CHRISTMAS SERVICE
THE NATIVITY STORY IN LUKE’S GOSPEL
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 2:1-21
DECEMBER 24, 1989
In the year 1247, a monastery was established in the city of London, England. The monastery was called St. Mary’s of Bethlehem. Now, in the 14th century that monastery was changed into a hospital, and then later in the 14th century it was changed into a mental hospital and the name was shortened simply to Bethlehem. People came to the Bethlehem Mental Hospital for amusement—so-called “normal people” throughout the area of London would come and they would look at the strange people who were patients there and they would observe their strange behavior. As time passed, the name Bethlehem was shortened to Bethlem and then finally to Bedlam—Bedlam Mental Hospital. And because of this, over the passage of time, the word Bedlam began to refer to lunacy, chaos, confusion, and insanity. And so it is today we use the word bedlam in that way.
And how strange that is. How strange it is that the name Bethlehem could come to refer to chaos. “In Bedlam.” And yet in a sense it seems kind of appropriate because Christmas has become a kind of bedlam today. What with frantic shopping and holiday traffic and crowded calendars, party after party, many people in the midst of it all forget and lose sight of what Christmas is really all about. Christmas is of course the birthday of the Son of God. It’s the birthday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
This morning as we’re gathered together here, I’d like us to focus on why Christ came into the world. Why did He come? Why was He born in that manger in Bethlehem? When we look at the Gospel of John, we see clearly that Christ came for two reasons. He came to give two gifts. He came to give light and He came to give life. He came to give spiritual light, spiritual enlightenment, and He came to give eternal life. And these are our two teachings this morning.
First of all, Christ came to give light. He came that you might have light. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” 21 times in the Gospel of John, we are told that Jesus Christ came into this world that you might have light. And in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, it is said, “The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world.”
In 1978, Barb and I went to Stonehenge in England. Stonehenge is of course an ancient monument on the Salisbury plain in Wiltshire, England. This monument consists of massive stones arranged in a circular pattern, each stone standing 13 and a half feet high, each stone weighing 28 tons. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have proven through radiocarbon dating that the stones were brought to stone hinge 3,500 years ago. And they have proven that those stones came from a place more than 300 miles away. And the question of course is, who brought those stones and why? There’s many theories. Personally, I believe that a race of ancient giants wanted to play dominoes. And if you’ve ever seen Stonehenge or you’ve seen pictures of Stonehenge, you could understand that view.
Now there’s more flaky views. There’s people who believe that Stonehenge was built by extraterrestrials who came to earth 3,500 years ago and carved the stones and moved the stones and arranged the stones. But scientists aren’t buying that. Scientists believe that Stonehenge was built by an ancient people as a temple for the worship of the sun. They point out that 3,500 years ago people understood basic principles of leverage. They could have moved such massive stones. It would’ve been cumbersome, time consuming. But 3,500 years ago, people were very patient. They were willing to take decades for the moving of materials for the erection of their buildings and edifices.
This was certainly the case in the building of the great pyramids a thousand years before Stonehenge. And scientists tell us that the stones of Stonehenge are arranged in such a way as to provide a crude astronomical calendar capable of predicting seasons and even eclipses of the sun and the moon. And they point out that the stones form lines that correlated perfectly with the rising and setting of the sun and the moon 3,500 years ago. They say the chances of such correlation occurring coincidentally are less than one in 100 million. They say it is irrefutable that people who lived in England 3,500 years ago worshiped the sun and they built Stonehenge as a temple for sun worship.
But why is that? Why is it that ancient people in England and all over the world used to worship the sun? The answer’s really simple. They worshiped the sun because the sun gives light. See, in the ancient world, the night was ominous, the darkness of night was ominous. You couldn’t journey or travel at night; you would stumble or fall. And the night was filled with unknown things. The night was a time of fear, but every morning something wonderful happened. The sun rose and it brought light and the light pushed back the darkness, the light drove the darkness away. And you see, that is exactly what Jesus Christ wants to do for you. He wants to push the darkness away. He wants to drive back the darkness. He wants to give you light. And that’s really what Christmas is about. That’s why we put lights on Christmas trees. And that’s why we put lights on our houses. And that’s why we burn candles brightly, because we celebrate the coming of the Son of God who is the light of the world.
Well, the Bible tells us the world is in darkness, spiritual darkness. The Bible says the world can’t see the reality of its own sin because it’s in darkness. The Bible says people don’t really see themselves clearly because they’re in darkness. The Bible says that people really don’t see God clearly because they’re in darkness. The Bible says people are in moral and ethical confusion because they are in darkness and people lack meaning and purpose and direction in life because they are in darkness. And because they are in darkness, they give themselves to the pursuit of goals, which even if attained could never satisfy. It is vanity, because the world is in darkness. And the Bible says that people seek what the Bible calls the fleeting pleasures of sin rather than the lasting joy of obedience because the world is in darkness.
So God offers you a gift this Christmas. He offers you light. He offers His Son. God wants you to worship the Son—not the star that is in the center of this solar system, but the Son of God. God wants you to receive the light that only Christ can offer. He wants your life to have meaning and purpose, and He wants you to have direction. He wants you to have the guiding light of Christ and He wants you to receive forgiveness and He wants you to be made pure and He wants you to receive Christ within.
The reality is, the Bible tells us, that the world prefers the darkness to the light. The Bible says, “This is the judgment of God, that light came into the world and men prefer darkness rather than light.” I know many of you have heard of Antiochus IV. He was king of the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century before Christ. The Seleucid Empire had occupied the geographic land space that approximates where modern Syria is today. Antiochus IV was swollen with conceit. He called himself Epiphanes, “God manifest.” He longed to rule the world and to conquer the world. And he had incomprehensible cruelty, perhaps more cruelty than any other ruler who ever lived.
In the year 168 BC Antiochus Epiphanes took his armies, his Seleucid armies, and he moved them south through Israel towards Egypt. He had resolved that he was going to conquer Egypt, going to conquer the Ptolemaic Empire, going to conquer Ptolemy. And if you remember your history, you know how Antiochus IV brought his armies towards the border of Egypt. And as he came there to the border of Egypt, suddenly he was confronted by a Roman general. The Roman general was named Popillius and he had brought Roman legions across the Mediterranean Sea. Rome had entered into alliance with Egypt and the Ptolemaic Empire. And so suddenly Popillius, the Roman general, stood before Antiochus, the Seleucid king. And Popillius drew a line in the sand and he said, “Cross this line, and you should know you are not only at war with Egypt, you are at war with Rome.”
Now, Antiochus was swollen with conceit, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew he could conquer Popillius. He knew that his armies could sweep right over and through those Roman legions. He had the greater power. But he also knew that ultimately, he could not win a war with Rome. He knew that ultimately if he went to war with the Roman empire, he would lose. And so he turned his armies about and he marched north and his swollen ego was wounded and he was filled with rage and he swept over the city of Jerusalem and he began to butcher Jews by the hundreds and by the thousands, just venting his rage and his wrath. And he went into the Jerusalem temple and he desecrated it. He went into the Holy of Holies and he put a statue of himself in the Holy of Holies, the very dwelling place of God. And the Jews were appalled, a conquered people.
For three years they fought back, led by Judas Maccabeus. They revolted in rebellion trying to throw off the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes. And finally, miraculously, the Jews won. And by the power of God, they conquered Antiochus IV. And for the first time in three years, in the year 165, they reentered the temple and they cleansed the temple and they washed the temple and they rededicated the temple and they took oil and they re-lit the holy lamps. But they only had a little bit of oil, just a little bit. And they knew they only had enough oil for those lamps to burn for perhaps an hour, maybe a little more. But a miracle happened. They put the oil in the holy lamps and the lamps burned for eight days.
Today, in this very season, the Jews and the Jewish people celebrate this event through a festival they call Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. God wants each and every one of us to understand that His deepest desire is that each and every one of us would become a temple in which He dwells. God’s deepest desire is that you would actually become a temple in which His Son, Jesus Christ, dwells. His deepest desire is that Christ would come into you and be born in you; that He would cleanse you, that He would purify you, that He would wash you, that He would dedicate you, and that He would bring a light that doesn’t merely last for eight days but a light that never ends. “I am the light of the world,” He says, “He who believes in Me will never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Secondly, and finally, Christmas is the offer of a second gift: The gift of life. Christ offers us eternal life. And for this, He came into the world. Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life.” We live in a world where death is the inevitable reality. Every second, three people die. Every year, 90 million people die and the year will come when death will come for you and for me. The Bible says there’s a time and season for everything under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die.
In the year 1741, a Russian ship called the St. Peter took a voyage of scientific discovery up the northeast coast of Russia towards Northern Siberia. This 18th century ship was captained by a man named Vitus Bering—Commander Vitus Bering. He was Danish born and He served the Russian Navy. On that ship, the St. Peter, there was a very special man named George Wilhelm Stellar. He was German born. He was a physician and a naturalist, and marine biology was one of his specialties. Now, in the midst of a thick fog, the St. Peter was separated from her sister ship, the St. Paul. And the St. Peter was left to journey alone, to wander in the fog. Time passed, and eventually the St. Peter was shipwrecked on a submerged reef near an unknown island. All 78 people aboard the St. Peter made their way to shore safely. But as a few weeks passed, 32 of them died—most of them of scurvy. The people who died included Commander Vitus Bering. Subsequently, the island would be called Bering Island. The sea that surrounded that island would be called the Bering Sea. And the strait that separated that sea from the Arctic Ocean would be called the Bering Strait, all in honor of Commander Vitus Bering.
But you see, 46 people remained on that island, struggling to live, trying to find food, led by George Wilhelm Stellar. And as they sought fish in the ocean, Stellar made an amazing discovery. He discovered a previously unknown form of sea life, a massive sea creature that was 30 feet long and weighed 9,000 pounds. They were desperate for food, and one of the men harpooned this previously unknown sea creature and they brought it ashore. It provided months of food. When they cut into it and they tasted it, they were amazed to find that the flesh of this fish tasted like beef, and they called it a sea cow. And then when they melted the fat, they were amazed to find that it formed a liquid that tasted great. Subsequently, that fish was named the Stellar Sea Cow. And you can look it up in any encyclopedia today and you’ll find it, but you won’t find the Stellar Sea Cow in the oceans of the earth because it’s become extinct. You see, the 46 survivors build a new ship from the remains of the St. Peter, and they sailed back to Russia and they went to Europe.
And the word spread, “Hey, a new sea animal has been found and it’s called the Stellar Sea Cow. This is a fish that tastes like beef and it’s able to provide not only food but drink and it’s able to provide months of food.” And so people came from all over Europe and they came by the hundreds and they came by the thousands and they begin to harpoon these sea cows. And in the year 1768, the final sea cow was harpooned off of Bering Island, only 27 years later. That’s all it took for Stellar Sea Cows to become extinct.
Whatever your view of hunting, I think you’d have to say that’s a tragedy. Biblically speaking, God allows that animals be used for food and clothing, but when any animal is hunted to extinction God the Creator grieves. Of course, throughout the history of this world, many animals have become extinct, from the dinosaurs to the Stellar Sea Cow.
We live in a world today that is very much concerned with animal extinction from the beluga whale to the bald eagle. People are concerned and they fight for preservation. There are some people in the world today who are concerned with human extinction, a growing number of people who are actually concerned that mankind might become extinct upon the earth. And perhaps in this thermonuclear age, global genocide isn’t that farfetched. But you see, the Bible tells us man will never be extinct. God has promised mankind will never be extinct, and Jesus Christ will come a second time and He’ll save this world from Armageddon and He’ll beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. He is the Prince of Peace.
But if the truth is known, I mean, if we’re really honest, most of us will admit we’re not as concerned with the extinction of mankind as we are with our own extinction. I mean, if we’re really honest, what we’re most concerned with isn’t global human extinction. What we’re really concerned with is our own death, our own physical extinction. God wants you to understand this is what Christmas is about. Jesus Christ is Savior. He offers life. He offers eternal life to all who believe in His name. And understand this: the Bible makes it clear that apart from Christ death is your destiny. Not simply physical death, but even spiritual death. The Bible tells us that man has a terminal disease. We’re in desperate need of a savior.
In August of 1918, a Norwegian ship called the Bergen’s Fjord arrived in Brooklyn. Aboard that ship, there was a man, an American citizen. He came ashore. He had a strange, unusual form of influenza virus. Soon he became sick. Soon he died, but not before the virus had spread to other people. Soon people began to die all over the United States as that virus spread. And one day a hundred people died in New York. The same was true in Boston. In one day, a hundred died. In Chicago, 400 people died in a single day, and they called it Black Thursday. In the city of Philadelphia, 528 people died in 24 hours. In the period of one week, 21,000 people died in the United States of America. The virus spread throughout the world, and 27 million people died in six months’ time. The disease was pandemic, global. Death was the result, disease unparalleled in the history of the world.
God wants us to understand there is a worse disease. There’s a more deadly virus. It is more pandemic. It is more global. It is more deadly. And it is a disease called sin. It began in Eden. It spread to all mankind. You have it. I have it. The death rate is a hundred percent. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And the Bible says, “The wages of sin is death,” not simply physical death, but spiritual death. Physical death is separation of our soul and spirit from the body. Spiritual death is worse. Spiritual death is separation of the soul and the spirit from the living God. Hell is spiritual death, exclusion from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His might.
But you see, the Bible tells us, “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might have life.” The angel proclaims, “Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that shall come to all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” The angel said, “You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”
God wants you to know, He promises you if you’ll embrace the reign of Christ, if you’ll embrace the reign of that child born in Bethlehem, your sins will be forgiven by His shed blood and you’ll be given light and you’ll be given everlasting life because this child born in Bethlehem is not a normal child. “A child is born unto us. A Son is given. The government shall be upon His shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and of the increase of His kingdom there shall be no end.” He is King of Kings. He is Lord of Lords. And when we accept His reign truly, He comes into us, sits on the throne of our hearts, dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. We become temples of God. He gives us light, and He gives us life.
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King.” The reality is this world has not received her king. But you can. You can today. The Bible says, “He came into the world and the world knew Him not. He came into the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own people and His own people received Him not. But to as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become children of God.” Let’s close for the word of prayer.