His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Hear all about God's great rescue plan to reach mankind next on His Perfect Love.

Matt VanderVen: We all like a good movie. We like a good drama. Maybe some of you have a tradition that you'll go home and you'll watch *It's a Wonderful Life* tonight before bed. We need to understand that this is a biblical and historical account. This is not a story.

God the Father left nothing to chance through this miraculous birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. Friends, this was a rescue mission from heaven.

Guest (Male): Christmas time greetings from all of us at His Perfect Love and Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. In these days leading up to Christmas, we're bringing you several special messages centered on the miraculous birth of our Lord and Savior. We'll join Pastor Matt VanderVen in the Gospel of Luke, chapter one, in a moment.

We say it often this time of year: Merry Christmas. But what does that word "Christmas" really mean? Pastor Matt dives into that as we get started.

Matt VanderVen: If you want to open your Bibles, we're going to be in Luke, chapter one, verse 26. Before we do that, I was thinking about how the Lord's called us here together once again to celebrate His birthday—His gift of salvation and His promises. Men, women, and children have been gathering in churches all over the world to celebrate the birth of Christ since AD 336.

When you think of the word "Christmas," how many of us stop to think about what the word actually means? What have they been saying since the 14th century when that word was first used? Why not "Happy Birthday Jesus"? That's correct as well. Have you ever thought about what you're communicating to someone when you say "Merry Christmas" to them? Or what even the early Christians thought in the 14th century?

There's so much implied in those two words. We don't use the word "Merry" in everyday speech anymore, unless you have a sister named Mary. The etymology of that word can be traced back to the 14th century and can be translated as "jolly," "high spirits," and "happy." As for "Christmas," many believe it comes directly from the name of Jesus Christ, as though "Christ" was His last name or His surname, and they just added "Mass" onto the end of it.

As many students of the Bible know, that's not His last name. That's actually a title that's given to Him: the Christ. In the Hebrew, it's the Messiah, the Anointed One. "Mass" comes from the Latin and was derived in 1038 AD from the word *missa*. That word was used as a celebration to communicate what we think of as communion when we gather and celebrate the Lord's Supper.

When we gather for communion, we partake together with unleavened bread and juice, and we remember our Lord's life. We remember His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. So what are we really saying when we say "Merry Christmas"? We're saying "Happy Anointed One Communion." That sounds like a mouthful, and "Merry Christmas" makes more sense than that.

But what are we really saying in our hearts? What were they saying when they said "Merry Christmas" the first time? They said that we as Christians are full of joy, so be happy. The Anointed One has come, and we have relationship and communion with Him. That's what it's always meant when we've said "Merry Christmas."

I find it interesting in these years that more people have gravitated towards "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings," moving away from the tradition of "Merry Christmas." It's not for me to judge whether that's intentional or unintentional. We're celebrating Jesus, His miraculous birth, and our love relationship with Him. It's truly a celebration unto God for His precious gift to all of humanity: His Son, Jesus.

What about the day, Christmas, that we celebrate on December 25th? It was originally known as the Nativity Feast Day. So often we're quick to forget our history. Christianity has never been a blind faith. Faith is only as good as what you place your faith in. When we go back and we look historically at December 25th, we can go to 130 AD to a gentleman by the name of Irenaeus.

He connected Mary's conception of Jesus with the Passion Week, or what we would say is the starting of Palm Sunday. It's truly interesting because Irenaeus, an early church father, had a first-hand account. The Apostle John, one of the 12 apostles and author of the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation, died in 99 AD. Before he died, he had a disciple named Polycarp. He lived from 69 to 155 AD, born just some 35 years after the Christ's resurrection.

Polycarp had a disciple, and that's where we get Irenaeus. He used March 25th as the Passion Week date, which was well-believed and expected at that time. The Passover was always celebrated in a Hebrew calendar of 360 days, therefore it would always be March to April. We use a Gregorian calendar, and that's why we believe it's March to April in our 365-day calendar. Irenaeus calculated forward nine months, and that's how he got to December 25th.

But that's not all. Hippolytus, in 170 AD, specifically noted that December 25th was the birth of Jesus. Sextus Julius Africanus, who was a historian from 160 to 240 AD, also noted that December 25th was the date of Jesus' birth and recorded that in writing in the year 221. The influential church leader John Chrysostom, who was born in 347 AD, held to December 25th as well.

Cyril of Jerusalem, from 348 to 386 AD, had the most interesting job. He was a writer and had access to the official birth records for the Roman government. He would have had access to that Roman census directly. It's from that documentation that he came back and said the birth of Jesus Christ was December 25th according to the census records.

That date would be accepted by the Western churches on their calendar, while the Eastern churches chose a date of January 6th. The first recorded Christmas was December 25th, 336 AD. Long before the world began, God had a plan to bring redemption through Christ to all those who would choose to believe and follow Him. Every Christmas, we gather to celebrate God's love, His promise, and His precious Son, the Savior of the world.

So many before us were waiting for that promised Messiah. We're really privileged. When I look back at receiving the word of the Coming One, we have the full counsel of God—all 66 books. It's through that lens that I realize how privileged and how favored we are by God. You can go back to Genesis, right in the beginning, and find that Eve was waiting for the Seed—the one that would come to redeem all of Israel and put everything back in reconciliation and right relationship with God.

In 700 BC, 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Isaiah 7:14 said, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel, God with us." Isaiah 9:6: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Micah 5:2-3 prophesied: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Therefore He shall give them up until the time that she who is in labor gives birth." Jeremiah, in 570 BC: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth."

We didn't get to choose what family we were born into or what geographic area we were born in. And yet it was prophesied 700 and 500 years earlier that Jesus Christ would have to come through that line. Daniel, in chapter nine, declares the coming of Messiah again, written 500 years before Jesus Christ was physically born. He gave an expiration date that said 483 years—70 weeks.

That specific calculation brings you to the very time of the Passion Week and the triumphal entry. Again, it's not a blind faith. None of us can do that. There's no book we have that has anything ever written in it like that. That's why we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, because He's the God-man and the King. On that one perfect day in Bethlehem, a miraculous conception and birth happened. God came to dwell with His creation as promised.

I think back to the writing in 60 AD, 30-plus years after Christ went to be with His Father. Paul wrote in Colossians 1:15, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." Jesus is the image bearer. To think that child, that baby, came to communicate His promise and His love to us—His devotion and compassion with His creation.

In Luke 1:26, it says, "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!'"

"But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.'"

"Then Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be, since I do not know a man?' And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.' Then Mary said, 'Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be according to your word.' And the angel departed from her."

In chapter two: "And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child."

"So it was, while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." When you think of swaddling cloths, we're talking about strips of shroud, basically leftover parts of garments that were wrapping the baby to keep Him warm.

The baby was in a crèche. The inn was a place that you would bring animals, but not like a barn which would have been a resting place for the animal for the evening. This was a place for traveling, where animals could have a place to feed and then continue their journey. Our Jesus was born in the humblest ways so that all could partake of Him.

"Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.'"

Whenever humanity has an interaction with the supernatural, many times there's fear. All God wants to do, and His angelic hosts want to do, is just bring comfort, peace, and love—to cast out fear. If there's anybody celebrating Christmas this year, let there be no fear in your heart. Let there be only peace and joy.

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'"

"So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.

And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them."

We all like a good movie or a good drama. We need to understand that this is a biblical and historical account. This is not a story. God the Father left nothing to chance through this miraculous birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. Friends, this was a rescue mission from heaven.

Jesus' virgin birth by miraculous intervention of the Holy Spirit meant that He did not inherit a sinful nature like we did. We inherited a nature from Adam; it's called the Adamic nature. Jesus Christ was born miraculously so He didn't inherit that nature. Neither did Jesus, in His entire life, commit a single sin.

Jesus became the only perfect man, and as such, He was uniquely qualified to put into action God's plan for salvation for mankind. We celebrate Jesus' birth because His earthly birth makes possible the most amazing gift God could ever give His creation: the gift of salvation.

The Son of God was born on Earth to give His life sacrificially so that we could celebrate every day forward in this life and our eternal life to come with God. Friends, we never have to be separated from His perfect love and His Spirit.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt VanderVen and part of our special Christmas series. You can hear this study again when you visit HisPerfectLove.org. Listen to us wherever you get your podcasts and at OnePlace.com as well.

Download the Calvary Chapel Harrisburg mobile app and start listening to Pastor Matt's messages shortly after they're delivered. We can help you get started when you visit HisPerfectLove.org. If you'd like to support this radio ministry with a year-end gift, there is a place to do that at HisPerfectLove.org.

Pastor Matt loves to hear back from his listeners, so shoot him an email today. Let him know what God is up to in your life, how we can pray for you, and what stood out to you in today's message. Email us there at the website, HisPerfectLove.org.

Whether you live in or around Mechanicsburg, PA, or will be visiting the area soon, we'd love to have you join us for a service during the Christmas season at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30.

We have a midweek service too, Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. You'll find us at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to CCHarrisburg.org for more information. Well, that'll do it for today, but come back next time when Pastor Matt will again offer Christmas time encouragement. His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.