:17)? “Christ” is the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah”! (b) Whom did the one and only Son reveal to people (1:18)? (c) Where was the Word at the time of John’s writing?
Through Moses, God gave the law that showed people how to live righteously before Him, and demonstrated that sin carried penalties that needed to be atoned for through blood sacrifice. Now the Word of God—who was with God and was God—became flesh and lived on earth among people. Through Him God gave grace and truth, and revealed Himself in an all new way. The Word was Jesus, the Christ, and the long-awaited Messiah.
A Willing Young Woman: Pages 310–311
The angel Gabriel appeared to a young woman living in Galilee: Mary. He told her not to be afraid, for God favored her.
6. (a) What did Gabriel tell Mary in Luke 1:31? (b) How did Gabriel describe the child in 1:32–33? (c) What would the child be called (1:35)? Why? (d) How, then, did the Word become flesh?
Mary’s child was conceived of God’s Spirit, not of a physical union. Yet she would be looked upon as an unwed mother who disobeyed God’s law. She likely wondered who would believe her story.
7. (a) Despite the difficulties she faced, how did Mary respond (Luke 1:38)? (b) What qualities did Mary have to be able to respond like this? (c) Briefly describe a situation in which serving God might have brought you hardship. How did you respond? (d) How can you respond like Mary in a situation today?
The Savior’s Birth: Pages 311–313
When Mary’s fiance, Joseph, learned she was pregnant, he planned to break off their engagement quietly so she wouldn’t face public disgrace. But God had something else in mind.
8. (a) How did God let Joseph know the truth about Mary’s situation (Matthew 1:20)? (b) What did the angel tell Joseph about the child (1:21)?
Joseph obeyed the angel of the Lord and took the pregnant Mary as his wife
9. (a) What hardships might Joseph’s obedience have caused him? (b) How did Joseph’s obedience help Mary? (c) Describe a time when someone’s obedience to God helped you. (d) Who is someone you could help today?
Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem, and there she gave birth in a stable. Heavenly angels didn’t let this momentous event go unnoticed on earth.
10. (a) What did an angel tell shepherds about who the newborn was (Luke 2:10–12)? (b) What did a great number of angels then proclaim (2:14)? (c) The shepherds went to Bethlehem and found Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. What did they then do (2:17–18)?
A Father’s Protection: Pages 313–315
When King Herod heard the king of the Jews had been born in accordance with prophecy, he tried to kill the child. He asked Jewish leaders where the Messiah would be born. Quoting Micah 5:2, they replied, “In Bethlehem.”
11. (a) How did God protect His Son (Matthew 2:13–15)? (b) Briefly describe a time God protected you. Is it possible to know all the times God intervenes to protect us? (c) What family from the Old Testament went to Egypt to escape death (see lesson 3)?
Matthew says Jesus’ stay in Egypt fulfilled Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” This passage tells of God calling the Israelites out of Egypt. The young nation of Israel was born in the Promised Land, traveled to Egypt to escape death, was later called out of Egypt to establish a covenant, and returned to the Promised Land to fulfill its purpose of making God known. Matthew presents Jesus’ life as paralleling significant parts of Israel’s past, and thus fulfilling this prophetic word.
The Father’s House: Pages 315–319
Joseph and Mary accidentally left the twelve-year-old Jesus behind in Jerusalem.
12. (a) Where did his parents find Jesus (Luke 2:46)? (b) Where did Jesus say He was (2:49)? What does this tell us He already knew? (c) What was young Jesus doing there, and why were people amazed (2:46–47)? (d) What does this tell us about Jesus?
Mary must have had some tough years, but God sent her many precious reminders of what He was doing and how He could let others know the truth about her Son at any time.
13. (a) What did Mary do with God’s reminders (Luke 2:51b)? (b) What is something from God you have treasured in your heart?
14. (a) All the women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy had something about them people considered questionable: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary (pages 318–319). What does that tell you about how God viewed them? (b) Many people believe they have things about them that others consider questionable. If God isn’t embarrassed to have “questionable” women related to Jesus, is He embarrassed about the things that we might fear are questionable about us? (c) What advice do you have for Christians struggling with a questionable background?
15. The shepherds to whom the angels appeared went to see the Savior child. They “returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen.” Write a prayer below that glorifies and praises God for the things you’ve heard about Jesus this week.
Fully man and fully God. He knows who we are and is able to do something about it. He understands our hurts and is able to heal our pain. He connects with our hopelessness and can provide an answer.
It’s amazing to consider that the God of the universe chose to come live among His people. It’s even more amazing to consider the way He chose to do this. The Creator of all things became part of His creation so He could show us our place in The Story.
AS YOU READ CHAPTER 22
1. These verses in the Gospel of John reveal one of the most important beliefs. How does John 1:1-14, 18 (p. 309), help clarify the relationship between God and Jesus? Why is this so important?
2. What does it mean to you that God came to inhabit human flesh in Jesus?
3. Compare Mary’s song with Hannah’s praise song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (p. 131). How would you describe these women’s experiences of God’s Upper Story entering their Lower Story?
4. Joseph had a hard choice: to follow the conventional rules of upright religion or trust God’s instruction to him, even if it meant scandal. In what ways have you experienced what’s “religiously proper” conflict with what God calls you to do?
5. Herod was not the first evil ruler to commit, or attempt, infanticide against Hebrew babies. What other examples can you recall? What does this teach you about God’s Upper Story plan of redemption? What does it teach you about God’s plan of redemption in your story?
6. The text tells us “everyone who heard [Jesus] was amazed” (p. 315). What do you suppose it was that surprised them? In what ways has Jesus amazed you this week?
Our Lesson Today:
The Old Testament Curtain Falls & The New Testament Curtain Rises
What happens in between?
The Time Has Come
Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2; John 1
Here we are in Chapter 22 of The Story—the prelude, or overture of the New Testament. The Time had come—the Upper Story was here. The prophecy of Immanuel, God with us, was fulfilled at the birth of Christ. But where was the orchestra? The crashing cymbals? The cannons blasting? This was the apogee (the highest point of something) of human history! That’s something to consider…let’s come back to that in a minute.
Is there any detail of the birth of Christ that has always captured you?
- It was His mother, Mary, who was the first to hear the news. In the midst of wedding plans and setting up house, the angel Gabriel pronounced that she had been chosen to give birth to the Son of God. Talk about re-prioritizing your day! Nothing could have been further from her mind…or her to-do list. Mary was engaged and a virgin. But the power of the Most High would take care of everything, the angel said, so Mary believed. She accepted her position as God’s servant and praised Him with complete trust in His plan.
- Joseph was the next to know. Once she started showing, the facts couldn’t be ignored. He considered pursuing a legal dissolution of their relationship to save them both from the humiliation of an illegitimate pregnancy, but he received his own angelic visitor, who confirmed Mary’s innocence and gave his blessing on their marriage. Joseph married Mary and soon after made the journey to Bethlehem to pay his taxes as required by law. The town was bustling and the inn was full, so the Son of God was born, of all places, in a stable.
- Angels delivered the birth announcement and shepherds became the welcoming committee for the child. They hurried to see for themselves, and found a surprisingly unassuming setting for a king: a baby in a feeding trough, accompanied by his mother, earthly father, and the local livestock. God also sent signs in the stars, and faraway wise men charted their course with gifts in hand. After talking to the visitors, King Herod felt threatened by the birth of another monarch, so he ordered the massacre of all the baby boys in the surrounding areas. God sent angels again so His redemptive plan would stay its course. They warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus until it was safe to return.
- Joseph, Mary and Jesus returned to Israel only after Herod’s death, and they made their home in Nazareth. Jesus grew up there as the son of faithful Jews. He and His family traveled to Jerusalem every year to celebrate Passover. When Jesus was 12, He got carried away discussing theology and missed the convoy back home. His parents returned and found Him sitting with all the seminary professors, who were amazed at His words. Jesus grew up as all boys do, and Scripture tells us that He increased in wisdom and favor with God and with people.
Why did God send Jesus into the world?
Every Christmas, every time I read the account of the entrance of Jesus into the world, I am struck not just that He would come to save us, but how He came.
- Heaven had been very quiet for 400 years. No burning bushes. No pillars of fire or clouds of smoke. No splitting seas. No visions. No dreams. No prophets. No message from God…just silence. Then, in a simple, unpretentious, quiet way, a word came forth — but not just a word, The Word. At the time, the event mattered only to a blue collar carpenter and his teenage bride. There was no Doppler system on the planet sensitive enough to pick up this event. The Richter Scale didn’t even budge. Not only did this key event of human history have no buildup, no crescendo, no cymbals and cannons, there was no media, no paparazzi, no breaking news…not even a wedding shower. Mary and Joseph weren’t registered at Babies R Us, there was no framed birth certificate, no small bassinet with a mobile over it playing Brahms’ Lullaby. In fact, if it weren’t for some local shepherds and a couple of distant astrologers, no one else would have known.
- But in fact, history had changed. The Word of God had taken on flesh and blood and was first heard in a baby’s cry. His birth was unspectacular, yet His presence dispelled darkness and cast an inescapable ray of light across history, past, present and future. God’s promises to Abraham and David had found fulfillment at long last. Jesus would bless all nations and would take His rightful place on David’s throne. It is this event to which everything thus far in The Story has pointed.
Why was Jesus born into such humble circumstances? What does this chapter reveal about who Jesus is? What impact should the birth of Christ have on your life?
The main point for us to see this morning is this:
God’s Upper Story intersects with our Lower Story at the birth of Jesus Christ, the God-man.
For six months now, we’ve seen glimpses of God’s great over-arching Upper Story of redemption. And here it is! Up close and personal! This is where everything converges. If there were a first century Super-collider between God and man, Jesus is what that impact would produce.
So let’s spend a few minutes observing this collision of the human and the Divine. Let’s walk back through the details of our story today and examine the intersections of Lower and Upper Stories.
1. In the Lower Story, we see an engaged couple, Mary and Joseph. But the Upper Story intersects their lives, as the Holy Spirit impregnates Mary and the angel visits. Now, Mary no longer sees herself in the Lower Story but as part of God’s great plan. And here in Luke 1: 46-48, in what is typically known as the Magnificat, or Mary’s song of praise, we see that she gets it:
Oh, how I praise the Lord. How I rejoice in God my Savior! For He took notice of His lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation will call me blessed. For He, the Mighty One, is holy, and He has done great things for me. Luke 1:46-48
Now, that’s an Upper Story viewpoint.
2. Back in the Lower Story, her fiancé Joseph, a good man, is caught off guard, awkward and embarrassed. He doesn’t want to disgrace Mary, so he’ll end it quietly. But then he himself is caught up into the Upper Story when he is visited by an angel, and he discovers there is so much more going on here than he thought.
Meanwhile, the details of life in the Lower Story go on. The census is being taken, and they have to travel with Mary in a delicate state. They have to go slowly, so when they arrive there is only a barn, and it is time for her to give birth. There were likely many pregnant women who were also making their way to their hometowns, but this birth happened to occur in that stable. And in the meantime, shepherds were close by tending their sheep.
3. Yet again, the Upper Story invades the Lower, and the angel now visits the shepherds, informing them of the gravity of this seemingly normal night above all others. How significant and appropriate that the first to know of His coming, outside of Mary and Joseph, were men who foreshadowed the Great Shepherd in their care, feeding and protection of their flock. And how ironic is it that these shepherds would soon become His flock, and He would lay down His life for them. Every detail of this story carries great significance, as we’ll see.
And so, the first audience became the first church, as the shepherds came and worshipped the child. Who then became the first missionaries, when they went to tell everyone in the surrounding towns what they had witnessed.
The Lower Story becomes the Upper Story once again.
4. It did as well for the wise men, astrologers who were caught up into the Upper Story by the presence of another celestial marker, this time a mysterious star. The Upper Story significance of these wise men is that even at His birth, Jesus would reach out and extend the Kingdom to Gentiles, who would join the small congregation by bringing gifts that symbolized who He was: They brought Him gold, which was due a king; they brought frankincense, which was due the God of Heaven, an offering of fragrant aroma; and they brought Him myrrh, which was used to embalm dead bodies. Even here, the Upper Story of the Cross casts its shadow across His birth. And by these gifts, the Gentiles had now been caught up into the Upper Story, giving Him His due as King, as God, and as the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world. Amazing…
Later Jesus would confirm this wide-open door to the Kingdom in John 10:16 -
I have other sheep that are not in this flock, and I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. John 10:16
Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, would echo Jesus when he said in Ephesians 2:13 -
But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away from God are brought near through the blood of Christ’s death. Ephesians 2:13
And then later, in another Upper Story event, the angel returned to tell Joseph and Mary to take safe haven in Egypt from Herod, fulfilling the prophecy from the book of Numbers where we read:
Out of Egypt I called my Son. Numbers 24:8
Why should we spend the time this morning observing the constant interplay between the Lower and Upper Stories?
- Very simply, because of this: If the birth of the central figure of history, the Messiah, the one to whom everything points…if this birth could take place among laborers not royalty, in a stable rather than a king’s court, then it would seem God is sending a very specific message. All through the OT we’ve seen shadows, forerunners of the Christ, as God telegraphed the focal point of history over and over again. From Abel, to Joseph, to Moses, to Joshua, to Hosea, to Esther, so many OT characters quietly whispered Jesus’ name centuries before His arrival. So why would such a long-awaited, anticipated event have such a modest, reserved debut, without glitz or pomp and circumstance?
Why does it matter today?
In one of his devotional books, Frederick Buechner makes this point: The quiet, unpretentious entrance of the Savior to the world loudly proclaims this message:
We are never safe from God.
Well, what does that mean? And does that encourage you or make you nervous that there is no place we are safe from God?
- Because of the nature of this birth, people who believe in God can never be sure of Him again. Once they have seen Him born in a stable, they can never again be sure where He will appear. We can never again be sure to what lengths He will go, or to what depths He will descend in His pursuit of man—this is the Upper Story of the Bible…the relentless pursuit of man throughout time by an obsessed God. If the holiness, power and majesty of God were present in this humble, unassuming event—the birth of a peasant’s child—then there is no place or time so low that holiness can’t be present there too. There is no place today, in our life that is so desperate, so atrocious, that Jesus is not present with us. That’s the message.
- So to say we are never safe, is to say that there is no place we can hide from God, there is no venue where we are sheltered from His power to break us in order to heal us, to recreate us in His image. And while we may feel very exposed, knowing God’s tendency to surface at any time, it should give us great comfort, that even in our darkest moments, when we are filled with shame over sin, or in hopeless despair, the Savior of the world has such humility that He is ready to join us even there.
- Maybe that’s why the Psalmist says in Psalm 34:18,
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18
The message of the birth of Jesus is not just that God has infiltrated our world and lived inside our skin, but that His meekness enables Him to always meet us where we are, even if that place is corrupt, compromising, or embarrassing.
Even at the very beginning of His life, Jesus drew ALL men, local and distant, learned and unlearned, Jew and Gentile, to Himself. The Upper Story of God’s redemption of mankind is even here, at the birth of Jesus, a unifying event designed to bring the world together. There is no one and no place out of the reach of God’s grace.
Throughout the world today, people are born, they grow up, they go to work, they manage their lives, they get old, and they die—but the larger and more important picture is that each of our lives has meaning, far more than just the working and growing and dying. Life adds up somehow, and if there is meaning in the birth of a peasant’s child, then there is meaning in the daily events of our lives. The Upper Story of God that gave eternal meaning and purpose to Mary and Joseph’s lives intersects your life on a moment-by-moment basis. Holy, Upper Story intersections are not limited to Sunday worship services or blinding lights on the road to Damascus. Several times today, we will experience Upper Story moments that carry eternal weight.
Here’s the question: will we recognize them? And what will we do with them?
So, there’s our Equipping Point for today:
Capture your Upper Story moments.
How can we do that? How can we be vigilant today for Upper Story moments in our life?
- Be on the lookout for Jesus to break through the mundane and provide an opportunity to serve someone without a reason.
- Pray for eyes to see a chance to engage your child in a conversation that can become a small teaching point about how big their God is.
- Break free of your own patterns, your own ruts, and see if God is not somehow speaking redemption into your life, through the reconciliation of an old relationship, the opportunity to show grace and not vengeance, or perhaps just five minutes to say “thank you.”
What a God we serve, who, just like Joseph and Mary, interrupts the daily grind of our lives with moments of great meaning, Upper Story moments that allow us to see a bigger picture, a long-term perspective, and a master plan in which everything truly does work together for good. God’s pursuit of us never ends, and His promise to build a new heaven and a new earth began 2,000 years ago, with this child, an ever-present Savior…a faithful Carpenter preparing a home for those of us lost in the wonder of a birth—a birth that has transformed each of us into sons of God.
Prayer
Lord we marvel once again that You would come and dwell with us, to know us and to save us. We gaze in wonder at the humility of the One who created us—the beacon of redemption. Give us ears to hear this familiar story afresh, that all day, we become aware of these Upper Story moments of opportunity. Remind us when we fail today that Jesus will meet us even there, to heal, to lead us away from darkness, into His marvelous light.
See you on Sunday!
In His Love,
David & Susan
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