The Undercover God, Dr. Stephen Bauer, Dec 6, 2025

Hello and welcome to the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church. Thank you so much

for joining us as part of our online

church family. I hope that you are

blessed by the music and the message

that we share with you today. We're so

glad once again that you are part of our

online church. No matter where you're

worshiping from, we're so glad that you

are able to worship with us here in

McDonald Road. And if you're in the

area, we would love for you to join us

in person. We have worship services at

8:50 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. every

Sabbath here at the McDonald Road

Church. Once again, welcome to church.

So glad that you're here to worship with

us.

Just before we start, um

this is a time of year that's for some

both uh filled with joy and filled with

pain at the same time.

uh especially those who have suffered

loss uh

recently or near this time of year and

thinking of those times that uh that

special person is missing

and we wait in hope the uh it's okay to

be sad and and happy at the same time.

It's part of life in this sinful world.

And we want to recognize that reality as

we go into this uh Christmas season that

we can celebrate and yet

uh experience some of those heavinesses

at the same time.

James V

was king of Scotland

from 1513

until his death in 1542.

His personal rule began by savagely

pursuing his opponents as heounded the

Earl of Angus out of Scotland, for

example.

James combined suspicion of nobles with

a popular touch.

We're told that he sometimes traveled

around Scotland in disguise.

He would dress up or some might say

dress down as a yman farmer and would

walk incognito among his subjects

calling himself and forgive my scotch

old scotch here the gutin o balenike

that is

a tenant farmer from Balenike arro near

the castle.

In some versions of the story,

it would enable James to go around and

mingle. Particularly, he apparently

would hang around trial scenes trying to

see if the nobles were being fair to the

poor people being um tried to make sure

justice was going. But he wanted to do

so unnoticed as king because he figured

they would change their behavior.

The reformer John Knox describes him as

follows. Quote, "He was called of some a

good poor man's king.

Of others, he was termed a murderer of

the nobility and one that had decreed

their whole destruction."

James's story is a bit unusual

because with the help

of chat GPT and Dr. Google,

I don't find historic stories of kings

um going in disguise to help others.

Usually, they're going into disguise for

a a more self-serving reason. For

example, a king or a prince may go into

disguise because their kingdom is

falling to a revolution and they're

trying to escape alive.

Others

have gone undercover to hang around the

social gathering places to see what kind

of gossip they can hear about people as

they discuss politics and and and to

find out what people are saying about

them without them knowing it's them. Um

either to get even with their enemies or

just to you know keep their finger on

the pulse so to speak. this way. In the

Bible, we have Saul who went undercover

to approach the witch of Endor because

he was in a near suicidal state of mind.

Ahab

convinces the king of Judah in an

alliance, "You stay in your kingly

robes. I'll go in disguise to fight the

battle." Probably figuring he would be

less of a target and it would make the

king of Judah the primary target. And in

a certain poetic twist, it's Ahab who

gets killed in the battle.

Most often these stories, as I say, seem

to end with some kind of self-interest

to protect themselves, their interest,

their wealth, etc.

As far as I can tell,

it is only in fairy tales where we get

stories of royalty going undercover to

serve the sick, the poor, etc.

There is one story that is not a fairy

tale

and it's the best version of this theme,

I believe, to be found in literature.

But it doesn't start where you think it

starts.

I would suggest that we need to go to

the book of Genesis to start this story.

God has created the world. He's created

Adam and Eve. He set them up in the

garden and he's given them a warning

about don't eat from a certain tree.

They have violated that warning. And now

we pick up the story in Genesis 3:8.

Genesis 3:8

And they heard the sound of the Lord God

walking in the garden in the cool of the

day. And the man and his wife hid

themselves from the presence of the Lord

God among the trees of the garden. First

point is it just reports this like it's

a normal thing that God was coming to

meet with them in the cool of the day. I

don't know if this was an everyday thing

or if they had to do some prayer without

seeing God, but it seems like some kind

of regular occurrence where God came to

meet with them. And now that they have

sinned and violated his commandment, he

comes again as he normally does.

But it's different because this time

they run and hide.

I find it interesting that God did not

just appear,

but he came making noise.

Uh the Hebrew word here translated sound

could also be voice. So it could be God

calling,

"Hi guys, I'm here."

Or it could be God making noise,

brushing through, you know, the edge of

the bushes or something, you know, a

crackling twig, uh the sound of a

footstep or or something like that. The

point is,

had God just appeared

Their

fear of what would happen probably would

have killed them on the spot

from fright.

So God made noise. He came respectfully,

but he came.

He took the initiative.

He did not make Adam and Eve come

graveling to him, seeking him. He did

not make them go through some strange,

mystical, difficult way. Rather, he took

the initiative and he came to them

in their life story, in their

circumstance,

in their history.

He came in a form that they could relate

to and understand.

While it's not absolutely clear in the

text, the fact that in Revelation it

says that we're going to see God's face

again would suggest to me then that God

was coming in a visible form to talk

with Adam and Eve.

in a form they could recognize, in a

form whose image they were created in,

which helped make it more approachable,

more intimate, and more relatable this

way.

And this sets a pattern that is

continued into the rest of the Bible

story. In the very next chapter,

Cain is unhappy with things. He's

unhappy that God has accepted uh Abel's

offering and not his and he's apparently

uh mulling this situation over and God

comes to Cain. God takes the initiative.

Uh these offerings are likely offered

where the cherammer at the gate of the

garden.

And so it may well be that when God

speaks with Cain, that he appeared in a

form not unlike Adam and Eve,

veiled for sin,

to make him approachable to Cain.

And he tries to reason with Cain because

he's come like he did with Adam and Eve.

While he came to discipline, he came to

redeem and save. He's coming to talk

Cain out of the trajectory of his mind,

but Cain rejects it. And so God comes

again and has another conversation

trying to get Cain

to redirect his ways.

A few chapters later, God comes to Noah

with a warning about destroying the

world. And we're given the assurance

that God saw the wickedness of man. And

he gives man 120 years for Noah to

proclaim and build his boat and so forth

and so on. God coming to try to get men

to respond

so they don't have to be punished.

They can repent instead.

And by coming through Noah, he comes in

a way that people can relate. They know

Noah. Noah's built a reputation.

It's something familiar.

God comes to them in their history where

they are.

God comes to Abraham multiple times.

Chapter 17, it says, quote, "The Lord

appeared to Abraham

The Hebrew verb is to see in the passive

voice. Literally, the Lord was seen by

Abraham.

Which means he must have come in some

kind of visible form to engage Abraham

where he was in his history to initiate

the covenant of circumcision and

announcing Sarai. Now Sarah is going to

have a baby about this time next year.

Shortly thereafter, chapter 18, God

appears to reiterate and again this same

word God was seen and he appears to

reiterate Sarah and it's going to set up

the Sodom story. And this time it's

clear God comes in the form of a human.

Three men are walking down the road.

You'd have no idea divinity was passing

by.

And God comes undercover

to Abraham

where he was

in his history.

Announces again Sarah's pregnancy. She

laughs and so forth.

And then it turns into the negotiations

over Sodom.

Same verb. God appears to Isaac twice in

Genesis chapter 26

Genesis 26 · chapter mention

to assure him after some trouble with

the local residents, "This will be your

land. Don't worry, I'm giving it to

you." God comes to Isaac where he was in

his history.

God surprises Jacob. He's been in exile

wondering if he's blown it with God. And

yet God keeps coming to him. But he now

he's on the way back to his ancestral

land, the land promised to Abraham. And

he hears that an angry Esau is on the

way. And he's worried. And he takes

certain tactical measures

and he retires by himself likely to pray

to God.

And suddenly in the Genesis story, a man

grabs him

and he wrestles all night. If you think

this is one of Esau's soldiers trying to

kill you, that gives you the energy to

fight all night.

And he fights all night with an unknown

asalent, not knowing who it is. It's the

prophet who calls it fighting with the

messenger or angel. But in the Genesis

story, it says a man.

And finally, as the near the sunrise, as

the sky is getting light, this man who

has wrestled all night with Jacob and

Jacob with him, and no one seems to get

the mastery, suddenly reaches out with a

finger, touches Jacob's hip, and knocks

it out of joint. And Jacob's like, "Wait

a minute." Now, he dislocates the hip.

And Jacob's like, "Uh, wait a minute.

You're not a normal man. Who are you?

And the answer comes back.

You have wrestled

with God

and prevailed.

God undercover

coming to Jacob

in his space in his history

to encourage and give him a promise

that he will be with him when he

encounters Esau.

God comes to Moses

to deliver Israel. Moses has been 40

years in exile

almost forgetting

that he's supposed to do something for

God and thinking he's unable and so

forth. And he's busy tending flocks in

the wilderness

and God comes to him in the form of a

burning bush.

The story opens with the angel of the

Lord appeared to Moses in flaming fire

in a bush and the bush isn't burned up

and the angel of the Lord says like take

off your shoes and so forth and Moses

takes off his shoes and then the the

Lord said whoa

and what starts out as the angel of the

Lord suddenly turns out to be Yahweh

himself

acting as his own messenger or angel.

without using a creature.

And he comes to Moses where Moses was in

Moses history in Moses space to call him

to be the deliverer of Israel and to do

the job I originally intended for you.

God comes to restore.

God comes to save. God comes to redeem.

Joshua,

Moses has died. They are on the edge of

Canaan.

The Jericho is the first target.

God has said, "Go do this." And Joshua

is still a little, you know, nervous.

We can be we can have some nerves and

faith at the same time, right?

I trust God, but I still have feelings.

and he apparently went out for some

final prayer time with God and he looks

up and there's a soldier.

He has no idea who it is.

He gives the friend or foe, right? Whose

side are you on?

They apparently didn't have good

uniforms in those days.

I can't tell. You with me or against me?

How do I respond?

And I don't know what it was about this

soldier,

but when he said, "I'm the captain of

the Lord's host. Take off your shoes."

You know,

something about that.

Joshua trusts

and we discover

God undercover

coming to encourage Joshua to prepare

him

for giving Israel the promised land.

Salvation, redemption for Israel,

justice for others this way.

God comes to a little boy named Samuel

sleeping in the most holy place of the

sanctuary

at night with all the candles put out.

We don't know if there was visible form

because the lights were out. But Sammy

hears a voice

and God's calling him

to a lifelong work.

as his spokesman to help redeem and and

work with Israel.

God comes to Gideon in the book of

Judges in a visible form. Quote, "The

angel of the Lord a pass appears, but it

turns out he's got a staff and seems

like he looks rather human."

And at the end of that story, Gideon

says, "I'm going to die because I've

seen God."

God undercover

comes to Gideon to make it relatable

to call him and support him in a work of

salvation for his people.

God comes undercover to Samson's mother

and father looking like a luminescent

man and telling them about this birth of

a deliverer who's going to be named

Samson.

Instructions on diet and how to raise

the boy.

And after their encounters are done, the

parents are like, "We should have died

because that was God

undercover."

Engaging them in their history,

in their space,

in a relatable, approachable way.

God comes to Elijah after Carmel.

He's run from Jezebel, the high of of

the sacrifice and the defeat of the

prophets of Baal. And suddenly in the

emotional drainage of that, he runs for

his life. Ends up at Mount Si

downcast, discouraged, and fearing for

his life.

tornado goes by.

But God was not in the tornado.

We get a volcanic eruption with fire and

earthquake.

God wasn't in that.

Instead, he comes undercover

in a low whisper.

What are you doing here,

Elijah?

And it's redemption.

He restarts Elijah's ministry. He gives

him a list of several things. Go anoint

this person here and do that there and

triggers Elijah so he can get back to

the work of helping reformation in

Israel and redeeming them.

God comes to Elijah in his space,

in his history.

Back with Moses, God

mentions when they challenge Moses's

leadership, if there's a prophet, I'll

come to him in a dream or a vision. But

with Moses, I speak mouthto mouth. But

prophet now becomes the way increasingly

that God comes undercover over and over

again to Israel trying to redeem them,

trying to correct them, trying to save

them.

But imagine now

God comes to you

like he did to Isaiah

or like he came to Amos.

He said, "Here's a message. I want you

to go tell these people this is what God

said."

And you have to go out and talk. And

apparently God does not give you a

miracle work to get their attention. You

just have to witness to them based on

the character of how much they know you.

And they're supposed to believe this is

from God and not from you.

Talk about undercover.

God coming undercover through prophets

to Israel and people where they are

facing the skepticism. Really? You think

that was God talking to you? I think

God's talking to me and I disagree with

you.

And almost no miracles.

Instead, these prophets get imprisoned,

persecuted, even killed while God seems

to stay hidden and do nothing about it.

But he keeps coming

to Israel in its history,

in its space.

In short, then the Old Testament is

filled with time after time after time

where God takes the initiative to come

to challenge, to confront in order to

save, redeem, and help.

He comes to us in our history.

He doesn't make Israel go to some

strange pilgrimage or something. He

comes first.

And apppropo to this season, we have a

special example of God coming to an

Israelite king.

His name actually the king of Judah. His

name was Ahaz. His story is in Isaiah 7.

In the first nine verses, the Syrians

ally with the northern kingdom of Israel

to lay siege and take down Jerusalem,

Ahaz's

home and capital.

The text says that Ahaz's heart quote

shook as the trees of the forest shake

before the wind.

And Isaiah shows up with a message from

God, a message of hope. this alliance

will fail and fall.

And then he tells Ahaz, if you are not

firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.

But Ahaz still waivers.

And so the Lord spoke to Ahaz again

through Isaiah. Ask a sign of the Lord

your God. Let it be deep as sh or as

high as the heavens. And Ahaz said, I

will not ask.

I will not put the Lord to the test.

God comes. He encourages Ahaz. He comes

to Ahaz in his life, in his history, and

says, "I dare you. Test me.

Don't be bashful.

Go ahead. had asked for a big sign

that this is true.

Ahaz won't.

So then God follows immediately through

Isaiah and he says here then, oh house

of David, is it too little for you to

weary men that you weary my God also?

Therefore, the Lord himself will give

you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall

conceive

and bear a son, and shall call his name

Emmanuel,

God with us. He shall eat Kurds and

honey when he knows how to refuse the

evil and choose the good. Eating Kurds

and honey, that's not siege food. That

means all is well.

For before the boy knows how to refuse

the evil and choose the good, the land

whose two kings you dread will be

deserted. The Lord will bring upon you

and upon your people and upon your

father's house such days as have not

come since the day that Ephraim departed

from Judah, the king of Assyria.

Ahaz,

you don't want to trust me. I'm going to

give you a sign anyways. I'm going to

take the initiative for bigger purposes.

Now, there's big debate who this virgin

was. Isaiah uses the definite article

the virgin like he and Ahaz has some

common. And in Hebrew, the word could be

literally a virgin or a young woman. uh

recently fertile of marriageable age. Uh

so it could be a young wife or a virgin

in the Hebrew text.

However, most of the Old Testament uses

would appear to be favoring the more

virgin interpretation overall. So that's

certainly a sensible one. Some scholars

believe this is Isaiah's wife and that

her having a child will be the sign to

Ahaz. Other think it's Ahaz's wife

having a child that will be assigned to

him. And many say we're not quite sure

who he had in mind um this way. But the

point was there would be some kind of

birth

that signals God's deliverance

from the Assyrians.

And before this child can get very old,

you'll be delivered. It's done. It's

over.

And this child coming from a virgin or

young woman

to signal God's intervention to save

Judah from this alliance

functions as a type

of another virgin who was virgin who

gets miraculously pregnant through the

Holy Spirit.

to bring a deliverer into this world.

Matthew and Mark thus quote this text of

the virgin birth of Jesus as a sign of

his deliverance coming to deliver the

world from sin and unrighteousness.

So this is God's style throughout the

Old Testament. He always takes the

initiative. He's coming first. He's

seeking his wayward children. He comes

into their time, their place, their

history in a relatable way, often

undercover.

On rare occasion, we get the thunder and

lightning on Mount Si. But more often,

God comes in this quiet, discreet,

relatable way to the people where they

are in their history, in their space.

It's no accident then that two chapters

later

Isaiah has another prophecy

specifically quote for the latter days.

A prophecy of hope and deliverance.

For

to us

a child is born.

To us a son is given.

And the government shall be on his

shoulder. And his name shall be called

wonderful counselor,

mighty God,

everlasting father,

prince of peace.

Of the increase of his government and

peace there shall be no end.

on the throne of David and over his

kingdom to establish it and uphold it

with justice and with righteousness from

this time forth and forever more. The

zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

We note that this child is called mighty

God,

everlasting father.

This is not a normal child.

Isaiah here prophesies

that God is going to come to this world

undercover as a baby and be born

and grow up to be the eternal deliverer.

And it is in that form undercover in

human form that he will establish this

everlasting kingdom of justice and

righteousness.

It is in this form that God becomes

permanently joined to human nature. His

appearance to Abraham as human was not

permanent. He could appear and go out of

sight and relinquish that form. But now

a son is born who turns out not to be

just a human filled with the spirit of

God. It's a son who is called mighty

God.

>> Amen.

>> Everlasting father,

prince

of peace. Paul describes this coming of

God into human flesh in our scripture

reading. Have this mind among

yourselves, which is yours in Christ

Jesus, who though he was in the form of

God, did not count equality with God a

thing to be grasped, but made himself

nothing, or literally in Greek, he

emptied himself, taking the form of a

servant, being born in the likeness of

men, and being found in human form, he

humbled himself by becoming obedient to

the point of death, even death on a

cross.

Paul confesses the full deity of Jesus.

He is equal with God. He is not

subordinate. God did not send a deputy

to do this job. God did not send someone

subservient to deity to do this job.

He came

in person himself

as deity

and he empties himself of the equality

with God.

He can't empty himself of his divinity,

but he emptied himself of his equality

and his functional

use of those rights.

And he becomes

a servant who has to obey.

The book of Hebrews says he learned

obedience.

Christ did not come

as subservient obedient one to a higher

deity.

He came as the highest deity

emptying himself and taking human form

and human nature and permanently joining

himself forever to be the son of man

so that we can be saved and live

forever. He came according to

Philippians to take the humble form with

a destiny of dying the sacrificial death

for you and for me.

And folks,

if the incarnation did not lead to the

sacrificial death,

if he came and incarnated and left and

disappeared and left us to our fate, it

would not be much of a story.

But God

coming himself, coming in person, coming

undercover

to approach us in a way that we can

relate to and respond positively to

dying the sacrificial death so that we

can respond and live forever with this

God man united person.

That's

a story.

>> God

undercover

to be approachable, to be accessible.

Christmas thus celebrates a God who

comes undercover as a vulnerable baby

who had to grow and develop just like

you and me who came as a real human

being facing real struggle, real

suffering, real tensions

in the same history shared with us,

tasting our experience.

He came as a man into our history

seeking to save and redeem us.

He does not make us

seek him with some extravagant,

you know, payment or gift like non tried

to do with Elijah. He doesn't make us do

some strange or mysterious, you know,

superstitious right. No, he takes the

initiative. He comes to us

where we are in our history.

The message of Christmas then is simple.

To put it in the framework of John

Oswalt's scholarship, the incarnation

is the logical extension

of how God has always been coming to

man.

It is God putting in its fullest form

his style of always coming to us in an

approachable form.

And thus as Oswalt says

because we

cannot go out of the world to find God.

God came into the world

to find us.

>> And that's what we celebrate

this Christmas season.

Christ came 2,000 years ago and

permanently entered our history

this Christmas season. He comes to you

now

through his word, through his spirit.

He wants to enter into your history

today.

Will you let him

into your history?

And once he's an active part in your

history,

he wants to go undercover through you to

introduce himself into someone else's

history.

He goes undercover through you through

deeds of mercy,

through listening ears,

through the quiet ministry of presence

with someone who's hurting and

suffering,

through encouraging words,

through your own story of how God

sustained you

through dark valleys.

and hard times.

You can be the undercover agent through

whom God can enter another's personal

history. This Christmas season, then let

us celebrate the God who came undercover

into our history to redeem and save us.

Let's let him more fully into our own

history and let him use us to bring him

quietly undercover into others

histories.

>> Let's sing about that in our closing

hymn. Thou did leave Thyrone.

>> Let us pray. Lord God,

I thank you

that we do not have to go out of this

world to find you.

because you came in to find us and have

permanently entered our history.

Help us receive you into our own

history.

And be the undercover agent introducing

you to others is my prayer. In the name

of Jesus, let God's people say,

>> "Thank you so much for joining us online

here at McDonald Road. We have many

people all over the world that join us

for worship here and you're kind of our

digital church members. Um we value you

and you're part of our church even

though you're from you're from all over

the world as you join and watch our

church online. I want to give you the

opportunity to participate in ministry

here at McDonald Road. And uh be a part

of the ministry and mission that happens

here. And even though you may be far

away, you can still participate by by

donating and giving to our church. uh

participating and helping us reach our

monthly goals with our church budget,

reaching out um with the evangelism

efforts that we have going on here. And

you can participate even by returning

your tithe here at McDonald Road. And

you can do all of those things on our

website at mrcsda.org.

And so we want to invite you to not only

participate by watching on but also by

giving and participating through that

ministry as well and returning tithes

and offerings to to a church and make

this your digital home church online if

you're not able to go to a local church.

Once again, thank you so much for

joining us and being a part of our

online church. We value you and want to

have as many opportunities to

participate in ministry as possible. God

bless each one of you.