The baby in Bethlehem and Lamb of Calvary is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The prophet Isaiah calls Him Immanuel, meaning God with us. Jesus Christ is God who has come to us in human flesh. Christmas, therefore, is fundamentally a celebration of the incarnation. The world cannot seem to escape this King who the prophet Isaiah calls the Prince of Peace whose government rests upon His shoulders (Isa 9:6b, 7a). Year after year, Christmas is celebrated around the world. The world’s Jesus remains an innocent, tiny, non-threatening baby. But the Jesus of the Bible is the God-Man, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Even still, though with a focus on the superficial and sentimental, the world still celebrates what has historically been a Christian holiday.
What’s in a name? That question was asked in Shakespeare’s famous piece Romeo and Juliet. It is also a question implicitly raised and answered by the prophet Isaiah regarding the Savior of the world. Isaiah prophesies about the Messiah without fully knowing His identity according to the fullness of Divine revelation as we do (cf. I Peter 1:10-12). Nevertheless, the various names he gave the servant of the Lord indicates that in the Old Testament God’s people expected a warrior to redeem them from bondage. Most assuredly, Isaiah recognizes the incarnation when he refers to the Messiah as “Mighty God” (Isa 9:6). But behind this word translated “mighty” (gibbor) contains connotations of manly heroism. So, Isaiah understood that the Messiah would be a man. He would be a child born to us (Isaiah 9:6), and yet He would also be God. This man would fight with God-like power.
This was not the type of Messiah that the Jews of the first century expected. They wanted a ruler, a military commander to deliver them from Roman bondage. But they had weak faith. Their faith was in a half-savior. They were focused on a worldly kingdom marked primarily with military and political might apart from all the necessary spiritual strings attached. They failed to see that they were in bondage to their sin. They didn’t grasp accurately what Jesus meant when He declared, “My kingdom is not of this world” (Matthew 18:36). It did not register in their hearts and minds that “though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Isaiah also apparently understood better than the majority of Jews living when the Messiah actually came that this Savior would come in a humble manner. Victory He would achieve indeed. But His exaltation would not come apart from His humiliation. Isaiah 53 details the sort of humiliation this Savior-Warrior would experience. He would be a man of sorrows acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). But tucked away in Isaiah 9:4 is an interesting phrase. It says, “For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.”
Isaiah is pointing back to a favorite story in Israel’s history, surely one that fathers and mothers told their children. The “day of Midian” refers to Israel’s unique victory over the Midianites under the leadership of Gideon. Everyone knew about “the day of Midian”– a day in which God’s army overthrew the military might of Midian and its oppressive regime. Perhaps, it was akin to D-Day for all the Jews oppressed by Nazism. We read about this event in the book of Judges. Gideon the warrior was bold and removed the altar dedicated to Baal, as well as the Asherah poles. He was on a campaign against the Canaanite gods. He refused to worship the gods of other nations, even if those nations insisted upon it. So, the Midianites joined forces with the Amalekites attempting to smash the Israelites in the Valley of Jezreel. Gideon responded by recruiting 32,000 troops from Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali.
But though Gideon was no doubt bold and heroic, and may have possessed some of the attributes of a George Patton, God made it very clear that He did not need him. He would use him in a mighty way, but He did not need Him. In fact, God made it clear to Gideon that He also did not need his 32,000 troops either! Judges 7:2-3 tells us that Gideon was to send home all but 10,000 of them. We read:
The Lord said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.’” Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
Following this, God had Gideon march his troops down to some water to refresh themselves. Those who bent all the way over to drink water were sent home. Conversely, God told Gideon to keep the soldiers who lapped water from their hands. This left Gideon with a force of only 300 men. With this humiliating picture unfolding before the enemy, God told Gideon He could finally put to use his depleted force.
God’s strategy for victory was not exactly out of a military textbook. But the humiliation before the enemy continued as they marched into battle armed not with machine guns, cannons, swords, or spears, but with torches, trumpets, and jars. God ordered them to break their jars, blow their trumpets, and storm into battle with a war cry: “a sword for the Lord and for Gideon” (Judges 7:20). Miraculously, this strategy worked. It produced mass confusion, which resulted in the Midianites killing off one another. This was the “day of Midian” that Isaiah was referring to when he compared it to what the coming Messiah would do upon His arrival.
The day of Christ’s birth marked the beginning of warlike events that mirrored those “in the day of Midian”. Christ humbly walked through this world with no place to lay His head. He was born in a no place town to scandalous parents who fled King Herod. He collected a rag tag group of fishermen to be His disciples. And though He performed miracle after miracle, and preached with authority unlike the scribes and Pharisees, He was hated and despised. He was falsely accused and cursed on a tree. And yet, His humiliation and seeming defeat resulted in His exaltation. Crucifixion gave way to resurrection. His entire life story revealed the strength and power of Yahweh who is referred to in the Song of Moses as “a man of war” (Exodus 15:3). Jesus too was a man of war.
Just as Yahweh the warrior delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, so too did Jesus the warrior deliver His people from their bondage to sin. Just as Israel was exiled in Egypt, so too was Jesus exiled in Egypt as Joseph and Mary hid Him there from King Herod’s sinister scheme (Matthew 2:13-20). Just as Israel was in the wilderness, so too did Jesus enter the wilderness. But Israel grumbled and sinned in their wilderness experience, while Jesus was victorious over the Devil, successfully resisting His overtures to sin (Matthew 4). He fought Satan and won, crushing him beneath His feet through His resurrection (cf. Romans 16:20).
Jesus, therefore, fulfilled the Divine Warrior motif of the Old Testament. He went to war for His people and won. He beat Satan. He beat sin. He beat death. He lives, not as baby, but as a man. He stands in heaven where His work as Redeemer is finished. He bought His elect people out of the slave market of sin through His atoning sacrifice at Calvary. But His work as Intercessor continues since He ever lives to make intercession for His people (Hebrews 7:25; I Timothy 2:5; John 17).
There is an old World War II movie entitled To Hell and Back starring Audie Murphy. Audie Murphy plays a young American wanting to serve his country after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The problem, however, is glaring to all but himself. He is simply viewed as too young and too small to be an effective warrior. He is rejected by the Navy, the Marines, and the Army Paratroopers. Finally, he is accepted in the Army as an infantryman, and the movie depicts him defeating all odds and public opinion by becoming a courageous hero of the war. Due to his small stature and youthful appearance, his comrades joke about the military sending “infants” into combat. But in the end, nobody thought he was a useless soldier. He was a viewed only as a hero.
Jesus is viewed by most people as an innocent, harmless infant during Christmas. But He’s not. He’s a war hero. He went to hell and back for sinners like you. He seemed small and was despised by the world. He was humiliated. He was hated. He was laughed at. He was killed. But He rose triumphant. Do you know Him, or are you still his enemy? Have you repented of your sin and placed faith in Jesus Christ? Are you on the winning side of the Savior and life, or the losing side of sin and death? Jesus Christ is not only the hero of the Bible, He’s also the hero of countless sinners throughout history whose lives have been redeemed by His selfless sacrifice on the cross. Jesus fought hell to give you heaven. Bow to the baby. Find refuge in the Christ-child who became a man and defeated sin and Satan for you. Repent. Give your life to Him. Trust in Him and His death for your sins in order to receive the greatest gift of all this Christmas – eternal salvation. I pray you do so for His name’s sake and glory.
Jesus Christ is a Rescuer, but He’s your enemy (cf. Romans 5:10) until you confess your sin and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead triumphant. He is Lord of all, but only Savior to those who look to Him in humble repentance and faith. Scripture promises that “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). This Christmas God could do the unthinkable and save you just as He did “in the day of Midian”.