Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

From the Old Testament of the Day: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. [Isaiah 9.2]

From the Epistle: But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.. [Titus 3.4-5]

From the Holy Gospel: And from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ [John 1.16-17]

The blessed, cheerful, and peaceful Christmas to you all!

Today, in the Collect – the prayer that we present to the throne of grace as we move through the opening part of the Divine Service – you petitioned your heavenly Father "that the new birth of Thine only-begotten Son in the flesh may set us free, who are held in the old bondage under the yoke of sin." And that is what God does for you in the gift of the Savior, God’s and Mary’s only-begotten Son, truly the Son of God and truly the Son of Man, Himself being God and Himself being man. This Jesus is how you and I and all sinful mankind may "be set free from the old bondage of under the yoke of sin." So, today, you are urged to take anew this Christmas gift of God, wrapped in swaddling clothes and to ponder how this gift does just that for which we pray, namely, how you are "Free from the Bondage of Sin."

I.

The Old Testament for the Feast of the Nativity is the great and familiar prophecy from Isaiah, who was allowed by God to point ahead down the road of history and to make from God to you this declaration: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor (or, Wonderful and then Counselor – the Hebrew can be translated either way), the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." And through Isaiah’s vision you are able to see how it is that this God-Man, this baby Jesus does indeed set you free from the bondage of the flesh.

The devil – perpetual arch-enemy of God and God’s people – has been exposed by the Scriptures. He is exposed for what he is, a liar and a thief, bent on stealing and destroying your liberty and even your very humanity.

At the beginning, the devil is shown attacking Adam and Eve, our first and ultimate parents, and he does so, face-to-face, though his face is disguised. After the expulsion from the garden, the devil is exposed, working in and through nations – so Yahweh takes him on through the nation of His own creation, Israel.

The devil is not shown working directly in a one-to-one contest until Jesus begins His adult life at the age of about 30 years. Now, in the New Testament era, otherwise called in the Bible "the Latter times" or the "Last days," the Scriptures expose the devil’s working through both individuals and cultures and battling God for the control of nations and world history.

In each of these periods and in each of these various attacks, the goal of the devil is to use the bondage of flesh to bring destruction upon human beings. The common thread through this sad history is the bondage of the flesh – the consequences of what we call the fallen, sinful nature through which every thought, desire, word, and action flows, which taints our every thought and action with sin.

But the promise of a faithful God, who has never left or ignored His fallen mankind, is that there is a way to be set free from the bondage of the flesh, and that way is in His Son, "For to use a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government – the control of human affairs – shall be upon His shoulders … And of the increase of his government and of [his] peace there will be no end … the zeal of the Lord will do this!"

II.

And so it happened: In the course of human history, the liberator from the bondage of the flesh appears. He comes to become man in your stead and for your benefit. How this happens is a factual and knowable reality, and yet at the same time, it remains a mystery. The words of St. Ambrose of Milan, filtered through the pen of Dr. Luther, sets forth both the facts and the mystery:

"Not by human flesh and blood, by the Spirit of our God, was the Word of God made flesh – Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh. Here a maid was found with child, and yet remained a virgin mild. In her womb this truth was shown: God was there, upon His throne. Then stepped forth the Lord of all, from His pure and kingly hall – God of God, yet fully man, His heroic course began … From the manger, newborn light shines in glory through the night. Darkness there no more resides; in this light faith now abides."

St. John the Divine declares: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us – we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father … and from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the Law as given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

The battle with the devil is engaged by humanity in Jesus Christ. God the Son comes to the rescue of fallen mankind in His ultimate invasion and attack: He will defeat the devil on behalf of mankind by becoming human, in the stead of humanity, for your salvation, and to restore humanity to its former glorious freedom in the new heavens and new earth.

Thus, in Christmas the hope of sinners is unwrapped and revealed: "The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world." That light is the Word that sets sinners free bondage to the flesh!

III.

But your mind may object, with the classic way people dismiss ancient truth as somehow no longer truth: "That was then, and this is now!" Yes, that was then – thankfully so, for God says concerning "back then" that it was the beginning of "when the time had fully come God set forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to free to those who are under the Law." That was then – but then is still now, still in and active with you, about you, and over you.

Back then, as St. Paul writes, "When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness – not by the Law, not even by the good Law, not even by the things we happen by God’s grace to do righteously – His saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy – His own actions and doings – but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit – That act, washing and renewing is one action, not two, regeneration and renewal occurs and happens to you in your baptism – by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by His grace, we might heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Thus, in knowing and trusting this eternal gift of a Savior, a gift that truly never stops giving, you are, by God the Father’s active grace through the Holy Spirit, you are being set free from the bondage of sin – we call it "forgiveness, life, and salvation." These truths – factual and yet remaining mysteries – do the freeing with every contact you have the means of grace, which is God’s reason for why you here today.

So, truly being free in the baby Jesus, this day is indeed a Merry Christmas!