“A Rescue Plan”
Text: Galatians 4:4-7
12-24-2022
In the name of the Son of God who came down to rescue us from our sins, dear friends in Christ. I don’t know if you take much time to think about this, but our first-responders train a lot to prepare them for the emergencies they must face. That way, when they get called out to a dangerous or life-threatening situation, they can react quickly without having to plan for how to perform the rescue. However, I can tell you from my personal experiences as a police officer, you’re never 100% ready. Different situations require different tactics and no matter how hard you train sometimes you have to come up with split second decisions for how best to save someone’s life.
Would you be surprised if I told you that God doesn’t have that problem? The Bible tells us that His rescue plan for us condemned sinners was in place even before the universe was created. Sending His Son into the world to save us was not Plan B, or C, or D. He wasn’t caught off-guard when Adam and Eve sinned. The Lord knew it was going to happen and was prepared to rescue us. As our reading from Galatians tells us, God knew just the right time for His Son to come down and take on human flesh. We call that the incarnation, where God and man were united in the person of Jesus Christ. He was “born of woman” which is a direct fulfillment of the Lord’s plan that He announced back in Garden of Eden after our first parents had fallen into sin. There, He promised that an offspring of the woman would crush Satan’s power over us by eliminating the guilt of our sins. That was God’s rescue plan which unfolded when the baby Jesus was conceived of the Virgin Mary and was born into our world to save us. And that’s why we gather to celebrate on this holy night.
But I’ve got a question: Why was it necessary for God to come down personally in order to accomplish this? I mean, couldn’t He have just sent an angel to tell us how to get out of our damnable mess? Sure He could, but it wouldn’t have worked. And He knew it. Issuing a bunch of directions on how to save ourselves was destined to fail. How can I be so sure? Because mankind has been trying that as long as sin has been in the world. This is what every other religion teaches: “Just keep working hard at being good and you just might be able to save yourself.” When people try it, they end up in despair because they soon realize that it ain’t working. No matter how hard they try, it never seems to be enough to remove the guilt of all the bad stuff they’ve done. Worse than that, none of us can help ourselves because we’re born spiritually dead in our sins and we have no desire to be rescued.
Think of it this way, if you were having a heart attack and you called 911, would you want the dispatcher to explain over the phone how to do CPR on yourself? Or worse yet, if you passed out during the call and were unconscious what good would all those instructions do you? All those words from afar wouldn’t help. No, I guarantee you’d want a rescue squad sent out with real people who are trained in how to save your life. And that’s what God did for our souls.
Perhaps a real-life illustration will help drive home this point. Back when I was about 15 years old we went out to my uncle’s farm for a family party. There was a small river that ran through their property and since it was during the hot summer my cousins invited us to go swimming. My younger cousin, Lori, who lived on that farm, joined us. We were having a lot of fun… until Lori got too close to a whirlpool that had formed in the deepest part of this river and it sucked her into its powerful rotations. Every time she tried to break free of it, she got pulled back into the swirling water. She was screaming for help. She was convinced she was going to drown. Well, I was a pretty good swimmer and I tried to help her. However, as I got close, she thrashed around frantically and grabbed a hold of me, nearly forcing me under water. We were both going to drown if this kept up so I had to pull away and swim out of the whirlpool. Poor Lori remained trapped in it.
Thankfully, my older brother David had come down to the river to see what we were up to. He’s 4 years older than me and had just gotten out of the Army. When he saw what was happening, he kicked off his shoes and jumped into the water. Once he reached Lori, he told her to quit trying to save herself and to just hold onto him. Which she did. And soon, the whirlpool brought them around to a spot nearer to the shore. David used his strength and swimming ability to break free from that powerful, swirling rotation and soon he was able to bring them both to safety.
So what’s that got to do with the baby Jesus coming into our world? Well, follow me here with the comparison. All humans born into this fallen world find themselves in a situation like Lori. We were caught in the vortex of sin and we were spiritually drowning in it. It was pulling us downward to eternal death in hell. No matter how hard we try we can’t rescue ourselves. The people around us, even though they may love us dearly, can’t save us from our sins. That whirlpool of damnation pulls us all downward together. But along comes our “older Brother,” Jesus Christ. He didn’t stand off at a distance and shout out directions on how we could save ourselves. No, the Son of God “dove into” our swirling, sinful world to rescue us. Our text says that He took on human flesh and was born under the Law in order to save us who were living under the Law and drowning in our sin. God’s Law demands perfection which no sinful human being can do. We were condemned by it and were going to die eternally as a result. But the holy Son of God kept the Law perfectly for us. He died in our place so that the whirlpool of sin would lose its power over us. Now that He has accomplished that, He tells us to hold tightly onto Him and He will rescue us. All we need do is trust in Him and Him alone and we will be saved.
Christian friends, that’s really what we celebrate at Christmas. We rejoice that God sent His only Son as a real, flesh and blood person in order to accomplish His eternal rescue plan. He came to personally save our lost and fallen world. I pray that as you ponder this wondrous mystery that you’ll be filled with awe. And I pray that your hearts will also be filled with gratitude that our “brother,” Jesus Christ, was born in Bethlehem and that by firmly holding onto Him we will be safely brought to eternal life with Him. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria