Why does the world love the baby but not the King?

At Christmas, even a secular world finds "baby Jesus" appealing. In Matthew 2 and Luke 2, Dr. Toby Holt shows that the child in the manger is the King — and that changes everything. A baby, a teacher, even a healer the world will accept. But Jesus as King, Jesus as God, is another matter — the wise men sought "He who has been born King of the Jews," while Herod plotted to kill Him. Holt presses past the sentiment of the season to the real identity of Christ: the divine King who calls for our allegiance, not just our admiration.

Questions this sermon answers:

1. Why is the world comfortable with "baby Jesus"? Because a harmless infant makes no demands. It is Jesus as King and God — with authority over our lives — that the world resists.

2. Who sought the newborn King, and who opposed Him? Wise men came from afar to worship Him, while King Herod sought to destroy Him. The newborn King drew both worship and hostility.

3. What does Christmas really call us to? Not just sentiment, but submission. The child of Bethlehem is the King of kings, worthy of our worship and our lives.

"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him." — Matthew 2:2 (NKJV)

Speaker: At Christmas, even a secular world finds "baby Jesus" appealing. In Matthew 2 and Luke 2, Dr. Toby Holt shows that the child in the manger is the King — and that changes everything. A baby, a teacher, even a healer the world will accept. But Jesus as King, Jesus as God, is another matter — the wise men sought "He who has been born King of the Jews," while Herod plotted to kill Him. Holt presses past the sentiment of the season to the real identity of Christ: the divine King who calls for our allegiance, not just our admiration.

The general rule babies are not threatening and when we look upon an

infant when we look upon a small child we're not threatened by the child we're

encouraged by the child and at Christmas time that's why even a secular world

finds it easy to approach the major with that said a mistake that we can make at

Christmas time is to forget that the very same child who came to us in a

manger who came to us wrapped in swaddling clothes who came to us gentle

and mild this very same child that occupying a major even now what does he

occupy, a throne. Even now he occupies the throne. It's easy to forget that the same Jesus who

appeared is this lamb, is this lamb that was laid to the slaughter, who did not open his mouth. That

this Jesus who appeared as a lamb, he'll return as what? As a lion, as a lion of Judah. See, our world

likes to take Jesus this time of year and winnow down those attributes to those things that they

like, to those things they find relatable, to those things they enjoy, to those things that do not

threaten them. At the same time, take everything else and put it aside. The world does not mind

Jesus the mild. The world does not mind Jesus the babe. The world does not mind Jesus the tender.

What the world does mind is this, Jesus the king. Why is that? Because a king has the authority to

tell you how to live. A king reigns and rules over those that he has made. A baby we can approach

easily because a baby we can hold. A baby doesn't threaten us. A baby will not exert its will over

us. A baby doesn't tell us how we're supposed to live and what we're supposed to do. A king does.

And that's why even the secular world has no trouble celebrating Christmas

and even enjoying this picture of the manger, even enjoying tender Jesus.

But Jesus is the king?

That's not something they're as quick to embrace, as quick to run to.

How about you?

How about you this Christmas season?

Which Jesus throughout the year do you find it easiest to embrace?

Do you find it easy to come to the manger but difficult to come to the throne?

What is your approach to this Jesus?

I can tell you with certainty the legacy of North American Christmas

is to compartmentalize Jesus just to the major.

Well, in today's passage, in this passage, the prophet Isaiah,

He encountered the very same Jesus that the shepherds would encounter later.

He encountered the very same Jesus.

It's not a different Jesus.

And yet he had a very different reaction than that which the shepherds would have all those centuries later.

On this occasion, Isaiah chapter 6,

on this occasion, over seven centuries before Christ's birth,

when Isaiah, this righteous man, came into the presence of the same Jesus

were adoring at Christmas time, when he came into his presence, he did not coo, he did not giggle

before the throne. As one might around a baby and said, he said three words,

woe is me. Why is that? Why is that? Well, that's what we're going to look to come to terms with

today. Our object as we enter into the rest of the Christmas season is to start with an

understanding, a right understanding of who Jesus is through an Old Testament lens that we might

to understand his power, his authority, his might, his reign and rule, that we might understand that

properly so that we can appreciate what it means for this one to lay aside his divine prerogatives

and be born in the humble estate of a manger. We're looking to understand who he is as king

of kings, Lord of lords, that we might greater appreciate the incarnation, that he would ever

take on the form of the most tender and the most mild, that he would go from a throne to a manger

is the most amazing thing about the Christmas narrative. And this morning, that's our focus.

If you would, please look with me at verses 1 through 3 of today's passage.

Verse 1 says this.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up,

and the train of his robe filled the temple.

And above it stood seraphim, each one had six wings.

With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one cried to another and said,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory.

All right, in verse 1 of today's text, Isaiah is telling us of an encounter.

It happened in real time, in a real space.

He's telling us of an encounter that he had in the year that King Uzziah died.

This would have been roughly around 740 B. C., towards the start of Isaiah's ministry.

And at this time, Isaiah has this vision.

And in the vision, he's in the throne room, in the throne room of God.

He sees Christ high and lifted up, the train of his robes filling the temple.

These angels these mighty seraphim being so powerful in of themselves that they'll have a

blinding effect anytime angels appear in Scripture people fall down the angels have to say don't be

afraid well here it's the angels that are covering their eyes in the presence of this one and the

presence of the one sitting on the throne as mighty as the angels and seraphim were seraphim

means burning ones as mighty as they were they're shielding their eyes from the glory the radiance

of the one on the throne.

And Isaiah, in a way we can't fully appreciate

or even fathom, he's taking this all in.

He sees this in a vision.

He sees this one high and lifted up.

Now let me ask you a question.

How do we know that this is Jesus on the throne?

Remember, we believe in the Trinity.

We believe in one God, three persons.

The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Which one of those is on the throne?

Well, that question would be answered

centuries later in the book of John.

The Apostle John would say this

with regards to what Isaiah saw

all these centuries back, seven centuries earlier.

John would say this in John 12.

He'd say, although Christ,

although he had done so many signs before them,

they did not believe in him,

that the word of Isaiah, the prophet, might be fulfilled.

When he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Therefore, he could not believe because Isaiah said again,

He's blind with their eyes and hard in their hearts,

lest they should see with their eyes,

lest they should understand with their hearts

and turn so that should heal them.

These things, these things Isaiah said when he saw his glory and spoke of him. John is looking

back here to Isaiah 6. John is remembering that time when Isaiah encountered Christ, because it's

Christ who John is speaking of. And John says these things Isaiah saw when he saw his, capital

h, his glory and spoke of him. It was Jesus Christ who Isaiah saw seated on the throne. It was Jesus

Christ whose robe filled the temples. Jesus Christ through the angels covered their eyes before. It

was Jesus Christ who Isaiah fell down dead before, or as a dead man saying, woe is me. That's the

exposition of the apostle John. John is remembering that time. John had the benefit, the pleasure of

interacting with Jesus in the flesh. John on many occasions had put his arm around Jesus, or Jesus

had put his arm around John. John had this experience of the tender and mild, and yet John

knew. John remembered. John read Isaiah and knew that the same one is also one who is high and

lifted up. High and lifted up. Now at Christmas time, I'm going to ask you a question. At Christmas

time, which is more relevant? Jesus the baby or Jesus the king? It's a trick question. The answer

is both. They're both relevant. And that's the point of this morning's sermon. They're both

relevant. You don't bifurcate Jesus. We need Jesus to be both divine and man. We need Jesus to both

be a king and a humble servant. We need him to be these things. We need him to be born of divine

stock. If he was anything less than that, if he was not divine, then he would not be a worthy

sacrifice for you. If this Jesus was just a man of flesh and blood, even a nice man, even a great

teacher, if that's all he was, then his death can't purchase you back from sin and death.

His death cannot purchase you back. If he's not divine, if all he was is a great and a wonderful

teacher, rabbi, man, or what have you, then there's no way that his death can atone for your sins,

and therefore you're still in your sins, if Jesus was not divine. At the same time, if he was not a

man, if he did not live a complete and full and perfect life, if he did not fulfill all righteousness

as he said he came to do, if he didn't do these things as a man, then he's not an acceptable

substitute for you or me. He needed to be fully king, and he'd be fully divine, and he'd be fully

man, there's a lot of theology baked into those two concepts.

But the point is, at Christmastime, we need to celebrate both.

We need to remember both, bring to mind both.

The babe in the manger and the one, as John read earlier,

who comes down on the white horse with fire in his eyes because he is both.

Let's look at verses 4 through 5.

Verse 4,

and the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out,

and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said, Woe is me, for I am undone,

because I am a man of unclean lips,

and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips.

And my eyes have seen the king.

You know, I met with a man once, this was a few years ago,

who he had a difficult time in the faith.

In fact, I think he was on the outside of the faith looking in.

And one day out of his frustrations, he told me that when he got to heaven,

He was going to march right in.

He was going to march right into the throne room and tell God just what he thought

about God, about what he had done,

about choices God had made, about his own life, how things had worked out for him.

He was going to school Jesus or school God was his plan.

He said this in a fit of frustration.

But nevertheless, he thought in that moment that one day he would come and he'd walk into the throne room

and he'd critique God to his face for all the ways that he had let him down.

Now, does that man's expectation, even in that fleeting moment,

does that man's expectation match up with what we see really happens

when one walks into the throne room of God here in Isaiah 6?

Well, not at all.

Isaiah was as righteous a guy as there was.

you and I, I trust, we're on the road to sanctification.

I trust we're trying hard.

I trust that God is at work within us to make us something better tomorrow than we are today.

And yet we could try for some time and all of us probably are not quite there where Isaiah was.

And yet Isaiah, as righteous a man as was walking the face of the earth and his age,

and even Isaiah, when he came into God's presence, falls down as a dead man.

It says, woe is me, for I am undone.

If that was true of Isaiah, how much more so is it true of you and I?

We're not going to march into the throne room and tell God what we think about him.

That's not the way that this works.

It can't be if he's holy and we're sinful.

We have reduced our understanding of what the word holy means.

We've deflated it of any real meaning.

We've reduced our understanding.

God, in our age, is some sort of weak, progressive, ethereal genie in a bottle.

He's behind all those things, you know, in case of emergency, break glass.

That's what we've done with God.

Only when trauma or drama strikes our lives do we turn to him

and trust in those moments he'll come and help us out on our terms.

Prophet Isaiah, again, as righteous a man as there was,

He came into the presence of God and he did not see a genie.

He did not see some sort of cosmic fuddy-duddy.

He did not see an old wallflower.

He saw the Lord high and lifted up.

And when he saw God in all his majesty, in all his radiance,

and he saw even the fiery ones, the angels covering their eyes in his presence,

isaiah knew he brought nothing to the table.

And so down he went, which is the most appropriate response you could have in those moments.

Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.

I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king.

Isaiah recognized this.

He recognized he had a problem.

You know, part and parcel to the Christmas season is remembering what the Gospel is.

If someone were to ask you, what is the Gospel, what would you say?

Well, we regularly talk about it as having two components.

We say this.

We say the Gospel has news for us.

Now, the first news is bad news.

The first news is this, that we have a problem and we are sinners.

Now, why is that a problem?

Well, it's a problem because the wages of sin is death.

And it's not sin plural.

It's sin singular.

That's why in the garden it only took one sin

before the entire created realm was thrust into chaos.

you and I, how many times have we sinned?

Many times over.

And there's our problem.

We are sinners and the wages of sin is death.

And yet the good news, if there's a problem, there's also a solution.

If there's bad news, there's also good news.

And the good news is this, is that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us.

While we were fallen, while we were doing what's wrong,

while we were messing up, while we were living in all sorts of ways

that were not according to God's will for us,

while we were doing all of that,

while we were prodigal sons and daughters

doing all manner of wrong things,

drinking down iniquity,

while we were in the midst of that,

Christ died for us.

He was born in a manger.

He was born in a lowly estate.

He took on our flesh.

He lived a perfect life.

And some 33 odd years later,

He hung upon a cross.

And in that moment,

our sin was placed upon Him.

And His righteousness was granted,

imputed to us.

And the way we're saved is simple.

Nothing to the throne I bring, only to the cross I cling.

We trust in the person and work of the one who hung upon the cross.

We know that even though we are not righteous and we can't work our way into heaven,

it does not work that way.

You can do a million years of otherwise good deeds that will not offset a single bad one.

Yet while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us.

And on Calvary our sin was placed upon him, his righteousness was imputed to us,

and all we must do is this, believe.

Believe, have faith.

Does it seem simple?

In a sense, yes, it is.

But consider the cost.

Consider the cost.

When your life was in danger,

when you were in jeopardy,

He did not hold back from you

that which was most precious to himself,

His only begotten son.

And our sin is so heinous

that it could cost nothing less

than the blood of Jesus Christ,

His only son in Calvary,

to redeem us.

There's nothing else that would do it.

That's how bad a thing sin is.

But the good news is that we've been saved.

When Isaiah, when he comes in, he acknowledges, he says, I have a problem.

Woe is me.

He's acknowledging the first part.

He's acknowledging that he has a problem.

He's acknowledging that we all have a problem.

Woe is me.

But in that moment, did God crush him as he could have, as he would have been totally just and righteous to do?

Did God crush him?

No.

Did God just crush him and blow the smoke and the ashes of Isaiah out into the courtyard?

No.

Look with me at verses 6 and 7 to see how God responded

after Isaiah acknowledges his problem, acknowledges his guilt.

Verse 6,

then one of the seraphim flew to me, having his hand alive, Cole,

which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

And he touched my mouth with it, and he said,

behold, this has touched your lips.

Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.

If God is holy, he cannot stand the stain of a single sin in his presence.

If he's holy, he can't.

If you think he can, then you're deflating the word holiness of any meaning.

If he's holy, holy, holy, which is what the angel said,

if he's holy, holy, holy, thrice holy,

which in Hebrew the repetition means it's just through the rough holiness.

If he's thrice holy, he cannot endure the stain of a single sin in his presence.

If God is just, furthermore, he has to deal with sin,

and the wages of sin is death.

Again, that's our problem.

And yet in verses 6 and 7, we see the symbolic action

that represents the purging and the removal of sin,

which Isaiah needed and which you and I needed.

you and I are not going to march into the throne room as sinners

thinking everything's going to work out all right.

It won't.

We need our sin removed.

Or we can even set our foot across the threshold.

We need our sin removed.

In verses 6 and 7, that's what happened.

But notice here that Isaiah's iniquity,

God didn't just say, well, we'll take the sin

and we'll put it into the coat closet in heaven,

kind of forget about it for a bit.

No, that's not what he does.

He has to deal with it.

And at Christmas, we're rejoicing over the way he dealt with it.

We're rejoicing that the only means possible for the payment of our sin

was born in a manger in the city of Bethlehem.

While we were yet sinners, out of his love and compassion for us,

while you and I were standing on the train tracks of his wrath,

while this was our estate,

while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God was not content to leave us on the tracks,

but he sent his son in our moment of need to redeem us, to pay our debts.

Because a debt was due.

A man has sinned.

A man must die.

And on Calvary, that's just what happened.

Jesus came on a rescue mission and he completed it.

Let's look at our final verse, verse 8.

Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who shall go for us?

That's a reference to the Trinity.

You ever wonder where you get the doctrine of the Trinity from?

Well, this is one of these references.

Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

That's not a revelation about just the courtroom of heaven and all the angels nearby.

This is speaking to the Trinity.

Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?

Then I said, and this is Isaiah speaking,

then I said, Here am I. Send me.

You know, a lot of us are familiar with the classic story of Charles Dickens' The Christmas Carol.

A lot of us enjoy that. It's a tradition.

We read it or we watch it each year.

Now, you could argue that The Christmas Carol,

you think about Charles Dickens, you think Ebenezer Scrooge and the angels of Christmas past, future present, sideways and so forth.

As these angels come into the picture, as all this happens, you could argue that what this is is a morality tale.

It's a morality tale.

You've got Ebenezer Scrooge and one minute he's mean and crusty and he's Scrooge-like and he's got greed and avarice and the like.

And over time, over time, something happens, something changes and he becomes filled with mercy and charity.

And we can look at that and stand back and go, oh, I guess I should be charitable too.

I guess I should be kind and less like Scrooge and the like.

And we can take that away from Ebenezer Scrooge.

We can take that away from the Christmas carol.

With that said, we can do the same thing with the biblical narrative of Jesus and the manger.

We can look at it as just a morality tale.

And we can see just a gentle Jesus.

And we can hear abstract things about sacrifice.

And it doesn't mean much more to us than the tinsel does on the tree.

Again, I think that's the legacy of North American Christmas.

Deflated of its meaning.

With that said, the Bible puts people to the point of a decision.

You won't be put to the point of a decision when you watch a Christmas carol this next week.

The Bible will put you there.

God put Isaiah there.

Who will I send?

Who will respond?

Who will go for us?

Scripture puts us to the point of a decision.

God revealed his glory to Isaiah.

He revealed to Isaiah something about his attributes, his characteristics.

Isaiah came to the throne room.

He learned something about God in that moment.

And then the question was this, what was he going to do about it?

I tell you, that is front and center before us this Christmas season too.

The Christmas narrative is not just about being comforted.

I hope it comforts us and should, but it should also prompt a response.

If it doesn't, something's wrong.

Whom shall I send?

God reveals his characteristics, his attributes to Isaiah,

and then asks him squarely this, who shall I send?

Who will go for us?

And in the midst of that mighty throne room, fiery angels all flying around, six wings and the like,

isaiah's trembling hand goes up.

It says, here am I. Send me.

Isaiah knew he was weak.

That's why he lay down, fell down.

Isaiah knew he was weak. He knew he was a fallen man.

But he also knew that God uses fallen, weak men and women.

God uses people just like you and I to be his ambassadors into a hurting world.

And to tell them not just about a cute baby, but to tell them about a Savior.

And the reason we need a Savior is because we have something we need to be saved from.

Isaiah, in his life, in his ministry, he took that message out.

Here I am.

Send me.

Now, I know there's a new year just around the corner.

I'll close with this observation.

There's a new year coming around the corner.

For some of us, it can't come fast enough.

For some of us, as we look back at this past year,

this past year was bad enough and nightmarish enough

that we can't wait for the page to turn.

For some of us, even now, it's a blue Christmas, so to speak.

Whatever the case is, good, bad,

above the tinsel, above the Christmas lights,

above some of the distractions,

God will put you and I to a point of decision

as we encounter the Christmas narrative time and again

over the next week and a half.

He'll put us to a point of a decision.

He'll say, who shall I send?

This upcoming year, who's going to go to the widow?

This upcoming year, who's going to pray for one's children?

This upcoming year, who's going to serve the local church?

This upcoming year, who's going to serve the poor and the needy, the destitute?

This upcoming year, who is going to share the Gospel with a guy down the street

who's living as an absolute heathen?

Who is going to go and do that?

Who shall I send?

Who will take the hope and the promise of this Christmas season,

that which we rightly esteem?

Who will take this hope and promise and translate it into an actual response in 2020?

Who will hear the words, who shall I send?

And say, me.

Here I am, send me.

You know, in many ways, Isaiah was not equipped for that task.

He knew it.

In many ways, Isaiah was not ready for that task.

And he knew it.

In the midst of your hurts and your pains and your circumstances,

you might think you're not ready either.

But here's the thing.

God doesn't ask who's ready.

He asks who's willing.

Who's willing?

Are you willing to be sent this Christmas season, this week?

In 2020, the year yet to come, are you willing to be sent

to a darkened world with the Gospel of light,

into a hurting world with the Gospel of hope?

In the midst of your present difficulties,

are you willing to raise your hand in the air and say,

here I am, send me?

If so, that's the Christmas Spirit.

That's the exact Christmas Spirit that God is looking for this day

and which our darkened world sorely needs.

Let's pray.