I believe that we are observing the emergence
of some truly great heroes as we perceive some
of the people who have been leaders and who are
now taking strong stands in that land. Lech Walesa
must be admired as a man of great courage. And
from the reports today, apparently he is under
house arrest. at least. Possibly he has suffered
a heart attack, they say. I was surprised and
pleasantly so this afternoon to read, or to hear
rather, on the television that the Polish ambassador
to the United States has defected and made a
statement denouncing his superiors now in Poland.
made a very emotional appeal to the people of
the United States to not be silent. And I hope
that the American people will heed what he says.
Perhaps one of the greatest frustrations that
all of us feel during this time is the inability
to really do much, to bring assistance to those
brave people in Poland who have tried valiantly
to raise the torch of liberty in their land.
I wish there was something more we could do,
and I would hope that we as a nation would display
the kind of courage that they have displayed
if we could do something more to bring aid to
them. And that has absolutely nothing to do with
the message tonight, but I wanted to say that.
There are some dear brothers and sisters in Christ
in Poland, and I hope that we will be remembering
them in prayer. in the upcoming days. As that
situation continues to unfold, there may be some
very difficult days still ahead because I'm sure
the Russian bear has not been totally satisfied
yet. Well, let's get down to business. Enough
of the commentary for tonight. We're going to
talk this evening about Christmas names. This
time of year, it is not uncommon for many of
us to get out a card file or a list and to review
the names to whom we wish to send Christmas cards.
Have you noticed how much shorter that list gets
every year as time passes and as prices of postage
go up? As we reflect upon those names, happy
memories come flooding back into our minds from
days gone by. joyful hours spent with friends
or loved ones who perhaps now are far away from
us and we don't see them as often as we would
like. We take this opportunity at Christmas to
drop them a line and wish them well and to say
hello. Christmas names. There are some names
of the Lord Jesus Christ that are connected with
Christmas. Some of them we use frequently. Some
of them we do not use quite as often. I thought
it would be interesting tonight as we think about
Christmas names on a list to look at some of
the names given to the Lord Jesus Christ in the
New Testament, Christmas names. And for the purpose
of our study tonight, we're going to turn to
Luke, the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1 to begin.
We will look at four of these names given to
our Lord. By studying these names, we can come
to know Him better. After all, that's the reason
for names, isn't it? So that we can distinguish
between individuals. That's why when we hear
the name Dick, we think of one person, or Dave,
we think of another person, or whatever the name
may be. The name identifies people to us. And
as we think of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is further identified so that we may understand
the uniqueness. of His person. The first name
I'd like for us to look at is found here in chapter
1 in the words of the angel Gabriel to Mary.
He appeared to her and announced the birth of
the Messiah through her. And in his statements
to her, he says in verse 35, the Holy Spirit
shall come upon thee and the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. Now in those phrases is
found the method of the virgin birth. It is mysterious
to us, but in some way the Holy Spirit entered
into Mary's womb. She conceived. And the Holy
Spirit prevented the sin nature of Mary from
being passed on to that embryo within her womb
so that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived without
sin completely. These phrases do not tell us
much, but they are the words of Dr. Luke, and
so we take them for what they say. And because
of this miraculous birth, the angel says, Therefore
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. This is one of the
Christmas names of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. This concept of the Son of God or
the Sons of God, plural, is used in different
ways in the Bible. God's Son. God uses that phrase
of Israel in Exodus 4 .22, for example, where
He speaks of Israel, My Son. And once again,
in fact twice again, in the book of Hosea, the
Israelites are called the sons of God in one
place and the nation collectively is called My
Son. by God in chapter 11 in verse 1 where he
says, out of Egypt I have called my son. Now
that particular reference has a double meaning
of course because it refers to Israel being called
out of Egypt and delivered at the time of the
Exodus. But in a secondary reference it refers
to the Lord Jesus Christ and that's clear because
the Holy Spirit says in Matthew 2 .15 that His
coming out of Egypt after being protected for
those months from Herod was the fulfillment of
what was spoken back there in Hosea 11, verse
1. For those first months, the Lord Jesus was
in Egypt with Joseph and Mary, protected there,
and then was called back to Nazareth, and then
went back to Bethlehem, and so on. And so it
was the fulfillment of the Old Testament when
that took place. But the reference has to do
with Israel, the nation. Also, Israel's kings
were at times called the sons of God. For example,
God was speaking to David in 2 Samuel chapter
7 and spoke about Solomon and said he would be
my son. Isn't that interesting? So Solomon was
called by God my son in a sense. Furthermore...
Angels are called the sons of God, spiritual
beings, heavenly beings. For example, in Job
1 and verse 6, the name is applied to angels
who were brought together apparently for a periodic
and regular report to God. The sons of God were
gathered before Him and Satan was among them
and the conversation pursued concerning Job then.
And the trial came upon Job as a result of the
gathering of the sons of God before the Lord
on that occasion. And so the name is used not
only of Israel collectively, but it's also used
of angels or heavenly beings. In Matthew 5 .19,
Jesus uses the term of those who reflect in actions
the likeness of God. He said, Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons
of God. So it's used in that sense. It is used
of Adam right here, in fact, in the Gospel of
Luke, chapter 3, verse 38, where in the genealogy
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is traced back to
Adam and it says, concerning him, the Son of
God. And it has a particular meaning in that
context. And then, of course, we're used to the
term being used of ourselves by our new birth.
When we had trusted Jesus Christ, we were born
as the children of God. But at the same time
that we were born into God's family, we were
adopted as sons into God's family, according
to Galatians chapter 4 and Romans chapter 8,
so that we are children by birth and are legal
standing, which is the real thought of adoption.
Not the idea that we have today, but when one
adopted a son in that day, it meant to place
that individual in the family as a mature son,
a grown -up son, with the rights and responsibilities
of an heir. And so not only are we born children,
but we are adopted into God's family as His sons,
and therefore we can cry, Abba, Father. We can
speak to God in those... very intimate and personal
and wonderful terms. But the name Son of God
is used in a very unique way when it is used
of Jesus Christ. Again and again, He is referred
to as the Son of God. It has an Old Testament
background. In Psalm 2, David prophesied. And
God was speaking through him, and he said, Thou
art my Son, today have I begotten thee. One of
the messianic prophecies in the book of Psalms.
And so the concept of the Son of God is not just
a New Testament concept, but it's primarily found
in the New Testament. It is not a name that Jesus
used, for he used primarily Son of Man. A name
which emphasizes his humanity, yes, but which
also has the concept of deity with it when it's
traced into the Old Testament where it's rooted.
So those who say that Jesus didn't call himself
the Son of God but the Son of Man and was saying
that he was only a man are wrong. When he referred
to himself as the Son of Man, he referred to
himself as the one who had all the prerogatives
of the Son of Man as recorded in the Old Testament,
including the assistance of angels, etc., etc.
But Jesus, as referred to Himself, did not primarily
use the term Son of God. When we think of the
Son of God, often we think of the occidental
idea of generation. That is, the Son is one that
I have generated, and He is dependent upon me
as my Son. And so when we think of the Son of
God, of Jesus Christ, we think in those terms,
mistakenly so. that he perhaps was generated
by God, or that he is dependent upon God and
inferior to God. Now the Mormons, for example,
teach that. They say that Jesus Christ is the
result of a relationship, a sexual relationship
between God the Father and Mary, and He is the
Son of God in the sense. that he was generated
by God. But that is not what the concept means
to the Semitic mind. To the Oriental, the Semite,
the idea of the son of something means that it
is like the thing spoken of. It's the sameness
as the father in nature. It's equality. When
an Oriental speaks of the son of God, he does
not think of someone who is inferior to God.
but one who is equal with God and who possesses
the same essence as God and one who has the same
nature as God. And that, of course, is the way
that the Bible uses this term, the Son of God.
When the angel said, that holy thing that shall
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God,
Gabriel was not saying from that moment on he
will be the Son of God, but it's simply an announcement
that that thing that is born of her was the Son
of God. That's the meaning of it. It means that
He possesses the same nature as the Father. He
is equal with the Father. It is defined in terms
of oneness with God. And this is very clear from
a number of examples in Jesus' ministry. John
5, verse 18 is one example. If you want to turn
there quickly, I really hadn't planned to do
this, but we will point out one illustration
of this. In John 5, Jesus is involved in conflict
here with the religious leaders of His day. And
in verse 17, But Jesus answered them, My Father
worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews
sought the more to kill Him, because He had not
only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God
was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
The way Jesus had phrased that in verse 17, My
Father worketh. indicated he was claiming a unique
relationship with God. Now, there are some people
today who missed that, but the Jews didn't miss
it in that day. They understood fully what Jesus
was claiming as He calls God, My Father. He was,
in fact, claiming equality with God just as they
claimed here. And John chapter 10, there's another
example of that beginning in verse 33, but we
don't have time to look at it. Nonetheless, when
we speak of Jesus as the Son of God, and when
He spoke of God as His Father, He was not saying,
I am not God, but He is saying, I am equal with
God. It is true, though, that for the purpose
of redemption, that the Son of God subordinated
Himself to God the Father, so that it is true,
as John says, the Father sent the Son. to be
the Savior of the world. That does not mean that
the Son is less than the Father. It simply means
that in order to accomplish redemption, in order
to save you and me, God the Son subordinated
Himself to God the Father. God the Father then
sent the Son into the world that we might be
saved through Him. There's another name that
is used of the Lord Jesus here in Luke chapter
1, and we need to move ahead to that. It's found
toward the end of this chapter. Here we have
the Benedictus, as it is called by Latins, and
I am not a Latin, so I don't call it that, but
it is a prophecy and a prayer. Now, who was Zacharias?
He was the father of whom? John the Baptist.
He prophesied these words in the last part of
chapter 1, and in the midst of that, we come
to verse 76, and thou, child, shall be called
the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go
before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.
And what was the name again of the prophet who
said he would be the voice of the one crying
in the wilderness? Isaiah. His father here is
referring to Isaiah's prophecy. He says, To give
knowledge of salvation unto his people by the
remission of their sins through the tender mercy
of our God, whereby the day spring from on high
hath visited us, to give light... to them that
sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace. The name
I am thinking of is there in verse 78, where
the name for Jesus is found, the Dayspring. The
Dayspring. Now this is one of those names we
don't often hear or think about. Literally, the
word means the first streak of daylight. It is
a poetic term that is used for dawn. And so actually
what Zechariah says here is that he is the dawning
from on high. He has come to give light to those
in darkness and who are in the shadow of death
and so on. The same thought, same word in the
King James Version is found in Job 38 .12 where
God says to Job, Hast thou commanded the morning
since thy days and caused the day spring to know
its place? Well, in that context, it means the
same thing, the dawn. And God challenges Job
and says, can you cause the dawn to come? Well,
here that thought is used of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is this word that is used by Ann Ross' cousin
in the hymn that she wrote called The Sands of
Time Are Sinking. And in that particular hymn,
one verse says, The sands of time are sinking,
the dawn of heaven breaks. The summer morn I've
sighed for, the fair sweet morn awakes. Dark,
dark hath been the midnight, but day spring is
at hand, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's
land. She picked up on that particular name for
Jesus and used it in that psalm. It is this name
that ties together with what Peter says, though
it's not precisely the same language in the original,
when in 2 Peter 1, he refers to the Lord Jesus
Christ as the dawn of prophecy. Notice what he
says in 2 Peter 1. He says, We have a more sure
word of prophecy, verse 19, unto which ye do
well that ye take heed. as unto a light that
shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts. What is Peter
saying in that verse and those verses surrounding?
Well, he's saying that they had had the experience
of the transfiguration. They knew who Jesus was
because, he says, we were with Him in the holy
mount when He was glorified before our eyes.
He says we have a more sure word, the word of
prophecy from the Old Testament. And he refers
there to the prophets as though they were the
lamps during the dark night. But he says now
the day star is dawning in your hearts. And he's
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Has the day
star arisen in your heart? It was a thrill to
sit down after church this morning and talk to
a lady who has been coming here for some time.
who was just ready and prepared, and she trusted
the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior. The day
star rose in her heart. Have you had that experience
in your life? I know that many of you have, but
maybe someone here tonight has not had that illumination
that comes when Jesus Christ comes into the life.
Just as Zechariah said to the people of that
day, to the Israelites, he would say to us, he
will give you light for your darkness. and for
you who sit in the shadow of death, and he will
guide your feet to the way of peace. There will
be no peace in this world, whether it be in Poland,
in the Middle East, or in the cities of America,
until the day star, Jesus Christ, comes to reign
in this world with truth and justice. There is
no peace apart from the Prince of Peace. And
although we cannot know that peace in the world
right now, we can know it in our hearts. And
I hope that you have experienced that. If you
haven't, you surely may tonight by trusting Him.
Now turn to chapter 2 of Luke, and we see another
of the names given to Jesus at Christmastime,
verse 11 of Luke chapter 2. We read this this
morning. And we again here are quoting an angel
who says to the shepherds, verse 10, Fear not,
for behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Savior.
There are a few names given to the Lord Jesus
Christ that prick the emotions of the believer
like this particular name, the Savior. It is
a name which in the Old Testament is applied
to Jehovah in a number of places. For example,
in Psalm 106, verse 21, the writer says, they,
the Israelites, forgot God their Savior. In Isaiah
43, in verse 11, he says, I even I am the Lord,
and beside me there is no Savior. is not applied
to the Messiah in the Old Testament, and yet
the Messiah is said to bring salvation there,
and it is a name that is surely given to the
Messiah in the New Testament. In fact, the very
name Jesus brings with it this concept of Savior,
doesn't it? For His name means Jehovah is salvation.
In Matthew, it says, Thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their
sins. This particular word, unlike Son of God,
is never applied to a mere man. It is used some
24 times in the New Testament, the majority of
those times in the last part of the New Testament,
not in the Gospels, but it is occasionally, as
in this verse, used in the Gospels referring
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why is that? Well,
the Gospels record Jesus being primarily with
the Jews, the people he came to and who rejected
him. And their concept of him was that of Christ
or Messiah, which we'll talk about in a moment.
But as the Gospel went into the Gentile world
primarily, they needed another name besides Messiah
because Messiah to them meant nothing. And so
they adopted this name. and emphasized this name,
Savior. They used this name, Soter, in their
language, of their own gods. But they used this
name, they elevated this name in a particular
sense once they came to trust Christ and called
Him the Savior. And of course, if Jesus Christ
is the Savior, it implies that there's a need
for one. There's a need for one. And each of
us needs. the Savior ourselves. Now in this verse
that we're looking at, Luke 2, verse 11, there
is the fourth and the final name that we'll look
at tonight, and that is the name Christ. Undo
you is born this day in the city of David a Savior
who is Christ the Lord. The name Christ is the
official name given to the Lord Jesus. It is
the most popular of the designations given to
him. The name Christ is the Greek name for the
Hebrew word Messiah. They both mean the same
thing, the anointed one, the one who is anointed.
That concept of anointing is strange to us today
because we do not use that particular method
to inaugurate people into office. When the president,
for example, is put into office, a Bible normally
is put out there and he puts his hand on it and
he swears allegiance to the Constitution and
promises to defend it and to protect the American
people and so on. And that's the way we put him
into office. In the ancient days of Israel, they
did not use that particular method. They anointed
their leaders, which usually involved the pouring
of oil over their head. Sometimes this was done
in private. as was the case when David was anointed
by Samuel. At other times it was done in public
with a great deal of fanfare and flair. There
are three offices in the Old Testament that are
associated with the concept of anointing, which
was the official inauguration into the office.
And those three offices are the prophet, the
priest, and the king. Those three offices were
entered into on many occasions with the anointing.
For example, the prophet Elijah was told to go
back on his journey from Mount Horeb, where he
had run from Jezebel, and to anoint Elisha to
be prophet in his stead. And there was another
part of his command there, his commission. another
prophet who would follow him. Elisha then followed
Elijah officially in that office. In Leviticus
chapter 4, verse 3, and in numerous other occasions,
there were priests who were anointed into their
offices. And then we have mentioned David as
an example of a king who was anointed. Jesus
Christ is the anointed one of God. He is anointed
by God to fulfill all three offices. that we
have just spoken about. He is the Messiah, the
anointed one to be the prophet who reveals God.
He is the one who is anointed to be the priest.
Forever he is a high priest after the order of
Melchizedek. He is anointed by God to be the
king and will rule and reign over an everlasting
kingdom. As Dr. Merrill Unger has put it, in
a preeminent and altogether unique sense, He
is the anointed of God. He fulfills all three
offices in Himself. When the Jewish Messiah came
to His people, they missed Him. Why did they
miss Him? Well, they misunderstood the real nature
of His coming, it can be said. It can also be
said that they were spiritually blind because
of disobedience. That was the root of it. But
part of it was, too, that they were emphasizing
the kingship of the Messiah and overlooked the
other two aspects of prophet and priest. And
when Jesus did not fulfill what they expected
him to be as the kingly Messiah, they turned
on him and rejected him. We understand Jesus
Christ today to be all three offices. He is the
prophet in the sense that in the past, God has
spoken to us by the prophets. In these last days,
He has spoken unto us by His Son. He has fulfilled
the revelation of Himself in the Son, the anointed
prophet. He is the priest. And the amazing thing
about Him is that He is not only the high priest,
but He was also the sacrifice. that was offered.
No priest could be both. But he, because he died
as the sacrifice and was raised again, can now
serve also as the great high priest. And then
he is the king who will come someday to reign
and rule on the earth, but who now we trust reigns
and rules in the hearts of each of us who claims
to be his. We are saved today through the Messiah
of Israel. Unless we should overlook the Jews
and discount them because of their blindness
and turning against their Messiah, let us remember
what Paul says in Romans, that we should be compassionate
toward them because it is through their being
set aside that we have been grafted in. Those
of us who are a wild tree, we have been grafted
into that olive tree. We are a part of God's
elect, God's family. And someday... Israel, too,
will be brought back and put into that tree.
And what a great day that will be for them. It
will be the consummation of God's purposes. Those
are some of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I hope as we think about them that we come
to a more full appreciation of who He is. His
names reveal Him to us. They enable us to worship
Him more intelligently in each of His roles.
He's the Savior. He's the Christ. He's the Dayspring.
He is the only begotten, the one of a kind, the
unique Son of God. Let's worship Him in each
of those offices. Now let's pray. Father in Heaven,
in this brief Bible study tonight, we have learned
some things about Jesus, and they cause our hearts
to respond with thanks and with fresh adoration,
I trust. for all that you've accomplished in
the Son of God. We worship you, our Lord. We
worship you in each of the offices that you fulfill,
and we love you. In your name we pray, amen.
I'd like for us to close by singing a song that
is in our hymnal. It's not in those hymnals.
It's number 201. I don't suppose this is really
a Christmas song. But it's one that expresses
the thought of Christmas down from His glory.
Ever -living story, my God and Savior came, and
Jesus was His name. Let's sing together a verse
or two of number 201 and rejoice in the truth
that we are privileged to sing in this song.
And if tonight there is some spiritual decision
in your life that weighs heavy upon your heart,
May we encourage you to come as we sing. Come
here to the front. I'll be standing down here.
I would love to shake your hand and to pray with
you, to help you. Let's stand as we sing together.
Notice the words there in the third verse. Without
reluctance, flesh and blood his substance. He
took the form of man, revealed the hidden plan.
Oh, glorious mystery. Sacrifice of Calvary. And
now I know he is the great I Am. Let's sing,
though, the second verse as we close our service
tonight. Amen. Well, thank you for being here
tonight. I hope that you'll drive carefully going
home. God bless you. If we don't see you before
Christmas, I hope that you will have a joyous
and blessed celebration of our Lord's coming
with your loved ones. Now let's bow together
in prayer. Father, we do love you tonight. Some
of the phrases of this song speak to us and move
us. We lift those phrases to you as worship and
adoration. And now as we depart from here, we
ask your blessing upon our journeys to our homes.
We pray for safety. But may the warmth of this
Lord's Day, the fellowship that we've enjoyed
with one another, linger with us. And may our
hearts be truly in awe this Christmas season
as we consider all that's involved. in this celebration
of the Savior's coming. And it's in His name
that we pray and commit ourselves to you. Amen.