December 26, 2004 Isaiah 63:7-9
I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us - yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses. He said, "Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me"; and he became their Savior in all their distress. Not by messenger or angel - his own presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Have you ever had something like this happen?
Beep, beep beep - ring, ring. “Hello, yes, I need to talk to someone about getting a repair on my TV.”
“One moment, please.”
Several minutes later. “Hello?”
“Yes, I need to talk to someone about getting a repair on my TV.”
“What’s the matter with it?”
“The picture just went out.”
“One moment, please, I’ll have to forward you to repairs.”
“I thought I was talking to repairs.”
“You are sir, but you need to go to picture repairs.”
Several minutes later. “Hello?”
“Yes, I need to get my TV repaired.”
“What’s wrong with it?
“The picture went out.”
“What kind of a TV do you have?”
“Rear projection.
“I’ll have to forward you to projection TV repairs.”
So the story goes for the next fifteen minutes. There is nothing more frustrating than getting forwarded - especially when you’re trying to resolve an issue or a problem with something you’ve recently purchased. Inevitably you end up getting forward to the person who has the clout to DO something about your problem - if they ever diagnose what exactly your problem is. Most of the time it’s just a lot easier if you just put your foot down and say, “Can I talk to a manager, please?” Otherwise you just won’t get anywhere.
When it comes to our “problem” of sin and hell, this can’t be micro-managed or forwarded to fifteen different departments. It has to go straight to the top. In order to go straight to the top, to get to the “Manager”, we have to start out at the bottom - in a Manger. This Manager we are talking about was not someone who just luckily fell into the position because His Daddy did all the work. He was part of the Family, but He was also specially chosen and born to be at the top - to be the One to take care of our problem of sin. He started at the lowest position our world knows - as a baby. He was born in the filthiest place we could imagine - in a cattle stall. In spite of these “weaknesses”, this Baby became our Savior. On this first Sunday after Christmas we will see that -
The Manager is in the Manger
I. He has to do the work of salvation
This part of Isaiah seems to be a representative prayer of the people of Israel. The book of Isaiah is written during several different periods in their history. The first 39 chapters call down God’s judgment on the Israelites in preparation for the Babylonian Captivity. The last 27 chapters give comfort to a people who were then suffering the results of their sin. They would be in a 70 year captivity - without a temple - without a home - in a strange land far from home - called Babylon - as conquered slaves. At this point then - in the sixty third chapter of Isaiah, the people seem to be broken in spirit - realizing the effects of their sin. How would they survive? What would they do? They would need help - not from Assyria or Egypt - but Someone more powerful.
With this in mind, in the last part of this text, the Israelites remembered how they were delivered from impossible circumstances in the past. Not by messenger or angel - his own presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. This is, undoubtedly, a reference back to the time of Moses. As he was about to lead the Israelites - approximately two million people - across the desert into the Promised Land - he had a conversation with the LORD on Mt. Sinai while receiving the Law. It went like this -
Exodus 33:12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.
Exodus 33:14-16 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
Moses didn’t just want an angel protecting them in the Desert. He realized that they needed more firepower - he needed the Presence of God Himself. Finally, when the Israelites drew closer to the Promised land they said to the people of Edom in Numbers 20:16, when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. This “angel” was not just any angel, but the “angel of the Lord” - otherwise known not as a created angel but as the Messenger of the Lord - Jesus Christ prior to taking on the flesh - God Himself.
There are certain things - impossible things - magnificent things - that God does allow to be “micro-managed” in a certain type of way. Although He sent angels to care for Jesus after he was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and Gabriel to tell Mary that she would be with child, there are some things so enormous and impossible and important that simply cannot be put in either the hands of humans or even angels. What is that? The redemption of man. This is very clearly repeated throughout God’s Word. Psalm 49:7-8 says, No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him— the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—but then he goes on to say - but God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. (Ps 49:15) So Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Redemption has to be accomplished by God alone because it is such an awesome and impossible feat for any mere man to accomplish. To redeem means to buy back. You and I are born with a debt that we owe to God - a debt of perfection. If this debt is not paid, we then owe Him a penalty of death and hell. Imagine then, the debt that is owed God just in the lifetime of ONE person. Assuming that we each sin - just with our thoughts - ten times a day - and we live to be seventy years old - ten times 365 is 3,650 sins per year. Take that time 70 and you have a VERY modest underestimate of 255,550 sins in a lifetime. Multiply that times the millions of people who have lived and died throughout the ages, and who in the world could pay for that? On top of this, think about who would be able to fight against a world full of powerful demons and sinful people? Who could resist such temptations and survive the very wrath of God Himself? This would take more than the life of a man or an angel - it would take the life and death of God Himself. God would have to come to earth and do it Himself - by His own Presence.
Even Moses, the man who is associated with the giving of the Law - realized that they would not be able to survive on their own in this desert with survival tactics or by obeying the law. There was no way a normal angel could feed and protect two million people for forty years. You would think this would be self explanatory. Yet the amazing thing is that there are so many people who are so ignorant as to NOT realize this. They would like to think that their redemption needs to come through Mary or some other former saints who have not even raised from the dead! They would like to think that their redemption and eternity depends on how good of a life THEY can live - whether they can MAKE UP for the bad things they do. It kind of reminds me of when my three year child decides that he wants to “do it himself.” He’ll lock me out of the room with his clothes on the floor and then begin trying to clothe himself. Inevitably he ends up coming out 90% naked with a pants leg in his arm and a shirt sleeve around his leg with his private parts being displayed for the whole world to see. It’s funny when it happens. But it isn’t funny when we stand before God on Judgment Day with our own clothing on. He doesn’t laugh when we say, “I’ll do it myself.” He regards it as arrogance and foolishness.
II. He is motivated by kindness and compassion
God knew that we couldn’t accomplish this redemption - the Manager would have to perform this task through the Manger. That’s why we celebrate Christmas. What motivated Him to do such a thing? At first reading of this in the NIV - it was REALLY confusing. Vs. 8 says in the NIV - Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me; and so he became their Savior. There were a couple things that really confused me. First of all, God says, “surely they are sons who won’t be false to me.” “Being false” to someone is used in reference to a covenant - keeping your side of the covenant. Did God really think in choosing the Israelites that they would remain faithful to him? The translation then says that on this basis - “SO” - he became their Savior. The translation makes it sound like the saved them because HE THOUGHT they would keep their side of the covenant.
This kind of a translation implies that God didn’t know the future - how the Israelites would respond. That’s not an omniscient God. This kind of translation also implies that God would then be angry with Himself for having sacrificed so much for people who aren’t as faithful as He wanted them to be. It implies that if He had to do it over, He would take Jesus back from the manger and never send Him in the first place. It makes God’s love conditional on the way that I respond. That scares me, because when I look at my response - I see a person who often doesn’t respond in the way God would like. I am not as faithful to God with my prayers, my offerings, my tongue, my wife, and my children as He wants me to be. It makes me wonder, “is God upset that He sent Jesus for me?” It’s kind of like someone who spends a lot of money on a present in order to have you use it, but then if you don’t use it as often as he thinks you should he complains that he ever gave you the present in the first place and threatens to take it back if you don’t say thank you for it every day. This kind of a translation turns the whole life of Christ - that whole birth - and turns it into an obligation on me.
Unfortunately, that’s the way some people look at Jesus. One child actually blurted out, “I hate Jesus.” When the adult asked him why, he said, “because he makes me do things I don’t want to.” How did he get such an impression of Jesus? Because his parents always said to him, “Jesus died for you, so you should pray. If you want Jesus to love you, you better be nicer to your sister.” God’s love for him became conditional - on HOW he responded. It turns Jesus into a ball and chain. Instead of a Savior, He becomes a manipulative gift giver. If that’s what Jesus and church is to you - you’ve got the wrong God and the wrong religion in your heart.
The truth of the matter is that this translation absolutely STINKS. The Hebrew has no “SO” in it. This is a key point. God didn’t redeem His people BECAUSE He thought they would be faithful to Him. The text makes it very clear WHY God redeemed His people. Isaiah says, I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us - yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses. . . . In his love and mercy he redeemed them. This text is clear. The people would praise God for his KINDNESSES. These are literally cheseds - faithful loves. This kind of love is NOT dependant on the agreement of the other party - but on the very core values of the GIVER.
The same goes with that word COMPASSION. It is related to the word for “womb” or “innards.” The idea behind the word is that you feel compassion in your guts. We usually don’t think of God having innards. The point of the word picture is this - God feels compassion for us - as a mother has mercy on her infant child - in His deepest depths. We turn our compassion off because of coldheartedness or selfishness. But God’s compassion is constant and sincere. The fact of the matter is that God EXPECTED his people to be FAITHFUL to Him, but even though they WEREN’T it still didn’t stop Him from being faithful to him. This is a constant picture of God’s Word. Consider for instance Psalm 89:30-32 “If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.
In other words - God didn’t send Jesus to get His pound of flesh out of you. He gave Jesus in the manger because He loves you and wants to see you in heaven. He gave Jesus to live and die for you - to pay your ransom - to make you holy and righteous. God became man because He felt compassion on us - because He is a God of endless CHESED - His faithfulness endures forever. He doesn’t love us because we respond to Him - He loves us because He is a God of LOVE and MERCY. I had this described to me in a very interesting and clear way.
Justice is getting what you deserve.
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.
This text mentions the middle one. Jesus came so that we wouldn’t get what we deserve - eternal hell. That’s mercy. That’s what God is full of. His compassion is so great that our response doesn’t change Him from what He is - a God of compassion. Only the Manager in the manger could figure out how to take care of this predicament and then proceed to do it HIMSELF.
III. He is worthy of telling others about
This is the LORD that Isaiah’s people were praying to - the FAITHFUL and COMPASSIONATE Lord - the one that had revealed Himself in that way to Moses way back in Exodus 34. In view of this Lord, Isaiah said, I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us - yes, the many good things he has done for the house of Israel. When you look at God become man for your redemption - when you see the Father sacrifice His ONLY SON so that you could be His child, how can you not respond in such a way? When you see God REMAIN faithful to you in spite of your sin, what else can you do but sing “Away in a Manger” or “What Child is This” or the many other Christmas hymns? This is something that God does put in our hands and mouths - the responsibility of TELLING others about our compassionate God.
The sad point is that many Christians are NOT faithful to this simple task. They don’t want to open their mouths and sing at Christmastime. They don’t want come to church and worship him. Instead, they would rather complain to people about how cold it is, how far behind they are with their Christmas shopping, how their joints are acting up, how the stock market is plunging, or how the gas prices are going up. When we enter the manger, all we manage to do is complain about how cold it is, how smelly it is, and how we need to add new windows and add some carpeting to the manger floor. We complain about how much work it will be to prepare for this Child to come home - and imagine that the celebration of Christmas all revolves around the wallpaper and crib - the shopping and the visiting. When it comes time to sing, we only sing the songs we like with fervor - but the new and unfamiliar ones - we’ll just mumble those. Which begs the question - why are you singing them in the first place then? If that’s all that Jesus and Christmas is to you - an obligation - then don’t even bother celebrating.
Before you quit, though, I want to remind you of something. In spite of our failure to fulfill this simple task - to tell of Christmas - the fact still remains, God became man. His Presence is still here with us in the Word. God still comes to us in the Lord’s Supper. God still has covered you with His blood - not because we are faithful - but because HE is faithful. God still loves you - not because we sing so loud or know our Bible passages just right - but because Jesus lived and died for you. No matter whether you are a little faithful or a lot faithful - you are all loved by God in Christ. No matter whether you’ve had a terrible Christmas or a Merry Christmas, you can always look at that Manger and see God’s love for you all around - unchanged. No matter how much you cry to God and complain, He still cares for you, wants to listen to you, and do His best to help you in a way that will encourage you to grow.
So many people are complaining - even in America - about their finances, their health, the weather, their children. Even during a time that’s supposed to be festive - Christmas - many are depressed! The sad thing is that all the while they don’t realize that they have a Manager in the Manger who loves them very much and can take care of all their needs. As the New Year approaches and we consider the cheseds of Christ - I pray then that out of thankfulness for HIS love you will make it your resolution to follow in the footsteps of this prayer. Perhaps this Manager in the Manger will encourage you to get out of the crib - quit crying about how this is wrong or that is wrong - and take a good hard look at what is right. We’ve got a compassionate God who became man. We’ve got a Savior. We’ve got a God of love and mercy who is FAITHFUL to His promise in Christ of salvation through faith in Him. In the new year, instead of complaining along with so many others in the world, remember to dwell on the Presence of the Lord - on the message of Christmas. The message of Christmas is that we have a compassionate and kind LORD who began to Manage our salvation in the Manger. Amen.
