Father, thank you for this wonderful morning you've given us to be gathered here to worship you through song and through the study of your word. I pray for Pastor Lynn, and Pastor Tim, and Pastor Linus, and the other Christian pastors in the area, wherever your word is going out, that you'll be with all of us just to communicate it accurately, and most importantly, truthfully. We pray for the hearts of all those who will be hearing your word this morning, that they'll be open and receptive. And we pray especially for those who are unbelievers, that today we can give salvation for them as you've given hearts that are convicted of sin that they'll recognize our need for forgiveness through your son, Jesus Christ. We also pray for Dave and Megan. We pray that you'll keep Dave safe on his trip, and we pray also for Megan and her missionary trip to Metisla to look over her these months. It's going to be a time when she's used greatly by you, and we ask that you'll bring her back safely to us. We also want to pray for Kathy Cunningham's housing situation. I believe she said that if she had some land, maybe they could get a mobile home or some house built there at least. And so thank you for the place she has to be living right now. But we do ask that you provide something else for her and for her family. It would be great if you would continue to be with them and give them perseverance during this time. And continue to bless them. Thank you for her love for you and her care for her children as she raises them. And I also pray for our son, John. Thank you for him. What a great blessing he's been to us. And we ask Lord that you help him to gain weight, especially give my wife peace. And during this time, we pray for our insurance and just that we can get this taken care of so we can figure out if there's anything wrong with him and that he would be able to just grow up healthy. And we thank you for what we celebrate on this Sunday. the day that your son became a man to be our kinsman, redeeming father. And I think it's a great truth communicated in your word. And I ask that you'll help me to explain it clearly to everyone here today and give us a wonderful appreciation for the salvation that's been provided for us and for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So I always thought if I was a pastor, I didn't think I would do Luke chapter 2 on Christmas Sundays just because everyone hears that so many times. But I want to do something related to Christmas. And so Christmas is really about, it's about God becoming a man and the person of Jesus Christ. So that's what we're going to be looking at this morning. Even though most people know God didn't become a man, they're unsure of why exactly God had to become a man. In other words, why couldn't God have saved us without becoming a man? Or why couldn't God have saved us simply by sending an angel? And so I'd like us to learn this morning why exactly God had to become a man. Some people, although God came to become a man and set a wonderful example for us and to teach us and so forth, those reasons actually pale in comparison to the theological reason that God became a man. Every other reason we have associated with why God became a man pales in comparison to the theological reason that we're going to be talking about this morning. that God became man. Some people, unfortunately, some churches are tending to shy away a little bit from theology because they feel like it might be boring or it might lack an application for people. It's not quite as attractive or glamorous or entertaining. And so you have pastors that might tend to focus a little bit more on things that people find to be a little more interesting or exciting. Personally, I've always thought theology is exciting. I have books on systematic theology. I'm not going to presume that all of you will find it quite as exciting as I do. But I do think that the truth this morning is really amazing. Now, this brings up the question, why is it so important for us to learn theology? There's a mountain of verses we could look at, but two verses in particular in Hosea 6, 6. God said, I desire the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. God said, I desire the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. What that means is burnt offerings is an umbrella statement for all religious activity that takes place. And God says what He desires, even more than religious activity and tradition and so forth, is a knowledge of Him. He desires for us to seek and strive to know Him. In Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, It says, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the strong man boast in his strength, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he knows and understands me. And so that really brings home the importance to God for us to know him and for us to understand him. Now, that pursuit or that striving to know and understand God is theology. That's what theology is. Theology is the study of God. And the thing is, because it pleases God and because he enjoys us seeking to know him, we're going to try to do that during our services. We want to know God for no other reason than that it's something that honors and pleases him. And probably all of us have some, point in our lives can remember a time when there was somebody who took a real interest in getting to know us. You can probably remember some time when there was a person who asked you a lot of questions and seemed really concerned, seemed really interested in just finding out about you. God is exactly the same way. He takes pleasure in people who strive and seek to know Him. And something to keep in mind, sometimes people come to church and there's sort of this attitude like, you know, the pews better be comfortable, better not be too hot, better not be too cold, pastor better not talk too long, you know, the sermon better be funny, people better be friendly enough. And those kind of statements about church really reveal a certain selfishness or immaturity on the part of people who are coming to church. When people say things like that about church and what it better be like for them, they're showing that they don't really understand what church is about. Because here's the reality, and I don't want this to sound harsh or condemning, but church isn't about any of you, and it's not about me either. Church is about God, and it's about what pleases Him, and it's about what honors Him, and it's about what glorifies Him. It's not about us. Now we go to church so that we can grow and so that we can have fellowship, but ultimately we do those things, we seek those things, because they allow us to better serve God and to honor Him. So when we come to church, our great desire should be to please and to honor God. And one of the things that we can do is to understand Him that does that, that pleases Him, is to understand Him and His way of saving us and redeeming us. And so this morning, we're going to have a little bit of a theology lesson, you might say. Normally, I like to go verse by verse, because I think it's the easiest way for people to follow along. But we're going to be jumping around just a little bit. So I'll try to be patient while the pages are turning and wait till everyone gets there. If you'd like to open your Bibles first to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. We're going to see why God had to become a man. Genesis 1. In verse 26, I want you to notice in these verses the number of times, at least in the NIV, the word over is used. The idea is that at creation, God put man over all of creation. And he makes it abundantly clear through these verses. Verse 26. Then God said, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. Notice the word over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. Verse 27, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Verse 28, God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth and subdue it. rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the ground. And Psalm 2, 6 and 8 reiterates exactly what God said to Adam in the garden. It says, you made him ruler over the works of your hands. You put everything under his feet, all flocks and herds and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, all that swims the path of the seas. And so although we're all part of creation, the reality is it's communicated from scripture is that although we're part of creation, all the rest of creation is for us. Everything else in creation was created for us, for us to rule over, for our pleasure, and for our enjoyment. Sometimes there's sort of this tendency for for us to want to elevate other aspects of creation, maybe almost like on par with humanity. And that's really what Romans 1 is all about, that we're elevating the creation higher than it should be. Because ultimately, all of creation is for us and for our pleasure. And God put us to rule and to have authority over it. Now, if you're familiar with the New Testament, you know But this isn't the case today. You know that man is not ruling over creation. Even a simple reading of the New Testament reveals in numerous places that the ruler or the authority over creation isn't man. In John 12, 31, John 14, 30, and 16, 11, Satan is called the ruler of this world. Ephesians 2, 2 calls Satan the ruler of the kingdom of the air. 2 Corinthians 4.4 calls Satan the god of this age. And 1 John 5.19 says that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. If you remember in Luke 4 when Jesus was taken into the wilderness and he was tempted by Satan, it says that the devil led him up on a high place and he showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And then this is what Satan said, and this is significant. Satan said, I will give you all the authority and splendor And then he says, because it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours. And Jesus, after Satan said that to him, you notice Jesus didn't dispute his claim. Jesus didn't argue with him. Jesus didn't review him, because Satan's claims to have been given the authority over creation were legitimate or valid. Satan really has been given the rulership or the authority over creation. If you focus on those words in particular, Luke 4, Satan actually said that it had been given to him. And so we need to talk about when exactly did that happen. When exactly was all the authority that had initially been given to man over creation, when was that given to Satan? And most of us know the answer. In Romans 6.16, Paul said, don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone, to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one who you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. In John 8, 34, Jesus said, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. And so in the garden, on that day when Eve was deceived and Adam chose to sin, at that moment, when the fall took place, all the authority and rule that man had over creation was forfeited. He might say, man forfeited, he submitted himself to Satan. And that authority was then given over or forfeited to Satan. allowing Satan to become the ruler or the authority over creation, to have the authority that originally was given to man. It's unfortunate we'll say the fall of man, but that's not actually very accurate. It would be more appropriate to say the fall of creation, because to say the fall of man is to sort of imply that only men and women were affected by the fall. But the truth is that all of creation was impacted. and tarnished by the fall. That's why we see terrible things like floods and earthquakes and people crowd against God. And I say, why would you let things like this happen? But tornadoes and all these natural disasters are just part of living in a sinful, fallen world. We had this really amazing experience on Christmas Eve. Kate and I were walking around, and we were visiting some people in the neighborhood. By the way, I have permission from this family to share this. And our reception by most people wasn't, it wasn't unfriendly, but I could tell nobody was really that interested in getting to know us, you might say. So we were passing out these flyers that sort of introduced ourselves to the neighborhood and to the community. And people would accept them. But this one family invited us into their home. And in their home, their living room was completely consumed with all this medical equipment for their 12-year-old son, who was relegated to this bed. He'd been paralyzed since birth. He only had motion in his left hand. And his hand was completely disfigured. And when I say motion, that's almost misleading. He could sort of shake his hand a little bit. And his entire day was spent laying on this bed, And their lives have been, his parents, AJ's parents, the names are Mike and Lori, their lives have been terribly, terribly, unbelievably affected by their son's birth. They have two other children, but they have to spend 24 hours a day literally taking care of this young man. And one of them is watching him taking care of him, the other one rests. And so they aren't able to go out. They aren't able to socialize. And so when we came to their house, they seemed excited to see us. And they invited us in. And we spent some time talking to them. They said, what are you doing on Christmas? And we said, well, you know, we don't really have any plans, because Katie's dad went to see her sister, and my parents were up here to help us move. They're not coming right back up. And I said, would you like to come over on Christmas with us? They said, yeah, we'd be honored. We'd be thrilled. And they were actually surprised, because they said, unfortunately, that many times people don't want to come over, because they feel uncomfortable. We had a really nice day. Mike's parents was there, and we got to know them, and they got to know us. The part that really intrigued me that I found to be the most encouraging aspect of the day was when they started discussing their son, they never questioned God. They never questioned why this had happened. They never said it didn't make them bitter or frustrated toward the Lord. They had an understanding, it seemed, that this is part of living in a sinful world, that things like this happen. And instead, she said to me, God's grace is going to be sufficient. I'm assuming maybe she's familiar with the passage in Corinthians about Paul's storm. But she said, God's grace has been sufficient for us to endure this. And so it was really, really great. The whole point of that, though, is that we live in a simple fallen world where things like this can happen. And all of that took place because of Adam's sin in the garden, when the authority and rule we had over this world was forfeited and given over to Satan. Now, we're actually told that creation itself, interestingly, Romans chapter 8 describes creation as longing to be redeemed from the sin and bondage and decay that it's under. I'll sort of read some of Paul's words here in verses 19 to 22. Paul said, creation was subjected to frustration, referring to the fall. Creation was subjected to frustration and it waits. an eager expectation to be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into glorious freedom. And then it says, it has been groaning. Creation is what Paul referred to. Creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to this present time. And so Paul's saying that even creation itself looks forward to its redemption or its freedom from the bondage of sin. And so the question is, how is this going to happen? How is creation going to be taken back from Satan and restored to man? Now, there's requirements that are outlined in the Old Testament. I'd like you to turn to Leviticus 25, please. Leviticus 25. We'll be starting at verse 23. The Old Testament actually discusses the requirements for land to be redeemed or to be restored to its original owner, you might say. The Old Testament discusses the requirements for land to be restored or to be redeemed to its original owner. We look in verse 23, Leviticus 25, God said that land must not be sold or forfeited, you might say, land must not be sold or forfeited permanently because the land is mine and you are my aliens and my tenants. Verse 24, throughout the country, or throughout all the land that you hold or own as a possession, you must provide or allow for the redemption of the land. In other words, back to the original owner. And so according to God's laws, and this is really significant, land can never be forfeited permanently. Land can never be forfeited or given to someone other than the original owner permanently. Land always had to be restored to the original owner according to God's laws. The problem is that many times people, when they lost or they forfeited land, they couldn't meet the requirements to redeem or restore the land that belonged to them. Let me say that one more time. Many times when people lost land or their land was forfeited or sold, they didn't meet the requirements to redeem their own land. The next verse is going to discuss the person who can come and redeem the land for the person who lost it. In verse 25, it says, if one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells or loses some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman or his relative has sold or has lost. And in the Hebrew, the word there in verse 25 for nearest relative is goel. If you have a King James, or I think the New King James, it actually says kin-redeem. And this is where we get the phrase for a kinsman-redeem. So when someone forfeited or lost land, a relative to the person who lost it could come and restore or redeem my land. Now, there's two illustrations or two examples in the Old Testament, and we should discuss both of them briefly. There's two examples in the Old Testament of land being restored or being redeemed. The first one is in the Book of Ruth, which we're looking at here in Sunday School. And I'll just discuss it. You don't have to go ahead and turn it over. Here's the situation. We probably know there's a woman named Ruth and her husband died. When her husband died, she became so poor that she couldn't take care of, she could no longer own the land that was part of her possession. And as a result, she lost the land. And then she met a man named Boaz who happened to be related to her dead husband. And this man, Boaz, was wealthy enough that he could come and he could redeem this land for her. He could buy back the land that had belonged to her dead husband. But the important thing in the Book of Ruth, this is really significant, the only reason, the only reason that Boaz could buy or redeem that land for Ruth was what? Was the only reason that Boaz could redeem that land. The U is her relative. The U is related to her. The U is her kinsmen or demons, you might say. The second example, if you turn to Jeremiah, chapter 32. Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32, starting around verse 8, and I need to explain this to fit in perspective. OK. Jeremiah 32. Here's kind of the situation. The context for this chapter is important, or else this isn't going to make sense. Here's what's transpiring. Jeremiah the prophet had been warning the Jews that they needed to turn from their sins, or the nation of Babylon was going to come and conquer them. The Jews didn't turn from their sins, and so Babylon came and was taking over the nation of Judah. They had essentially started occupying all the land of Judah, you might say. When Babylon was taking the land away from the Jews, God told them through Jeremiah that they were actually going to come back someday from Babylon and own this land again. So this might sound confusing, but here's what was being said. God said, all of you Jews are going to be taking the Babylon for 70 years, and then you're going to return back to this land. The problem was the people didn't really believe that. They didn't believe that they were going to go to Babylon and get to come back. And so God told Jeremiah, sort of to walk the talk, he said, I want you to buy some land in Judah. I want you to actually purchase some land in Judah. It looked like the worst real estate decision in history, you might say. Why did it look like such a bad decision? Because the Babylonians were taking over all the land, and Jeremiah was being asked to purchase some land that the Babylonians were conquering. And so that takes us up to verse 8, basically. Right after God told Jeremiah to buy some land, verse 8 says, then, just as the Lord had said, my cousin Ananel came to me. Notice this is his cousin. Came to me in the courtyard of the garden and said, buy my field of anapha in the territory of Benjamin. And this next part's important. It says, since it's your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself. And the reason that it was his right to buy it and redeem it was because he was his cousin. And he said, I knew that this was the work of the Lord. And it's easy to see why Jeremiah's cousin wanted to sell this land. The reason Jeremiah's cousin wanted to sell it was because the Babylonians were taking over all of Judah at the time. It made no sense for Jeremiah to want to buy this land, except God had told him to do it. And so in verse 9, Jeremiah says, so I bought the field in Anathah from my cousin Ammonel, and I weighed out for him 17 shekels of silver. I signed and I sealed the deed. Now, just notice there the use of the word seal. It's going to be repeated a few times here, and it's significant. In verse 10, it says, I signed and I sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purchase. This is the deed to the land. Notice the word sealed again. It says, the sealed coffee contained the terms and the conditions, as well as the unsealed coffee. I gave this deed to Berut. And then if you go down to verse 14, he purchases this land. And then in verse 14, again, you're reminded that it's sealed. It says, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says. Take these documents, both the sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed, and put them in a jar so they'll be kept for some period of time. There's two important points to notice from this passage in Jeremiah. We're reading all of this for a reason. And I might not seem this way at this second, but we are. Two important things to notice. The reason that Jeremiah redeemed this land is that he was the cousin. He is a relative of the original owner. The other thing to notice is that this deed to the land was sealed. And the reason it was sealed was so that it could be opened later when the land was going to be redeemed. Interestingly, the Bible actually describes the title deed to earth. It sounds strange, but it's true. The Bible describes the title deed to earth. And this will be second to last place we'll have to turn. It's going to be turn to Revelation 5. Revelation 5, we're reading through this passage. We'll look at the title that leads to earth. Revelation 5. We'll start at verse 1. Here's a situation. John was raptured, taken up to heaven. And in chapter 4 of Revelation, he sees the throne room of God. And he sees God sitting on his throne. And he sees all that surrounds him, the angels, the elders. He sees the glass he's seeing and so forth. And he describes all that in chapter 4. When chapter 5 starts, it's sort of like chapter 5 zooms in to something that's in the hand of God as he sits on the throne. So chapter 4 is all about the throne room of God and God sitting on that throne. And chapter 5 starts. of Revelation, it zooms right into something that's being held in the hand of God as He sits on this throne. And it's a sealed scroll. Chapter 5, verse 1, it says, then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, specifically this is God the Father, it says a scroll with writing on both sides, and it was sealed with seven seals. Sealed just like the scroll in Jeremiah 32. John MacArthur wrote, it was typical of various kinds of contracts in the ancient world to have writing on the inside and the back. This is almost certainly a title deed, the title deed to the earth. And whenever a scroll had more than one seal on it, whenever a scroll had more than one seal, it represented the varying requirements that had to be met before the scroll could be opened fully to allow for the redemption of the land. And so this scroll has seven seals. If you're familiar with the Book of Revelation and the Great Tribulation, as each one of these scrolls are opened, it unleashes a different plague or a different suffering on the earth. In fact, the seventh seal contains the seven trumpets, which then contain the seven bulls. So the idea is that The earth must go through the great tribulation before it can be redeemed. Now, this is the title of each earth. The breaking of this seal, of these seals, will allow for its redemption. In verse 2, John says, I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice who was worthy. Now, this word worthy is significant. And Angel proclaims and he says, who is worthy to break the seals and to open the scroll? In other words, it's sort of like Angel was asking, who is worthy to redeem the earth, you might say. It says worthy instead of willing, because throughout history, I mean, how many people have been willing? How many people have desired, you might say, to take this scroll? There have been Hitler, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, any number of dictators and horrific evil men who have been willing to take this scroll. But the question is, who's worthy to do it? One other question we need to consider is, how important is it? How important is it for creation to be redeemed and given back to man to rule over? And it's actually of the utmost importance, because if God said that man was going to rule and to have authority over creation, for God not to become a liar, this is the reality of it, for God not to become a liar, man must be given again the authority over creation that he had in the beginning, because that's what God promised to him. Now, what would make someone worthy to open this scroll? There's three requirements, as I see it. Three requirements. The first one that we saw from Leviticus 25, whoever would take this scroll to redeem the earth would have to be related to the original owner, just like we read from Leviticus 25. So in other words, whoever would take this scroll would also have to be a man. It couldn't just be God himself unless he actually became a man. Second requirement. Creation was originally forfeited for what reason? Why was creation originally forfeited? Because of man's sin, right? Since creation was originally forfeited as a result of man's sin, any man who would desire to redeem or take the scroll would have to be sinless, because anyone else not sinless would be committing the exact same transgression Adam did that led to the forfeiture in that case. The other aspect of it, though, is the person can't just be sinless in terms of the way he or she lived. He would have to be born without sin, born without the original sin that Adam had that has been passed along to every single other human being. The third requirement, and this is a little bit speculative on my part, the third requirement for anybody who would seek to redeem or open this role would be someone, well, Romans 6.23 says this. Romans 6.23 says that the wages of sin is death. Because of Adam's sin, when he forfeited authority over creation, I believe one of the other requirements for someone to take this scroll would be to pay the punishment. Whoever would take this scroll would have to pay the punishment for Adam's sin. And Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin is death. And so I believe the third requirement would be for someone to die. So the three requirements. would be someone who would have to be man, he'd have to be sinless, and he'd have to die. And in verse 3, it says, no one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, understandably, could open the scroll or even look inside it. Verse 4, I wept and wept. This is John speaking. I wept and wept. Because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or even to look at it. So it's so great with the requirements that not only can nobody look, nobody open it, nobody can even look at it. So nobody's found. And then in verse 5, one of the elders said to him, you do not weep. See the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. And so right here, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, just Old Testament titles for Jesus. verse 6, then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain. This is always intriguing. When it says there that this lamb, obviously Jesus, looks as though it had been slain, when we go to heaven, we're all going to go with these glorified bodies. Amazingly, in this life, People's handicaps or scars or blemishes are generally objects of life's form because of our terribly superficial and shallow society. In heaven, though, there's only actually going to be one person bearing any scars or blemishes. While we all occupy and enjoy our thoroughly beautiful and great glorified bodies, there will be one person in heaven And because of it, we'll receive worship and praise for all of eternity because we'll be constantly reminded of the love that's behind those scars that he bears. And Jesus will be the one person in heaven for all of eternity who actually has any scars or the like. But at least if I'm understanding this verse correctly, because it says, it looks as though he had been slain. says he stands in the center of the throne. He's encircled by the four living creatures. Just to pause it really quickly, we don't really need to go into all this in a lot of detail, but the four living creatures are just the higher level of angels that are around the throne worshiping God. And it says the elders, these elders are the representatives of church-aided believers. When he talks about these elders, that's just referring to church-aided believers who have been raptured to heaven during the tribulation. And it says here that this lamb has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Don't get hung up on that too much. Think of it like this. Horns represent power and authority, and eyes generally represent wisdom or intellect. The number seven represents completion or perfection. And so to say that this lamb, since the number seven represents completion or perfection and horns represent power or authority, to say that this lamb has seven horns is just to say that he has complete or perfect authority or power. To say that he has seven eyes is essentially to say that he has perfect or complete wisdom or intellect. And when it says that he has the seven spirits, it's just to say that he has the completion or perfection or fullness of the Holy Spirit, represented by the fact that it says seven spirits, not to say that he literally has seven individual spirits. Verse seven says he. came, he took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders, they fell down before the lamp. Each one had a heart, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song. They sang, you're worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. Because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased or redeemed men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. Now, verse 10, if you look at that, in the New King James and the King James, I don't know why they haven't translated it like this. Maybe James is going to give me a hard time doing it. Tell me this is why I shouldn't use King James. In the New King James and King James, it says, you have made them to be kings. You have made them to be kings and priests to serve our God, and it says, they will reign on the earth. So in other words, after the scroll is taken, the authority that had been lost or the authority that had been forfeited is again returned, or it's restored to man, who were put back in positions of authority and rulership over creation. So that means Jesus our great kinsman or dealer. I want to close with one parable that Jesus told. If you turn to Matthew 13, this is the last place you have to turn. We'll close with this. This is why God had to become a man in the person of Jesus Christ to be our kinsman or dealer. I thought, I was just thinking, it's a little important, while most people know God became a man, and they think about that on Christmas, we call that the incarnation, most people kind of go around daily not really having any understanding why it happens. Although we know God became a man, sometimes we're not sure why He had to become a man. I hope this explained it. Now, earlier, we were talking about Ruth. And I just want to share something a little bit from that book. In the fourth chapter, Boaz came, and he had fallen in love with Ruth. There was only one way, though, for Boaz to be able to marry Ruth. He'd fallen in love with her, and he wanted to be with her. But there was only one way for Boaz to marry Ruth. If you remember the story, what had actually happened previously was one of Ruth's other relatives came. And this man, he goes nameless because he's a dishonorable man, but this man came and he said, I want Ruth's land. I want Ruth's land. I want her field. I'll redeem it. The moment he found out that Ruth came with the land, you might say, the moment he found out that to buy the land meant also to marry Ruth Yvotte on his duty as her kinsman or groomer. He said, I'm no longer interested in the land. And that's when Boaz was able to step up. Now, Boaz was rich. He was wealthy. He had no need of this land. Why did Boaz buy that land? Because of what he knew, you might say. Because of what he knew came with the land. He purchased that land for the treasure that came with it. Boaz purchased the land for the treasure that came with the land. And in his instance, in his case, that treasure was Ruth. Now, if you look in Matthew chapter 13, verse 44, look at this parable that Jesus told. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again. And then in his joy, he went and sold all he had and bought that field. The man in this parable is Jesus. The man in this parable is Jesus. He's the one who went and sold everything he has simply for the treasure that came with this land. Now, when it says he sold everything, to me, that made me think of Philippians 2 when it talks about the incarnation. It talks about Jesus in verse 7. He made himself nothing, being made in human likeness. That's what it's talking about in this verse when it says that this man went and sold everything. It refers to Jesus becoming a man so that he could buy the field or deem creation. But very much like Boaz, in fact, just like Boaz had absolutely no interest in that field, he just wanted what came with the field, which was Ruth. Each of you are this treasure that's in that field, in a sense. Jesus didn't have any care or any concern or desire for redeemed creation. He didn't care to come and redeem creation for any other reason than he wanted what came with creation. Jesus came and he redeemed. This field, you might say, that we live in, simply because of what came with the field, which is each one of us. And this is really what we should think about at Christmas time. I said last Sunday night, the world consumes us with making, and I think it's somewhat satanic. to an extent, to get our focus and our attention off of the Lord, put it on all the lights and trees. There's nothing necessarily inherently wrong with those things. But there is something wrong if we go through the Christmas season and we don't recognize exactly what we should be celebrating, which is we should be celebrating God becoming a person, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from our sins. So go ahead and join me in prayer, please. Father, thank you for this account for your word. of why God had to become a man. We thank you for the redemption that awaits us. We thank you that Jesus renewed creation. But most importantly, we thank you for the redemption that he provides for us from our sins, Lord. I thank you for the salvation that was accomplished on the cross that's available to each one of us by a simple faith. in your son, Lord. And so at this time, I pray that this is an appreciation of thankfulness that you'll allow to grow even more in each of our hearts as each day passes. And we pray these things in Jesus's name. Amen.