Yes, Virginia, There is a God

Yes, Virginia, There is a God
Isaiah 7.14

Scripture
The grass withers & the flowers fade, but the word of God endures forever. Amen.
Prayer

Introduction
Eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon was having a crisis – some of her friends were telling her that Santa Claus didn’t exist. Like most little girls, the first thing she did was to go to her father… and she asked him – was there really no Santa Claus? He told her that she should write their local newspaper, The New York Sun, and ask them this same question. This letter came before Francis Church, and he responded with the column that has become famous, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus”. In this editorial, Mr. Church sets forth an argument that a belief in Santa Claus is warranted. Here are some of his reasons he sort forth of why we can believe that there is a Santa Claus…

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They do not believe except [what] they see… Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

His argument is based upon believing in the unseen and the unproven – basically, if you want to believe in Santa Claus, then you can, without any sort of proof or evidence… and this same logic also applies to fairies dancing on the lawn.
Thankfully, Santa Claus and God are not equals, because in the Christian faith, our belief that there is a God isn’t based on the unseen or unseeable or unknowable, for God has made himself known and seeable to his people.
We see God proclaimed in the nature around us…
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Nature declares to us that there is a God – from a sunset to a fresh snow to leaves falling to a spring evening… all of this declares that there is a God.
We also behold God in mankind…
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
When we look at each other, we see the image of God in each other – in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
God has made himself known to us… especially in what we celebrate in the Christmas season.
Our passage this evening is found in the Old Testament, and was given as a prophecy of the coming Messiah. What is interesting to note is the name given to the coming Messiah – Immanuel, which literally means God with us. Some 700 years before the first Christmas, God’s people are promised that God himself will be with us. This same prophecy is retold in the birth account of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1.
Matthew 1:20-23 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).
This promised Messiah, who we are told will be God with us, is said to be Jesus Christ.
Now, if this was the only instance of this claim for Jesus as the Messiah, then we would have some right to be suspicious.
But, the Scriptural proof that this Messiah is Jesus Christ, the son of God, is overwhelming. First, we have the birth account – Isaiah foretold that the Messiah will be born of a virgin… and this Messiah was born of a virgin. The prophet Micah says that the Messiah will come from Bethlehem… where this Messiah was born. Isaiah tells what the life & death of the Messiah will look like in chapter 53… and it is the life and death of this Messiah.
It is also interesting to note how this Messiah considers himself…
In Luke 4, Jesus goes into the synagogue, and began to read from the prophet Isaiah…
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 And Jesus rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Jesus clearly identifies himself as the Messiah as prophesied in this reading from Isaiah, that he is the fulfillment of the promised Savior.
In John 10, Jesus says this about himself…
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one."… 37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; 38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Jesus considers himself to be God – he says explicitly that he and the Father are one… meaning that Jesus is God.
This is a constant theme in his ministry, even when faced with persecution, beatings and stonings. But, he isn’t the only one who proclaims him to be the Messiah.
When Jesus asked his apostles who they thought he was, Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” When Jesus was on the cross, his manner of death so impressed the centurion that was supervising his crucifixion that he uttered, “Truly, this was the son of God!” Even the demons and unclean spirits would proclaim Jesus to be the son of God! Paul and the other New Testament writers always made reference to this Jesus as being the Messiah, the son of God. Even the apostle John, when taken into heaven, continues to reference Jesus as the Messiah, the son of God.
But, what is most telling that this is the true Messiah was his manner of death as prophesied in Isaiah 53.
Jesus, as an innocent man, went upon the cross and suffered a cruel death – so cruel that at one point he is pushed to cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” As he was being crucified, the earth shook, the night turned into day, and the veil in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. He died on this cross, was buried in the tomb of a rich man, and on the third day he rose from the dead. After his resurrection, he was seen by more than 500 people, some who were still alive during the writing of the New Testament.
He then ascended into heaven, which was witnessed by his disciples. When God entered into our world, people knew… it had been prophesied, and they saw these prophecies fulfilled.
The Messiah proclaimed himself to be the true Messiah, God incarnate on earth to save his people – and his people recognized that their Messiah had come to save them. They saw him… they touched him… they were healed by him… and they talked & wrote about their experiences. There is overwhelming proof that God entered into our world in the form of a man who was named Immanuel.
For Mr. Church, when we wanted to answer the question of proof of Santa Claus for little Virginia, he had to turn to the proving of nothing – all he could tell her is that you can’t prove that Santa isn’t real. For Christians, this same logic doesn’t hold true – we know that there is a God because of Christmas. With this season, we celebrate that the son of God came to earth to save his people – he was born of a woman… seen, touched and heard by a multitude of people… died on the cross and resurrected… and ascended into heaven.
On Christmas, we celebrate that God is real – so real that His son was born to us and beheld by many, and his saving work is experienced to this very day.
Yes, Virginia, there is a God – and we can be sure of that because of Christmas.