THE VISITATION #1: JESUS IS THE DAYSPRING
TOP TEN CHRISTMAS SONG DOWNLOADS OF 2010: Any guesses as to what #1 is?
1. Grandma got run over by a Reindeer
2. All I Want for Christmas – by Mariah Carey
3. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
4. Jingle Bell Rock
5. The Chipmunk Song
6. White Christmas
7. Last Christmas
8. Silent Night (this is the only Christmas Carol, and Kenny G’s version has no lyrics!)
9. A Christmas to Remember – by Wham
10. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
- only one song in the whole top 10 list that is a song about the birth of Jesus!
INTRO TO TOPIC: I love Christmas, how about you?
• Maybe it’s not as big a deal to you as it was when you were a kid.
• Can you remember what the days were like, counting down the days to Christmas?
THE BIG IDEA: The dynamic of waiting for Christmas morning is the same dynamic that set up the first Christmas 2010 years ago. When Jesus arrived, He came as Emmanuel, God with us, the Dayspring who has visited us.
- For many generations throughout the OT, there was always a remnant of Jewish people who waited every single day – not for Santa Claus – but for a Messiah.
THE PROMISE: (OT prophecies about the Coming Messiah).
The First Gospel – the Lord said to the serpent: “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15).
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” (Micah 5:2).
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14).
• The Old Testament is full of hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah: “He is coming!”
• After the OT was completed, there were four hundred silent years before Jesus Christ was born, a time where many people gave up waiting.
• Today, we’re going to look at two people who continued faithfully waiting.
• Maybe you’ve had times where God seems quiet and inactive that you’ve wondered – why am I doing this? Why am I serving, giving, believing? This story is for you.
INTRO TO LUKE:
• For the next four months, we are going to go on a journey through the Gospel of Luke, studying the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, concluding on Easter Sunday.
• The Gospel of Luke is the first part of a two-part volume (along with Acts) written by Luke, a physician who accompanied the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys.
“There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.” (Luke 1:5-7).
• Here we are introduced to Zacharias and Elizabeth, two believers who were descendants of Aaron and the priesthood. Luke tells us that they were righteous and blameless.
• They were doing right and being faithful even though God seemed silent and distant.
• They had been praying for children (see v.13) and yet God hadn’t answered their prayers.
• This story is so important to us because there are seasons where we question: Where is God? Why isn’t He answering my prayer? Does He care? The answer is yes!
“So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias for your prayer is heard.” (Luke 1:8-13a).
• Don’t miss the significance of this supernatural event! For 400 years, there had been no prophecies, dreams, visions, angels, or heavenly experiences of any kind.
• When Zach saw the angel he freaked out, and got the standard angel greeting: “Fear not!”
• Zacharias was freaked out, and he was a righteous man – imagine if it was you or me! He didn’t have anything to be afraid of, if an angel appeared to us, we’d be confessing stuff!
• The angel said, “Your prayer is heard.” Isn’t that awesome? I would like to hear that sometime! What if God just whispered that to you – that would be enough, wouldn’t it?
“But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” (Luke 1:13-16).
• This is how the whole Christmas story begins – before Jesus, there was John the Baptist.
“And Zacharias said to the angel, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife… is well advanced in years.” (Luke 1:18).
• Zach said, “I’m glad God heard our prayers, but we’re old, and you’re late!”
“And the angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time.” (Luke 1:19-20).
• Gabriel said, “You’re talking to an angel, and you doubt the promise?”
• Notice he said his words will come true “in their own time.” God has a perfect timing!
• However, this was just the warm-up act, setting the stage for the main event.
ENTER JESUS: “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary… Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:26-27,30-33).
• Here is the fulfillment of the promise – the Messiah is coming! His name will be JESUS!
WHEN JESUS COMES FOR A VISIT: Zacharias was filled with the Spirit and prophesied:
“Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David… And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:68-69; 76-79).
• Jesus came to visit us, to save us sins. What an amazing, radical thought!
• “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).
• “Through the tender mercy of our God, the Dayspring from on high has visited us!”
• PREACH IT! The Dayspring brings us salvation, forgiveness, light, joy and peace!
QUOTE: “Jesus has come, moreover, not as a blaze which will soon die down, but as a light which will last our day, yea, last for ever. After the long dark and cold night of our misery, the Lord comes in the fittest and most effectual manner; neither as lightning, nor candle, nor flaming meteor, but as the sun which begins the day… The visits of God are like the dayspring, because they end our darkness. The dayspring banishes the night… Our night is ended once for all when we behold God visiting us in Jesus Christ. Our day may cloud over, but night will not return. O, you that are in the blackest midnight, if you can but get a view of Christ, morning will have come to you!” (Charles Spurgeon, The Tender Mercy of our God).1
• Jesus is called “Emmanuel – God with us.” God came to the Earth and took on our skin!
• Romans 15:13 calls Him the “God of hope” and 1 Tim. 1:1 says Jesus is our hope.
• If you want to learn more about Jesus, do a study of all of His names & titles in the Word.
SONG: O Holy Night.
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining; it is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining; till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices; for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
• Pining – deep yearning, longing, waiting, desiring – it is not in vain! He is our HOPE!
CLOSING PRAYER: For you to experience the Dayspring and His joy, peace, hope and light!
Our Emmanuel, God with us, is still a God of miracles! What miracle do you need today?
Beausejour Community Church Website: www.beausejourchurch.ca
Pastor Chris Jordan’s Blog: http://thelandofpromise.blogspot.com/
1. You can read this sermon in its entirety online here: http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1907.htm.
Note – some of the thoughts from the introduction to this message were inspired by a podcast by Andy Stanley called “The Thrill of Hope”
