A Perfect Christmas - Part 3 Series

It seems many of us are searching for joy this time of year. Let me show you… The top five Christmas songs according to Billboard Charts for this past week were:

5) Mary Did You Know by Pentatonix

4) Rockin Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee

3) Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms

2) Hallelujah by Pentatonix

1) All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey

Only one of the five songs listed is the birth of Jesus. In fact, the next song focusing on Jesus is listed all the way down at 68th in the list. Think of this for a moment … only two of the top 67 most popular Christmas songs celebrate the birth of Jesus. When I realized this, a light bulb came on for me: most of the people around me were not able to locate the source of Christmas joy.

Where do you find joy this time of year? Buddy the Elf said: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” Is Christmas simply a cheerful mood gone with the eggnog turns sour? Or is Christmas something more?

Each Sunday in the month of December, we are looking at a passage from Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet that makes numerous predictions concerning the coming Messiah. Throughout this series, I want you to listen for these words: Promise made, promise kept. Listen carefully to this passage for you’ll read about wolves, lambs, leopards, goats, calves, lions, cows, bears, cobras, and vipers. It’s like the Jungle Book meets the Bible ?. But before this, look with me at …

1. The Identity of the King

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins” (Isaiah 11:1-5).

You need to know that Isaiah’s prophecy was written 700 years before the time of Christ. Isaiah was some 2,700 years ago. It is just one in a long line of predictions about the coming Messiah. You may say, “Pastor, are we not simply reading Jesus into the Old Testament? How do you know this is really Jesus?” Jesus is called a shoot in verse 1 and a root in verse ten. Both of these have to do with bloodlines and genealogy. And Isaiah’s prediction is not just average bloodlines but a king’s family tree. Israel represents God’s people, and they were a nation on the earth when Isaiah was written. Jesse was David’s father, the epitome of all of Israel’s kings, and David represents the Bible’s highest ideals of governmental rule and reign. And the Coming One is “a shoot from the stump of Jesse,” someone who will wear the crown. Isaiah is picking up on God’s promise to David made around 300 years before.

God said to King David: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13). The very first words of the New Testament begin with this fact of Jesus’ family tree: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Jesus is referred to in verse one as the “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” Jesse refers to the father of the great King David, the greatest king in Israel’s history.

You can draw an arch from the Old Testament to the New Testament. For the Old Testament is the promise made, and the New Testament is the promise kept. Promise made, promise kept. And He is referred to as “the root of Jesse” in verse ten. The prophets of the Old Testament looked across the mountains peaks of Scripture. They often could see only the peaks of the future Coming Messiah. Even the Disciples in Jesus’ day were confused because they were looking for the King to reign over His kingdom. But the prophets could not see the gap between Jesus’ first advent and His second advent. In His first advent, Jesus came as Savior, while in His second advent, He came as King. Again, they couldn’t see that gap, but they did see the Savior. This is a reminder that we don’t have all this yet. But the confidence we possess because of the first Christmas gives us tremendous confidence in the parts not yet fulfilled.