NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
EMMANUEL
CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
DR. JIM DIXON
DECEMBER 24, 1997
MATTHEW 1:18-24
On this night, December 24, Christmas Eve, in the year 1223, historians tell us that St. Francis of Assisi created the first living nativity scene in memory of the birth of Christ at Bethlehem. He did it in a grotto, in a cave, near the town of Greccio in Italy. He built a crib and he filled it with hay. He brought animals and they gathered around. He had someone play the part of Mary and someone play the part of Joseph and he put a little baby in that crib. The people gathered from the town and they came up to the opening of the cave. On that Christmas Eve, 774 years ago, St. Francis gave a sermon. He said, “Behold, God in the flesh. Behold, God incarnate. Behold, God incarnate. Emmanuel, God with us.”
This Christmas Eve there is no nativity scene up here but we are here to behold Emmanuel, God with us. Concerning this title this night, I have two teachings. The first teaching is this: Christmas is an invitation. It is an invitation to worship. You see, the title Emmanuel is an invitation to worship. That child born in Bethlehem is God with us, Emmanuel.
The Bible tells us that wise men came from the East to worship the Christ child. There is a Christmas carol which celebrates this event known to many of you, a carol called “We Three Kings Of Orient Are.” Now, there are a few problems with the title of that carol. We do not know how many wise men there were. The Bible simply says, “Wise men came from the East.” We know there were three—gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh—but three gifts do not necessarily mean three wise men.
In the 5th Century, the wise men were identified as Gasper, which means white, Melchior, which means light, and Balthazar, which means “lord of the treasury.” But those names are bogus. Those names were contrived 400 years after the birth of Christ. The truth is we don’t know the names and we don’t know the number of the wise men. There may have been ten wise men bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were not kings, these wise men. Now, it is true that Tertullian, the early church father, said that the wise men were almost kings. He said this because the Greek word that is translated wise men is the word magoi from which we get the word “magi.” The magi, we know from a study of history, were counselors of kings. They were royal advisors. They served in the courts of kings. They gave direction, guidance, counsel to royalty, but the magi were not themselves royalty. They were not from the orient. They were not from the Far East.
Historians tell us that the magi originated in Medea, in Mesopotamia, and they flourished in Zoroastrian Persia. So, they were not from the orient. They were not from the Far East. They were from the Near East. They were from Mesopotamia immediately east of Israel. So, even though we don’t know their number, they weren’t kings and they were not from the orient, this Christmas carol, “We Three Kings Of Orient Are” has a great title.
Now, in the first century, a famous Jewish philosopher named Philo of Alexandria tells us that in the ancient and biblical world there were two types of magi. There were the Macashaphim and they were sorcerers. They were astrologers. They were spiritualists. They were occultists and they were not widely respected. They were sometimes viewed as charlatans and in fact, Emperor Tiberius, in the year 19AD, banished all the Macashaphim from the Roman Empire. But there were another type of magi. Philo tells us there was another type of magi called the Hartumim. The Hartumim were those magi who interpreted sacred writings in a quest for knowledge and a quest for wisdom. Most historians and Bible scholars believe that the magi who visited the Christ child in Bethlehem were members of the Hartumim and they were scholars of sacred writings.
Historians tell us that the Hartumim had a deep knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures. They believed that an anointed one was coming. They believed that a Messiah, a Christ, was coming. They had a great knowledge of the Torah, a great knowledge of the Ketuvim, and a great knowledge of the Nevi’im. Of course the Torah was the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. The Ketuvim was what we would call the Old Testament writings and the Nevi’im was the prophetic books of the Old Testament. And so these magi, these members of the Hartumim, would have been familiar with the Old Testament prophecies. They knew Numbers, chapter 24, verse 17, which prophesied that a star would arise over Israel. They knew Daniel, chapter 9. They knew the prophecy of the 70 weeks of years. They knew the time frame in which the Messiah would be born. They knew Micah, chapter 5, verse 2, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah. They knew Isaiah 7:14. They knew that the Messiah, this child born, would be called Emmanuel. This baby would be God with us. Thus they came to worship. They came to worship God in the flesh, Emmanuel.
Christmas, this title Emmanuel, is an invitation for you to worship Him as well. We need to understand what it means to worship. I mean, if indeed you are invited this Christmas Eve to worship, God with Us, Emmanuel, what does it mean to worship? Does it mean to sing a song? Does it mean to recite a creed? What does it mean to worship?
Jesus defined worship in Matthew’s Gospel, the 4th chapter, the 10th verse. Jesus said, “You shall worship the Lord your God. He alone shall you serve.” Jesus made exactly the same statement in Luke’s Gospel, the 4th chapter, the 8th verse. This is a direct quote, a direct quote of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse 13: “You shall worship the Lord your God. He alone shall you serve.” Those two clauses modify each other. To worship is to serve. If you would worship Christ, you must offer your life in service. In fact, one of the key words for worship in the New Testament is the Greek word latreuo. Etymologically, the root word there means simply “to serve.” Most of the Hebrew and Greek words for worship in the Old and New Testament are tied up with the concept of service. So worship is not what many of us thought it was. Worship means to offer your life, to offer yourself in service. Whatever you serve supremely, that is what you worship. If you serve yourself supremely, then you worship yourself, as indeed the world does. But, you see, Christmas is an invitation to change all that. Christmas is an invitation to worship God with us, Emmanuel, to do what the wise men did, to come and offer your life in His service.
In the year 476, the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustulus, was cast down. He was defeated by Germanic tribes. That was the end of the Western Roman Empire. Europe fell into chaos. Anarchy prevailed. Five years later, in the year 481AD, a 15-year old boy ascended the throne of a small kingdom in the corner of Gaul. This 15- year old boy took the title Clovis I. He would ultimately conquer all of Gaul and he would move his capital to the city of Paris and become the founder of the nation of France.
In the year 493, Clovis fell in love with a beautiful Christian girl and they were married. She bore a son. She came to Clovis and she said, “I want to baptize our boy with Christian baptism. Clovis, who was not a Christian and worshipped pagan gods, gave her permission to do this. She baptized their son. Only two weeks later, the boy died. Clovis I became enraged at Christ and with Christianity. Historians tell us he began to burn churches. And yet he saw the faith that was in his wife. Just a short time later, she gave birth again to another child and that child grew ill. They thought the child would die, but his wife Clotilde prayed and the child was restored to health. Clovis was impressed and be began to reconsider his attitude towards Christ. He was not ready to make a commitment.
In the year 496, Clovis had taken his empire to war and he was losing a battle. The situation was bleak and in desperation he cried out to Jesus Christ. He said, “Jesus Christ, if you are the Son of God, give me victory and I will be baptized.” Thus it was that on December 25, Christmas day of that year 496, Clovis I entered the Cathedral of Rheims and received Christian baptism. The minister said to him, “Worship what once you burned and burn what once you worshipped.” He was baptized that Christmas day along with three thousand of his soldiers. It was the first of the mass conversions of Europe which ultimately formed Christendom. Theologians tell us that Clovis never really became a Christian. He never changed. He continued to live just as he had lived before. He lived a debauched life. Those three thousand soldiers never really became Christians. They just received baptism, but they didn’t become Christians. They never offered their life in service to Christ. For them, Jesus Christ was just a war god, someone who might give them victory.
You know, today not all who receive Christian baptism are Christians. You know that not all who come to Christmas Eve services are Christians. Not all who come to church every Sunday are Christians. Not all who sing Christmas carols are Christians. God wants us to understand this Christmas Eve that Christmas is an invitation to worship and worship is the offering of your life in service. If you would worship the one born in Bethlehem, you must make Him supreme. You must make Him your supreme Lord, offering Him your very life.
You know, Sunday night on Meet the Press on television, a woman named Laura Schlessinger, a popular radio talk show host, was on the program. She said that, in her opinion, America is in the midst of a morality crisis. She said with the erosion of Judeo-Christian values, most Americans do not have a moral framework. She said that part of the blame rests with the clergy. She said there are just too many ministers in this nation who care only about attendance. They care more about attendance than they do about the truth. They so much want people to come back next week that they aren’t willing to challenge people. They aren’t willing to call people to obedience. They aren’t willing to say, “God demands something of you.”
That may indeed be true of many churches in this nation. It is not true of this church. We say tonight what we have said many times before. You cannot have Jesus as your Savior unless you are willing to take Him as Lord. You cannot have His grace and mercy. You cannot have the substitutionary atonement of the cross unless you are willing to come in worship and offer your life in His service. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us.
That leads us to our second and final teaching this evening, and it will be a brief teaching. He is Emmanuel and that is a promise of His presence. For all who have accepted the invitation, for all who have come in worship, for all who have offered Him their lives, there is the promise of His presence because He is not only God, He is God with us. What a promise that is. In John, chapter 1, the Bible says that at Bethlehem “God became flesh and dwelt among us.” The word dwelt there, in the Greek, is the word skenee. It literally means “to tabernacle.” “The word became flesh. God became flesh and tabernacled among us.”
If you know anything of Judaism, if you know anything of Jewish history, you know that the tabernacle was precious to Jewish women and men. In the tabernacle was the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies there was the Ark of the Covenant. Over the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, over the winged cherubim, was the Shekinah, the very presence of God, which filled the sanctuary, filled the Holy of Holies. The Jewish people carried the tabernacle with them wherever they went because it represented God’s presence, the Shekinah glory.
There came a point in time when the Jewish people settled down in the city of Jerusalem and then they built the temple, which was a permanent tabernacle. In the temple was the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant and the Shekinah, the divine presence. But, of course, you know the temple is no more. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD by Titus and his Roman legions. You can travel to Jerusalem today. You can go up on the temple mount, but the temple is not there. And so the Jewish people looked forward to the millennium when Jerusalem will be given a new name. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is present, the Lord is there. They wait once more for the presence of the Lord but, you see, Christ wants you to know tonight that you don’t have to wait. He is Emmanuel. He will be present with you now. He will tabernacle with you now. If you are a Christian, if you believe in Christ, you have become a temple. You have become a tabernacle in which He dwells.
Jesus said to His disciples before He went to the cross, “I will not leave you desolate.” The Greek word is orphanos. “I will not leave you orphans. I will not abandon you. I will not leave you alone. I will come,” He said, “and make My home in you.” That’s what happened at Pentecost. That’s what happens all over this world wherever and whenever a man or woman embraces Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He comes and makes His home in us. He tabernacles within us. He is God within us. He is Emmanuel. There’s that incredible promise of His presence.
I don’t know how people live life in this world without Christ. For all who love Him, He is all in all. In this world, you know there is great joy but there is also great sorrow. It’s a wonderful world but it’s also a fallen one. There is pain and suffering. There is madness. It touches us all, but Jesus said, “I will never fail you. I will never forsake you.” He said, “I am with you always, even to the end of time.”
This last weekend I went to visit Bill Bostrom who’s a friend of mine and one of our elders. Bill had a 6-hour surgery and that’s not easy. Bill has a deep faith in Christ. He told me that before going into the operating room, he said to the surgeon, he said to the doctor, “Have you ever worked with a partner?” The doctor said, “Well, yes, sometimes.” He said, ” In fact, today I’m going to have a partner with me so there will be two doctors in the operating room.” Bill said, “Well, I want you to know you’re going to have a third partner in there today.” The doctor smiled. He understood that Bill was talking about the Lord. It was seven hours after the surgery began when Bill awakened from the anesthetic. The doctor came into Bill’s room. He smiled. He said, “You know, your partner was with you all the way.”
Isn’t that true. Isn’t that true that Jesus is Emmanuel. Is it not true that He’s with us through everything. Of course that doesn’t mean that everything always goes well and it doesn’t mean we’re not going to die. Obviously Christians die. But even in death, Christ is with us because He is Emmanuel and death could not conquer Him. He promises, therefore, His divine eternal presence, that we will be with Him forever.
Our son, Drew, is home from college. Drew and I, Monday, went to see the movie Titanic, which is over three hours long. I might add that the Titanic went down in less time. The movie is a love story. It really is a compelling, touching love story. It’s not biblical in its morality but it is a powerful portrayal of the sinking of the Titanic when 1,500+ people descended into a watery grave. In the movie, as the Titanic is going down, the final song the band played was “Nearer My God To Thee.” That is not historically accurate. It makes great drama. It is not historically accurate but it is theologically true that for many of those people who descended into the icy waters of the Atlantic that night of April 15, 1912, for many of them, they were indeed drawing nearer to God because they were in love with Jesus Christ. They knew Him and they had offered their life in worship and service.
As surely as He is Emmanuel, as surely as He is with us even in death, so shall we beyond death be with Him and we will see Him forever and ever. He will never let us go because He is Emmanuel.
So tonight as we conclude this Christmas Eve service, we are reminded of this great title given to that baby born in Bethlehem: Emmanuel. He is God and He demands our worship, that we would make Him our supreme service. And He promises, for all who believe, His eternal presence. What a promise. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.