Jesus, Holy God (Luke 1:35)
One day I went to visit Amanda at the school she was a band director at and a student was wearing a shirt that said, “Jesus is my homeboy.” He looked at me and smiled while he asked, “What do you think of my shirt Mr. Minor?”
I was not impressed and I told him so.
“Jesus is not your homeboy. He’s the God of the Universe who should be discussed with reverence and awe…not what’s on your shirt.”
He was a little shocked by my response because I had a few part time jobs at the time. One of them was a substitute teacher at the school and he and I had gotten along pretty well. But I was not a fan of this.
We tend to not think of these things today. People joke about praying to “baby Jesus” because it was a popular and funny scene in a movie. But that is not what we see about Jesus. His name is not joke worthy. His name is to be revered. And that is one of the first things that was told of Him, even before His birth.
The angel told Mary that she would be with child. As a virgin, she did not understand how this could possibly happen. In my opinion, this is a very valid question.
The angel told her that it would happen through the work of the Holy Spirit. This would be supernatural. And then the angel told her that the child “will be called holy—the Son of God.”
“And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35 ESV)
Jesus Is The Son Of God
Who is Jesus? He is God the Son.
The angel promised that God the Holy Spirit would somehow give Mary a baby. The result of that is that this child would be “the Son of God”.
This gets us into all sorts of discussions. The two most difficult doctrines in Christianity to understand is the Incarnation and the Trinity. How is it that God the Son took on human flesh and what do we mean when we say that God is Triune. But within this one idea we have all of that.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have always been. And they have always existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But these three persons are not three different beings. These three different persons comprise the One God. God is One, not three. But within the one God there are three persons.
Within the one God there exists God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And here, within our text we see that God the Son would take on human flesh. Somehow, God the Son would become man by being born of the Virgin Mary. And this would somehow be accomplished by the work of God the Holy Spirit.
For our part, there is a lot of mystery. It’s not because these things don’t make sense. It’s because these things are beyond our comprehension. We are finite and struggle to wrap our minds around these things. But we do understand that this means that Jesus is God the Son. We do understand that this means Jesus is God.
When we think about the Christmas story, we immediately jump to “God with us.” And this is true. God who is separated from us came to us. God, who is transcendent became imminent.
We immediately think of the baby in the manger. But we don’t immediately think that this baby in the manger is God.
This baby in the manger is not any normal baby. This baby in the manger is God.
In the Gospel of John we catch a glimpse of who Jesus is.
“Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.” (John 12:39-41 ESV)
Jesus said that Isaiah saw Jesus’s glory. When did Isaiah see Jesus’s glory?
“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”” (Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV)
Isaiah saw Jesus sitting upon the throne. He saw the train of Jesus’s robe filling the temple. He saw the seraphim flying around Him with their faces covered and crying out “Holy, holy, holy.”
This baby in a manger is God.
If we are going to understand what Jesus did when He took on human flesh, we must first realize that Jesus is God.
This is the most incomprehensible thing in all of Christian teaching. People always talk about how difficult it is to wrap their minds around the doctrine of the Trinity. I’m here to tell you that the Incarnation is much more difficult to understand.
Jesus is God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus is completely God, yet completely man. In the one person there is united divinity and humanity, but there is no confusion, change, division, or separation in either.
This baby, born of the virgin Mary, is the Creator of the world.
God the Son is “the heir of all things, through whom” God “created the world (Hebrews 1:2 ESV).
He is the Word who was in the beginning.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3 ESV)
It is by Him that all things were created. And it is by Him that all things are being held together.
“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17 ESV)
Somehow, in some way that we can’t even fully understand, that baby in a manger screaming in the darkness and needing a diaper change was God the Son. He created all things. And He was holding all things together. He still is holding all things together.
What kind of awe and wonder should this strike within our hearts today?
What does this mean for us?
It means that our worship of Jesus is not the worship of one who is like us. It is the worship of one who is separate from us. It is the worship of The One that deserves all the glory, honor, and praise!
And it is this One that came down to take on human flesh and accomplish our salvation.
Jesus Is Holy
God the Holy Spirit would somehow give Mary a baby. And the result of this is that her baby would be “the Son of God”. And this also meant that her baby would be “holy”.
The Greek word for “holy” is “ἅγιος”. It comes from the Greek word “ἅγος,” which means “an awful thing”. The word itself means pure and morally blameless. But it is a word that describes how we approach something that is of this nature.
It is a word that is considered rare among secular authors, but among the religious it was used often. And it was about religious awe and reverence. This means, it is an “awful thing”, not in the sense of something that is terrible. It is in the sense that is awe inspiring, and even to the point of causing dread.
What was Isaiah’s response after seeing Jesus enthroned in Isaiah 6?
“In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”” (Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV)
There is a fear that arose in Isaiah as he was in the presence of the Lord. He witnessed the holiness of God the Son and understood that he was himself unclean.
The Hebrew word is also pertinent here. It obviously matters because the angel is speaking to a young Hebrew woman in our text today. The word “holy” would have meant something to her. The word is קָדַשׁ, kaw-dash. It means, in this context, “be separate”. God is “separate” from us. He is the Creator. We are the creation. He is completely righteous. And we are not.
We have become a little too familiar. It is often difficult for us to convey the holiness of God to a society that fails to understand that anything needs to be revered. This happens naturally in a society that does not teach its children to honor father and mother. As it turns out, a failure to figure that out will lead to a failure to honor anything.
We have a story in Scripture that is pertinent to this very idea. It matters greatly to you, whether you realize it or not now, that you honor the Lord as He is to be honored.
“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'” And Aaron held his peace.” (Leviticus 10:1-3 ESV)
God is holy. He is separate from us. And He prescribed how He was to be worshipped and these young men decided they would ignore all that and go offer unauthorized fire before the Lord. And the Lord immediately struck them dead.
And the reason given for this is that God would be sanctified, that is honored as holy. And they did not honor Him as holy.
Jesus is holy. And He is to be honored as holy. He is God the Son. He is completely holy, righteous and just. Don’t become so familiar with the thought of Jesus as a baby in a manger that you forget He is God, completely holy, completely worthy of worship and praise.
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:1-2 ESV)
Jesus, who we see in our Christmas texts lying in a manger. That Jesus grew up, accomplished our salvation, and will one day come to judge the living and the dead.
We Are Not Holy…And That Is The Problem
When we understand that Jesus is God and He is holy we have to then reckon with our own shortcoming. That is where we see the beautiful message of Christmas.
We are sinners that deserve God’s wrath and justice. God is holy and does not tolerate sin. We are sinners who deserve to be punished, and Jesus will one day righteously judge.
God did not leave us all to be judged and cast into Hell for all eternity. God made a way for us to be brought to Him and that is through the finished work of Jesus Christ. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross. He fulfilled all righteousness and then died a sacrificial death on the cross. And He rose from the grave three days later. All those who turn from ruling their own lives and trust in Christ have their sins paid for by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. And they are counted as righteous because of the perfect work of Jesus. And they are brought into God’s family.
If you are here today and don’t know Christ, then you should know that you are in rebellion against God and Jesus Christ will be your Judge.
But in the gospel we see something else. For all those who turn from their rebellion and trust in Christ will find Him to be their Savior.
Jesus will either be your Judge who condemns you to an eternity in Hell where they will pay for their sins for all eternity. Or Jesus will be your Savior.
There is no other option.
Standing before the judgment seat of Christ, what will the verdict be? Will He be Your Judge?
Is He your Savior?
Conclusion:
When we say that God is holy, that all three persons of the Trinity are holy, then we are saying something profoundly different than this world understands right now.
But it’s also the thing that makes Christmas make so much sense. Why do we celebrate what happened at Christmas those many years ago?
It’s because God the Son took on human flesh. It’s because God the Son, who is completely holy took on human flesh. He dwelt among us and accomplished our redemption for us.
Worship Him! Worship Jesus Christ who is God! Worship Jesus Christ who is holy! And Come to Him, trust in Him who has accomplished your redemption.
When you’re teaching your children about who Jesus is, teach them about God the Son who took on human flesh. Teach them about the holiness of Jesus, who is completely set apart, worthy of worship and praise. Teach them about Jesus who is the Great and glorious Judge of the Universe. And teach them about Jesus who is mighty to save.
R. Dwain Minor