REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2001: EVENING SERVICE

REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2001: EVENING SERVICE

Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of the Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

Psalm of praise: 71:10,14.

Prayer.

Psalm 86:1.

Scripture reading: Hebrews 2

Text: Catechism Sunday 14; Hebrews 2:17

Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Since the beginning of our history the Lord has promised that we will one day be delivered from the sins and miseries in which we have landed. At first the promises were few and vague. But as history continued, the Lord issued more and more promises, and each time made it clearer that the Redeemer would be born of a descendant of Eve (in other words, a human being).

Let us consider once again the incarnation of the Son of God.

1.       The manner in which He became a human being.
2.       The significance of His becoming a human being.
3.       The value to us of His becoming a human being.

1.    The manner in which He became a human being

The eternal Son of God is Himself God.

He has always existed from all eternity.
He will exist for ever and ever.
Nevertheless God determined in His redeeming counsel that the Son of God was to adopt a human nature in order to deliver mankind from their sins.

Many years ago the heathen knew in their false religions that there would one day be someone, born of God, who would deliver mankind.

The heathen did not know that He would restore our relationship with God.
As time passed, their religions degenerated, and by the time when the Lord Jesus was born, they no longer believed that a divine Being could be born of a human being.

That is why the apostle Paul took such pains in this regard to convince the heathen that the Redeemer had been born of a woman.

We read that he wrote to the congregation in Galatia that, when the fullness of the time came as determined by God, He sent forth His Son, born of a woman, and born under the Law (Galatians 4:4).
To the heathen among the Romans who became converted, he wrote the same message.

He wrote to them that the Lord had beforehand announced through His prophets in the holy Scriptures the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This gospel told of His Son.

He was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh;
After His resurrection from the dead, He was declared, by the Holy Spirit, to be the Son of God, imbued with power, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:2-4).

For this reason Jesus Christ was born - His birth was the true adoption of a human nature.

Can you imagine what a tremendous shock it was for Mary herself when the angel told her that she would become pregnant and bear God's Son, and that she was to name Him Jesus? (Luke 1:31)
The angel told her how it would come about:
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35).

There are many things which to us are a mystery concerning the conception of the Lord Jesus, but it is precisely these things which we must accept in faith.

We must accept that God revealed to us that His Son adopted His human nature perfectly and without the blemish of sin.
He was not burdened like us with original sin.
He was (and is still) holy God.
He is the unblemished Lamb of God, who was born as a human being to sacrifice Himself for the redemption of our sins.

The incarnation of Jesus Christ did not divest Him from His divinity. He is still eternal and almighty God.

This we read in Romans 9:5. The Holy Spirit reveals that Christ was descended from the patriarchs. Christ was born of them according to the flesh - but then the Bible emphasises that Christ is God, exalted above all and deserving of praise for ever! This he confirms with the word: Amen.
We also read this in John 1:1:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

2. The significance of His becoming a human being.

There is no creature nor any being which can deliver us from the judgement of God, excepting the Son of God. Nor is there any plan of redemption which can gain us a pardon from the wrath of God, other than the one in which the Triunal God decided that the second Person of the Trinity would become a human being, and bear the punishment of God on behalf of the elect of mankind.

The Lord reveals very clearly why Jesus became a man.

It is written that Jesus became just like mankind, because we are people of flesh and blood. This He did in order to render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).
Nor was it only a matter of Jesus becoming a person. He had to become our equal in every sense, so that He could be a merciful and faithful High Priest before God in order to make propitiation for the sins of the people (Hebrews 2:17).

The justice of God would never have been able to accept a Mediator who was not Himself subject to the weaknesses to which people are subject. For that reason the Bible comments on the incarnation of the Lord Jesus as follows:

"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."

Precisely the fact that Jesus is and remains eternal and true God, but nevertheless adopted a human nature, makes of Him an appropriate and competent Mediator. We could only be redeemed by a High Priest Who is holy, free from sin and without blemish, separated from sinners, and Who is exalted above the heavens.
The justice of God demands that it should be One Who need not daily, like other human high priests, first offer up sacrifices for their own sins and then for the sins of the people.

          Because this He did once and for all when He offered up Himself.
          (Hebrews 7:26-27)

3.    The value to us of His becoming a human being

What we have said up to this point is all true, but we need to know what benefits this entails for us. The Bible teaches us a great deal, and if we do not take note of these matters, we will miss the true faith and the truth of our being children of God. Let us consider some of the implications to us of Christ's incarnation, as taught by the Lord:

And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)
...but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men..(Philippians 2:7)
...knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit... (1 Peter 3:18)
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3).

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, went forth from the highest heavens and became man.

As man, He endured much hardship and suffering.
But in all this He was the Servant of God who accomplished redemption for mankind.
By virtue of His knowledge, this Servant of God, the Righteous One, justified many; and He bore their iniquities. Isaiah (53:11) prophesied this.

Do you believe these things? Do you truly believe that the Lord Jesus became man to justify you? Do you merely say the words, or do you truly believe that He bore the punishment for your sins?

If you truly believe all this, then you may share the joy of David when he called out:

"How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! (Ps. 32:1)

Let us now read the Heidelberg Catechism, Sunday 14:

LORD'S DAY XIV

35.     question.     What does it mean that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?

          answer.    That God's eternal Son, who is¹ and continues² true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man of the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary³, by the operation of the Holy Spirit⁴, that He might be the true seed of David⁵,like unto His brethren in all things⁶, sin excepted⁷.

     1.   1 John 5:20; John 1:1; 17:3; Rom.1:3; Col.1:15    2. Rom.9:5
     3. Gal.4:4; Luke 1:31,42,43    4. Matt.1:20; Luke 1:35
     5. Rom.1:3; Ps.132:11; 2 Sam.7:12; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:30
     6. Phil.2:7; Heb.2:14,17       7. Heb.4:15

36.     question.     What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?

          answer.    That He is our Mediator¹, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin wherein I was conceived and brought forth².

     1.   Heb.7:26,27 2. 1 Pet.1:18,19;3:18; 1 Cor.1:30,31; Rom.8:3,4; Isa.53:11;Ps.32:1

AMEN.

Closing prayer.

Closing Psalm: 116:1,4.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

AMEN.

Rev. M.J. du Plessis
Reformed Church, Bellville
30 September 2001.
Scripture quoted from NASB.