Finding God at Christmas
“If God is with us, then Show me a Sign”
Matthew 1:18-23
I was on the internet recently and was discussing the Christian faith with someone who had posted some remarks that were simply not accurate about what Christians believe. After writing back and forth with this individual I learned that she was an atheist. Doesn’t believe in God. Yet she was writing about what Christians believe and putting them down for believing it. As you know, there are many people who choose not to believe in God and we have come to call those people atheists. Another term we use is agnostic. Let me give you a couple of quick definitions to help us all understand these two words and how they are different. Simply put, an (1) atheist is someone who does not believe that God exists. (2) an agnostic is someone who believes that there could be a God but if there is, it is not possible to know Him; to have a relationship with Him.
Now if you are here today and either of these words describe you I want you to understand that we are very happy you are here because it tells me you are looking for God and that’s a good thing. I also know that there are some here today who firmly believe that we can have a relationship with Christ and you have started one but I know that some of you are not satisfied with what you have. You may even look at other believer’s and wonder why them seem so strong in their faith and wonder why you don’t feel the same way.
Then there are some who have really found joy in knowing Christ, He has really changed you and you cannot imagine what your life would be like without Him. Whichever group you find yourself in today I hope you will let this message speak to you.
There is a word we find only one time in the NT and it is the word Emmanuel. It is formed from two Hebrew words that mean God with us. The OT writers prophesied that this child named Emmanuel would be born—that He would be the Savior of the world. Then the gospel writer Matthew announces the birth of Jesus Christ and tells us that He will be called Emmanuel-God with us.
Now the title for this message today is this….If God is with me, then please give me a sign… show me where He is. I am sure that you would agree with me that there are many people if not most who will go through the entire Christmas season without thinking about the One who it is all about. Have you ever asked God to give you a sign? I have. Gideon did. The scripture calls it a fleece. A fleece is a piece of lamb’s wool. Gideon put it out on the ground and he said to God…show me a sign Lord—if I lay out this piece of wool, and there is dew on the fleece tomorrow morning but the ground is dry then I will know you are going to save Israel. Just like you said you would. Next morning the fleece was wet and the ground was dry. Amazing. So what do you think Gideon did? He put out another one. Judges 6:38.
Don’t be angry Lord but please allow me one more sign. This time make the ground all wet but let the fleece be dry. And God did it. He sent the sign. And what did Gideon do? Lord send me another one. Even though the first time was a miracle Lord, I just need to check on you so do it again—now in this way. The question I think about is this—how many signs do we need before we will believe?
The Bible gives us hundreds of signs—over 300 in the OT that point to the birth of Jesus. They were written down over a period of 1000 years long before the birth of Jesus and all of them are fulfilled in Jesus. He gave us these prophecies of the coming Messiah for at least two reasons. (1) to help us identify Him when He did come.. to make it obvious he was and (2) to make it impossible for a false messiah to come along and deceive us. With these things in mind let’s look at 3 of these prophecies/signs.
(1) Genesis 3:15. This is the first evidence that we see of the gospel. Just 3 chapters into the Bible we find it. If you take an acorn it can turn into an oak tree. Take Genesis 3:15 and it will turn into the entire plan of salvation. Jesus is in this verse. He is the seed of the woman who would one day crush the serpent’s ugly head. He would be wounded in the process but Satan would be destroyed. Here is what happened. God created a beautiful place called the Garden of Eden. God said do what you want but don’t eat the fruit of the tree. So it’s like that bench or wall that has just been painted and has a sign on it…..wet paint, do not touch and what do we do? We touch it. So they ate the fruit and sin entered the world. And suddenly the garden is completely changed. God passes judgment on the serpent and from that point on he is forever removed from God’s plan of salvation. Eve and the serpent will never get along. Right ladies? But we have to look at this word “offspring” or “seed.” This refers to every generation that will trace their heritage back to Eve. Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David…all the way to Christ. Now Satan has a seed also. In every generation. He has his people. Cain killed Abel. It was wicked in Noah’s day. Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus. Every generation has had it’s share of evil and we have it today. Do I have to describe life in 2011 for us to understand that Satan is still alive and still at work? So who is behind all of this? The seed of the serpent himself. Satan.
(2) Micah 5:2. The Sign—the Place. This was written 700 years before the birth of Jesus. And we learn right away that big things are going to come from this small town of Bethlehem. By the way, Ephrathah is an OT name for Bethlehem. Several things we know… (1) David was born in Bethlehem . Samuel tell us. (2) Bethlehem means house of bread. (3) Bethlehem was tiny. Small but big things will come. One will come who will be ruler over Israel. V. 4. He will stand and shepherd His flock. Jesus says I am the good shepherd. The shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.
v. 5 he will bring peace. Now here is the remarkable thing to me. Micah was moved by the Holy Spirit 700 years before Jesus and he prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem was hardly known in OT times.
Then Caesar Augustus says we are going to take a worldwide census. Take a count of everybody in the world. And here is the way he did that. Everyone had to travel back to their hometown in order to be counted. Joseph was from the family Of David and that meant he had to go to ???? Bethlehem. Mary was close to her delivery date---Joseph brings her along—she probably rode on a donkey for those 80 miles. Nothing like a long donkey ride to get a woman to go into labor. God put them in the right place at the right time. He always does. Micah is writing about this very place.
(3) The Lamb. Isaiah 53:4-5, 7. Now we see this lamb. This picture of Jesus all through the OT. We see it in Genesis 22. God tells Abraham to take His son and sacrifice him on the mountain. So early the next morning he heads out with his son. He takes wood for a burnt offering and they carry it up the mountain. He then places Isaac on the altar, ties him down to the wood on the altar. Then in v. 7 Isaac asks, “the fire and the wood are here….where is the lamb?” Then in v. 8 Abraham says God will provide the lamb. He then builds an altar, ties him up and just as he is about to slay his son God speaks and Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket and that becomes the substitute/sacrifice. The mountain where this took place is very close to the same mountain where Jesus would one day be crucified. Amazing.
We see the lamb in the Passover. Let me who you a few things to help us see the similarity in the Passover lamb and Jesus. (1) It must be a lamb. Exodus 12:3. Couldn’t be a dove or cattle. Had to be a lamb. Paul calls Jesus our Passover lamb. (2) It must be without blemish. Exodus 12:5 says Jesus was of course male, prime of His life and was without blemish; perfect. The writer of Hebrews tells us that though Christ was tempted in every way that we are, He was without sin. Even when Pilate finished examining Him he said I find no fault in Him. He was perfect. (3) Must have no broken bones. Exodus 12:46. But it was customary that when someone was crucified the Roman soldiers would break their legs to cause them to die sooner. But they didn’t with Jesus. (4) Exodus 12:6. The sacrifice must be offered “between the evenings.” This meant between 3 and 5 PM in the Jewish schedule.
The Jewish day began at 6AM. Jesus was placed on the cross at the third hour which was 9AM. He hung there for 6 hours and died at 3PM. Between the evenings. This is significant. Each year at the time of Passover a sacrificial lamb would be offered for the sins of the people. At 3PM the Shofar…would be sounded and that announced that the sins of the people were forgiven. The last words Jesus spoke from the cross were it is finished and he spoke those words at 3PM. In the background if you had been there you would have heard the shofar announcing the forgiveness of sin.
