“What WILL Tomorrow Bring?”

Scripture: Hebrews 2:10-18

On Christmas Eve, we considered what Mary and Joseph may have known and what they did not know as they fixed their eyes on the newborn Savior. The truth is that they probably knew very little of what their baby would be able to give to the world or what He would have to endure – all they could see was this new and precious life that had been given to them.

When our first son was born 2 months premature, you would think that we would be concerned about his development. Would he be mentally impaired? Would he have physical defects that would come to light in the next few years? What would he be able to do, what could he learn?
You would think that these are the thoughts that would enter my mind, but the truth is that when I first saw this new baby, the only thought that I had was “My son!” We would learn a few years later that he had some learning disabilities, but that first thought has always stuck with me, and when I look at this fine young man, I still think “This is my son – thank you Lord.”

I don’t think that Joseph and Mary were any different – they had been told that this was the Son of God, but when they looked at him in those first few moments of life, the only thing they could see was their baby.

But they would soon begin to discover that there was more to this child than simply sonship. He would soon be the source of life and glory.

Read Hebrews 2:10-13

What will tomorrow bring? Jesus was to be the “author of salvation”, and salvation would become perfected through His suffering. Those new parents could never have made that connection on their own, not even after the visit of the shepherds, not even with the knowledge that they had regarding prophesy. Joseph had been told that the child would save the people from their sins, but that hardly prepared them for the eventualities of Christ’s ministry.

The text also tells us that the one who is holy and those who are made holy by Him, are of a common heritage. These new parents would never have understood that, either. Family was by blood line, not by a Godly action. They were of the House of David, and were descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they were “family” with all who could claim the same. Apparently, the reference to “family” meant that no one else would be allowed in! But the Child would turn that interpretation upside down, too.

The latter 2 references – “I will put my trust in him” and “Here am I, and the children God has given me”, are from Isaiah 8:17-18 and are in the context of a warning to the nation, and not as a reassurance. These verses are preceded with these words – ”he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” (Isaiah 8:14) This Child would be a sanctuary, even while the people would be stumbling over His message and fearful of the words that He would offer them. This Jesus Child was going to be a Savior, a Refuge, even while he would cause others to fall flat on their faces! The Child’s future would be filled with wonder and amazement for many, and at the same time, a sticking point for many others.

Read Hebrews 2: 14-18

What will tomorrow bring? As God, Jesus would break the grip that sin has on humanity, but He had to do it as a Man who could die. God can destroy Satan at any moment that He wants to, but the Lord is allowing us to participate in this salvation. Christ dies so that the hold that sin has on us can destroyed, but we must also die - die to sin - so that our hold on it can also be broken. And these deaths, in Christ, will lead to a new life that is unlike anything that we could ever imagine!
And in escaping from the throes of death, Satan is defeated in his war against you and me.

The Child Jesus would become a Savior to the people, but hardly in an orthodox way!

And He would free us, not only from the penalty of death, but also from the fear of death. The writer uses the term “held in slavery”, which raises an interesting connotation. Slaves are people who have been captured and enslaved against their will, and who have no possibility of release on their own. Freedom requires either the benevolence of the slave holder, or one who is mightier that the slaver. And since we all know that there is no grace whatsoever in Satan, our only hope is in the mighty arm of God Himself.
That is Christ’s legacy – He is the mighty arm of God.

And who is He to help? Who is tomorrow for? His only purpose is to gain freedom for us. We know that many angels left heaven to serve Lucifer, but this tells us that there is no salvation for them. Their sin, if the failing of angels can be called sin, is apparently unforgivable. But praise God, our sin can be forgiven and washed away!
If Christ was to be a Savior to angelic sinners, He would have been like them. If He is to be a Savior to humanity, He must be like us. And so He is. Tomorrow, my friends, is for us!
Mary gave birth to the One whose sole purpose in this life was to bring salvation to all who would accept His incredible gift of freedom.

Verse 18 - “Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.”
Are you being tempted in this life?
Do you feel drawn to ways that are foreign to God?
Do you still have your own “death grip” on sin?
We can no longer claim that sin has a hold on us. Jesus has come and has broken that hold - it is impotent, it is powerless, it has been destroyed! And now the only power that Satan has over us is our own false sense of right and wrong. He places doubts in our minds and hearts regarding the true power of God, he sends jealousy to tempt us to want more of the things of earth, he sends fear to make us cower and tremble at the very thought of God, he sends” self confidence” to replace our confidence in the Lord, he offers “self worth” to demean the worthiness that comes from Christ.

In Christ, Satan has already been defeated, but until we are one in Christ, until we have claimed that family tie with Him, until we are born anew in Him, our victory is still up in the air. Christmas must be the first day of the rest of our life, and when we kneel before the manger of Bethlehem, the impossible becomes our reality and our vision of tomorrow becomes crystal clear.

Dennis Bratcher writes this in his work “The Christmas Season”;
“I think that the true meaning of Christmas is about possibility in the midst of the impossible. It is not the kind of possibility that comes from a confidence in our own skill, knowledge, ability or a positive mental attitude. It is possibility that comes solely from the fact that God is God, and that he is the kind of God who comes into our own human existence to reveal himself and call us to himself. It is a possibility that is so surprising at its birth that we are caught unaware, and so are left with wonder at the simplicity of its expression in this infant child. It is a possibility that is easily symbolized by a helpless infant who has nothing of its own by which to survive; yet an infant who, because he is Immanuel, God with us, will forever change the world and all humanity. It is this same God who has promised to be with us, with his people, with the church and with us individually, as we live as his people in the world.”
—Dennis Bratcher, “The Christmas season,” crivoice.org/cyxmas.html. Retrieved June 5, 2010.

The thing that Joseph and Mary didn’t know is this: That the little baby who laid in His mother’s arms, who received that first nourishment from her breast, who cried and gurgled and giggled, who gave great joy to them that cold night in Bethlehem, would be the one who would change the impossibility of human existence into a promise of great hope and into a whole new reality.
But even after 2,000 years, many have still not grasped this hope of Divine truth. They still have that tight, chocking hold on the ways of earth, and they have no idea as to what tomorrow could bring to them. Will it be darkness and death, or will it be the marvelous certainty of Christ? Those who are in Christ have become even more than just members of the heavenly family – we have become partners with Jesus, and each of us is called to carry the truth of Christmas with us, and to share it, and to lead others into its promise.

What will tomorrow bring? In all honesty, it’s up to each of us today. Will it be glory? Or will glory be absent? It’s up to each of us to see that it will be one in which all can experience the Hope of Christmas - Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us, reality in the midst of impossibility. What a story we have to tell! Now, we have to go and tell it!