He will be great

Text Luke 1:32 Time 25/12/13 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

I'm not sure what you have planned for the rest of the day. It is a holiday for most of us. If you want to mark the day in some religious way, however, you may have to work hard to do it. What I suggest at these times is to take just one verse from Scripture and try to fix it in your mind now so that you can think about it through the day.

So I have a verse for you. You can find it in Luke 1:32.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

It is an easy verse to learn. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Even easier if you just focus on that first bit - He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High or even just He will be great which is what I want us to focus on this morning.

The words, of course, refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary before Jesus is even conceived or born. In the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth who would be the mother of John the Baptist, Luke tells us, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. Gabriel's greeting Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you troubled Mary and she wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Gabriel's main message was as follows

Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.

There's a lot there. Let's just narrow down and think about this word great. Mega is the word more or less I suppose. Idiomatically – he's going to be big, he's going to be huge. He will be great.

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Whenever we think about Jesus we have to remember that though he is one person, he has two natures. It is often useful to ask which of the natures is being referred to in each case. When Gabriel says He will be great he cannot be referring to the God nature as God cannot become great, he is always great. As far as he is God Jesus always has been great and always will be. However, as far as his human nature is concerned we know that he made himself poor and lowly. He was not obviously great when he was conceived or even when he was born as a baby and placed in a manger. It was only later that he became great. He will be great says the angel.

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So what does this greatness consist of? We use the word great in all sorts of ways, of course. It can refer to volume or size or being first. More often though it refers to something remarkable or outstanding or of outstanding significance or importance.

Someone may say to you “Did you have a good Christmas?” and you might say “I had a great Christmas”. On the other hand a person may be quite sarcastic. They step out of the house and the rain comes down and they say “Great!”

Sometimes we speak of kings and emperors as Alexander the Great or Alfred the Great or Peter the great. There have been religious figures too. I have been hearing recently about the theologians Gregory the Great and Albertus Magnus in the middle Ages.

When Nelson Mandela died recently people spoke understandably of a great man. Someone wrote of a great man, a great spirit, a great soul, another wrote of the greatest political leader of the twentieth century and many of Africa's greatest son. At least one article addressed the question of what made him great and gave reasons. An Australian politician wrote

“How does one judge his place in history? Of all the people I have met, he was by far the greatest. I do not know anyone who could stand near to him. In the pages of history, there would be few who would stand as an equal.”

There was an interesting moment when a British journalist on Radio 4 was interviewing the former US President Jimmy Carter.

Justin Webb said to Carter Some people have compared Nelson Mandela with Jesus. You’re a religious man. Would you? Carter’s replied decisively No I would not go that far. I’m a Christian. I look upon Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as God himself, and I certainly wouldn’t compare any human being with Jesus. He went on to pay tribute to other greats and then re-iterated his point: I wouldn’t compare any other human being with Jesus Christ.

That is surely right. The greatness spoken about here is far superior to anything found in anyone else. When it says that Jesus Christ will be great it is not referring to his fame and influence. Having said that, that cannot be denied to be the case. I think it would be fairly easy to show that Jesus is better known than anyone else in history and has had far more influence and creates much more interest too. That is not Gabriel's point, however, I'm sure.

What is his point? Given the context of Christ being called the Son of the Most High and receiving the kingship of a never ending kingdom, I think we are wisest to see this promised greatness in terms of Jesus's person and work.

We can only begin on the subject this morning but think of just three things.

1. Think of the greatness of his person, the greatness of who he is

Jesus Christ is the God man. He is God come to us in the flesh. In his person are uniquely united all the attributes both of God and of man. That is true of no-one else. He is Emmanuel, God with us, in a way that no-one else is. Nothing could be greater. We ought to be often thinking about this. One good thing about Christmas is the way it focuses on this very thing. Every time you think of humanity you should recall that among us is Jesus Christ. He is our brother. Every time you think of God you should think of Jesus Christ the God man. What greatness! Worship him.

2. Think of the greatness of his office, the greatness of the role he takes

Do you know what we mean when we speak of Christ's office? We are thinking of the fact that he takes the role of being the one Mediator between man and God. He has the threefold office of prophet, priest and king. There are plenty of prophets, priests and kings in the Bible and in this world – some good some bad. He however is the greatest of them all. He is the greatest prophet – no-one reveals God in the way that he does. He is the greatest priest for he has made the perfect atoning sacrifice, the matchless sacrifice of himself. He also lives now in heaven ever to make intercession for his own. No priest is like him. He is the greatest. He is also the greatest king. There is no king more powerful (All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me), no king more wise, no king more kind and compassionate. There is none greater. Worship him.

3. Think of the greatness of his different states, the greatness of his actions

Most obviously, think of his life. His miracles, his teaching, all he did so wonderfully well. Think of his death on behalf of sinners. Think how be rose again from the dead. No-one else has ever done that yet. Think of his teaching his disciples those six great weeks – we still have much of that teaching in the Bible. Think of his wonderful ascension. Think of his pouring out the Spirit. Think of his interceding now in heaven for believers. And do not forget that soon he is coming again., What glory then. Ah what greatness! Worship him.

4. Think of the greatness of what he has done for us, the greatness of salvation

Perhaps this is the greatest thing of all. Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? Do you know it? Nothing is greater.

 

Great God of wonders! All Thy ways

Are matchless, Godlike and divine;

But the fair glories of Thy grace

More Godlike and unrivalled shine,

Crimes of such horror to forgive,

Such guilty, daring worms to spare;

This is Thy grand prerogative,

And none shall in the honour share,

Angels and men, resign your claim

To pity, mercy, love and grace:

These glories crown Jehovah’s Name

With an incomparable glaze

In wonder lost, with trembling joy,

We take the pardon of our God:

Pardon for crimes of deepest dye,

A pardon bought with Jesus’ blood,

O may this strange, this matchless grace,

This Godlike miracle of love,

Fill the whole earth with grateful praise,

And all th’angelic choirs above,
Who is a pardoning God like Thee? Or who has grace so rich and free?

I am like a proper Welsh preacher now. I don't often quote hymns. This one is from the Welsh and translated by Graham Harrison who went to be with the Lord this year.
 

Mighty (Great) Christ from time eternal,

Mighty, he man’s nature takes,

Mighty, when on Calv’ry dying,

Mighty, death itself He breaks.

See His might,

Infinite,

King of Heaven and earth by right!

Mighty was He in heaven’s purpose,

Mighty, in the pledge to save,

Mighty, from His birth to Calv’ry,

Mighty, bursting from the grave.

Still will He

Mighty be When things hidden now we see.

Great my Jesus in His Person.

Great as God and man is He,

Great His comeliness and beauty,

White and ruddy, fair to see,

Great that sight,

Sovereign Might,

Throned secure on heaven’s height!