Sermons Vander Kam on HC Lord's Day 14
Q&A 35 & 36 Sermons Vander Kam on HC Lord's Day 14
Q&A 35 & 3635 Q. What does it mean that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?
A. That God's eternal Son, who is and continues true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man of the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, that He might also be the true seed of David, like unto His brethren in all things, sin excepted.
36 Q. What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?
A. That He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin wherein I was conceived and brought forth.
Beloved in the Lord, it seems a little bit strange, of course, that in the last Sunday of September, we are dealing with the birth of Christ. It is about three months and we will again have Christmas, we will again celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into the flesh. And at that time that we will also celebrate it the way we have always done, and that is, that we will rejoice, we will rejoice in the glorious fact that Jesus has come into the world. We will rejoice in this, and we will be so joyful that we will give gifts one to another. And not only will we do that, but the world around us will too, because they also rejoice in this, that Jesus has come, apparently. And they are fully unaware of that what has really taken place, because of the fact that the apostolic confession takes it up and says, this is an article of faith that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
Now that is the way in which you and I will have to see it, and otherwise we do not have Christmas. That is the way in which we will have to confess this, and otherwise of course, it is a birth like every other, and that it is also of no value, no more value than any other. But this is the thing that is here made clear to us, that this is one of the greatest things that has ever happened.
And therefore we speak to you on the very simple theme this morning, "The Birth of Jesus Christ." And then we notice in the first place, its meaning; secondly, its mystery; and finally, its benefits.
And now when we look upon the meaning beloved, then we would be able to go into that at great length. And that is not my aim this morning to go into it at that length, but at the same time that we are going to look upon certain things that are very necessary for us to see. And that is, that first of all we are going to realize that the birth of Jesus Christ is something unique, that it is different from all others. That it is different from anybody that has ever been born because of the fact that it is here an article of faith. And that the Scriptures also make it very clear and have made it clear from beginning to end, already in the Old Testament as well as in the New, that this birth of Jesus Christ is indeed something in which the people of God ought to rejoice. But then they ought to rejoice in such a way so that they are also able to rejoice with the understanding so that they also know what they are rejoicing about, that they will see that this is indeed something that is very, very much in line with their salvation.
Because when we look upon it first of all and ask, what is the meaning of this, the birth of Jesus Christ, and one shrugs his shoulders and says, "Well, what is the meaning of any birth?" It means this, that He has come into the world, that He is here. What is the meaning of this, that you and I were born, and that is, that we are here yet today. That's the reason, and that is all due to the fact that you and I were born. And now therefore, when you look at the meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ, then you would also come to that conclusion first of all, that that is the reason why He is here. That's the way in which He came, He was born, born like everybody else. And then, says the Catechism, and then, says the Apostolic confession, you have missed the point entirely. Because He has been born in order that there might be life, and you realize that even in regard to salvation that then will you look at the meaning of it, the birth of Jesus Christ, and you run stuck.
Because I thought that He had come in order to give His life as a ransom; and the Bible says that. That He had come in order to die. Now what are we dealing with and with a birth. Or is there also such a thing for example, as someone in the history of the church many years ago thought; that there was also salvation through incarnation. That there is salvation through the very fact that He has come, that He has come into the world; and that was immediately turned down by the church as being a heresy. That is heretical. We are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, not by His birth. And therefore the meaning of it of course, is something that is not immediately upon the surface. And that you will realize that it is something that is a little bit more deeply ingrained than that. That He has not only been born in order that He might be here, but that He was born in order that He might here do that work to which He had been called, and that He might be like unto us in all things, sin excepted.
So that He goes all the way back, all the way back to that time of birth. No; goes all the way back to conception. That's where it all begins, that's where my problems already began, according to Psalm 51. "I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." That's Scripture.
And now the salvation of Jesus Christ is going to be complete. And that is going to be so complete beloved, that He is going to cover every part of it, and that He is now going to go into it to such an extent that He is going to cover in the sight of God all the sins that have been committed, and that He is going to do that from the conception and birth of the child on. So that He has come into this world and He has come as a babe. And there is all kinds of poetry of course, that is written about it, all kinds of poetry because of the fact that He comes as such a small babe. And that He comes under such poor circumstances; that's poetic; you realize! That is so poetic, that He is born in a manger. That is so poetic, that it was not in a hotel, or in a hospital, or in a mansion; but in a manger. Aw, that is something that strikes us, and that grips us. Yah, but that is not the important point. The important point of it is this, that He has come in the flesh, and that He has become like unto us. That He has become like unto us in all things, in excepted.
No, those are things that we are also going to look into in a moment, how that is a possibility, but nevertheless, here you are dealing with this, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh -- actually, people; actually. He is actually accepted, taken upon Himself our flesh and blood, and not only that, but also our souls. As Article 18 of the Belgic Confession goes into it a little bit more; I would read just a small part of it to give you the flavor of what this article has to say concerning that. "The incarnation of Jesus Christ; we confess therefore that God has fulfilled the promise which He made to the fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets when He sent into the world at the time appointed by Him, His own only begotten and eternal Son, who took upon Him the form of a servant and became like unto man; really assuming the true human nature with all its infirmities, sin excepted. Being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, without the means of man, and did not only assume human nature as to the body, but also a true human soul, that He might be a real man. For since the soul was lost as well as the body it was necessary that He should take both upon Him, to save both." And it goes into it yet a little bit more than that.
But nevertheless, thereby already you see the flavor of it, as to the meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ. That it is this, that He has now taken our flesh upon Himself and that He has also taken our soul, that He has become like us in all things. There is no such thing as a human body without the soul and still have a man. Man is body and soul, and He has taken both, so that He is also able to say later on, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." And that that body of Jesus Christ of course, is like unto ours, that is something that has been clearly proven in the Scriptures, clearly proven in the Gospel accounts.
There you see it ever so clearly that He hungers, that He thirsts, that He weeps; that all of these things are common to Him. That He is like unto us in all things. And that His soul also feels these things, so that He is like us, and that He has gone all the way back, all the way back to that birth and that conception, because that's where the problem lays. That is the way in which we have come into the world.
Now concerning that meaning beloved, we must realize that this is the thing that is denied on every hand. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is denied, and therefore it was already necessary for example, for a matron in His day to come with His magisterial work in regard to the virgin birth. Wherein he wrote already at that time, and if I'm not mistaken, that was in the late '20s; that that was the difficulty in the liberal church. That was the great difficulty concerning the person of Jesus Christ; that they could not accept the fact that He was virgin born. This is an impossibility; it is an intercontradiction. And consequently we don't believe those things; of course we don't believe any miracles, so it's quite simple. The modern man does not believe in miracles. And the modern man certainly does not believe in the virgin birth. And, as Dr. Machen already made it very clear at that time, apart from the virgin birth, and there is also no cross, and then you have nothing left, then man falls completely under the sin that he has committed.
Now those were the things that were already so clear at that time, that in the liberal church that was one of the great difficulties. And today, where they are beginning to turn away from the truth of God; and they turn away from the truth of God in regard to practical items. And those practical items don't have to be mentioned, you know them, and there are ever so many. And there's a whole catalog of them, they no longer go according to the Scriptures. But when it comes to the doctrinal matters, no doubt, if I do not miss my guess, the first will be the virgin birth of Christ. So it has always gone; that is one of the first things that is denied. And when you have denied that, you have denied Jesus Christ, you have denied salvation, you have denied the God who has spoken, you have denied the Scriptures. Then there is absolutely nothing left. And you have also a warped view of your own salvation, how it could ever take place.
Now therefore the meaning of it is something that is indeed very necessary for us to realize. So that it is not something that may be denied, nor is it something that is of very little consequence. But it has consequences that are so great, so deep, that all of salvation, all of the truth of God stands or falls with this, whether He was virgin born. Now that is one of the things beloved, that you and I must recognize. And of course, I do not believe that there is anyone here this morning who has that kind of an idea in his mind, that he would deny the virgin birth of Christ.
But nevertheless, this is the danger that exists on every side, and that we will also be bombarded by it no doubt, in the not-too-distant future, that that is not necessary. Just so we believe in the cross, just so we believe in His death, that He has given His life as a ransom for many, that He has given Himself as a sacrifice. And then never mind His life; that is of no consequence anyway. There is no salvation through incarnation, and as a result of that; who cares whether He is virgin born, or not.
Now these are things that you and I must recognize, and there has been all too little thought given to it in the past. And they just go over the top of it, that we believe in this, that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We say it together again every Sunday evening. And that is also as deep as it goes, and do not realize what is involved in it; do not realize that it is the very foundation of our salvation. God the Father has given Him, and He has not used the instrumentality of man, except for the virgin Mary. But He has cut off that whole line of sin, from Adam on; has cut it off completely, so that there may no longer be that original sin in Him. Now the actual sins that people commit bother them a whole lot more than the original sin. You speak of the actual sins, here is a murderer, here is an adulterer, here is the thief; and these are the sins of course, that go contrary to the Word of God, and are also punishable. But nevertheless, that original sin; people aren't bothered by that. No, they even excuse themselves by means of it. I can't help that; that's the way I am, that's the way I was made. I didn't make myself, you know. I would have done a whole lot better job than what God did. I didn't make myself, and consequently, you can't blame me for what I haven't done but how I came into the world.
You can't blame me if I am born with a club foot. You cannot blame me for any of these things that I have inherited. In sin was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me. That sin was there all the time. Adam's sin slays me, and how is salvation possible then, how is salvation possible?
And therefore the meaning of this birth of Jesus Christ is so important, that we see it clearly. That He has come into the world, that He has become like us in body and soul, in order that He might redeem the whole man, in order that He might present us to God as that which has been cleansed completely.
Secondly, notice also, the mystery. Now the mystery that is involved in this beloved, is again of such a nature that we could expand on that a great deal. And yet at the same time, it might also not be necessary to do so, but that there are certain things that ought to be brought to our attention very clearly. And that is this, that the Old Testament is not able to understand that salvation is ever going to be a possibility. As Job cries out, "How can the clean come forth out of the unclean?" The unclean cannot bring forth the clean. And now that human nature that is so distorted, that is so sinful, how can it bring forth that which is clean. That's the mystery, that's the mystery.
And someone must come who is perfectly clean, sin excepted. Where there is no sin whatsoever. Who does not first of all have to pay for his own sin, and then for the sin of others; but who is perfectly clean, who is perfectly holy. That is the kind of a Savior that we need. Now how can you have one like that. See, and that is the mystery of the holy, conceptioned birth of Jesus Christ. That that line from Adam is finally cut off, and that was not cut off in regard to anybody else. But it is cut off as far as you and I are concerned, concerning the Christ. We have inherited the sin of Adam, that is that original sin. And that original sin of Adam is sufficient to cause us to go into eternal death. But here it is now finally cut off, and that the Old Testament is not able to understand of course, how that can ever happen.
He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, not of a man. And then born of a virgin, Mary. So that the conception of Jesus Christ is entirely different. The power of the Holy One is going to come upon you. He's going to impregnate, and so shall she be able to give birth to a child. So that there is not that line to Adam that is unbroken, but it is broken completely, it is cut off. It is there stopped, and as a result of that, Jesus Christ is born, and He is born without that original sin.
Now these are the things that are necessary for us to understand because of the fact that this was something of course, which was a mystery in the Old Testament. And I've mentioned it before, but it will bear mentioning again I suppose, that when the New Testament uses the term 'mystery'; Paul used it various times; mysteries of Godliness, those mysteries are the things that formerly were not revealed, and now in the New Testament are revealed. See, and that's where the New Testament begins. The Old Testament is not able to understand that there is going to be the clean coming forth out of the unclean. That is an impossibility. Job, that great sufferer of the Old Testament, curses the day of his birth. And Christ comes and is there praised by angels when He comes into the world and he never, never curses the day of His birth. Even though that was the day when He took upon Himself your and my nature, your and my weakened nature, as the Belgian Confession puts it. With all its infirmities; not sin; but its infirmities. He does not come with a pure, with a strong nature of an Adam; the first Adam. No, with all the infirmities, sin excepted. But that's the way He comes into the world.
Ah, this mystery beloved, that is here revealed to us is a mystery that is so deep that it also encompasses both Old and New Testament, time and again. And that we will also learn to understand the Old Testament history in that light. See that the Old Testament history is all pointed in this direction, that it is seeking, Satan is seeking to prevent the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. Seeking to prevent His coming. And therefore when you read here for example, in this Lord's Day, God's eternal Son who is and continues true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man, the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Spirit, that He might also be the true seed of David, true seed of David. That is, that He might be the seed of promise; that He might be of that kingly seed; that He might be of that seed that has been approved. That is not speaking of the seed of Adam, but that He is of the seed of David, and that has been tried time and again in the Old Testament because, if you would read, instead of the seed of David, the seed of the woman; going all the way back to paradise, then you would see what I mean.
And there it becomes ever so clear already in Egypt, that Pharaoh has given the orders that every Jewish boy is going to be thrown into the Nile River upon birth. Seeking to prevent the coming of Christ into the world. So it is, time and again you go through that whole history of Israel and Judah and you have the one example after the other. You have the example, for example, of a Haman at the time of Esther; who gets it through in that kingdom of Persia so that the edict is already passed, that all the Jews are to be slain. That will prevent the coming of Jesus Christ. And this is the Old Testament, that He is coming, that seed of David is coming. And Saul can throw a javelin at David and seek to stamp him out; but he misses. And they can try to put Tabeal's son on the throne instead of Ahaz; but they are going to fail.
And so it is, throughout that seed of David is finally going to come. And that seed of David is that promised seed, that promise of God, and that He is going to come in the flesh. Now when He comes in the flesh that we will also remember of course, and this is still part of the mystery but also part of the meaning and that is, that He has taken upon Himself our nature, but He has remained what He was. I used to say to my catechumens, "He remained what He was and He became what He was not." He remained what He was, that is, true God, and He became what He had not been, what He was not, and that is, human. So that now He has the divinity and the humanity together in one nature. But Lord's Day 6 spoke of that, and we went into that at that time. But you see that this is so necessary in order that we have a redeemer, that we have a Savior. And that is the mystery that is here made known to us. Indeed, there is such a one, indeed there is such a one who is the Son of God and the son of man. And that's what we needed.
And anything less than that would have not of sufficed. Anything less that than and we would not have been able to be saved from the sin that had enveloped us, the sin that had torn us down. But He must be true God in order to be able to vanquish sin, and He must be true man, because man is the culprit and man is the one that has to pay. And that mystery is now revealed.
And that is revealed to us in the birth of Jesus Christ; here He comes. And don't be misled by that manger and things like that that are of very little import. But that we will realize, here is the God-man, the God-man has come into the world. My Savior, the One who is going to vanquish my sin, the One who is going to break that sin; the Son of God, the son of man. That's the way He has come, and that mystery is now disclosed to us so that we may know Him. And He must go all the way back, not only to go to the cross, but must go all the way back in my history, to my birth, and to my conception. Because that's where the difficulty lay. That's where all the difficulties of sin started. And that's what He does, He is a complete Savior. One who saves to the uttermost. There's nothing left of which you can say, "This must still be done; this I must still add to it." No, not at all. He has completed it, and that through this, that conception and birth of Jesus Christ; "I believe He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary."
And finally, notice then also its benefits. Now the benefits that we receive beloved, these are the things that are gone into time and again by the Catechism, because that is its nature. It will go into that for example, here, and it goes into that at the time that it deals with the resurrection of Christ. Now of what profit is that to you? And it deals with that for example, when you have come to the end of the Apostolic confession; all the various articles; then it will ask, "and now what does it profit you, that you believe all this?" Huh; it is always trying to bind it upon the hearts of the believer, now what does that mean to you. This is the application, this is the application that comes from the Catechism time and again. Now what profit is that to you? You better look into that. Of what benefit is this, what benefit is that to you? Because all of it must be for your benefit. And notice what that question and answer says; "What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ? That He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers in the sight of God, my sin wherein I was conceived and brought forth."
So that now I have a Mediator, that is, the One who is able to stand between God and man, who stands in the breach. As the Psalmist says, "Moses stood in the breach." Trying to bring God and man together, God and the Israelite in Moses' day. He couldn't do it. But this One stands in the breach, this is the Mediator. Because He is true God, and He is also true man. This is the One who has now taken upon Himself the nature of man, has taken it from the virgin Mary. And yet at the same time, even though He has our nature now, is not under the weight of the original sin of Adam. That is the mystery. And this is the benefit, that now we have then a Redeemer. And now there is no doubt about it, we don't only have a teacher, we don't only have a miracle worker, we don't only have a great man; but we have a Mediator. And this is the One who is standing between God and man to bring them together again, between God and my heart, between God and my soul; to bring the two together--and He can do it. And He does it.
That's because of the fact that He is both. As Job says in that beautiful 19th chapter, "there was no umpire between us, to lay his hand upon us both." But now there is. That now we have a Mediator, He is God and is able to lay His hand therefore upon him. He is man, and is able to lay His hand upon him, and bring them together. That is the Mediator. And then notice, that He covers; He has taken our nature upon Himself and in the sight of God; He covers in the sight of God my sin wherein I was conceived and brought forth. He does not atone--notice. The Catechism is always so careful that it is going to be accurate. He does not atone by His conception and birth, but by His conception and birth He covers. By His blood, He atones. So careful, so that it is going to be exact. So that God's people are not going to be misled, but that they are going to see the whole picture. And that they are going to realize every step in the salvation process that Jesus Christ has begun.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit; He is God. And He was born of the virgin Mary; He is man. And therefore my Mediator, who in the sight of God, covers all my sins in which I was conceived and brought forth. Such a Mediator we needed, such a Savior we needed, and therefore one can only rejoice when he hears of that glorious Gospel of the coming of Jesus Christ. It is something to herald, and it something to rejoice in; that He has come into the world to save sinners. That He has come into the world and how He saves them, going all the way back, all the way back to their birth and to their conception, because everything had to be rooted out; everything. So that the sin of Adam is no longer going to press upon us, but that it is going to be taken away. Such a Redeemer we needed, and such a Savior we have. Amen....
We thank Thee heavenly Father, for the Word wherein Thou hast spoken to us. For that Word of grace, that Word of love. We pray Oh God, that Thou wilt graciously apply it unto our every heart by the operation of Thy Holy Spirit. In order that we may ever rejoice in Jesus Christ and all that Thou hast given us in Him. We thank Thee Father, that He has come, that He has taken our nature upon Himself and that He has cleansed it. Bless us further on this day, bless the Sunday School and Catechism as it meets. Bless also the adult Sunday School. And wilt Thou bring us together again this evening into Thy house. For Jesus sake, Amen....
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