The passage
above is considered by some to be an attempt by John to give his account of the
virgin birth of Christ. The Word is now “humanized” (and become the messenger).
However, most of the translations see here
not Christ’s virgin birth, but the new birth of those who became “children of
God.” Both views are clearly represented
in the scriptures.
My focus
this morning is upon who Jesus came to His people first, and yet, they
rejected Him. The Jews were waiting for the
arrival of their political Messiah. When He showed up, He didn’t appear in the
way they wanted Him to appear; they expected a more Messiah-like person which
Jesus was not.
Messiah means “anointed,”
in this case, by God. Anointing was the
Hebrew custom of pouring holy oil upon the head and letting it run over the head,
face, and down the beard and upon the clothing.
The anointing is representing the flow of the Holy Spirit over someone’s
body, and it also represents God’s approval (or choosing) of someone.
Jesus was not political, nor was He a warrior
like David was. He came with a message
of hope that God loves all people and Jesus demonstrated that in how he
interacted with everyone He encountered.
“For God expressed His love for the
world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will
not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life. Here’s the
point. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge it; instead, He is here
to rescue a world headed toward certain destruction.” John 3:16-17 (VOICE)
Trusting in Jesus
and His words are synonymous terms, His promises are for everyone who believes.
So being a
Jewish Messiah isn’t just for the Jews; it is for everyone who believes.
Jesus bestows
a birthright to all of those who believe in Him, that birthright is to become
children of God, the truth is we all are children of God by nature of our
common ancestor Adam.
We come to Jesus
by faith and trust that He can do the impossible, cause us to be reborn and
become a new creation.
“Because of all that God has done,
we now have a new perspective. We used to show regard for people based on
worldly standards and interests. No longer. We used to think of the Anointed
the same way. No longer. Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One,
that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has
begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
(VOICE)
Speaking of
rights, we truly do not have a right to become anything other than what we are,
which is a sinner before God. Jesus
forgives sin and releases us from the bondage of sin and fear so that we can
hear God without our past clouding the truth that Jesus has liberated us from
ourselves. We are free from the bondage
of the law and death and can be free in Jesus.
Another
aspect is Jesus “bestowed this birthright, not by human power or initiative,”
this was not because Jesus had proper bloodlines of the Mother and Father to
give this birthright to us, an earthly Father did not sire Jesus.
The Greek indicates that Jesus did “not come
from streams of blood,” which was not the gas that drove this engine, Jesus
wanted us to trust in Him by faith in Him being the Son of God.
“Nor are you correct if you think
that being descended from Abraham is enough to make you holy and right with
God. Yes, the children of Abraham are God’s chosen children, but God can adopt
as daughters and sons anyone He likes—He can turn these stones into sons if He
likes.” Matthew 3:9 (VOICE)
It becomes
very apparent that this is “God’s will,” not something out of the
natural mind or order of human desires.
That is what God wanted to communicate through Jesus that all of humanity
can come to Him by faith and receive their birthright to become sons and
daughters of the king.
And as sons and daughters,
we are heirs of a glorious kingdom that awaits our participation. That is the beauty of God’s plan in Jesus; we
enter into this new life through Him, which is his "hesed" love. Hesed love is love in the long term without limits.
Be Blessed;
Stephen
Barnett
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