Who Lies in the Manger?

Sermon: Who Lies in the Manger?

(Isaiah 11:1–10)

¹There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. ²And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. ³And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, ⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. ⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. ⁶The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. ⁷The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. ⁹They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁰In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples- of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

Watch a sleeping newborn. The calm, deep breathing reveals a quiet and peaceful heart. This baby will have plenty of time to discover the trouble of this world, but for now there he knows no trouble, provided the child is loved and cared for well. As we look on a resting infant, the child's face often reflects the mother and father. The features of young children often reflect something of either the mother or the father.

Jesus had the features of His mother, Mary. Yet this does not tell us who He is. Jesus' physical appearance tells us only of His human heritage through David, though this is extremely important. Only God could tell us who the Child Jesus is. Our theme hymn states, "The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head" (Lutheran Service Book, 364:1). Dear God, tell us, who sleeps in the manger? What Child is this?

The Child lying in the manger is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. Martin Luther's explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed confesses simply: "I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity . . . is my Lord" (Luther's Small Catechism, 16). The Child in the manger is the Christ, who is "very God of very God, begotten not made" (Nicene Creed). He is begotten in such a way that His birth of the Father has neither beginning nor end, thus He is never more nor less than fully God, even as an infant in the manger. The apostle Paul tells us that this Child "was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 1:4). Only God can declare who this Child is to us. Without the Holy Spirit working through the Word to give us the knowledge, we could never know that this Child should be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:32; Augsburg Confession I). God's declaration tells us that the Child lying in the manger is God. And this little Child shall lead us.

This Child, the Messiah, will judge with righteousness (Isaiah 11:4). But this statement sends a tremor of fear through sinful hearts. How will we stand in this judgment (Psalm 1:5)? This righteousness, however, is not the law which shows that humans are dying of the fatal wound caused by the fall into sin. The righteousness mentioned here in Isaiah 11:4 is a gift. It is the gift of the Christ Child's own righteousness by which God counts us as holy in His presence for Christ's sake (Psalm 41:9). Because of the death and resurrection of Christ, because Jesus paid for our sin and made compensation for it, God declares us poor sinners free from the burden of our sins. And God's declaring makes it so, even as He has declared this Jesus to be His Son. When God declares us righteous in His sight, we are righteous because of what Christ did on the cross—he paid for our sins. This Child lying in the manger tells us who we are. He tells us that we are the righteous sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The Child who lies in the manger will be faithful (Isaiah 11:5). From the broken garden of Genesis (and from eternity) the Lord planned to send the faithful Seed of Eve. "O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You; I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure" (Isaiah 25:1). The little Child will be faithful where all the strength of man fails—and fails miserably. How embarrassing for us that where human might does not prevail, the weakness of the Child can and does prevail.

The Son is faithful to His Father. The Child will reveal His Father's gracious will for poor sinners, and Jesus will lay down His sweet head on the pillow of suffering for which His Father sent Him. "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me" (John 8:28). Jesus is also faithful to us and to our need. Those who have been brought near to the mountain of Christ's Church will be fully protected by Him (Isaiah 11:9). Those who believe will be rescued from "every evil of body and soul" (Luther's Small Catechism, 22). God is faithful, and He will do it.

The Child lying in the manger is true man, born of the Virgin Mary. His human ancestry is of the house of Judah. Through His birth of Mary, the Christ is the Son of David according to the flesh (Romans 1:3). The Child lying in the manger has taken our flesh of a true human mother. His bones and flesh were knit together in her womb (Job 10:11), just as each of us was formed in our mother's womb. How weak the Christ Child appears, sleeping on His mother's breast.

According to His human nature, Jesus is but a shoot, a pliable branch coming forth from the stump of Jesse. He who is God from God is also man from man, conceived of Mary. Look upon the Child in the manger. Here is human glory cut down to size. The glory of God is humbled under the form of humanity. God has turned divine glory into human humility.

The Child puts His hand in the hole of the viper. He has power over the satanic snake. He throttles the enemy. The little Child in the manger can do it because this man is God. The Christ Child will, at the cross, crush the serpent's head.

The Child remakes nature—replacing enmity with peace and harmony. The ravenous beasts broken by the fall into sin are reconciled. They will neither rend nor tear again. The Christ Child leads all of nature to a new Eden. In this new Eden, the beasts again will live in harmony as they did with Adam and Eve before the first sin.

Who is the Child lying in the manger? He is none other than the God-man who has taken upon Himself our human nature, the one begotten of the Father from eternity and born of the Virgin Mary. Our Lord and Savior lies in the manger.

Amen.