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If Jesus Had Never Been Born ...
 
December 17, 2006
 
John 1:14-18
 
*/Focus:/*/ Without Jesus, we would have neither victory nor hope.
/
*Summary: *Of all the “what ifs” in history the most profound by far is “What if Jesus had never been born?”
We would first lose our primary means of understanding the nature of God; without Jesus’ earthly experiences to look back on, we would never know how intimately our God identifies with us.
Secondly, we would lose our victory over evil in both the present and the future.
There would be no salvation from sin, no victory over the devil, no life after death, and no assurance that right will eventually prevail over wrong.
In short, we would have no hope.
However, because Jesus /was/ born, we can conclude on a triumphant note, citing the angels’ “good tidings of great joy.”
Several years ago a group of historians met and asked a number of intriguing questions.
What if the Moors had won in the great historic battle in Spain?
What if the Dutch had kept New Amsterdam?
What if Louis XVI had been a strong, firm king?
What if Lee had not lost at Gettysburg?
What if Booth had missed Lincoln?
What if Napoleon had escaped to America?
What would history be like if these events had never happened?
They wrote a book after their discussion entitled /If: History Rewritten/.
Our text for today explores the most profound “what if” in history.
What if Jesus had never been born?
Let’s read today’s text together.
If you have your Bible with you, turn to John chapter 1 and follow along as I read verses 14 through 18, again from the New International Translation:  \\ /So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.
\\ John pointed him out to the people.
He shouted to the crowds, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, `Someone is coming who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before I did.' " \\ We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—one gracious blessing after another.
\\ For the law was given through Moses; God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.
\\ No one has ever seen God.
But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart; he has told us about him.
/
 
*1.
If Jesus had never been born there would be  **No “God with Us”*
 
Some of you remember a standard old movie plot, where an actress or dancer would receive a dozen roses after her performance.
The card is signed, “Secret Admirer.”
The tension of the plot lay in discovering who the secret admirer was
 
Finally, he reveals Himself, they go out for dinner, fall in love, get married and, in the good old days, live happily ever after.
From the beginning, we have been hungry to know, “Who is this ‘Secret Admirer,’ this God who made me?”
There was a heart cry from man to fill the God-shaped vacuum in our hearts, and God revealed who he is and what he is like by sending his son.
Jesus said, “No one knows the Son except the Father.
No one knows the Father except the Son.
No one knows the Son except the Father reveals him to him.”
So how do we know God?
We know God because of Jesus.
Colossians 1:16 says/: “He is the image of the invisible God.” /Jesus!
In the second chapter, we see that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in the mystery of God – the Father and the Son.
That’s why Isaiah wrote that God became “Immanuel, God with us.”
Otherwise, God would have no face, no ears, no heart.
We would not understand God because Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father; for I and the Father are one.”
If Jesus had not come on Christmas, we would have no knowledge of what God is like.
We would not understand how Jesus could identify with us and how we could relate to him.
There are three general names given of Jesus in the Scripture.
There are many other titles, but three seem to be most prominent.
One is “Son of David.”
That is Jesus’ Jewish name.
He came out of the tribe of Judah.
Son of David speaks of his racial heritage.
Another title is “Son of God.”
Even a demon said, “He is the Son of God.”
Perhaps the most eloquent description and identity of that name came from the centurion that day at the cross.
Max Lucado so beautifully related how that crusty, old, hard-nosed Roman soldier crucified those three men, then sat there and watched them die.
As he watched the one in the middle, he began to notice something different about him.
From his lips, there came a sound, not a whine, not a scream, but a voice of authority.
That voice said, “It is finished.”
And he continued to stare up into heaven.
That old Roman centurion got up and began to walk towards the figure on that middle cross.
As he began to walk, suddenly the ground began to shake, and he fell down.
He got up again and stumbled towards the cross, and he fell down at the feet of the cross.
When he did, he noticed that head was now turned toward him.
Those eyes that had been staring up into heaven were staring down at him.
Those hands couldn’t come down and touch him.
Those feet couldn’t walk towards him.
That head could barely move because of the pain, but he saw those eyes.
Those eyes, that looked so powerfully and helpfully and compassionately on the friendless adulteress in Jerusalem, on the divorcee at Jacob’s well, over the father who’d lost his daughter.
These were eyes so powerful that the centurion could not help but look at them.
That voice spoke one more time, and he said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
The centurion knew something.
He said something that, if he had not, the angels would have.
If he hadn’t said it, the demons would have.
If he hadn’t said it, the rocks would have cried out, all of creation would have shouted.
The centurion stood up and said, “Truly, this was the Son of God.”
 
Son of David.
Son of God.
“Son of Man.” Eighty times in the New Testament he’s called Son of Man.
That was his favorite designation for himself.
He said, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
He said,  “The Son of Man, when he comes will come with his mighty angels.”
He said, “Just like Jonah was buried three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, even so must the Son of Man be buried deep in the heart of the earth; but he’ll arise again.”
Son of Man.
What does this mean?
The title combines “Son of Man” used in Daniel 7:13 with “Servant of Yahweh” of Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 incorporating the idea of sovereignty and pre-existence and the suffering servant.
Jesus claimed to be the One who would inaugurate the glorious kingdom by first suffering to death on the cross.
The term” Son of Man contained super-natural and exalted overtones which the Jews of His day well understood.
We are able to identify with him in his deprivation.
Jesus said, “The foxes have a place to rest but the Son of Man does not have a place to lay his head.”
As Son of Man, he understood us in our limitations.
He got hungry like we get hungry.
He sent his men out to get something to eat one day because they were all hungry.
He got thirsty like we get thirsty.
He said, “I thirst.
Get me some water to drink.
Draw from this well, and let me share this with you.”
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