Christ in the Manger

Each unspeakable gift.        Isaiah 9:6, 31:2-3,    Cor. 9:15

Amid the triumphant shouts of heavenly host, the Christ child entered the Earthly world.
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth: Peace good will toward men.” Luke 2:14.
Jesus came to fulfill God’s promise to a lost world. Acts 26:6
“In Him was life and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4, 3:16

I: God’s Gift was not Fancy Wrapped! Humiliation.
1. Born to poor parents that didn’t have prestige enough to get a room.
2. Born in a manger where cattle were lowing.
3. Destined to be a Carpenters’ son.
4. “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” Isa. 53:2.
5. Born to a life of sorrow and grief. “He is sorrow and acquainted with grief.” Isa. 53:3.
6. “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our inequities the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:5.
Love gave the greatest gift.

II: God’s Gift was Announced with Power and Glory.
1. Gabriel the greatest of angels brought the announcement to Mary and Joseph.
2. The Shepherds heard the greatest choir that ever sang and the greatest hymn that was ever sung.
3. The stars made room for a new member that was to lead wise men thru long days of travel and point out the gift of God.

He came amid the shouts of angel’s and left while ungodly men cried out for his death, but the stars shone bright when he came and the sun turned dark at his departure.

Mythical Legends: Alexander the Great claimed that he was begotten by a Serpent cohabiting with his mother. Caesar Augustus: “While his mother slept in the temple Apollo, she was visited by a God in Serpent form.”
Hercules: “Jupiter assumed the form of his father while his father was away and Hercules was born.”
Gautama Buddha: His mother dreamed that she saw a white elephant with six tusks, this elephant forcibly entered her side and months later Gautama was born.
How unlike these was the birth of Jesus.

III: God’s Gift was Different from all Others: Virgin Born.
1. The Prophets foretold that a virgin would conceive.
2. Gabriel believed in the virgin birth.
3. Elizabeth believed in the Virgin birth.
4. Mary knew that she had conceived of the Holy Ghost.
5. Joseph knew he was not the father and was convinced by the angel Gabriel that the child was to be Virgin born.
6. The Angels that sang at his birth and the star that led the wise men believed in the Virgin birth.
7. Jesus claimed he was virgin born, and if he was not, he was the Greatest impostor the world has ever known.

The Greatest Gift is the Most Unusual.
It cost – God His only son.
It cost – Christ all that he had.
It cost Christmas, a cross burning his life.
It cost regret the gift.