Silent Night, Holy Knight

Recently I read (in Chris Seay’s ‘The Gospel AccordingTo Jesus’) that a very high percentage of people today do not know and understand what the ‘Gospel’ truly is. It means ‘Good News’, but when you ask someone what it means you usually get a long and boring answer from a person with a bummed out look on their face. Many times people will begin to describe it using words like, ‘salvation’ and ‘heaven’… both of which are results of the Gospel, but not really definitions of what the Gospel is.

I see the ‘Gospel’ as basically the story of a ‘Rescue Mission’ - Much like the old legends of a damsel in distress and her white knight riding in to rescue her, the Gospel is the true story of humanity… and it’s need for a Savior to rescue it.

But this story, as we’ve been discussing recently, didn’t happen as everyone was expecting. The ‘Rescuer’… the ‘Knight in shining armor’… came in a way that was a complete surprise. It still catches most people by surprise… for to most people the story of Jesus Christ is seen as simply that… only a ‘story’; One that is placed on an equal shelf of other fantastical stories such as; Santa Clause, Robin Hood, or Lancelot. Yet, to many others, the story is absolutely true… and represents the very anchor of our lives.

But how is His story a rescue?

For that answer, let’s look a little closer at one part of the Christmas story we haven’t looked at yet.

At this time of year, we often remind ourselves of His humble beginnings and the impact of His coming. We read the familiar story that includes angels, a virgin girl, a surprised fiancé, an evil king, lowly shepherds, donkeys, camels and some wise men called ‘magi’… with incredibly expensive gifts of gold, rare special oils and fragrant spices.

It’s those wise men, the magi, and their special gifts that I want to look at for a moment…

Matthew 2:1-2

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Matthew 2:9-11

“After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure. Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

To describe all the reasons these wise men, also called ‘three kings’, traveled so great a distance would mean that I’d be reading you massive amounts of Old Testament Scripture, prophesies that these men knew and believed and trusted to be pointing them to this particular location, at this particular time, to see this particular baby (Micah 5:2-4, 1 Chronicles 17:10b-14, Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72: 4-5 & 8-15, Numbers 24:17-18). Suffice it to say, they BELIEVED this child to be the anointed King sent from the one, true, Almighty God! And they brought this G0d-King extremely expensive gifts, because in those days when a powerful king arises in a country, other kings would often give him gifts to get on his good side, form alliances and basically just show friendliness toward that nation. (David and Solomon, Israel's most powerful kings, formed many alliances with the nations around them, and we have recorded where expensive gifts would be exchanged - 1 Kings 10:1-2, 10).

To travel as far as they did, and to give the precious gifts that they gave, was a major sacrifice.

It was an act of worship… an act of recognizing the superiority of the One they were giving their sacrificial gifts to. But it’s important to understand that to them… the sacrifice was TOTALLY WORTH IT… because it would mean that they would be in “good relationship” with this new King.

All throughout the Bible we read about that word ‘sacrifice’ a lot…especially as it relates to worship.

There is probably nothing in the Bible so perplexing to modern Christians as the sacrifices of the Old Testament (Leviticus). We struggle with why God instituted a form of worship that was so bloody.

The idea of sacrifice was not something that first originated in the Bible - it was familiar throughout the ancient world. God often spoke to His people in customs that they already understood, but then modified them to say something different about Himself.  Polytheists in the ancient near east believed that by making idols, they were making a bodily form for their god to inhabit, and when they put them in temples, they were giving them a home to live in. By furnishing the god's home lavishly and bringing them the finest of foods as sacrifices, the god could be petitioned for favors.

The ancients also believed that the world was the property of the gods, and since the gods controlled all fertility, a person must always offer some of the harvest back to them. A planted field was sacred and off-limits until its first crops were given to the god, and all firstborn animals were the property of the gods too. If a person killed an animal, he was obligated to give an offering from the animal to pay the gods for its life. Because a person's life depended on fertility of the soil and of animals, it was imperative to honor the gods in this way.

When God gave His people instructions for worship, He used these cultural ideas to teach them about Himself. Because God is the true Creator of the universe, and the "earth is the Lord's, and everything in it" (Ex. 9:29, Ps. 24:1) it was appropriate that the Israelites brought their harvest offerings to Him. He was the One Who gave their animals and fields fertility, not the idols that their neighbors worshipped.

The overall idea of sacrifices were that they were intended for drawing near to God. God wanted to dwell among His people. When we read the Christmas story, we focus on the idea that in Jesus Christ, God came to dwell with us, and we see it as a miracle that for a short time God would come so close to lowly humanity. But if we examine the rest of the Scriptures, it becomes evident that this has been God's goal from the very beginning, and will finally be reached in Revelation.

When God first made man and woman, they dwelled with Him in the Garden of Eden; after they sinned, they were cast out of God's presence. This is the fundamental consequence of sin - the breach of intimacy with God. But God immediately began to repair the breach by making a covenant with Abraham, and later with Israel. When the covenant with Israel was first made and before it was broken, seventy elders could enter God's presence and not suffer harm (Exodus 24:9-14). God had begun to mend the relationship between mankind and Himself, so that a few people could enter His presence once again, even if only temporarily.

God then gave the Israelites instructions to make a tabernacle, saying, “They are to make a sanctuary for Me so that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8). Interestingly, His goal is not to dwell in it, but to dwell among them. His goal was to have intimacy with His people, for them to live in His presence. This idea is literally all throughout the Bible… skip to the end:

Revelation. 21:3-4

“Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away.”

An important part of the sacrifice was its costliness to the worshipper. Before money had been invented, animals and crops were the "currency" of the world, and each animal would have been very expensive. Offerings that could be obtained with little expense or effort, like fish or game caught from the wild, were not used as sacrifices. Instead, animals that a person raised himself or that were purchased were required. As King David said, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” (2 Sam. 24:24)

Jesus also pointed this out when He said that the widow's mite was worth far more to God than the larger offerings of the wealthy donor, because her gift was a real sacrifice - all that she had to live on (Mark 12:43).

To ancient people it was very meaningful to feel that they had taken something precious of theirs and given it to God and that He had accepted it. They felt that they had come close to God, and that He would respond to the needs they brought to Him. Today we pretty much define ‘worship’ as prayer and singing, but an ancient person likely would have felt that this was a little less genuine - like saying that you loved someone, rather than showing your love for them. Certainly at some points the system of offering animal and grain sacrifice was abused, but for thousands of years, people expressed their love for God by taking the very best things they had and offering them up to Him.

Even though we don’t give God these types of sacrifices today, the idea of love being expressed through sacrifice is still universally understood. Many remember the classic short story, 

The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry. 

A young couple was nearly penniless, but had two prized possessions: the husband's pocket watch that had been his father's and grandfather's, and the wife's long, beautiful hair. At Christmas each one wanted to give the other a gift, so the woman secretly cut off her hair and sold it to a wig maker, and bought her husband a gold chain for the watch. The same day, the man secretly sold his watch to buy an expensive set of combs for her hair.

The beauty of the story is in the fact that each was willing to sacrifice their most prized possession for the other. We all can instinctively feel the depth of the love they had for each other.

The truth is, most people won’t do something sacrificial for someone else… unless they deeply love them. This is the most awesome part of the Gospel; that Jesus suffered and died for us, without us doing anything to deserve it.  As Paul said,

Romans 5:7-8

“For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”

For those of us who believe that Jesus is the Rescuer that we all needed, this is something we can cling to during times of suffering, when it seems that God might not really care about us.

You see, knowing that God was willing to suffer for us decides the matter once and for all:

God loves us deeply and His great love for us can never be shaken, He proved it… because He was willing to die for us at our very worst.

It is interesting to me that throughout history when humans desired to come near to God,

they sacrificed their very finest things to show Him their love, and when God desired to draw near to humans, He sacrificed His precious Son!

That ‘sacrifice’ was the rescue… because it made a way for you and I to be forgiven. And that's awesome, not because it keeps us out of Hell... it's awesome because being forgiven means that we can now enter into God's presence... draw near to Him... dwell with Him!

This CHRISTMAS…

May you and I see Jesus as the Rescuer… the Holy Knight… the Savior of the world.

May we see that God has always had a goal, and that is to be in relationship with people.

May we understand that on that “silent night” in Bethlehem, God accomplished that goal. In Jesus, God walked, talked, laughed and cried with His people, and showed His great love for them. Ultimately, His dying for people’s sins not only provided forgiveness, but has opened the door for them to live forever in His presence. 

You see, I said earlier that most people don’t really know what the Gospel is. Well, that’s it…

It’s two-fold:

The first part is that we’ve been rescued from our sin, because He was born… to die.

The second part is that we can draw near to Almighty God and live forever in His presence… because He didn’t stay dead… He lives!

In light of His love for us and the great Sacrifice He made to prove it…

May you and I offer up a meaningful sacrifice too. Not just “thanks God, we love You too”… but offering something that costs us… something that really shows the depths of our love for Him… something that shows we really want to be near to Him too.

What would that look like for you this Christmas?

What sacrifice could you bring… that would be fit for a King?