The Beginning Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• We going to begin a new series that will take to Easter.

• I cannot believe that Easter is right around the corner!

• The series is entitled, “It Matters.”

• As you have read the Bible, have you ever wondered why it matters? I am not talking about God, but rather all the particulars?

• Why does it matter how things happened? Why can’t there be many paths to God?

• If God loves us so much, why can’t we do whatever we want to still go to Heaven?

• Why were some of the events in the Bible so important that God took the time to tell us ahead of time through prophecy?

• I could ask why questions all day long, because there are plenty of them.

• Through this series Jerry and I are going to take you on a journey through the Old and New.

• We will examine why the events of the life of Jesus from the Old Testament prophecies and their subsequent fulfillment in the New Testament are important.

• In this series we will begin with the event of the birth of Jesus, then Jerry will bring a message concerning the Triumphal Entry, I will follow that up with messages on The Trial and the Crucifixion.

• Jerry will deal with the Resurrection, and I will conclude the series with a message on Easter Sunday concerning the Ascension of Jesus!

• Today we are going to look at the beginning of Jesus on earth, in or message entitled, “The Beginning.

• Let’s look at Isaiah 7:14 together.

• SLIDE #2

• Isaiah 7:14 (HCSB) Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

• We are going into some of my favorite nerd territory for a minute. I want to give you a minute of history to set up the prophecy.

• The time frame was about 735 BC. The Nation of Israel was divided in 931 BC.

• You had the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern, Judah (which included Jerusalem).

• When Isaiah offered this prophecy, Judah was being threatened by an alliance of Israel and Aram (SYRIA).

• SLIDE #3 MAP

• Ahaz, the king of Judah was afraid and was going to ask for help from the Assyrians, because the Assyrians under Tiglath-pilesar III was going to attack Aram and Israel.

• God called Isaiah to go to Ahaz to stop the alliance.

• Isaiah told Ahaz that within 65 years his enemies would be destroyed. The Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC.

• In Isaiah 7:9b we read

• SLIDE #4

• Isaiah 7:9 (HCSB) …If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.

• Another way to read verse 9 is that Ahaz would not be ESTABLISHED without faith.

• Ahaz was from the line of David and wanted his kingdom to reign forever. Trusting in God versus trusting in the Assyrians was the key to success for Ahaz.

• Isaiah asked Ahaz to ask God for a sign and Ahaz faked humility by saying he could not test the Lord, probably because he already made up his mind.

• Isaiah says, oh well, HERE IS YOUR SIGN, and we have verse 14.

• He tells Ahaz that before a child knows right from wrong that his enemies would be gone.

• This prophecy is directed toward a future event of a miraculous nature, one that Ahaz would not see, but that would give him assurance that the throne of David would continue into the future despite the fears he had.

• So to properly understand the importance of this prophecy we will look at four things that are important to understand.

• These points will explain why the birth of Jesus matters!

• The first thing we need to grasp is…

• SLIDE #5

SERMON

I. The birth had to be supernatural.

• Isaiah’s prophecy would be an encouragement to King Ahaz who was interested in the long-term future of the throne of David.

• I think we can safely say that a virgin birth would be a miracle.

• Liberal critics try to make the Hebrew word used for VIRGIN to mean an young woman of marrying age and they try to assert the word does not mean VIRGIN.

• The six other times the word is used in the Old Testament it does mean VIRGIN.

• The Jewish scholars who translated the LXXX (GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT) of the Old Testament in 285 BC translated the Hebrew word IN ISAIAH 7:14 TO THE Greek word which meant VIRGIN.

• Matthew in Matthew 1:23 uses the same Greek word used in the LXX when he wrote his passage.