Christmas Prophecies
(tropical)
1. Lin Smalec writes, "I read recently about a children’s Sunday School class that heard the Christmas story and sang the beloved Christmas carol, “Silent Night”. They were then asked to draw what they thought the nativity scene might have looked like. One little fellow did a good likeness of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, but off to the side was a roly-poly figure. The teacher, thinking that the boy had somehow worked Santa Claus into the scene, asked him who that was. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or even more worried when the boy responded, "Oh, that’s Round John Virgin!"
2. Unfortunately, many youth in American do not know the Christmas story. It is hard to believe, but ask the school teachers or the folks who work with lot of children.
Main Idea: The Christmas story carries with it deep theology and fascinating prophecies that were fulfilled.
Let’s look at just two of these prophecies this week. Next week, we’ll examine a couple or three more.
I. The Promise of A REDEEMER (Genesis 3:15, Job 19:25-27, Numbers 24:17-19)
A. In EDEN (Genesis 3:15)
(God speaking to the serpent) "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,and you will strike his heel."
B. Known throughout the ANCIENT world (Job 19:25-27)
"I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see
Officials from India were concerned about the aboriginal tribes which inhabited the islands off the coast of Myanmar after the Tsunami disaster. They feared that as many as 6,000 of these primitive people may have been killed — perhaps even wiping out some of the smaller tribes. So they sent helicopters to look for them, and deliver food and supplies.
But the helicopters were met by a hail of arrows and thrown rocks from these fiercely independent people.
The reason they survived is that they live mainly in caves up in the hills, even though they rely on fishing for their living. According to an AP news story carried by CNN and others, the Mokkien held to a belief handed down by the elders that “if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared.” By the time the first great wave of the tsunami arrived, “the entire population of the Mokkien fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island,” Hataway said. The article concludes by saying, “It’s good to listen to one’s elders.”
The Scriptures are full of truth handed down by our elders, and these truths are important for our life and survival. As John said, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). We say with Job: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:2). [Sermon Central, Rodney Buchanan ]
• How this was perverted in the Babylonian religion
C. Associated with a STAR (Numbers 24:17-19)
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel…A ruler will come out of Jacob…"
Balaam helped found the Magi, an order in the Zoroastrian religion
• Jethro may have been a Zoroastrian
• Revelation 22:16
D. Here is an ancient Jewish understanding of the Star, 21. Trumah : 86. The stars
Verse 860. "Then the seventh window will be opened to the whole world, and its star is the star of Jacob. This is what Bila’am said, "There shall come a star out of Jacob" (Bemidbar 24:17), and this star will illuminate for forty days. When King Messiah will be revealed and all the nations of the world will gather before him"
The Zohar Volume 11. Truma Section 86. The Stars
E. Why do we need a redeemer?
1. We are lost because of our sin
2. We are helpless to remedy our lost conditon
F. What is a redeemer
1. Someone who "buys back"
2. He came to "undo" the mess that sin made
3. Some of that redemption is realized in the life of the believer now; much of it is future…
II. The GENETICS of the Redeemer (Genesis 49:9-10, Jeremiah 23:5, Psalm 110:1, Isaiah 9:6-7)
A. His HUMANITY
1. From Israel and particularly JUDAH (Genesis 49:9-10)
"The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes."
What is his [the Messiah’s] name? — The School of R. Shila said: His name is Shiloh, for it is written, until Shiloh come.26 The School of R. Yannai said: His name is Yinnon, for it is written, His name shall endure for ever:27 e’er the sun was, his name is Yinnon.28 The School of R. Haninah maintained: His name is Haninah, as it is written, Where I will not give you Haninah.29 Others say: His name is Menahem the son of Hezekiah, for it is written, Because Menahem [’the comforter’], that would relieve my soul, Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin
Folio 98a The Rabbis said: His name is ’the leper scholar,’ as it is written, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted.31
2. A Descendent of DAVID (Jeremiah 23:5)
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness."
3. Joseph would have probably been KING
B. His DEITY
1. GREATER than David (Psalm 110:1)
The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet."
Matthew 22:41-46
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42"What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"
"The son of David," they replied.
He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ’Lord’? For he says,
" ’The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies
under your feet." ’"If then David calls him ’Lord,’ how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
2. The Mighty GOD (Isaiah 9:6)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
3. YAHWEH (Zechariah 12:1,10)
…. The LORD declares…And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
C. Why did Jesus have to be human?
1. Our kinsman-redeemer
2. The second Adam
3. Capable of dying
D. Why did Jesus have to be God?
1. A mere man cannot atone for the sins of the world
2. Psalm 49:7-8 : “No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him-- the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough—
CONCLUSION
1. Sometimes you will hear it said that Jesus Christ came that first Christmas to show us God. And that is true as far as it goes.
2. Others say that He came to demonstrate God’s love -- and that is true too.
3. But He came primarily as the redeemer…
