✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
The Word of the Lord Endures Forever
se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ
Psalm 2,1-4.6; Psalm 2,7b 0517
Christnacht 06
Adam and Eve
24. Dezember 2016
1. О Incarnate Jesus, blessed are you who arrived in the Name of the Lord; shine upon us the light of Your salvation, so that we joyously praise you as Israel’s Messiah and the Gentiles’ Christ. Amen. (Gradual)
2. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His anointed, saying: „Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.“ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. „As for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill.“ The Lord said to Me: „You are My Son; today I have begotten You.“
3. The Psalmist poetically describes a time similar to one Charles Dickens writes at the beginning of his classic A Tale of Two Cities: „It was the best of times? It was the worst of times, ... it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, ... we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way....“
4. The Psalmist tells how some earthly kings want to pursue their own agenda and actively oppose God and His anointed Christ. The True King, namely God, simply laughs at their hubris.
5. This tale of two kings unfolded most dramatically when Jesus was born. We had Herod the Great exercising his kingship over Judea. This kingdom existed at the goodwill of Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome; for many years, Herod had been granted the coveted title Friend of Caesar. The problem was: Herod had no claim to Davidic lineage. Although he was raised a Jew, Herod’s Semitic ancestry was far removed from the royal line if David. St. Matthew makes this rather clear in his genealogy of Jesus: Joseph had a direct line of descent through David’s son Solomon. Luke also tells us in his genealogy that Jesus’ has a direct line of descent through Mary that traces back to David’s son Nathan. Thus Herod was not the rightful King of the Jews; that title properly belonged to Joseph and his son Jesus.
6. God the Father is seated in the heavens and laughs; He holds Herod in derision. God proclaims with royal authority: »As for Me, I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill. You are My Son; today I have begotten You.« The nations have their kings, and God has His. Tonight we celebrate the birth of that King in Bethlehem.
7. God promised this King’s birth to Eve. This King would reverse mankind’s fall into sin, undo the curse imposed upon man and defeat the devil. Generation after generation the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve hoped and longed for the fulfillment of this wonderful promise. The pages of Holy Scripture tell of further promises to succeeding generations that God had not forgotten what He had said to Eve long ago. The line of God’s King went through Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. Then through Judah, Jesse and David. Now the promise was tied to Bethlehem, the birthplace of David and Zion, the capital in Jerusalem.
8. God’s promise suffered potential setbacks. Mankind’s ceaseless evil in Noah’s day, Egyptian slavery in Moses’ day and Babylonian captivity in King Zedekiah’s day. Yet every time it seemed the devil had managed to threaten the promise being fulfilled, God redeemed His promise and saved His King. While earthly kings and the devil plotted against the Christ, God the Father sat on His Heavenly throne and laughed at their feeble attempts to nullify His promise.
9. The Apostle Paul tells us: »When the fullness of time had arrived, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying: „Abba! Father!“ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God« (Galatians 4,4-7). The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was a direct result of His Heavenly Father’s preparation and timing. Augustus was Caesar and Herod was King so that they would be instrumental in playing their parts in God’s grand Heilsgeschichte (salvation history). Augustus’ census early in the spring of that year insured that Joseph and his family would be in Bethlehem at the time Mary was ready to deliver Jesus, thus fulfilling the Prophet Micah :»You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you will come forth for Me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. And He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the Name of the Lord His God. And they will dwell secure, for now He will be great to the ends of the earth. And He will be their peace« (Micah 5,2.4-5). The census dictated that relatives register in the hometown of their ancestor. David was from Bethlehem and thus Joseph and Mary went there for the Imperial census. St. Luke’s Christmas narrates these events in 20 verses complete with the manger, the shepherds and a choir of angels.
10. Saint Matthew’s Christmas narrative is much shorter with his concise 8 verses. In his brevity, Matthew focuses our attention on one key verse where the evangelist quotes Isaiah 7,14: »Behold, the virgin with child and she is bearing a son, and they name Him Immanuel, which is Hebrew for „God is with us.“« In citing the Prophet Isaiah, Matthew proclaims that the Immanuel promise has now come true (Gibbs 113). In spite mankind’s sinful unfaithfulness, the Lord would remain faithful. He promised His fallen creation a redeemer and by His trustworthy word the Lord sent this redeemer. In Chapter 7 Isaiah reaffirms that the ancestral line of the Messiah followed the lineage of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Judah and David. The Apostle Paul tells us: »To the Jews belong the glory, the covenants, the promises, the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Messiah« (Romans 9,4-5). Matthew tells us that Jesus’ birth fulfills all this with the Jews.
11. But Isaiah also tells us in Chapter 9: »In the latter time He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The Gentiles who walked in darkness have seen a Great Light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has Light shined. The nations rejoice before You as with joy at the harvest. For You have broken the yoke of their burden. For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace« (Isaiah 9,1-4.6). Isaiah says that the Messiah, whom we call the Christ, is for us too. Matthew affirms this in his Gospel when he records some of Jesus’ final words to His apostles: »Go, and make disciples of all nations« (Matthew 28,19).
12. Simeon summarizes all this when he takes the infant Jesus in his arms and proclaims within the temple courtyard: »O Lord, mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Thy people Israel!« (Luke 2,29-32). Forty days before Simeon saw Jesus, the shepherds first saw Him and rejoiced in the birth of their Messiah and the world’s Christ. Tonight we have heard again the glad tidings of great joy of Jesus’ birth and we sing hymns of joy in celebration. Amen.
10. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, our Great Christmas Gift, You make our hearts glad at Your arrival, so that we join the choir of angels rejoicing at Your birth. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern.
Gibbs, Jeffrey A. Matthew 1:1– 11:1. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 
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