"The Genesis of Christmas"

Christmas in the Gospels and Genesis

Those who are in our lives. If you allow me, let me go ahead and pray for us and we'll be looking at the Christmas story and the Gospels and in the book of Genesis. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for gathering us here this morning and it's been a joy already to be ministered to by the gift of music, something that you created to glorify yourself, to draw attention to who you are, to the treasure of your son Jesus Christ.

I pray that you would help us now as we turn to your word that we would consider rightly the meaning of the text, that you would give us a clear view of your son Jesus Christ in whom is all our hope. I pray these things for his sake.

Amen. Well, if you open your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, in fact, you can put, if you have two bookmarks in your Bible like mine, you can put one there at the beginning of Matthew and then start working your way back to Genesis chapter 48.

I'll be reading for us in a moment from Genesis 48 verses 8 through 12, or chapter 49 actually, chapter 49 verses 8 through 12, to give us a sense of where we're going this morning. It was my intention to preach three sermons, Genesis of Christmas, the Exodus of Christmas, and the Numbers of Christmas, but I do not believe we will make it out of Genesis this year.

So there's just always more than I anticipate, which is the way that the scriptures are. They're just full and living and active and just a very deep, deep well of treasure. So Genesis chapter 49 verses 8 through 12, this is a Christmas passage.

Would you please stand with me as we read of our Savior? Genesis chapter 49 beginning in verse 8. Judah, your brother shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down to you.

Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches. He lies down as a lion and as a lion who dares rouse him up. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes.

And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his fold to the vine and his donkey's coat to the choice vine. He washes his garments in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine and his teeth white from milk.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. You may be seated. Last week we finished our look at Jeremiah chapter 12 ending with the promises that God gave to Jeremiah as part of the answer to Jeremiah's questions about justice.

And God gave Jeremiah promises, promises of judgment and salvation, promises that are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, reminding us again that the ultimate answer to our questions about why and how long, the ultimate justification of God as it were, as he is a sovereign, all-powerful, good God governing over an evil world, and how do we reconcile this question, the answer again we find in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And as we said last week, we need to be reminded again in this Christmas season that all of God's promises are granted to God's people. All of God's promises are granted to Christ for all of God's people who are gathered in Christ.

All of God's promises are granted to Christ for all of God's people gathered in Christ. And I think that as we look at the story of Christmas, as we consider Christ's first coming, his advent, that we see that this is an essential truth to help us to worship Christ and to celebrate this season aright.

I grew up with a very clear sense of those around me in the churches that my dad pastored that we were not allowed to talk about Christmas with some of them, that we could not have them over to our home in the Christmas season if we had a Christmas tree in our living room and greenery scattered about.

There was a very real concern amongst some of the people that my dad pastored that Christmas was something inherently pagan, having nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and the greenery and the decorations that everyone used was tied directly to idolatry.

And so, of course, they did not celebrate Christmas and had no decoration in their home, and some of us did. And so, we passed like ships in the night during that season. And so, I grew up with a bit of an awareness of controversy concerning the celebration of Christmas.

And it wasn't just the people my dad pastored, it was also some of the traditions, Christian groups that even our own family members were a part of. And we did not celebrate Christmas, but we still got gifts around New Year's.

So, it was one of those things that I was conscious of growing up, and I'm sure that that's still controversy for many and an issue and a conviction of many. And so, we talk about the genesis of Christmas.

Obviously, we're thinking of the source of Christmas and the beginning of Christmas and the origin of Christmas. And I think it's important, as I think Dwight has mentioned to his class, to trace the origins of the things that we do during the holidays, to think about why it is that we have decorations.

Why is it that we celebrate? Why is it that we gather as families? Why do we have a meal? And I think it's important for us to trace the lines about the meaning of why we do what we do. I think it's important.

And I think it's important to do so not just about the externals, but also the internals. The internals. Why do we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? Why do we celebrate, in other words, the incarnation of the Son of God?

Why do we celebrate and why do we read the passages we read on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? And should we read perhaps more than we're used to? As you notice, as you read in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, some genealogies.

And don't we all love genealogies? I would like us to think a little bit about why it is that the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to include genealogies as such a vital, central part of the Christmas story.

Of who Christ is and why he came. I think by concentrating on the genesis of Christmas, we will celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. That's my desire as we go through our passages today and in the coming two weeks.

That by concentrating on the genesis of Christmas, we will celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. And the key word for today is seed. Seed. If you look at the Gospel of Matthew, and I hope that you do have your bookmark there, and we'll go over to the end of Luke chapter 3 in a moment and John chapter 1 as well.

I want you to see that we have genealogies in very close association with the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. The arrival of God the Son in human flesh as the Savior of the world. And so why are we being directed by these genealogies to look at genesis?

And you can't help but notice in the three of the four Gospels that speak about the origins of Jesus Christ, the birth of Jesus Christ. You can't help but notice that all those stories are rooted in the book of Genesis.

As you begin the Gospel of Matthew, it says the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And we are already in Genesis. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. And that's all from the book of Genesis. That's the way that the Gospel of Matthew starts. And of course, Matthew starts with talking about the origin of Jesus Christ.

And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he thinks it's important that we trace the identity of Jesus Christ back through the lineage to the book of Genesis, specifically Abraham. Remember that God's promise to Abraham was that I will bless you and those who bless you will be blessed.

And he would be a blessing to all of the families of the earth. That's a promise that was very fitting in Genesis 12. After we hear in Genesis 11, how all the families of the earth were cursed in their pride and trying to build the Tower of Babel and then separated by the confusion of their languages.

And after that curse comes the promise of blessing through the seed of Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And we hear in this genealogy about some people who are not Jews, don't we?

We hear that in verse five, that Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Remember Rahab from Jericho. And Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth. Remember Ruth from the country of Moab. And Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David the king.

So part of what we're going to hear about is that in the lineage of the Messiah, it's not always been exclusively Jews. And indeed in the history of Israel, it wasn't always exclusively Jews who were worshiping the Lord, but Israel was a light to the nations to draw them to worship the one true God.

And of course, in the genealogy, we come down to verses 11 and 12 that talk about the deportation to Babylon, the exile to Babylon, that there is 14 generations between Abraham and David, that Matthew finds significant, and then 14 generations between David and the exile to Babylon.

And then after the exile to Babylon, 14 more generations. And so there's a sense of there's a sense of conclusion. There's a sense of bookends between Abraham and David, and David as the anointed king of Israel, the true king, the better king than Saul between David's, the beginning of his kingship and the end of his kingship in the exile to Babylon.

And then we have the exile to Babylon, and what brings an end to the exile? Doesn't Matthew tell us? What brings an end to exile? Messiah. Messiah brings the end to the exile. And this is the great hope that Matthew is pointing his readers to.

Look, the promised seed of Abraham, the promised son of David, he comes and he brings an end to our exile. And indeed, the exile ultimately is one from God, and he goes on. But let's note that he roots his genealogy in Genesis, a very important connection to Abraham, from whose seed all the families of earth would be blessed.

And then if you go over to Luke chapter 3, Luke's account of Christ. Of course, Luke is very intent on showing the background to how Christ was born and all the revelation of God accompanying it, even associated with the birth of John the Baptist.

The songs that were sung by Mary and Zacharias and the angels and Simeon. And so we come through all of that, and we hear a lot about who Christ is and his identity and his origins, and even goes so far to talk about him growing up.

And we have the story of Jesus's visit to Jerusalem. And then in a way, Luke also wants to talk about the origin of who Christ is, which is still Christmas material. Who is this one who was born for us?

And he tells us about John the Baptist, who's preaching about the identity of the Messiah and what he has come to do. And of course, the story of John the Baptist and Jesus intersects at the baptism of Christ, which is in verses 21 and 22 of Luke 3.

Now, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. And while he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came out of heaven, you are my beloved son.

In you, I am well pleased. And the father speaks of the son and says, in you, I am well pleased. And at this point, at this point, Luke decides to give the genealogy, taking us back to the birth of Christ.

And where did he come from? And he follows the line of the lineage through Mary, as he says that Jesus was supposed to be the son of Joseph. But in reality, we're going to trace the line through Mary's father is the sense of the text.

And he chose all the way through. And if you'll notice that in all of the the jumble of names, when you get down to verse 33, at the end, we're back in Genesis, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, it concludes, verse 34, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, the son of Sareg, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, from which we get the word Hebrew, the son of Shelah, the son of Canaan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jerry, the son of Mehalalel, the son of Canaan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

After the baptism of Christ, in which God, the Father, opens the heavens and says, this is my beloved son, Luke gives the genealogy and says, with a wink and a nod, yes, he is the son of God. He came from Adam and Noah and Shem, and we trace the lineage through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Judah, and all the way to where he is born, and ultimately, what would we say of this Messiah, but that he is the son of God.

Also notice that Luke writes this lineage from Genesis chapter 5 and Genesis chapter 11. He writes this lineage as history. This is not mythology. This is history, and tracing Jesus Christ's human lineage.

And then the other Christmas story in the Gospel of John, we looked at last year. Tell me if you can hear Genesis in this text. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God, and all things came into being through him. And apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being, and him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it, or in other words, did not overcome it. We hear again a connection to Genesis. What is it about the Christmas story? What is it about the birth of Christ that the apostles, inspired by the Spirit, want us to think about Genesis?

I think we should follow their lead. I think we should think a little bit about Genesis this season, and its connection to Christmas. There should be a careful tracing of the connections to Genesis. Jesus Christ is the Word.

He was in the beginning. He is the life. He is the light of men. John is emphasizing a new creation coming through Christ. Well, the Advent story, I think, helps us to understand that what happened in the birth of Jesus Christ, and the significance of his life, death, and resurrection being testified to even at his birth, that what happens in the birth of Jesus Christ, in the incarnation of the Son of God, is something that has everything to do with what got started in Genesis.

That in the creation of all things, God had Christmas in mind. That in the stories we read in Genesis 1, 2, and 3, that Christmas was in his plan, in his purpose, and it was even testified to, and made a focus of those who lived in the time of Genesis, with those with whom God dealt with.

I think we need to think about that a little bit, and focus in on the word seed. That's our key word, and it's a key word, I think, even as we look at the genealogy, as we read through the genealogies of Jesus Christ.

How did he come about? What is his lineage? And we think about the word seed. Interestingly, we first encounter the word seed in chapter 1 and verse 11. The figurative use of the word seed comes in Genesis 3, 15.

But to understand the figure of speech, you have to understand the real deal. We see what God says in his creative word, verse 11, and God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them.

Meaning, you're not going to plant corn and end up with barley, right? The seed of the corn is in the corn, and is going to plant more corn, right? So there's going to be distinct, orderly kind of creation, all right?

So we're going to keep that in mind. I think it helps explain a little bit more. In chapter 3, we have read the story of Adam and Eve sinning against God. God gives them abundant provision, everything they could possibly need.

Satan enters the garden in the form of a serpent to tempt them and to trick them into being dissatisfied with God, so that they would sin against God. Adam and Eve do sin against God and their dissatisfaction, believing the lies of Satan.

And then God comes walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. They hide from God, and God nonetheless confronts them. And when the story is told and the blame gets shifted around, God clears the air, he curses the serpent, and then goes on to judge the woman and the man.

But he says to the serpent in verse 15 in particular, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you or crush your head, and you shall bruise him or crush his heel.

God picks a fight. An alliance has been made between Adam and Eve and the serpent, and God says that's not how it's going to be. And he picks a fight between the woman and the serpent, between her seed and his seed, and the world has been in conflict ever since.

And for the rest of the book of Genesis and the rest of the Bible, our attention is drawn again and again to the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And the genealogies we read are often about who is of the seed of the serpent and who is the seed of the woman.

And in Genesis, depending on how you count, and I counted, and it may not be the proper way to count, but I counted at least 12 genealogies in the book of Genesis. Some of those genealogies are like those of Ishmael and Esau and Cain, and they trace the genealogy of the seed of the serpent.

And other genealogies are like those of Seth and Noah and Shem and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And of course, all those make one continuous genealogy. When you put them all together and through this lineage comes the seed of the woman, the promised one who would defeat the seed of the serpent, crushing him on the head, even though he would be crushed on his heel.

But there's this very careful tracing of the seed. Everywhere you go, the emphasis seems to be on where is the seed of the woman? Where is this genealogy going? Where is this lineage going? And I don't know if you've noticed this or not, and I think this is important for our understanding of Christmas when we begin to make the connection between the Genesis emphasis in the Gospels about the origin of Christ, and we go back and look at the Genesis connection, and we look at the genealogy.

I don't know if you ever noticed this, but the seed is always in danger. The seed is always in danger. Eve bears Cain and Abel, and Abel is a true worshiper of the Lord, and Cain, whose seed of the serpent, murders Abel.

And then when Eve bears Seth, she says, God has given me another. He's appointed another because Cain murdered Abel. The seed still lives. God triumphs over the murder of Cain by giving the child of Seth.

We read at the time of Noah that wickedness is filling up the earth, and this wickedness is put in the tone of mostly violence. And now violence is filling up the earth, and humanity is destroying itself in its wickedness, and what will happen to the seed?

But God had favor on Noah, and he preserves Noah and his descendants in the ark, and they are preserved during the judgment of the worldwide flood. We hear again of the seed in danger when the lineage takes us straight to Abram and Sarai.

And here they are, 75 and 65 years old, without a child. And this is part of the danger, the part of the spread of sin, and the curse because of sin. She is barren. She can't have children. She's 65 years old.

She has no child, and God calls Abram and says, come to a new land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. Abram has a hard time believing this. He gets to the new country, and he has no heir, just Eleazar of Damascus, his head servant.

He's out. He's questioning God, and God brings him out into the night sky and says, look at the stars. Can you count the stars? And Abram says, there are too many. And God says, so shall your descendants be.

An innumerable multitude. He still has no heir, and Abram's faith falters. And Abram and Sarai cook up this scheme with Hagar, and maybe that's the way the seed will come about. But no, Ishmael is not the seed.

And God comes to him again in Genesis 17 and says, no, I'm changing your name. You're going to go from Abram, father of a people, to Abraham, father of many peoples. And Ishmael is not your seed, and there will be a seed from Sarah, and you have to wait and be patient.

And then Genesis 18, God comes, the angel of the Lord, or this is Christ in human form before he was born. Here he comes with the angels, and he talks with Abraham now, his new name, and he promises him next year, around this time, will come and Sarah will have a son.

The promise of a miracle child. Does this sound familiar? A promise of a miracle child from angels, and she's going to have her child, her son, Isaac. And Isaac is born, but Isaac is in danger of Ishmael, who mocks him, and there is this danger, this tension within the family.

And so Ishmael is sent away. Isaac bears two sons, Jacob and Esau, and the lineage is going to go through Jacob, so says the promise. But Esau ends up wanting to kill Jacob because of the kind of trickster that Jacob is, and the seed is in danger again.

And again and again, we see that God responds with miracles and visions and protection. And the whole storyline of Genesis is about the seed being in danger, but God preserving the seed and keeping the seed safe.

Even at the end of the book of Genesis, and the whole story about Joseph, and we have the seven years famine that's going to kill all these people. They're going to starve to death, and yet God makes provision and puts Joseph there at just the right time.

And who is it at the end of the book of Genesis who says, I will put my life on the line for the sake of the other one. I will substitute myself for the life of this other one. Who is it but Judah, the ancestor of the Messiah, who would lay down his life for others.

It's the story of how God keeps the seed safe and preserves by sovereign intervention. And so when you come to the Christmas story, we're coming to a story that's in progress. The story is in progress about the seed of the woman who would crush the seed of the serpent.

The one who would bring salvation. The one who would bring victory. The story is in progress. And we get to this moment and the seed is in danger again. Death at childbirth is pretty high. Pretty high rate in ancient world.

Still high rate in the third world today. And having a baby outside of shelter doesn't increase the chances that your baby is going to be born healthy and well. What about infections? What about the danger that the baby is in born without shelter in a feeding trough?

The seed's in danger. God protects him. And what about Herod when he hears that the king of the Jews has been born and he will suffer no rival and he goes to murder all of Rachel's children in Bethlehem and the seed is in danger.

Yet by sovereign protection, intervention, by visions, God makes sure that the Magi supply the young family with what they need and they flee to Egypt where there is safety and then are brought back up out of Egypt.

So out of Egypt he is called his son. Do we see that time and again that the seed was in danger? The one who would defeat the enemy, the one who would bring victory, the one who would bring salvation.

Always in danger do we find the seed. Some of you probably read, well not some of you, one or two of you may have read my blog post this last week but I just couldn't help myself. We need to add a new figurine to our nativity scene.

Revelation 12. Revelation 12, you're reading verses one through five. A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, on her head a crown of twelve stars and she was with child and she cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Then another sign appeared in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and on his head were seven diadems and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Genesis through Malachi, that's Genesis through Malachi right there. Now comes Matthew, the New Testament, and she gave birth to a son, a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

Genesis 49, 8 through 12, Psalm 2, and her child was caught up to God and to his throne, ascendant, victorious. Do we see it? Do we see it? That the seed was in danger by the serpent but ultimately victorious?

We need a big red dragon sitting just off to the side of the nativity scene. And come Christmas day, we knock it down. How's that for a Christmas tradition? We need to trace the lines of the significance of Christmas.

Christmas indeed is a time of hope and peace and joy. Yes, indeed. But the hope is not childish fantasy and the peace is not permissive tolerance and the joy is not gluttonous materialism. Our hope is in Christ who is the seed and him coming to save us from our sin.

Our peace is through Christ with God and with one another in Christ. This is how we have peace. And our joy is because of Christ and his humble service for us ultimately to glorious victory. We need to trace the lines of our our Christian worship.

It is a good thing to think about why it is that we celebrate what we celebrate. Far more than figuring out why we have the externals that we do. What are the internals? What are we believing? What is it that we're truly celebrating in our souls this year?

What is it that we will draw attention to? We really need to contemplate the significance of Christmas and trace the lines. Don't leave out the genealogies when you read the Christmas story this year.

Tell your children the dragon story about the way that God was victorious over the enemy. And we need to showcase in our Christmas celebrations, in our Christmas worship with our families, we need to showcase what the Spirit makes significant in the text.

What is it that the Spirit showcases? And let's showcase that in our Christmas celebrations this year. All right, let's close with a word of prayer. I thank you so much, Father, that you have given us your Son, Jesus Christ, and Him is all our hope.

I thank you for reminding us in the stories about Christ's birth that it's a critical but partial part of the story of your promises from long ago that are now fulfilled in Christ. I pray that you would help us to remember this year, this word about the seed, and that in reflecting on this truth that we would worship Christ and truly draw others' attention to Christ, our victorious Savior.

And I pray these things for Christ's sake. Amen.