Louie Giglio - The Birth of Christ and the Death of Death
We’re in this Advent season. And in the season of Advent, we’re thinking about expectation as we’re waiting to celebrate the arrival of Jesus. And that’s what Advent is all about. It’s remembering that in the wait God will arrive at the right time with exactly what we need. We’ve talked over these few weeks about how God has a plan for our lives. Advent reminds us of that, that God’s working on the plan right now. You might not be able to see what God’s doing. You may not have a clue what the plan is right now. But God wants you to know today there is a plan for your life, and He’s working on that plan right now. And He wants you to know that He’s got everything you need to do everything He’s called you to do. And it’s coming from Him at just the right time.
Brad was reminding us all last week that God comes through at the right time. Jonathan preaching at Cumberland. Aaron preaching at Trilith last weekend. What we’re remembering the faithfulness of God. And today, that’s the message of God for your life and for my life. God’s got everything you need, so you can lower the stress today of wondering, «Is He gonna be there? Am I gonna get there? Am I gonna have what I need when I get there»? God’s got a plan and in that plan He’s marshalling all of His powers right now, to bring into your story exactly what you need when you need it. Amen.
We see this in the Christmas account in Matthew 2. The story of the Magi arriving. And it says, «After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, and they asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.' When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 'In Bethlehem in Judea, ' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written, „But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel."'»
We’ll come back to that in just one moment. «And then called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find Him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.' After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. And then, they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route».
Now, what’s interesting about these Magi is that they are in a story that has been prophesied long before. In fact, Herod, when he hears that they’ve come to worship this king that’s been born, he gathers the leaders of the church, if you will, who understand the Old Testament scriptures and he asked them, «Where is this king gonna be born»? And they say that, «He’s gonna be born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah». And he’s gonna say, «Out of you, Bethlehem, is gonna come a ruler who’s gonna shepherd my people Israel».
Now, in your text, there’s gonna be a little letter here and the letter is gonna reference down here a cross reference. And we talked about that a few weeks ago that in the scripture there are 63,779 of these instances where something is mentioned in one part of scripture and then that same thing appears in a different part of scripture. And what’s cross referenced here is Micah 5:2 and 4. Seven hundred years before, Micah had prophesied these very words that in Bethlehem, that’s where the King is gonna be born. In Bethlehem, that’s where Christ will be born. Now, after 100 years went by, people thought, «I don’t know whether you know what you’re talking about or not».
Another 100, another 100, 500, 600 years, still don’t see any king born in Bethlehem. But on this day, Matthew is linking it all together and he’s saying what Advent is saying to you and to me today, «God comes through on His promises. What He says He’s gonna do, He’s gonna do. What He prophesies, He will fulfill». And you may not be able to see it today, but God is at work. And even in this story we see the cross referencing of God and it just keeps on going. «They came to the house where Jesus was with His mother, Mary, and they bowed down,» that’s that word proskuneo that we talked about in our worship collection a few months ago, «And they worshiped Him. They bowed down and worshiped Him».
Whoever this, somewhere in between been born and being two years old, boy was they recognize they were in the presence of a King, and not just a king, the king, «And they bowed down and worshiped Him». At it wasn’t just their kneeling and their prostrating themselves on the ground, they connected their giving and their worship in this moment. They opened up their treasures. What a thought. They didn’t just bring a gift. They didn’t just have an offering. They opened up their treasures. And out of their treasures they presented this boy, this little boy, with gifts, not your normal little boy gifts. Gold. Anybody getting their kid that for Christmas? «Hey, love you. Got you two bars of gold».
Frankincense. And what’s the third one? And myrrh. The gold symbolizes that He’s a king. The frankincense was used in worship as an incense in the temple and that signified about this boy, this King, that He was a high priest, but that He, also, was gonna life as a fragrant aroma and worship to God. But the myrrh, what was the myrrh all about? Well, myrrh in this time primarily was used as a spice in burial. In a decaying moment, the myrrh became an overwhelming scent and fragrance. And so, why do you bring a little boy a spice that is used in burial? «Hey, we came a long way. Heard you had come a long way also. We brought you some gifts. The gold makes sense. The frankincense makes sense». But the myrrh doesn’t really add up to the little kid, right? Unless you realize that this little kid came with a primary objective.
This boy has a mission. This boy has a reason. This boy wasn’t just born so that we can have a holiday. This boy was born to die, and somehow, these Magi understood that. And they came, yes, with gold and, yes, with frankincense, but they also came with the myrrh because they knew that life was in the manger, but they also knew that death was in the manger. That’s what we see in John’s gospel. He tells us about the death of Jesus. «Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled». Whenever you see that now in scripture, I hope that you’ll see one of these arcs. «So that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.' A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.'»
One Greek word, tetelestai. «With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Now, it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down». You say, «What does that mean»? Well, a lot of these people who had been crucified were still struggling on the cross. And so, to hasten death, they would break the legs, and they no longer could push up to get a breath to live. And so, «The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled».
What scripture? Two in particular. One that prophesied, «Not one of His bones will be broken». And one that prophesied, «They will look on the one they have pierced». «Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night». The one who would come and said, «What must I do to inherit eternal life, or how do I get into the kingdom of God»? And Jesus said to him, «You must be born again». That guy now appears again with Joseph of Arimathea.
«And Nicodemus,» who had become a follower, «brought a mixture of,» what? «Of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with the spices,» with the myrrh, «in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there».
Somehow, the wise men knew what Jesus was gonna need on the day that He did what He came to do. First point of this talk is, that Jesus has defeated death, both spiritual death, that is our separation from God, and physical death, which all of us are gonna face at the end of our time on earth. And both had been defeated by Jesus. He was pierced to defeat death for you and for me. So, no one in this gathering needs to spend one more day on earth spiritually separated from God because that spiritual death that comes through sin has been defeated. And no one in this gathering needs to fear the death that is certain at the end of your journey on earth because Jesus has defeated your death by being pierced for you.
There’s a deeper meaning, I think, in the myrrh. The myrrh comes from the Commiphora tree. It looks like that. It’s a thorny tree. It grows in the Arabian Peninsula. It grows in parts of Africa. It grows in India. It’s kind of a desert tree. Not super beautiful, a little bit aggressive looking, and not super approachable because of the thorns that are all in it and on it. And the Commiphora tree interestingly when its bark is pierced, it emits its sap. And the sap flows out, as you can see, onto the bark in red drops that are called tears. And the tears harden in a darkish red color, and then they ultimately become what is known as myrrh. The myrrh can be used as an antiseptic. It can be used to cleanse a wound.
In Jesus' time the myrrh was a healing agent, one of the most powerful healing agents you could find. It also could be ground into an incense and then turned into a very aromatic perfume. But it’s primary use, remember, was to be used as a spice to overwhelm the stench of death. And so, the myrrh comes from the Commiphora tree. Thus, the myrrh tree crowned with thorns bleeds a healing death overcoming flow. So, I was inspired by that, and I wrote an ode to the Magi. «Jesus crowed with thorns now pierce and bleeds. It’s from His wounds crimson flows to purify the sin-stained soul, healing all disease and woes. His blood the balm for death decay, a fragrant aroma of Heaven’s grace».
The myrrh bleeds out in a tear of crimson healing overwhelming the decay that is in death. Jesus got the myrrh at birth because Jesus has defeated death. There’s another message, a second message, in the myrrh. Not only has Jesus defeated death, but there’s a personal message in the myrrh today and it is this, that God shares your loss of loves ones passed and He holds you with hope until you see them again. I was just stunned looking at the myrrh, that the myrrh comes out in a tear. It’s called a tear. And I thought, «Well, in death there is the victory that death is dead, but there’s also still the grief that our loved one is passed, and they’re tears».
And what God is wanting us to know, and Advent, is that tears are okay. That it’s not a contradiction to say, «Praise God death is dead,» and then to still be in grief. To be in grief does not repudiate our faith. To be in grief just authenticates our love. And God is wanting you to know if you’re in a season where you’re facing deaths or you’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death, where you’ve been to the grave, where you said goodbye to a loved one, where you’re coming to a Christmas with an empty seat at your table, and you’re feeling totally undone by the grief of it all, God is not saying to you, «Hey, death’s been defeated. Get over it». He’s saying, «I shed a tear with you, and I bear your grief with you». And it does not repudiate faith to feel the pain of grief. Your tears are just authenticating the love that you have for the person that has passed.
And some of you are coming into this season and you’re struggling 'cause you’re still in the grief, or you’re deeper in the grief than you wanted to be, or you’re still being surprised by the grief in ways that you didn’t expect. And God is saying, «It’s okay to grieve». That’s why at Christmas Eve, if you’re new to Passion City church, we’re gonna have a time in our gathering where any family or individual can come and light a candle in honor of a loved one who has passed this year. And families are gonna come at Cumberland, they’re gonna come at Trilith, they’re gonna come here at 5:15 and they’re gonna line these aisles as they await their opportunity to come. And from a larger light to light a small votive candle. Not a candle that say we’re praying for somehow them to make it into eternity. But it’s a light in a darken season to remember that God has lit up the world with life and conquered death.
It’s to honor them, to remember them, to grieve again, a tear again, for them. Standing on hope, but yet broken in heart. Confident of life, but yet grieving in death. And it’s one of the most powerful times of the year at Passion City Church. Because we’re not just trying to get on overdrive and hype from the season, we’re remembering the myrrh is in the midst. Shelly and I will be one of those families this year. Like so many people in our house, I walked into Trilith at the 9:30 gathering and the very first person I saw had just lost their mom a few days ago. And that’s true of people at Cumberland today, people in this room right now, people all across Passion City Church.
It’s true of my friend, Tom, who’s in church today online. Tom’s been a mentor to Shelly and me, specifically to me almost my entire ministry life. And Tom and his wife are precious friends of ours, of people on or team, have been a part of Passion since Inception. And Tom walked his precious wife Nona to heaven on Tuesday. And as we were talking in the days that followed, I kept thinking, «God, you’ve had me in the myrrh for a month now. You’ve had me in the myrrh for weeks now, to be able to say to Tom in this moment where the grieving is now really just beginning, to say, 'It’s okay in the grief because God shares your loss of loved one passed, and He holds you with hope until you see them and Him again.'»
Our story ends, «And then, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away; and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.' He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new! ' And then, He said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'»
The myrrh is telling you today that Jesus has defeated death. And myrrh is telling you today that God shares the loss of loved ones passed. And the myrrh finally today is telling you that God is gonna bring everything you need into your story on exactly the day that you need it. Now, it’s interesting thinking about Jesus, because the heart of Herod quickly turned. And when the Magi didn’t come back, he wondered, «Who is this king, and is my rule under threat»?
And so, he issues an edict that every boy under a certain age would die. And so, Joseph, and Mary, and Jesus had to flee down into Egypt. Here they are, hardly any means, couldn’t even get a room in the inn, staying some place now that we don’t really know where it was exactly. But on the run now, thank God we got some gold, heading down into Egypt where there is no place to go and worship. Thank goodness we’ve got some frankincense, and we can create an altar of our own in worship of God. And thank goodness when this kid scrapes his knee again, bust his elbow open, runs through the briars over here and has a big gash on the side of his face, thank goodness we got the myrrh to cleanse the wound. Speed up the healing, make the stinky clothes smell slightly better, and prepare us in our minds that this gift of God is a sacrifice of the whole world.