Last week we took a look at the 2nd chapter of Daniel and saw that:
- the “stone cut out from the mountain without human hands” was a prophecy about the virgin birth of Jesus
- the “kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered, that will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever” is the kingdom of God which was ushered in by Jesus Himself, and,
- the “stone cut out from the mountain without human hands” will “become a mountain that one day covers the entire earth!”
Aren’t you glad to know Jesus?
Aren’t you glad that God didn’t spend thousands of years trying to figure out what He was going to do about our sin problem but He knew from the very beginning?
Aren’t you glad that we are part of the kingdom of God that will never be destroyed or conquered and will stand forever?
Let’s take a look at another Old Testament prophecy. This one is a prophecy given to Micah by the Lord.
Micah 5:2 (ISV)
“As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, even though you remain least among the clans of Judah, nevertheless, the One who rules in Israel for Me will emerge from you. His existence has been from antiquity, even from eternity.”
So, the One who will rule Israel will emerge from Bethlehem in the future but His existence has been from eternity past!
Now, this is a truth that caused the religious leaders at the time of Christ to want to kill Him. They even attempted to do so!
In John chapter 8 Jesus is having an argument with the Jewish leaders. Lets take a look at John 8:56-59 - Jesus is speaking …
“’Your father Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to My coming. He saw it and was glad.’ The people said, ‘You aren’t even fifty years old. How can You say You have seen Abraham?’
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am!’ At that point they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.”
Exodus 3:13-14 (NKJV)
“Then Moses said to God, ‘See, I am going to the people of Israel, and I will say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” Now they might say to me, “What is His name?” What should I say to them?’
“And God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.’”
In the Jewish educational system boys between the ages of 5 and 10 would be required to memorize what we know as the first five books of the Bible. MEMORIZE!!
So, when Jesus said, “Before Abraham was even born, I AM”
There was an immediate connection made to the quote from Exodus!
And the Word of the Lord through the prophet Micah confirms this when he writes in Micah 5:2b (HCSB)
“His (the Messiah’s) origin is from antiquity, from eternity.”
So, we know that the existence of Jesus the Messiah predates Bethlehem, Micah, Moses, Abraham and even the world itself.
For those of us who use the internet, you know that often websites that use security will ask you to put in the answer to some questions that only you would know the answer and one of the most common questions is, “In what town were you born?”
In the same way that a security question on the internet identifies you as who you really claim to be so the Lord, through Micah, was answering the security question of where the Messiah would be born.
If Jesus was not born in Bethlehem we could immediately dismiss Him as an imposter. But, He is not! He WAS born in Bethlehem through an incredible sequence of events and timing!
That is awesome! But, what else is in this verse?
Micah 5:2 (ISV)
“As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, even though you remain least among the clans of Judah, nevertheless, the One who rules in Israel for Me will emerge from you. His existence has been from antiquity, even from eternity.”
The name Bethlehem means “house of bread”.
Is that significant? It certainly was if Jesus was to be the Messiah!
Bread was THE main source of food for the common person at the time of Christ.
Food for the average person was as follows: bread (this was the most important food of all), olive oil (this took the place of butter), milk and cheese from the flocks, and fruits and vegetables from the orchards and gardens. On special occasions you might have meat.
Of course there was the occasional person who would wear clothing made from camel hair and eat locust and wild honey, but not the normal commoner.
Bread was IT!
To take bread away from that time would be like taking rice away from a poor community in an Asian country.
So, what did Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem, the house of bread, say about Himself?
John 6:35
“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.’”
John 6:41b, 48
“I am the bread that came down from heaven.” “I am the bread of life.”
Now, here obviously Jesus is using a metaphor. He knows that He is not a real loaf of bread just like He realized that He was not actual drinkable water when He said that He was the Living Water, or the Good Shepherd, or the gate to the sheep fold.
What He meant was that, spiritually speaking, He was necessary in order to sustain life. Eat and live or don’t eat and die. Eat spiritually and live spiritually or don’t eat spiritually and die spiritually!
Let’s just look at an example of this in a hymn from our hymnal.
The last verse of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
This is the original 3rd verse as it was written in 1758
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
However Verse 3 was altered in 1931 to these lyrics
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let that grace now like a fetter
Bind my yielded heart to Thee
Let me know Thee in Thy fullness
Guide me by Thy mighty hand
Till, transformed in Thine own image
In Thy presence I shall stand
Why even bring this up? And, what does it have to do with Advent or Jesus or anything?
Let’s take a look at the heart of the original 3rd verse of the song …
Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Who is prone to wander? Who is prone to leave the God they “love”?
Those of us who have been Christians long enough know by observation or experience.
The Christian who is prone to wander and to leave God is the Christian who is spiritually starving!
They are not feeding on the Word of God
They are losing their spiritual strength
They are losing their moral compass
They are not feeding on the presence of Christ
They are not worshiping
They are not praying
A spiritually starving heart will always look for satisfaction somewhere
God calls us to fasting in His Holy Word (explain what fasting is)
However, God NEVER call us to fast on reading His Holy Word
God NEVER calls us to fast on times of worship
God NEVER calls us to fast on personal times of prayer or gatherings of prayer
Because God knows in those times of spiritually feasting in His Word, in worship and in prayer we are strengthened.
When we are spiritually strengthened we will NOT be prone to wander and the thought of leaving, LEAVING, the God we love will leave us sick to the core of our being!
Folks, if you have thoughts of wandering away from God or of leaving Him that should be a wake-up call!
Look … it’s just like not eating. If you go without eating long enough you will become weaker and weaker, you will eventually start to stagger from the weakness and you will eventually fall down and die.
Jesus is the Bread of life Who existed from eternity past and Who came to earth to provide spiritual food that would empower eternal life.
If we are filled up with the Bread of Life - Jesus - we will not be prone to spiritually wander and we will not have any desire to abandon God!
As we feast on the Word of God and His holy presence through worship and prayer THIS will become the prayer of our lives!
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let that grace now like a fetter
Bind my yielded heart to Thee
Let me know Thee in Thy fullness
Guide me by Thy mighty hand
Till, transformed in Thine own image
In Thy presence I shall stand
Jesus, the Bread of Life, born in the town known as the House of Bread, came to earth to give us eternal life by giving up the life of the Eternal One.
Isaiah 53:4-6
“Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him and afflicted.
“But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
“All we, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
It is appropriate that we observe communion today and remember that the Bread of Life was crushed for our sin.
Luke 22:19
“And [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’”
But before we do. Where do you stand in relationship with the Bread of Life, Jesus the Messiah?
Prone to wander? Prone to leave Him? Or fully satisfied with His presence in your life but always hungering for more?
