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CHRISTMAS DAY

December 25, 2007

Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sioux Falls, SD

Rev. Norman F. Seeger

Isaiah 9:6,7

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah 9:6,7

"THE BIRTHDAY OF A KING”

1. a Long-Anticipated Baby

2. a One-of-a-Kind King

Dear saints who celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus Christ,

Did you celebrate the sunrise this morning? No, we easily ignore what we assume will occur day after day. Morning light displacing darkness is not necessarily noteworthy as it recurs every twenty-four hours, but what if no sun had shone on us for a month or more? What if we lived in perpetual darkness? A sliver of light would then be a celebrated sight…a picture Isaiah paints as he describes souls in spiritual darkness suddenly being bathed in light as a Savior is born: “People walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” … a prophecy applied as Jesus begins preaching repentance & producing forgiveness.

If you did not celebrate the sunrise, did you celebrate the birth of a baby boy born in Sioux Falls last night? No, I may not even know his name. I easily ignore any one of who knows how many babies born in our city every year. But when my wife & I are expecting – if relatives or friends are counting down to their due date – news of a baby’s birth quickly pricks my ears, immediately grabs my attention & moves us to celebrate the arrival of a little soul sure to affect our life in some wonderful way.

Friends, faithful friends, this morning is a time to celebrate. Celebrate the sunrise – celebrate the Light of Life dispelling the darkness of spiritual death! Cebrate also & even more so the birth of Jesus – celebrate the birth of a baby who will affect my life more than any other individual. Seeing Isaiah’s prophecies fulfilled at Christmas, I pray we celebrate this long-anticipated baby miraculously born to be our one-of-a-kind King – a conquering Counselor -- a peace-producing Savior – born to be our just & righteous Judge.

“To us a child is born” sounds like a normal birth announcement, but ‘normal’ does not begin to describe Jesus’ arrival in our world. For one thing, Jesus’ mother Mary is a virgin -- the only virgin who ever conceived a child – a humanly impossible event Isaiah earlier announced as a sign of our Lord’s protective love – a miraculous conception angel Gabriel personally explains to Mary & again explains to Jespeh a second time because it is so unnatural.

Secondly, Isaiah writes Jesus’ birth announcement seven hundred years before Mary will lay her newborn baby in a manger in Bethlehem. Expectant mothers may address their birth announcements before heading to the hospital, waiting to add details a little later, but Isaiah puts in all the particulars seven hundred years before they happen. Potential grandparents whose patience is tested today when a son announces he & his wife are anticipating some family changes in nine months -- when they will be building a house instead of living in an apartment -- may find it hard to imagine anyone waiting seven hundred years for a baby to be born, but God’s faithful people were waiting much, much longer for this special son our Lord God first said he was sending to save us from Satan as soon as Adam & Eve sinned in Eden more than four thousand years before Mary gives birth in Bethlehem.

Jesus’ birth is long-awaited, to say the least, yet Isaiah’s explanation assures us it is more than worth our while to wait for this “child to be born & this son to be given” because baby Jesus is not only the Son of Mary but is at the same time the Son of God. Becoming David’s descendant while also being David’s Lord, Jesus will come to rule forever as a one-of-a-kind king whose kingdom will keep increasing as one new believer after another is led to follow Jesus faithfully.

Why would anyone not follow this baby who is born to be a conquering Counselor? Called “Wonderful Counselor,” Jesus needs no consultants to set his daily agendas or offer advice about the best way to defeat the Devil & guide God’s people into eternal glory. “In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom & knowledge,”[COL 2] Paul explains. While Jesus “grows in wisdom & stature; grows in favor with God & man”[LK 2] as he is raised by Mary & Joseph in Nazareth, he at all times fully understands every detail of his Father’s plan for his Son to destroy the devil’s work by living a perfectly righteous life as our sinless Substitue whose holiness is credited to our account before he will die, on our cross, an innocent death God could accept as complete payment for our sins…for every soul’s sins.

Born to be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,” Jesus not only knows his Father’s plan to produce our salvation – Jesus is powerful enough to put God’s plan into practice. Stepping over or sidestepping the devil’s every deception, Jesus conquers sin & Satan on his cross to powerfully; triumphantly step out of his empty Easter tomb as our peace-producing Savior.

As the “Prince of Peace,” Jesus makes peace possible for each & every one of his faithful followers. Perfect peace between God & man is put in place as every ounce of God’s anger against our sins is poured upon his Son when Jesus is crucified while every iota of Jesus’ God-pleasing life as our Substitute is evident as God evaluates us.

Judging us guilty or innocent – friend or foe – “justice & righteousness” radiate from this baby Jesus who is born to present us with God’s gracious gift of life replacing our sin-deserved death. Justice? Yes, God’s perfect justice is going to deliver every “sin’s wages of death” when the Father forsakes his Son on that cross where Jesus is held responsible for our disobdeinece while God’s justice rightly delivers eternal life with God in glory which Christ’s obedience earns for us when we are given credit for Jesus’ perfect life as our righteous replacement conforming to God’s first through tenth commandments.

As we faithful souls see in Isaiah’s birth announcement a baby’s holy face glowing with the light of eternal life that dispels spiritual darkness, it is time for us to celebrate today. It is time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, descended from David to rule us forever as a one-of-a-kind King. It is time to celebrate Jesus’ arrival as our conquering Counselor. It is time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, our peace-producing Savior.

Amen.