Sermon Central
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What If Jesus Had Not Been Born?
Contributed by Howard Gwartney on Dec 22, 2002 (message contributor)
Summary: Five viewpoints of what would have happened if Jesus had not been born.
What If Jesus Had Not Been Born?
INTRO. I’m amazed at how our society is trying to de-Christianize everything, including Christmas. We can say Happy Hanukkah or Happy Kwanzaa, etc. But don’t say “Merry Christmas.” There is an attempt to “sanitize” Christmas of its Christlikeness. Despite the origin of Christmas from a religious or a secular viewpoint, Jesus Christ was born! Praise God for that!
But what if Jesus had not come? What if He had not been born as the Scripture accurately states and historians attest it?
1. THE SECULAR VIEWPOINT
Regardless of your background or where you come from just about everybody “gets in” on the secular Christmas celebration. In fact, this week on the radio, I heard a man who described himself as Jewish in religion made this statement: “Christmas is a time for kids! We all ought to enjoy it.”
This was a man who did not even claim to be Christian and yet he enjoyed the secular celebration of Christmas. A lot of people get in on this. But think about it: Even from a secular point of view, what if Jesus had not been born?
NO SALES – you wouldn’t have early Christmas, pre-Christmas, or after-Christmas sales! Many businesses make the most money they’ll make all year during the Christmas season.
NO SERVICE – isn’t it kind of nice that some people will go out of their way at Christmas time to be of service in the community. They’ll deliver toys to children in the hospital or take gifts to shut-ins or nursing homes. Help out in the “Toys for Tots” drives, etc. If Jesus had not been born, there wouldn’t be any service like this.
NO SCROOGE – No bad guy who changes his ways.
NO SEASON of Good Will – Not everybody, but some people do seem to “act” extra nice during this time of year.
NO SONGS like “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas”, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” or “I’ll Be Home For Christmas, If Only in My Dreams” etc. “We Wish You a Merry Saturnalia” just does get it, does it?
NO SCENES of the Manger, Mary, Joseph, etc. Think how terrible that would be! The ACLU would have one less thing to try to get out of public domain.
NO STORY of Christmas! There would be no story to tell if Jesus had not come to this earth.
2. THE SCRIPTURAL VIEWPOINT
As far as the story in the Bible is concerned, if Jesus had not been born, there would be:
NO SPECIAL FORERUNNER – John to the Baptist who would announce, “prepare ye the way of the Lord,” “repent,” etc.
NO SHEPHERDS – who lefts their flocks and went to visit the Christ-child that wonderful night.
NO STAR – to shine in the night and guide those travelers to the manger in Bethlehem.
NO SEARCHING MAGI – who left their homes on a long and difficult journey to pay homage to the newborn King.
NO SPECIAL GIFTS – gold, frankincense, myrrh
NO SAYING by the angels – “glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.”
3. THE SON’S VIEWPOINT
If Jesus had not been born of the virgin Mary, think about this:
NO SUBSERVIANT BIRTH – Jesus would not have had to leave the glory of Heaven and take on human flesh and all of its pain.
NO SPITTING upon him by His enemies.
NO REED SCEPTRE that was handed to Him in mockery of His claim to be the King of Kings and Lord of lords.
NO SUFFERING – of Jesus when He “became sin for us who knew no sin.”
NO SPEAR – in His side from which blood and water came forth.
NO SEPULCHRE – in which to be buried for only 3 days and now is still empty.
4. THE SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT
NO SENSE to the OT Prophets and the prophecies of the coming Messiah of Israel.
NO SINGING of songs like “Silent Night,” “Away in a Manger,” “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night,” “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear,” no “Joy To The World.” There would be no “Angels We Have Heard On High” nor “We Three Kings,” etc. Of course, that also means there would be no “Just As I Am” or “Amazing Grace” or “How Great Thou Art” or “O, For A Thousand Tongues To Sing my great Redeemer’s praise. There would be nothing to sing about, folks! Why?
NO SIN OFFERING – Nothing to pay the debt of sin that we owe.
5. THE SAINTS and SINNERS’ VIEWPOINT
I started to make two separate points of these two, but I got to thinking, if Jesus had not been born, there wouldn’t be any saints, only sinners!! What if Jesus had not been born and how does that affect the sinner? Well, of course, first of all, there would be…
