Joy to the World

If you were to ask anyone on the street what is the most joyful time of the year? Without any question, it would be unanimous that Christmas is the most joyful time of the year. One of the carols you will hear everywhere you go is one entitled, 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.'

In 1719 Isaac Watts wrote a hymn that came to be entitled, 'Joy to the World.' Now the interesting thing about this song is, the only stanza that is related to Christmas and the birth of Jesus, is the first one that announces ''the Lord is come.'' There is no mention of Mary and Joseph, the angels, the Shepherds, the manger, or the Wise Men. Yet, it is one of our most beloved Christmas carols because it really captures the essence of Christmas, which is joy.

Watts was right when he titled his carol, “Joy to the World'', for Christmas is not just joy to America--it is not a national joy. It is not joy to the Caucasian--it is not a racial joy. It is not joy to the West-- it is not a cultural joy. It is not joy to the rich--it is not financial joy. It is not joy to the educated--it is not intellectual joy. It is not joy to the happy--it is not emotional joy. It is not joy to the healthy--it is not physical joy. It is joy to the world. It is universal joy.

Even the angel in v.10 said, 'I bring you good tidings of great joy.' The word for good tidings is the Greek word that gives us the word evangelism, which means, ''to bring good news.'' We have a clue as to what this good news is all about in v.11.

There is something unique in v.11 that you do not want to miss. Nowhere else in all of the Bible will you find the three words Savior, Christ, and Lord together in one verse. This is the only time in all of Scripture where these three words are brought together. Those words, along with the word ‘Baby'' in v.12, reveal to us why Christmas truly is a time of joy to the world.

Christmas Is the Joy of the Birth of a Son

Now, births do get a lot of attention from the world. Births are a common everyday thing. Most people are more concerned about the stock market, taxes, sickness, war, the economy, than they are about babies being born. But every year we should give more thought to just who is born.

The year 1809 was a year in which the world was affected by several significant people, who were born in 1809.

For example: In the year 1809 the world was focused on a man by the name of Napoleon. For Napoleon looked like the first person since Alexander the Great who might just conquer the entire world.

In 1809 William Gladstone was born. He was destined to become the greatest Prime Minister that England ever produced.

In 1809 Alfred Lord Tennyson was born. He would one day powerfully affect the literary world in an unbelievable way.

In 1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born, and not far away Edgar Allan Poe, two of the great novelists in history.

In 1809 Charles Darwin was born, a man who would grow to live in infamy – although very misguided in his theory of evolution.

In 1809, in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born.

The history of the two greatest nations in the world at that time, England and America, was shaped in tiny cradles.

But long before these notable people were born - Two thousand years ago - one baby was born who would shape the destiny of the entire world – not just for the time in which He lived, but for eternity.

The Scriptures spoke of His birth saying: 'And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.'

Now what is different with this birth? Remember this was not the birth of an ordinary son, but this was the birth of the Son of God. Yet notice what the shepherds were told to look for.

The shepherds were not to look for a king on a throne, nor an angel on a cloud, but a baby in a manger – in a cattle barn.

They were not told to go to a palace, nor to a mansion, but to a stable.

Would they find him surrounded by servants? No, he would be surrounded by sheep.

Would they find him lying on a beautiful bed? No, he would be lying in an animal feeding trough.

Would he be living in the palace of a king? No, his first home would be the stable with the animals. – the cows, the sheep – the goats.

Would he be wrapped in a velvet comforter? No, he would be wrapped in swaddling clothes, common ordinary rags.

More amazingly, he was a real baby. This was not just a show. The Lord Jesus was not faking it.

Like other babies, he didn't understand words. He needed his diaper changed, he needed to be fed, he needed to be washed, he needed to be cared for just like any other baby.

Think about this. Let this sink into your heart:

God, in the flesh, had to learn how to talk, how to walk, how to feed himself.

Where ordinary passersby would have seen just another baby, what Mary, his mother, saw a gift from God to carry out His own purposes.

One poet wrote:

“They all were looking for a King to slay their foes and lift them high; But He came as a little baby.”

Another poet wrote these words:

“A baby's hands in Bethlehem were small and softly curled; But held within their dimpled grasp the hope of all the world.”

There is a reason the Lord Jesus came in human flesh, why He came as the heavenly son of an earthly mother.

He came to be one of us so that we might know this: not only can He raise us up to his level, but He can get down on ours.

When Jesus Christ came in His humanity, He was like us in every way except that He had no sin.

When a chord is struck in the weakness of our heart, it resonates in His heart.

There is no note of grief, sorrow, heartache, pain, or suffering that can be struck on the instrument of our life that does not resound in His life as well.

That's why there is joy to the world because God has come as one of us, and He came to be like us so that He might change us to be like Him.

II. Christmas Is the Joy of The Blessing of a Savior.

Now the angel said to the shepherds in v.10 that they were not to be afraid, 'for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy.'

But why was this news so good? Well, the angel explains in v.11,

'For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior.'

In the Old Testament the word Savior describes a delivery from one's enemies.

Interestingly, in the Old Testament the Messiah was never called Savior. The word refers always to God who delivers his people from defeat, disease, and death.

In fact, the word of God makes it plain that the title Savior belongs to God, and God alone.

1. God Himself said in Isaiah. 43:11, ''I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior.''

2. He said again in Isaiah 49:26, 'All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer.

3. You will never understand the meaning of Christmas, nor the real joy of Christmas until you get into your heart that Christmas is the coming of a Savior.

4. The title Savior, the noun salvation, and the verb to save, are found in every book in the New Testament. The origin of these words is the Latin salvare, which means to make safe or secure. It means to deliver from the penalty and the power of sin.

5. The Apostle John said, 'And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.' (1 Jn. 4:14)

Jesus Christ came into this world to be our Savior.

In fact, before He was born, the angel of the Lord said to Mary, ''You shall call His name Jesus, (why?) for He will save His people from their sins.'' (Mt. 1:21)

The name – “Jesus” is the Greek form of the Hebrew name “Joshua” which means Savior.

6. If you think about it, you will realize that the name, Savior, not only tells us who He is, but what we are.

Because the only people who need a Savior are sinners. Someone – unknown to us once put it this way:

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness, So God sent us a Savior.

But there's one other thing that must be added.

A Savior cannot be only human = He must be both human and divine.

First of all, he must be human so that he can die for our sin, and therefore, be a Savior.

But He also must be divine so he won't die in His own sin, or else He cannot be the Savior.

That is exactly who Jesus was, both man and God --- Divine and Sinless.

He was Man so that He could die for our sin, but God so he would not die in sin.

(2 Cor. 5:21)

 ''For He made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.''

Sixteen-year-old Anissa Ayala was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. In such cases, the patient usually dies within five years unless he or she receives a bone marrow transplant.

Abe and Mary Ayala, the parents, began a nationwide search for a donor whose marrow would be a close match for Anissa's. Though they searched long and hard, no suitable donor was found. But this mother and father did not passively accept their daughter's fate. They knew from their doctors that the best hope for Anissa lay in a marrow transplant from a sibling. But the marrow of her only sibling, a brother, Airon, was incompatible. She needed a sibling, but she had no other sibling.

So, Abe and Mary stepped out in faith. Another sibling was needed.

Abe was surgically unable to father a child. Mary was 43 years old – past the normal childbearing years, so the chance of pregnancy was slim. Even if she did, the odds were only one-in-four that the baby's bone marrow would match her sister’s bone marrow. They were now three years from the initial diagnosis.

They believed for a miracle. God provided.

In April 1990, Mary bore a daughter by the name of Marissa. Fetal stem cells were extracted from the umbilical cord and frozen for use, along with the marrow which was determined miraculously to be compatible. But then they had to wait for the baby to grow old enough and strong enough to donate the marrow safely, even while her older sister's life clock was ticking.

Finally, after 14 months, the moment came. Baby Marissa Ayala lay on an operating table, a surgeon inserted a one-inch-long needle into her hip and began to withdraw, not just ordinary bone marrow, but the stuff of resurrection, the ingredients of life.

Doctors rated the chance of success for this daughter at 70%.

Amazingly, miracle after miracle had to take place for that life to be born, and for that marrow to be compatible. And it was successful.

But there are some big differences between that couple’s desire to have a child, and the child whose birth we celebrate today.

Marissa was born to live; Jesus was born to die.

Her marrow may not have been compatible.

Jesus' blood is guaranteed to remove from us the cancer of our sin.

That is why there is joy to the world at Christmastime because of the blessing of a Savior.

III. Christmas Is Joy Because Of the Beauty of a Sovereign – a King

1. This little baby lying in a manger was not just the Savior, but he was also the Lord.

2. The title Lord is used over 9,000 times in the Old Testament, and over 6,000 of those times it is used for the name Yahweh, or what is more commonly referred to as Jehovah.

This is the incredible news. Jesus, the little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, born in a stable, was not just Christ the Messiah of the Jews, nor was He just Jesus, the Savior of the world, but He is the Lord of the universe.

3. What is really heart breaking at Christmas is to see how this world tries to convince both children and adults that the reason why Christmas is such a time of joy and mirth and celebration, is because of someone who doesn't even exist--they call him Santa Claus.

4. Again, that is heart breaking.   If Santa Claus is the best that this world can produce as the reason why we ought to celebrate Christmas, then quite frankly we ought to just forget about the day as a holiday.

4. Someone has listed some differences between the value of Santa - verses the value of Jesus Christ.

• Santa, in the story books, lives at the North Pole...JESUS is everywhere.

  
  

• Santa rides in a sleigh...JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

• Santa comes but once a year...JESUS is an ever-present help.

• Santa fills your stockings with goodies...JESUS supplies all of your needs.

• Santa comes down your chimney uninvited...JESUS stands at the door of your heart and knocks and enters when you say, ''Come in.''

• You have to wait in line to see Santa...JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

• Santa lets you sit on his lap...JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

• Santa doesn't know your name--all he can say is ''Hi, little boy, Hi, little girl''...JESUS knew our name even before we knew our name.

• Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly...JESUS has a heart full of love.

• All Santa can do is ''Ho, Ho, Ho''...JESUS offers health, help, and hope.

•  Santa says, ''You better not cry''...JESUS says, ''Cast all your cares on Me, for I care for you.''

• Santa's little helpers make toys...JESUS makes new life, mends broken and wounded hearts, repairs broken homes, and builds mansions in heaven.

• Santa may make you laugh...But JESUS gives you everlasting joy.

• Santa puts gifts under your tree...JESUS became our gift and died on a tree.

There really is no comparison. Christmas is not about Santa; it's about a Savior.

It's not about gifts, it's about grace. Jesus will always be the reason for the season because He is Lord.

 Now there are some practical lessons we can learn from this beautiful Christmas story and this Christmas carol.

Jesus is a Son, therefore we can relate to Him, because He's just like us in the flesh --- He is family.

Jesus is a Savior, therefore we can respond to Him even though we are sinners, because He will accept us just the way we are, and work with us so that we don’t stay the way we are.

Jesus is a Sovereign, and that's how we must receive Him, for He wants to take control of our lives and guide us on earth and take us to heaven.

There is no way we can improve on that first Christmas. The best news you will ever hear during Christmas is not ‘Santa Claus is coming to town.'

The best news you will ever hear at Christmas is: ‘The Lord has come.' That He is why there is joy in the world.”