TD Jakes - Here Comes Jesus (05/14/2025)
The birth of Jesus, foreordained from the foundation of the world, was a moment of heavenly celebration yet filled with human difficulties for Mary and Joseph. Drawing from the Christmas story in Luke, the preacher emphasizes that even when God’s perfect plan unfolds, it often comes with no precedent, no place, no angelic presence, and no human plan—reminding us to trust Him when His promises break forth on His timing.
Heaven’s Joy and Earth’s Reality
When the Bible says that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, it was talking about Jesus all along, even though we did not see Him born or crucified yet. Because eternity is not restricted to time, it does not have to wait for time to catch up in order to manifest. Eternity is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Time was created by God in creation; God existed before the first day was made, so eternity is bigger than time. Time is just a microcosm of eternity. Somebody say amen!
From a lofty theological perspective, the magnitude of this moment is cataclysmic. Anytime heaven starts shouting, it is cataclysmic. Anytime the angels start rejoicing, we ought to be the first ones to give God praise, honor, and glory. Anytime the angels start praising God, we ought to outdo them in praise because He came to redeem us. They are shouting over something they could not benefit from. We benefit from something we often will not shout about.
That is why the Bible says, «Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, ” because He came for you. When you were in the pit, He came for you. When you were in trouble, He came for you. And yet, as powerful as this moment was, it has problems. You must understand that the fact that you have been empowered does not exempt you from problems.
Divine Power, Human Problems
When we look at it from a divine perspective, we see the very power of God, the strategy of God, the strength of God, the inexhaustibility of His wisdom, the manifold wisdom of God, the Ancient of Days, the Sovereign God, and the Mighty God. But from a human perspective, this night has a lot of problems. From heaven’s standpoint, it was shouting time, but from Mary’s standpoint, it was not a shouting time.
Number one, there was no precedent for it. Anytime God does something for you for which you have no point of reference, it is frightening, fearful, and uncertain. When you cannot look back in your life and point to something similar, and suddenly you find yourself in uncharted waters, it is uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that it was unorthodox, so you could not lean on the Hebrew Bible to find a precedent for this kind of birth.
Can you imagine going to your rabbi and saying, „You know, God got me pregnant the other night“? I have had a few come to this church and say that, and I had the same reaction you just did. So there you are, without the benefit of sociological support, a theological foundation, or previous experience. You are out there on your own.
I want to talk to somebody that God is saying something to you that you have no precedent for, you have no background for, you have no support for, and you have never seen Him do anything like that in your life before. But He said something to you, and you believe it.
No Place for the Promise
Number two, there was no place for it. God had given her a word and a promise but not a place. What do you do when God has given you a word and a promise but you have no place for it? What do you do when you know God spoke to you, you know He appeared to you, you know the Holy Ghost came upon you and left you with child, and the God who was thoughtful enough to come upon you and leave you with child did not think of a place for you to stay?
I am amazed at the many people in this room and watching online right now who have been anointed for something for which there is no place. You have got a message, and there is no place to preach it. You have got a song, and there is no place to sing it. You have got a vision, but you do not have a building to do it in. You have got a business in you, but you do not have a company yet. You have got a book in you, but you do not have a publisher. Sometimes God will give you something that you have no place for. Am I talking to anybody today?
No Presence of Angels
Number three, there was no presence of angels. The angels were making a whole lot of noise when they announced to her, „Hail Mary, you have been highly favored. You shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Jesus.“ But by the time she was heavy with child, riding on a donkey, I would presume, in the hot Palestinian heat to give birth to a child without a physician, there were no angels saying, „We have got your back! Do not worry, girl, everything is going to be alright.“
Sometimes God gets quiet when you are in His will and His purpose, and He still says nothing at all. Sometimes you have to walk by faith and not by sight, without the affirmation or reaffirmation that the God who said it is still with you, and you have got to keep on walking anyway. Sometimes heaven gets quiet while you get nervous.
Heaven gets uncomfortable to the degree that it does not come to make you comfortable; it intends for you to have discomfort. She was in the will but still she was uncomfortable. Why do you know that? The Bible did not say that? No, but common sense says that if you are about to have a baby and you are riding on a donkey, come on sisters, back me up!
If you have ever been pregnant, would you like to take a ride into Bethlehem on a donkey? Yeah, strapping your leg on a donkey, traveling down the road, and all of a sudden you find yourself in a situation where you are completely uncomfortable. I want you to understand that in this age and era where our comfort has become so important, there are times in life that God does not care that you are not comfortable.
Oh God, He cares! He cares about His purpose, He cares about His will, He cares about His destiny. But God does not always care about your comfort. Being in the will of God will make you uncomfortable. If you do not believe it, ask Jesus about the cross!
No Plan for the Timing
Number four, there was no plan for it. She did not know she was going to give birth to that baby in Bethlehem. The journey that she was on, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, was simply necessary to pay taxes because Joseph was from the city of David. She did not get on that beast saying, „I am going to have this baby.“ They were going into the region to handle business, not to give birth.
The King James Version says it was to pay taxes; the NIV says it was to register. Whether they were registering their marriage or because they were from town, there was some decree that required an immediate trip, and they were traveling pregnant.
I want to talk to some people that are traveling pregnant. You are traveling pregnant with something inside you that has not come out yet. You are traveling with discomfort; you are moving forward, but there is something inside you that is weighing you down. They were traveling pregnant. Everybody had to pay taxes, but they were traveling pregnant.
The difference that set them apart from other people was that they were traveling pregnant and had no plan that this would be the trip that took them over the edge. They had no plan that this would be the trip where her water broke. They had no plan that this would be the trip where she became so heavy with child that she went into labor and gave birth to a child in Bethlehem. They had no plan for it.
They had no idea that this was the moment. Bethlehem in the New Testament is often referred to as Ephrath in the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, when it is referred to as Ephrath, Rachel died giving birth on the way to Ephrath. This is not a nice, easy trip. Rachel went into labor and had Ben-Oni, the son of my sorrows, and died just outside Bethlehem.
Maybe God kept her outside of Bethlehem so that she would not fool herself into thinking she was having the Messiah. But she died a little ways outside of Ephrath—almost there—and God said, „This is not the one I want to be born in Bethlehem. No, no, no, no, no. There is one coming that will be born in Bethlehem, who will be King of Kings.“
You are pregnant with a king, but I am going to produce a King of Kings and a Lord of Lords, and He is going to be born in Bethlehem. So whatever you are going to have, you are going to have to have it on your way!
It Happens When It Happens
But what they are like is that neither one of them expected for their water to break and for them to dilate nine centimeters and give birth on the road. What do you do when what you are carrying breaks forth before you are ready? What do you do with what you thought would happen in 2022 when it happens in 2021?
What do you do when you lose control of the promise, and it happens when it happens, and you have got to adjust to it? What do you do when God has a plan, but you do not? You know God did not promise to let you in on His plan; He allows you to walk in the dark.
God knew she was going to have that baby in Bethlehem; it was prophesied that He would be born in Bethlehem. God knew she was going to go into labor, but Mary did not know. Joseph did not know; he had no plan, he had no place to stay, and he had no presence of angels. Joseph did not know what to do because the thing broke loose quicker than he thought.
I want to take a minute and talk to somebody. What God has been talking to you about is going to break loose quicker than you think. What God has been speaking to you about over the last three months is going to break loose sooner than you think. What God has put in your spirit, you think it is going to break loose at the end of 2022? God said it is going to break loose sooner than you think.
Your time schedule is not God’s time. What an inconvenient place to go into labor! What a filthy place! Who wants to have a sanctified baby in a desecrated place? It is now urgent for Joseph to make an emergency decision because it appears that Mary is going to have her baby.
Joseph is a descendant of King David, and it seems like history is repeating in some ways—only this time it is not Ruth; it is Mary, and she is pregnant. I had a plan to pay taxes, not nurse babies. But it is happening when it happens!
What I just said right there is worth the whole sermon! It happens when it happens! Ready or not, it happens when it happens. You have got to get ready because it happens when it happens! You have got to stop living in the moment and prepare for the unexpected because it happens when it happens!
You have got to stop spinning up to the limit and get some reserve because what God is going to do is going to happen when it happens. And when it happens, you have got to be ready for it! It happens when it happens.
I do not know who I am talking to, but I am talking to somebody. Write this down: it happens when it happens! You cannot live like you are not pregnant! You cannot live like you are not expecting something! When you are expecting something, you have got to have enough stuff in your bag to get you through in a pinch because it happens when it happens!
It happened, and all of a sudden, in the night—in the night! Preaching this now, you do not get it because we live with electricity. Jesus never saw a light bulb; He never saw a lamp. There were no street lights. It happens in the dark.
In the dark, God brings the Light of the world into the world. In the dark, He displays Him like a diamond on black velvet against the blackest of nights. God brings in the Light of the world, and in the darkness of night, with every door He has knocked on closed.
If I had time, I would talk to some frustrated men. Everything you knock on is not working. Everything you try is not working. Every time you knock on a door, it shuts in your face, and it is a crisis, and it is an emergency, and you are worried about your family and yourself, and I want you to know you are not alone.
The Bible does not hide the frustration of a man who is trying to find an open door and goes after door after door, only to have one shut in his face. And in the darkness of night, the baby says, „I will not wait any longer!“ All he sees is a barn over yonder across the field, and in the night, he makes his way.