To us God’s Son is given!

 

Sermon for Christmas Day, December 25, 2025

The grace of Almighty God, the reconciliation of His Son, and the Word of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Amen.

Isaiah 9:6-7  ⁶For to us a child is born.  To us a son is given.  The authority to rule will rest on his shoulders.  He will be named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  ⁷There will be no limit to his authority and no end to the peace he brings.  He will rule on David’s throne and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from now on, into eternity.  The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this. (EHV)

Luke 2:19-20  ¹⁹But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.  ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (EHV)

To us God’s Son is given!

Beloved children of God,

            The message given to Isaiah is like a clear vision of the birth of God’s Son.  It’s like Isaiah was standing in the stable that night the angels sang to the shepherds and the shepherds hurried to the new-born Savior’s bed.  What glorious things the prophet tells us.

In the same way, Mary and the shepherds gave glory to God for delivering the Deliverer to us.  To us a Child is born!  What an amazing statement.  Now, in our day, there are many people who don’t celebrate the gift of a child.  We know that Herod’s slaughter of the innocent shortly after Jesus’ birth pales in comparison to the millions of babies thrown away in our times.  But this Child.  What a story He is!  What amazing promises come to us because this Child of God was given to us!

Continuing our catechetical review, this morning we read The Second Commandment: You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.  What does this mean?  Martin Luther explained, “We should fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon Him in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.”  As we learn from Luke’s account, this is precisely what Mary and the shepherds did after seeing Jesus’ birth with their own eyes.  Mary, of course, much more involved than the shepherds.

Still, the question for us is how well do we keep this commandment?  Is every moment of our lives spent in praising God, studying His Word, trusting His love and providence, and seeking counsel only from the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus?  Do we always treasure the salvation Christ provides us through His life and sacrifice?

The honest answer, I suppose, would have to include that Mary and the shepherds also had their failings.  No one born in the line of Adam and Eve can ever claim true innocence and total trust in God.  For that reason, we needed a Savior.  The shepherds rejoiced with great enthusiasm because they had been privileged to witness the birth of the promised Savior.  Imagine the excitement they must have felt.  It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been to maintain that joy.

Mary treasured all the things she witnessed in Jesus’ life.  She was eyewitness to Jesus’ journey from conception to the cross.  That didn’t make her a saint in itself.  Rather, it gave her a reliable testimony to share with Luke when he studied the history and record of all that Jesus did for us. 

When Luke was investigating Jesus’ life, Mary was likely the only one who remembered Gabriel’s coming to her with the exciting news that she would bear Messiah into the world.  Who else would know about Joseph being informed of the Good News by an angel in a dream?  Who else could later report of their journey to Egypt to escape Herod’s jealous wrath?  Who else would remember her embarrassment for leaving twelve-year-old Jesus at the temple when the family attended the festival and she and Joseph left for home without young Jesus? 

Thus, there are many, many reasons to appreciate and celebrate Mary’s part in Jesus’ life.  Yet, Mary also needed a Savior, and by that first Easter morning, her joy in Jesus was complete, and she could again give thanks and praise that To us God’s Son is given!

Though there is nothing further told us about those humble shepherds who visited Jesus’ natal bed, I can assume they were much like us.  They went about their ordinary lives.  I pray that they never forgot about that Baby of whom the angels filled the skies with praise.  Yet, there were likely some who let that good news drift away.

I pray also that everyone who has ever entered through the doors to this church building will never forget of whom they heard such marvelous things, but I know some have drifted away.  Oh, they may have a fond memory or two.  I pray that many of those who are not here anymore have found other churches where the truth of the Gospel is preached, but if so, why have they not let us know?

Isaiah listed many names for the Savior of the world.  The Bible has numerous names for Jesus, but as we study the Second Commandment, we soon realize that the Lord’s name includes His reputation, so we would say it includes everything in the Bible for it is His Story.

As you read Isaiah’s words in our text, you have to wonder how anyone could not be impressed.  Why would anyone not want to be close to Jesus?  Still, we too have our shortcomings and weaknesses.  It is easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day humdrum of living.  I suppose we start to take God for granted.  Even as we confess our sins or pray the Lord’s Prayer, it is easy to lose focus on Jesus and the love of God for us.

At the same time, what joy is ours that To us God’s Son is given!  To us, who are so undeserving of God’s mercy!!  We did nothing to deserve this gift of God’s grace.  We did nothing to bring Jesus into human flesh or into our lives.  Yet, here we are, blessed by God through the power and work of the Holy Spirit, believing in Jesus as our Savior, giving thanks to the Father for sending Jesus into our hearts and lives.  Here we are, washed clean of all sin in the cleansing flood of baptism.  Here we are, having been brought into God’s own family through the adoption He made when He chose us to believe.  Here we are, with every benefit Isaiah foretold in this bit of text.

Here we are with Jesus ruling heaven and earth for our eternal welfare.  St. Paul wrote, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” (Romans 8:28-29)  About the God-Man who would be both his Son and His Lord, King David prophesied, “You make him suffer need, apart from God for a while, but you crown him with glory and honor.  You make him the ruler over the works of your hands.  You put everything under his feet.” (Psalm 8:5-6) 

Isaiah wrote, “There will be no limit to his authority and no end to the peace he brings.  He will rule on David’s throne and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from now on, into eternity.”  Now, perhaps, ruling on David’s throne doesn’t strike you as all that important, because the kingdom of Israel is long gone.  But, this wasn’t a prophecy about an earthly kingdom.  Rather, Isaiah and David both knew that the Holy Spirit was teaching them about the kingdom of God that is heaven.  As He stood before Pilate in judgment, Jesus revealed to that pagan, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight …. But now my kingdom is not from here.” (John 18:36

We give thanks that Jesus’ kingdom s not of this world, for this world will pass away, and everything in it will fall to destruction.  However, we do not need to be afraid, for Jesus is our “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  In Jesus, we find the wisdom of God, that He used the humble, ordinary things of this world to give us eternal life: the Son of God hidden in, with, and under the flesh of a tiny baby, ordinary water along with the power of the Gospel in Baptism cleansed us of sin and made us God’s children by faith, the body and blood of our Savior in, with, and under the bread and wine in His Supper to restore our forgiveness and strengthen us for living in His kingdom of grace.  God hid His Son in a humble Baby so that Jesus could redeem our whole lives from Satan’s grip.  Jesus came not in riches and splendor but in poverty and meekness so that we could be rich in God’s mercy.

Jesus is our Mighty God because He took on the demonic forces that caused the curse of sin upon the world, a curse that would have caused us everlasting torment, but Jesus won that war, and the devil lies crushed and defeated, while we have been rescued from the devil’s control by the power of the Spirit of Truth Jesus sent from His Father to bring us peace.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace because He is now our judge, and having paid for our sins on the cross, and having welcomed us into His family through the work of the Holy Spirit in Word and Baptism, Jesus now recognizes us as His brothers and sisters.  As our Good Shepherd, He welcomes us, His precious lambs, to approach His heavenly throne in peace for it is His blood and body that cleansed us and won our release from Satan’s cursed side.

Dear friends, there are many in this world who would argue against God’s true love.  Many reject His Son as Savior.  Many deny that God has the power to save, much less the inclination.  But those people all misjudge the God who loved us from everlasting to everlasting.  The Creator who knit us together in our mothers’ wombs has never stopped loving us and providing for our care.  He has never taken His eyes off of us so that the devil could get a grip on us again.  Rather, because He loves us and desires only to have us in His heaven forever, God the Father sent His Son to be our Redeemer and Savior, and the Son gave His life into service and death to make us right with God and holy in His eyes.  No effort was spared in the heavenly realms so that you would have peace with God.  The zeal of the Lord of Armies has accomplished this—To us God’s Son is given!  Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.