Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:” now pause there for just a moment, and you don’t have to turn there, but Isaiah 53 says this Son of God—it pleased our heavenly Father to bruise Him and that He put on Him, Jesus, the Lamb slain from before the foundations, the iniquity of us all.  Amen?  Before the foundations, the iniquity of us all.  And it pleased God to bruise Him.  And in the midst of that, He provides even physical healing for us, because the Bible says, “By His stripes we are healed” (verse 5); amen?  So, if you want to think about Christmas this way, Christmas—we have that great gift of redemption, of reconciliation, of justification, of the promise of reconciliation and bodily resurrection.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead shall make alive your mortal body (Romans 8:11).  Amen?  A complete work finished, spirit, soul, and body.  “And the Son of God,” the Scripture says, “that would be born to us, upon Him shall be the government of the world upon His shoulder” (Isaiah 9:6).  “His name shall be called Immanuel,” (Isaiah 7:14); here Isaiah 9:6 says, “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God.”  See, redemption doesn’t work if Jesus wasn’t God.  A good man couldn’t come and pay the price.  Original sin, an Adamic sin, was rebellion, anarchy, to the sovereignty of God and His kingdom.  And the death that came upon Him was spiritual death, not natural death.  It’s spiritual life that comes to us through our regeneration.  This renewing that takes place, the Scripture says, in the Holy Ghost.  Jesus, the mighty God—John says in his first chapter, verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”   Powerful statements.  You go on down in that same first chapter of John to verse 14, and the Scripture says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...”  This “mighty God” of Isaiah, “The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.”  And He’ll reign on the throne of David.  And we know that the fulfillment of all of this is going to be, then, taking place in the millennial reign.  If Jesus isn’t God, there is no redemption.

So, let’s look back at Romans and see how this works.  By one man, Adam—and the theologians like to speak of this term; they call it “federal headship.”  In other words, Adam represented all humanity, because if we trace our lineage back, it all goes back to Adam.  The Jews, of course, kept very careful track of lineage through which we can follow the Messianic line.  That’s a very important part of appreciating redemption, and this was commenced in the heart of God from before the foundation of the world.  Men are born into sin because of the federal headship of Adam.  Thus, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  This federal headship is so binding.  So, Paul, speaking by the Spirit here, says, “…by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so, death has passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).