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
He wrote this gospel as he looked back over the time he spent in the presence of Jesus
It follows on from Malachi who ended the OT with an announcement of someone who was to come
Mal 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse
In John’s day, people were stirred by the fact that John the Baptist had appeared
He had the spirit of Elijah because he was one crying in the wilderness
They asked John the Baptist, "Are you the Christ?" He said, "No, but he is coming after me," and when Jesus began to preach up and down the hills of Judea and Galilee, men were saying everywhere, "Is this the One? Is this the Messiah?
We tend to forget they didn’t know who this man was
But there were a few who knew that the messiah had been born
The shepherds, the Kings, Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna
These were witnesses to the birth of the saviour
But for 30 years Jesus was veiled in obscurity
He was just another tradesman, a carpenter in a small town called Nazareth
Then John said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’, Jesus’ own credentials
He also gave a hint in the synagogue at Nazareth
Luke tells us in chapter 4 that he stood in the synagogue that day and read the book of the prophet Isaiah. He found the place and deliberately read to these people the words,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me..."
What is the meaning of Messiah? The Anointed One
A title only for Kings, priests and prophets
Of which, he was all three
"The Word," John says, "became flesh and dwelt among us." He pitched his tent among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of God had become man
When we stand in the presence of the humanity of Jesus we suddenly discover that, for the first time, we also stand in the presence of God
This is what God is like
This one who heals, loves, serves, waits, blesses, dies and rises again; this is God
That is what John reveals
Where is he from?
Well if deity, then he is heavenly
Again John gives us clues
Jn 1:2-3 He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made
Col 1:15-16 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him
From heaven He came and to heaven he returned
Acts 1:9-11 while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Why did he come?
The clues are in these verses:
Is 29:5 and it will be said in that day: "Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation”
Zec 9:16 The LORD their God will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown
Matt 1:21 ..she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins
Luke 19:10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost
1 Tim 1:15 this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners
Without the events of that day, we would still be in our sin
We would still carry our guilt and shame
We would have no hope of heaven
He came to save sinners
That is you and me
There is not one of us who can please God in ourselves no matter how many good deeds we do
We need the arrival of Jesus in our life
May Christ be birthed in all of us
