Dear Christian friends:

Whole sections of the Berlin wall tumbled face down on November 9, 1989. More formidable barriers to human freedom came down with that wall: the regimes of Honecker in East Germany, Zhivkov in Bulgaria, Jakes in Czechoslovakia, and Ceausescu in Romania. The kingdoms of this world rise and fall.

But in our text we read about Gabriel, an angel prince from God. He came from heaven, to a humble maid in a remote village in Galilee. He informs her that she will be a mother, that her son will be none other than the Son of the Highest the very Son of God, and that "his kingdom will never end!" Earthly rulers rise and fall, but Jesus reigns supreme forever and ever.

Gabriel's message to Mary about her blessed Son, whose birth we are about to celebrate, should inspire our hearts with new confidence and move our lips to joyful praise. Jesus is Lord! He is a great King. "His kingdom will never end!" This saying ranks among the greatest in all of Scripture.

I. His kingdom now and forever.

A. The Foundation

The kingdoms men build, like houses they construct, are only as secure as their foundations.

The former Panamanian dictator, Manuel Noriega built his regime on the foundation of greed fired by opportunism in drug trafficking. With that basis, his kingdom was bound to fall.

Many kingdoms in this world are built on faulty foundations: selfish ambitions, cruel treatment, or the misuse of power. Even nations such as ours which are built upon justice and moral laws can and do fall because the people allow corruption to gain the upper hand. Since we live in a fallen world, all the kingdoms of men eventually fall.

But the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ dis not come from this fallen, sinful world. He came from heaven above. The foundation of his reign is the holy, eternal God. Our Lord is David's son according to his human nature, born of Mary at Bethlehem, yet he is preexistence, "God over all, forever praised," Paul tells us in Romans 9:5. John tells us that he is the eternal Word become flesh. (John 1:1-3) Christ's eternal kingdom is built on the foundation of the everlasting Godhead!

After his defeat at Waterloo the humiliated and deposed Napoleon said, "Caesar, Charles the Great and I have founded great empires on force, and lost them. But Jesus Christ founded an empire on love and millions would still die for him."

B. First and Foremost

In East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania where oppressive regimes have fallen, true Christians have stood fast. Under communist governments Christ was rejected and churches were closed, but their rulers could not force the Lord out of the hearts of his people. Christ the King has reigned inspite of their attempts to depose him. It has been very touching and heartwarming to see the people returning to their churches!

Thirty years ago Rev. Richard Wurmbrand traveled across America testifying how Bibles were smuggled behind the iron curtain and Christians gathered in homes in the name of Jesus, their Lord and King, risking imprisonment and torture. Now they are free to gather openly. They are a powerful witness to Revelations 11:15, which says: The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

C. Forever Glorious

"He shall reign for ever and ever" sound the grand and thrilling refrains of the Hallelujah Chorus in the finale of Handel's Messiah. Forever glorious is His kingdom!

The prophets in the Old Testament were given a glimpse of that glory, and they expressed what they saw in the imagery of their day. Let us listen to their voices, that our eyes be opened and our hearts set aflame for the glorious kingdom of our Lord!

Amos tells us that it will be a future kingdom of plenty: (Read Amos 9:13-14) Isaiah speaks of a golden age of friendship, the end of all hostility, free from all pain and suffering. (Read Isaiah 11:6-9) Isaiah also prophesies that God will destroy death and consequently eliminate bereavement. (Read Isaiah 25:8) And war shall be no more: (Read Isaiah 2:4) Our Lord says of his glorious, everlasting kingdom, "My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest." (Isaiah 32:18)

II. His subjects now and forever.

A. Grace

What a grand privilege to be citizens of our Lord's glorious, eternal kingdom! Our King Jesus does not conscript or draft us; he invites us with these gracious words: (Matthew 11:28) By his mercy the door is opened even to the likes of us. There is not a thing we could do to merit a place in his kingdom, yet by his grace our Lord has given us rebirth and renewal. The Apostle Paul drives this home to us by saying: (Read Titus 3:3-7)

What will make God smile this Christmas? Will he smile if you sing "Silent Night" ten times? Will he smile if you turn your T.V. from "Dallas" to the Billy Graham Crusade? If you go to church five times in five days? Well, maybe. A lot of frantic effort will go into trying to make God smile this Christmas. Churches will be filled with people striving to do "the right thing" that will please God and bring the blessings and feelings of peace, hope and goodwill.

But God isn't smiling because of our deeds. God will smile this Christmas, as he has every Christmas, because of the gift that he has given; His only begotten Son!

We, Too, can smile this Christmas and every Christmas because it doesn't depend on what we do, but on what God has done and still does for us that we might enter his eternal kingdom and remain there always. Its a matter of God's grace; not of our deeds. We have a lot of trouble remembering this.

B. Glory

We also have a lot of trouble seeing ourselves in the future glory of our Lord's eternal kingdom in heaven, when we with all the saints will gather around the throne. We have this trouble because we still sin a lot and don't feel worthy. Yet we have God's promise that we will stand there one day, for in baptism we have put off the the garments of our sinful flesh and have been clothed in his righteousness, and in the Lord's Supper we receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. We just have to keep on reminding ourselves and one another that it is by grace through the lowly means of grace, the Gospel Word and the Sacraments. Now it is a kingdom of grace, but then it will be a kingdom of glory.

The kingdom of grace will end along with the means. Therefore, we need to look forward to the coming glory. We need to believe that the best is yet to come. The empty manger, the bare cross, the empty tomb, and the Ascension of our Lord draw our gaze forward and upward. "For here we do not have a continuing city," the Bible says, "but we seek one to come, a city in the heavens, not made with hands, whose builder and maker is God." (Hebrews 13:14; Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 12:22) This is the faith that makes a good Christmas.

Conclusion: Seek the kingdom which is invincible and victorious over every enemy! Seek the kingdom of our Lord, for it is an everlasting kingdom. "He shall reign for ever and ever!"

Amen