Join us in this enlightening episode as Adrian Rogers explores what he considers the greatest event in human history—not mankind setting foot on the moon, but God stepping onto Earth and walking among us. Through a vivid discussion on Isaiah 9:6, Rogers highlights Jesus’ supernatural nature, His sovereign nobility, and the depth of His saving name. Dive into a deeper understanding of the true essence and significance of Christmas, beyond its commercialized cloak.
Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrian Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
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Some years ago, you may remember it, I remember it vividly, that man went to the moon. And the President of the United States said, the planting… of human feet upon the moon is the greatest event in human history. No disrespect to the president. I want to say he was totally wrong. The greatest event in human history was not planting human feet upon the moon, but when God came to earth and his feet were were planted upon planet earth. That’s the greatest event that ever happened. We call that the incarnation. That almighty God stepped out of heaven, came out of the ivory palaces into this world of woe, and put his feet upon this earth. I want to read to you what God says here in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. For unto us a child is born. Of course, you know his name was Jesus. Unto us… A son is given. The child being born speaks of his virgin birth. The son being given speaks of his eternality who has been the son of God with the father through the ages. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This was written 700 years before the first Christmas. Isaiah dipped his pen in golden glory and wrote these words about the coming Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he used to work, as Brother Whitmire did also, down at Cape Kennedy. And our members were endeavoring to put a man upon the moon. And that took a lot of intellectual ingenuity. But I want to say, dear friend, that the educated man is ignorant. The weak man or the strong man is weak. And the wealthy man is poor if he doesn’t understand Christmas. I mean the true meaning of Christmas. What good does it do us to put a man on the moon if we can’t get God in our hearts? What good is it to know astronomy and how the heavens go, and not know Jesus, the bright and morning star, and how to go to heaven. What good is it to know botany and the study of flowers, and not know Jesus, heaven’s sweetest rose, the rose of Sharon, who can perfume any life? What good is it to know the events of history and not know Jesus, and know that history is his story, for it is in him we live and move and have our being. What good is it to know geology and the ages of the rocks? and not know Jesus, the rock of ages. The greatest event was not man going to the moon, but God coming to earth in the form of a baby. There are three mighty facts I want to lay upon your heart from this passage of Scripture. And first of all is Jesus’ supernatural nature. Now, He was not just another child. He was supernatural. He was not just the Galilean peasant, the great teacher. You won’t understand Christmas until you understand the supernatural nature of the Lord Jesus. Look again in verse 6. For unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given. This child, Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 tells us, was born of a virgin. This child is the very son of God. The first Christmas, God sent a package to earth. And this package was a gift of deity wrapped up in humanity. What a marvelous thing this is. It’s supernatural. Jesus, never forget this, Jesus is God in human form. Flesh. Now put in your margin John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. Let me share it with you. And in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is called the Word. What is a Word? A Word is an expression of an invisible thought. You can’t hear my thoughts, but you hear my words. And therefore, you know my thoughts. You can’t see my thoughts. My thoughts are invisible. BUT MY WORD MAKES THE INVISIBLE KNOWN TO YOU. JESUS MAKES THE INVISIBLE GOD KNOWN TO MAN. HE IS THE VERY WORD OF GOD. HE IS GOD’S WORD TO THIS HUMAN RACE. HE IS, HE IS GOD IN HUMAN FLESH. NOW JESUS IS FULLY GOD. LOOK AGAIN IN JOHN 1, 1, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD. NOW WHO WROTE THIS? the Apostle John. The Apostle John had walked and talked with Jesus. He had seen Jesus in all manner of situations. And now Jesus has gone back to heaven. The Apostle John now is an aged man. And this is the reflection. These are the thoughts of a man in his maturity. And the Apostle John, who was a Jew, who would have an ingrained resistance to any kind of idolatry, said of the Lord Jesus Christ that He is fully God. Everything that God is, Jesus is. Everything that God has, Jesus has. Everything that God does, Jesus does. Jesus is God. Can you say amen to that? He is fully God. He’s not part God and part man. He’s not all God and no man. He’s not all man and no God. He is the God-man. There’s never, ever been another like the Lord Jesus Christ who has this supernatural nature. Now, if somebody comes to your door and doesn’t believe that Jesus is God, he’s a false prophet. He’s a false prophet. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 8. But unto the Son, he saith, the Son of God, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Our heavenly Father has said of his heavenly Son that your throne is forever and ever and ever and ever, and you, my son, are God. Now, he not only is fully God, but he is forever God. Jesus did not have his beginning at Bethlehem. WHEN THE BIBLE SAYS, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, HE, HE’S NOT TALKING ABOUT A START. HE’S TALKING ABOUT A STATE. THERE NEVER WAS A TIME WHEN JESUS WAS NOT. THERE NEVER WILL BE A TIME WHEN JESUS IS NOT. A BILLION, BILLION, BILLION YEARS FROM NOW, HE’LL STILL BE GOD. HE IS GOD FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING. WHEN JESUS WAS BORN, HE WAS OLDER THAN HIS MOTHER AND AS OLD AS HIS FATHER. because He was the Son from heaven. And so Jesus did not begin in a manger. He came to this earth and was manifest in a manger. Now, that’s what I want you to think about His humanity. That is humanity. That little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger was the great, eternal, uncreated, self-existing, Word-made flesh. The little baby in Luke 2 is the mighty God of Genesis 1. He is the one who made it all. Before him there was nothing that is made. That little baby lying in the straw with dimple feet is the one who swung planets into space. That little toddler learning to walk, holding on to Mary’s hand is the eternal God. uncreated God, the little baby boy playing with shavings. There in Joseph’s carpenter shop is God, a very God, God manifested in the flesh. I love 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, and great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. NOW YOU MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THAT, AND I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND IT, BECAUSE THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID, I DON’T UNDERSTAND IT. GREAT IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD, THAT GOD STEPPED OUT OF HEAVEN AND CAME TO THIS EARTH THROUGH THE PORTALS OF A VIRGIN’S WOMB. I KNOW THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO SNEAR AT THE IDEA OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH. THEY SAY, WELL, HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE ANGEL SAID TO MARY? With God, nothing should be impossible. Do you believe that? If you have trouble with a virgin birth, let me tell you where your real trouble is. Your real trouble is with God. I mean, listen, folks, be reasonable. If God could make the first man without a father or a mother, don’t you think he could bring his son into this world in a virgin birth? You see, your problem is, if you don’t believe in the virgin birth, you have some character problems. Your problem with the Word of God and the character of the Word of God is flawed. Because the Word of God clearly, plainly teaches it. And not only do you have difficulty with the character of the Word of God, but friend, if you do not believe in the virgin birth, you have difficulty with the character of Mary. Because if Mary had a child out of wedlock, then Mary was an impure woman. And if you don’t believe in the virgin birth, not only do you have difficulty with the character of the Word of God and the character of Mary, you have difficulty with the character of Jesus. Now, if Jesus were not the Son of God, He’s the Son of Adam. And in Adam all die. If Jesus had not been born of a virgin, Jesus Christ would have the same human tendencies and proclivities that you and I have, who are by nature the children of wrath. because Jesus Christ would have been a son of Adam, and in Adam all die. You have difficulty with the character of Jesus. I’m going to tell you something else. If you don’t believe in the virgin birth, I have difficulty with your character. And I’m going to tell you something very clearly and very plainly, and I don’t mean to be rude. If there’s no virgin birth, you’re going to hell. Your salvation is inextricably interwoven with the virgin birth. No virgin birth, no deity. No deity, no sinless life. No sinless life, no sacrificial death. No sacrificial death, no salvation. No salvation, you’re going to hell. Jesus came to earth that we might go to heaven. Jesus was born of a virgin. that we might be born again. Thank God for the virgin birth. Amen? Now, friend, this is His supernatural nature. He is absolutely supernatural. He was born of a virgin, clearly and plainly. Now, here’s the second thing I want you to see. Not only His supernatural nature, but I want you to see His sovereign nobility. His sovereign nobility. He was born a king. The scripture says in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 that the government shall be upon his shoulder. And look, if you will, in verse 7 as that is fleshed out. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. How’s it going to happen? Well, notice this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. That is, this little baby was born a king, and he is king. We didn’t elect him, and friend, we’ll not impeach him. He is king. He is king. He is Lord. Some people say, well, have you made him Lord? You’re too late for that. God has already declared him Lord. This is his sovereign nobility. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And if you miss that, you miss the meaning of Christmas. You have to take the cradle and the cross and the crown and put them together or you don’t have the true story of Christmas. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Question it. HAVE YOU MADE HIM LORD? NO. CAN YOU RECEIVE HIM AS LORD? YES. YOU CAN BOW YOUR KNEE TO HIM AND SAY, OH LORD, YOU’RE THE KING AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UPON YOUR SHOULDER, THEREFORE I YIELD MY HEART TO YOU. NOW HERE’S THE THIRD THING I WANT YOU TO SEE. NOT ONLY HIS SUPERNATURAL NATURE, NOT ONLY HIS SOVEREIGN NOBILITY, BUT LET’S GET TO THE REAL GOOD, GOOD PART FOR US, HIS SAVING NAME. HIS SAVING NAME. THIS IS A VERSE THAT SPEAKS OF HIS NAME. WELL, LOOK AGAIN. FOR UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN, AND THE GOVERNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS SHOULDER. NOW WATCH THIS. AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE. NOW WHAT IS IN HIS NAME? Well, first of all, wonder is in His name. Do you stand in awe of the Lord Jesus Christ? Or have you become oblivious? Do you not get excited when you think of Jesus? If you don’t, you’ve lost the wonder. You have calluses on your soul. Oh, friend, Jesus is wonderful. He is wonderful. Wonderful in His birth. WONDERFUL IN HIS LIFE, WONDERFUL IN HIS TEACHING, WONDERFUL IN HIS MIRACLES, WONDERFUL IN HIS DEATH, WONDERFUL IN HIS RESURRECTION, AND OH YES, WONDERFUL IN HIS SECOND COMING. HIS NAME IS WONDERFUL. I HEARD OF A MAN RIDING ON A TRAIN ONE TIME, LOOKING OUT THE WIND, AND HE WAS SAYING, WONDERFUL. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. The man sitting next to him said, why do you think everything is wonderful? He said, I have been blind and I’ve just had surgery. And I’m seeing things that I had long since forgotten how beautiful they are. And they’re wonderful to me. Friend. If Jesus is not wonderful to you, you need something done to your spiritual eyes. So you can see just how wonderful Jesus is. There is wonder in His name. But not only is there wonder in His name, listen to me, there is wisdom in His name because His name is Counselor. Do you need a counselor sometime? People come to me for counsel sometimes. I can’t solve their problems. So when I counsel with people, I try to lead them to the one who can solve their problems, the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t want them dependent upon me. I want them to know Jesus. He is the counselor. There’s wisdom in his name. He’s made unto us, Paul says in 1 Corinthians, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Are you going through a problem right now? You don’t know the way out? You don’t know what to do. Every answer seems wrong. I want to recommend my counselor to you. His name is Jesus. And not only is there wonder in that name, he is the mighty God. And so there is wealth in that name. That means it all belongs to him. He made it all. What’s the world coming to? The world is coming to Jesus. It came from Him. It is for Him. It is coming back to Him. He made it all. Billions of suns came from His hand when He spoke. Oceans dripped from His fingers. He made it all. Billions and billions and billions of stars and suns mightier than ours. This little planet Earth is a speck in the galaxy. Just a speck. And yet He made it. The Earth is the Lord’s. I was reading that in one drop of water, if you were to take all of the molecules in one drop of water and turn each molecule into a grain of sand, you would have enough material to build a bridge one half mile wide, two feet thick, from New York to San Francisco. That’s the molecules in one drop of water. What a mighty God we do serve, friend. He is the mighty God. There’s wealth in His name. And then His name is the everlasting Father. There is worship in His name. Did you know that Jesus is to be worshiped? Now, who do we worship? Only God. Well, if Jesus is not God, we have no right to worship Jesus. Now, what I enjoy doing is when the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my door, I want to be nice to them. I want to be kind to them. And I admire their zeal in going from house to house and door to door. But I have one question that always stops them in their tracks. Would you like to know what it is? Here it is. Do you worship Jesus? Yes. Oh, they say, we revere Jesus. I said, no, I didn’t ask you that. Do you worship Jesus? Oh, we believe He’s the Son of God. I didn’t ask you that. Do you worship Jesus? Oh, we believe this. I said, no, no, no. Please answer my question. Do you worship Jesus? Now, they’re on the horns of a dilemma. Because if they say, no, we don’t worship Jesus, then I’ll say they did in the Bible. I’ll show them, for example, the story of the wise men who came to the child Jesus and the Bible says, and they worshiped him over and over and over in the Bible. He’s worshiped, he’s worshiped, he’s worshiped. So if they say, no, we don’t worship Jesus. I say, then you’re not biblical. Well, they say, yes, then we do worship Jesus. Then I say, you must confess then that he’s God. No, we don’t believe he’s God. Well, how can you worship Him if He’s not God? The Bible says, I’m the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Worship Him and Him only. Only God is to be worshipped. Jesus received worship and God approved the worship of Jesus. Now, if Jesus is not God, that’s the grossest form of idolatry. And Jesus was incredibly wrong to allow it. How foolish that would be for one man to worship another man if that’s all that man is. In the book of the Revelation, the apostle John saw a mighty angel. He was so overwhelmed, he bowed down to worship the angel. And the angel said, no, get up. Worship God and Him only. What the angel was saying, look, John, if you worship me, you’ll be in trouble for idolatry. And if I allow it, I’ll be in trouble too. But Jesus received worship. Friend, He is the mighty God. He is the everlasting Father. That’s the reason that I told you that when He was born, He was older than His mother and as old as His Father. There’s worship in that name. I’ll tell you what else there is. There’s welfare in that name. Oh, the thing that your heart is yearning for, your heart wants, is peace. AND HE IS CALLED THE PRINCE OF PEACE. DO YOU WANT PEACE? ROMANS 5, 1, THEREFORE BEING JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE HAVE PEACE WITH GOD. PEACE WITH GOD. AND THEN THE BIBLE SAYS, LET THE PEACE OF GOD RULE IN YOUR HEART. YOU SEE, GOD THROUGH JESUS CAME TO GIVE YOU PEACE. HAS ANYBODY EVER LEFT YOU ANYTHING IN A WILL? Jesus did. Upon the cross, he said, my peace leave I with you, my peace give I unto you. Now Jesus is going back to the heavens. And this is the legacy that Jesus, young man, left for you. Jesus willed his body to Joseph of Amathia for burial. Jesus gave his mother to the apostle John. Jesus yielded up his spirit to God the Father. But Jesus gave his peace to you. And there’s no law on earth that can break that will. It is yours. It is your throne gift. Now, if you don’t have peace, it’s because you don’t understand what you have in the name of Jesus. There’s welfare in that name. I was speaking to a man and trying to witness to him. And he was standing out in front of his house. I knew him. I knew him pretty well. And he was what you would call a self-made man. He felt pretty comfortable in his status in life. And we had a friendly conversation. But I broached the subject of Jesus. Oh, he said, I’m fine. I’m fine like I am. He said, you see that house? It’s paid for. He said, there’s my wife on the inside. She loves me and I love her. And he said, I have my retirement income. He said, I’m doing quite well, thank you. I said, sir, may I ask you a question? Well, sure. I said, no, no, don’t say lightly. I want to ask you a question and I want you to think about it and answer me honestly. Will you answer me honestly? He said, of course. I said, now be careful. You said you would. I want you to do it. I said, sir, do you have peace in your heart? He said, I told you I’m doing. I said, uh-uh. You said you would answer the question. Now answer it. Do you have peace in your heart? His chin began to quiver and his eyes brimmed with tears. And he said, no, I don’t have peace. How did you know? I said, because the Bible says there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. The only peace you will ever know, real peace. I’m not talking about happiness. I’m not talking about numbing yourself with drugs. I’m talking about the peace that passes understanding it is in the wonderful name of Jesus. In his name, there is the welfare of peace. A woman was dying. They said to her, do you know that you’re dying? She said, yes. Have you made peace with God? She said, no. Perhaps she didn’t understand, so they asked her again, said, do you know you’re dying? She said, yes. Have you made peace with God? She said, no. She said, I am resting in the peace that Jesus made on the cross. Amen. made peace between God and man. What a wonderful, wonderful name is Jesus. The name Jesus literally means Savior. It literally means Jehovah saves. That’s why the angel said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He’s a Savior. Jesus is a Savior. I want to tell you how foolish your pastor is. One day this past week, I drove my automobile off the hard pavement out into a grassy area because I knew where there was a persimmon tree. And I love persimmons. And I thought, well, this is about the time those persimmons would be ripe. And so I drove out there past that tree. There wasn’t a persimmon on the tree. So when I started to drive away, my tires went… And I thought, uh-oh, the ground is wet. I’ll be very careful. So I started to go very careful and my tires went. I said, well, I’ll back up and get a running start. And I went to back up. And I said, oh, I’ll rock the car a little bit. And I’m sinking the whole time. I got aboard, went out and got aboard and tried to dig myself out. I got in the car. I found a piece of carpet out there in the woods and put that under. By this time, I’m going down, down, down. I am stuck in the mud. Well, there’s two things I wanted. Number one, I didn’t want anybody to see me. And number two, I wanted somebody to see me. And so I prayed. I said, Lord, I’m in the mud. I really prayed this way. I said, Lord, I’m in the mud. I need your help. Lord, I’m helpless here. Lord, get me out. And just almost at the same time, a man came to me. He saw me before I saw him. He came to me before I even asked him to come. He had a four-wheel vehicle. And he said, you’re stuck. I said, obviously. He said, well, don’t worry. He said, I have a cable and I have a hook. And we hooked that hook to my car, put that cable there on his bumper. And that man with that mighty truck said, Pull me slowly out of the mud. And he said to me, now, you be careful. As I got back on solid ground, I was so grateful that that man had come along. I believe he was God’s angel. I believe it was an answer to prayer. I really do. Because I prayed. I didn’t know what I was going to do. And immediately God sent me someone in a four-wheel truck with a cable and all of this. I just praised the Lord for that, but I got to thinking about it. It’s so much like salvation. We are looking for the things of this world and sinking in the mud. We say, well, I’d get myself out of this. I know how to, you know, I can handle this situation. The more we try to handle it, the deeper and deeper and deeper we sink. We need somebody who will see us, care for us, Come to us and get us out. Jesus is a Savior. He is a Savior. He comes to us. He has what it takes to extricate us from the mud that we’ve gotten in. Well, He pulled me out. I got on solid ground and I began to praise the Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. You know, when I got home, my car was covered with mud. And I got the hose out there and began to hose it off and get the mud off. And I got to thinking, you know, that man got me out of the mud. It was up to me to deal with the mud that was still on me. You know, when I got saved, I was kind of covered with mud. And I’ve been all this time just letting Jesus, the water of life, clean me up. But what I’m trying to say is this, friend. You can struggle all you want. but all you’re going to do is sink deeper. All you’re going to do is sink deeper. You do not have what it takes to get out unless someone takes you out. And that one is Jesus. His name is wonderful. He, friend, is the mighty God, the everlasting Father. He is the Prince of Peace. He has taken me out of the mud and He’s kept me. He’s kept me through these years. And he wants to save you. He promised to do it, wants to do it, and will do it if you trust him. Bow your heads in prayer. If you don’t know the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to invite you to pray a prayer like this. Dear Jesus, I need you. I’m a sinner. I’m lost. And I need you. I don’t want to die in my sin and go to hell. I need you, Jesus. Come to my life and pull me out. The harder I try, Lord, the deeper I sink. Come to me and take me out, Lord Jesus. I trust you, Jesus. I believe you’re the Son of God. And you paid for my sin debt with your shed blood on the cross. Thank you, Lord, for doing that. Thank you for saving me. Now give me the courage to make it public. In your name I pray. Amen.
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Join us in this enlightening episode as Adrian Rogers explores what he considers the greatest event in human history—not mankind setting foot on the moon, but God stepping onto Earth and walking among us. Through a vivid discussion on Isaiah 9:6, Rogers highlights Jesus’ supernatural nature, His sovereign nobility, and the depth of His saving name. Dive into a deeper understanding of the true essence and significance of Christmas, beyond its commercialized cloak.
