Most of us have those favorite movies we like to watch at Christmas, or those favorite stories we like to tell, or those songs we like to sing. One of my favorite modern Christmas songs is “How Many Kings” by a band named Downhere. The song is from the perceptive of the Magi, who themselves are kingly, and they "follow the star to a place unexpected.” They “bring [their] gifts for the newborn Savior,” and ask the question, “is this who we’ve waited for?” But the chorus brings to the surface lordship and the lengths kings and great people will go for their subjects. The Chorus reads,
“How many kings step down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that is torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Only one did that for me”
The reality is, the significance of the Christmas story, of God the Son stepping down from his throne, self-restricting himself in his creation’s flesh (John 1), to then allow his creation to crucify him, so that he might rise from the dead to provide the way to eternal life, cannot be underscored enough, because there is no equivalent to such an act. No equivalent in religion, mythology, philosophy, science, or history. The reason is, is because no one, god or man, restricts their power to become a lowly creature or commoner for the purpose of raising up the very object of their destruction to themselves, all while doing it while the object is still an enemy.
Yet the Creator of the world does this, and the answer to the songs questions of, “how many kings…how many lords, how many greats…how many gods…how many fathers…” would do such a thing, is one, Jesus. And in response to this, what should our response be? The glorifying of the Creator who did these things.
And it’s this idea of giving praise and honor to God for all he is and all he does, that brings us back to our third week in our Carol of Christmas series where we’re going back to a blink and you’ll miss it prophetic word in the book of Numbers, chapter 24 verse 17. And as we open up to Numbers 24:17, let’s look back at where we are in our series.
In our first week, we talked about how the first ray of hope in the Scriptures is spoken to the serpent. God speaks of the offspring of the woman having hostility with the serpent, until one day the offspring will overcome that serpent. We then followed that offspring language through the Old Testament to the New, where we saw that this offspring was Jesus. It was through the cross that the serpent struck at the offspring, but Jesus overcame the cross through his resurrection. The final nail in the serpent’s coffin, will eventually come at the time when Jesus returns. It will be then that the prophecy of that first hope will come to it’s fulfillment. Until that day, we are first to accept Jesus’ work on the cross, and then live our lives in submission to him.
In our second week, we talked about how the offspring will establish a kingdom. But unlike the kingdoms of this world that are established through power, Jesus’ kingdom marches on the Gospel work of his cross and resurrection, and on the transformation that occurs in the lives of those who put their trust in him. That kingdom will then come to it’s fulfillment at Jesus’ return and will endure for eternity.
With those two carol’s of Christmas in mind, let’s read together from Numbers 24:17. “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.”
Last week we talked about Jesus being the King and how he shoulders the weight of that kingdom. This kingdom idea, is here in this verse as well. The scepter which will rise out of Israel is speaking of a king’s authority to rule their kingdom. And since we covered that last week, we’re actually looking to another part of the verse, that’s a blink and you’ll miss it moment. With the rising of a scepter, a star rises too.
The star reflects the worship of creation. Psalm 19:1-6 reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. 4 Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, 5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. 6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”
The worship of creation to it’s Creator, is that as it does the things that God created it to perform, it brings glory and honor to him. The same could be said of the sculptor, who brings a figure out of the stone. Or the painter who takes the colors and creates a portrait. Or the architect who designs the building, and the contractor who brings it from page to the physical. When these artists are done, their work speaks to how gifted they are, and they are praised for that giftedness. Creation declares the work of God’s hand in that he charts the course of the stars and planets. It is God who sets the lives of animals and people. It is God who paints the morning sunrise and it’s setting over the horizon. When the landscape or the newborn takes our breath away, we are experiencing the Artist of creation’s work. And for the offspring that would come from Eve, it would be a star that would point to his arrival. That is the past of Christmas, a star which points to it’s Creator’s arrival.
From the past of the Christmas story, to it’s event, we read of this star that arises in Matthew 2:1-2, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”
These wise men understood the star of Numbers to not be simply a metaphor, but a true physical star. And it guided them to Jerusalem where they began to look for the King of the Jews. What’s interesting in this passages is that they mention that their desire is to worship this king. Prophetically we know the offspring must be God come down, we’ve looked at that for the last two weeks, but through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew picks up on this detail and relays events in Jesus’ life that bring this worship up.
Worship happens nine times in the Gospel of Matthew. First it’s the magi who desire to rightly worship the king. The next time worship is spoken about it’s by Herod, who says he wants to worship, but in fact is desiring to kill his perceived usurper. Following this, the devil calls Jesus to worship him, to which Jesus makes the statement that only God is worthy of worship. From here on out, worship is given to Jesus four out of the five remaining times, with the one time it’s not being directed at Jesus, is when Jesus tells the religious people that they worship in vain.
But it’s not just Matthew. In the Gospel of Luke, as Jesus approaches Jerusalem on what is called the triumphal entry, people are praising God for Jesus. This prompts the religious leaders to call on Jesus to stop them. We get Jesus’ response in Luke 19:40, “He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.’” Again, letting us know that creation glorifies God, and will do so even if humanity is silent.
This is where we are right now. We are in the time of the Christmas event, where we must cry out in worship of the God who came to take on human flesh, who died upon a cross to set people free from sin, and who was raised from the dead ushering in eternal life for all those who would accept it. But there’s a future to the Christmas event too.
We get this future event that deals with how creation will look in Revelation 21:1, and 22-23 where we read, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more…22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
In the future when Jesus returns, God is going to radically change how creation works. It’s truly inconceivable for us to fully grasp what lies ahead in the new creation. A new earth and a new heaven will be created; the seas as we know them will be gone. We’re told that the sun and the moon as we know them will no longer be needed, because God himself will be the light by which we live. How exactly will that look? Will there be stars or will there be a completely new set of cosmological laws? Will we be able to fully explore the new universe that God will create? Will we be fellow artists as he redesigns his creation?
However God determines to recreate, what we do know is that we will be in unison with God’s creation in worshiping the King of kings. And what a new song that will be, because right now creation sits groaning for the chance to let loose it’s full song of worship. As Paul states in Romans 8:19-22, "19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
So until that day when the new creation comes, we must be the voice that worships the King. We must live the lives that point to his redeeming work. Let us take our rightful place as the choir of God and proclaim his great name to the nations. This is why I’ll say, let us sing so great that the angels hush to enjoy our song to the Lord. Because I know how great it is to listen to the praise of God’s people back to their Savior. There are times when I just close my eyes and listen as this congregation sings, because it is the sound that echoes throughout God’s creation wrapped up in a moment of time.
My challenge for you this week is to find a Christmas song that glorifies God. Take time and read through the lyrics, understand the truth that they speak about God. Then once you’re done, sing the song, louder than you have ever done before, as if you have a solo for the choir of heaven and God’s eagerly anticipating your part as he sits in his front row seat.
Let us sing and point to the Lord this Christmas , as every aspect of creation desires too. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment