His Arrival

His Arrival

JCC 13.12.09 am

We all love to hear about the birth of a baby

Something special in seeing this new life

I remember looking at the feet of my babies and wondering where they would walk

Looking at their hands and wondering what they would do with them

Would they be grow up to be decent human beings, or bring shame on the family?

I wonder what Mary’s thoughts were, knowing that this child would save the people from their sins

Did she know when she met Simeon in the temple that his words would set her mind on the future of her son?

A sword shall pierce your heart

Luke 2:34-35 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Did she understand that his life was to be a sacrifice and that she would one day look upon the beaten and tortured body that she once nursed and cuddled?

Every mother’s nightmare is to lose a child

But this child was destined to die for a reason

We move from shadows, types, and prophecies, into the fullness of the story of the Son of God

The Old Testament shines with Jesus on every page, but it all speaks in shadows, in types, in symbols, and in prophecies, all in anticipation of Someone who is to come

You cannot read the Old Testament without being aware of a continuous promise running through every page that a deliverer is coming

That deliverer steps forward in the fullness of his glory, yet as an insignificant child

As John says, "We have beheld his glory...as of the only Son from the Father” Jn. 1:14

There are three questions about this deliverer:

1. Who is this deliverer?

2. Where is he from?

3. Why did he come?

Who is this deliverer? (the longest answer)

Is 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Who would be the father?

The Holy Spirit, how?

“For with God nothing will be impossible.”

God in the flesh

Deity in flesh

Is 9:6 God incarnate

Mic 5:2 from everlasting

All 3 prophecies are in the narrative of Jesus’ birth

Jewish belief doesn’t allow Messiah to come to earth in human form

It didn’t fit their theology or concept

This is why many then and still do now dismiss Jesus

But He was fully human as fully God

No less than eighty times in the Gospels does Jesus call Himself the Son of Man

In using this title, Jesus identifies Himself with the sons of men

A Son of Man in that He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh

Gen 3:15 tells us that the seed of the woman bruises the serpents head

Note, not the seed of man

Son of Abraham, Son of David Matt1:1

Abraham was the first from whose family it was predicted that Messiah should spring Genesis 22:18, and David was the last

The angel Gabriel, in announcing Him to mother, calls it “the throne of David His father,” sinking all the in-between kings of that line, as having no importance only as links to connect the first and the last king of Israel as father and son

Then John announces Jesus in a different way

Jn 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Sometimes it is difficult to believe that Jesus is God

There is not a Christian who has not at one time or another felt the full force of arguments that would make him out to be nothing more than a man

There are times when we find it difficult to lay hold of the fullness of these words and think of this man Jesus as God

Many say he is the, "Son of God" as though there was a difference between God and the Son of God

No Hebrew would ever understand it that way

To the Hebrews, to call someone a "son" was to say he is identified with, identical with, that person

The use of this term, the Son of God, meant, "This one is God."

That is why time after time, when Jesus used that term of himself, he was challenged by the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees, saying, "Who are you?

What are you making yourself out to be?

Why, you are making yourself to be equal with God?

Of course this was the blasphemous accusation to his crucifixion

John was setting out to prove that Jesus was the King of kings and Lord of Lords