Christmas Sunday - Pointing Fingers
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Job 19:25-27
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Today we will be reading from Luke 1:5-17
When you were a young child did you ever hear your Mom or Dad say to you, “Stop pointing! It’s not polite to point!”
Some things should not be pointed at.
This is especially true when it is a person you are pointing at.
But pointing isn’t always bad …
You might be pointing -
- to a person who has some form of physical trait that is unusual
- because you are trying to show a rescue person where someone broke through the ice on a lake
- to a cashier line in Walmart that has no one in it!
- to a thief who is being chased by the police
- to someone standing on the roof of a burning building waiting to be rescued
There are many reasons why you might point at a person; some reasons are good and some reasons are bad.
What is this? (Hold up a Bible)
Who does it point to?
Please join me in your Bibles as we read Luke 1:5-17
(Prayer for help)
So, what do we see here?
We see and elderly priest with and elderly wife and they are childless.
We also see that they are righteous in the sight of the Lord.
It was a great honor for Zechariah to be chosen to take the incense into the Holy Place in the Temple.
Gabriel appears to Zechariah. Gabriel is not there to impress Zechariah. Gabriel is not there to startle or terrify Zechariah.
Gabriel was there for one purpose.
Gabriel was there to inform Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would have a child who would, “go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah … to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zechariah knew exactly what this message meant. It meant that his son would be the forerunner of the long awaited Messiah!
How did he know that? He knew the Holy Scriptures!
He knew that the son he was about to have would point Israel to the Messiah, and that meant that the Messiah would soon be on His way.
Gabriel was pointing to John who would point to Jesus!
Sometimes it’s OK to point!
Just listen to John pointing at Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
That’s pointing and that’s good! Sometimes pointing is OK!
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Next we see Gabriel again speaking to Mary as it is recorded in
Luke 1:30-32 where it says,
“(Gabriel) said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you … will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
What was Gabriel and his message pointing at?
Was it Mary, a righteous young woman? No.
Was it the miracle of a virgin birth? No.
Well, then, what was Gabriel pointing at>
Gabriel came to deliver a message about the coming Messiah!
Gabriel was pointing to Jesus, the Messiah Who “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; His kingdom will never end.”
Gabriel was pointing to Jesus!
Sometimes it’s OK to point!
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Next we come to Joseph who would be the earthly father of Jesus. In Matthew 1:20-21 it says,
“An angel of the Lord appeared to (Joseph) in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.’”
Joseph is about to make a decision based on partial information.
An angel instructs Joseph in a dream.
Joseph does as he is instructed.
Is the angel to be praised? No. That’s not the point.
Is Joseph to be admired? Yes, but that’s not the main point.
What is the main point?
Gabriel is pointing to Jesus. Jesus the Messiah is coming and “He will save His people from their sins!”
That’s the point!
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Where else do we see angels in the Nativity Story?
An angel appears to the shepherds with this message.
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:10
We love to think about the angel and the terrified shepherds and the “great company of the heavenly host” praising God and the manger and the swaddling clothes.
Those are all amazing but they are not the point! Jesus is the point!
What did the Shepherds do? They went and found Jesus and told everyone about what had happened.
They pointed to Jesus! Pointing can be a great thing!
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Then the Magi come to worship Jesus and are warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Did an angel warn them? It doesn’t say. That’s not the point. The point is Jesus and the preservation of His life!
Joseph is instructed by an angel in a dream two more times.
The first message is a warning and the warning is “Get up [and] take the Child and His mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” Matthew 2:13b
And, the second message is, “Get up, take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the Child’s life are dead.” Matthew 2:20
What is the point?
Is it about the Magi? Is it about the Star that led them to Jesus?
Is it about Joseph?
Is it about the angels who keep showing up in dreams?
No, the point is that Jesus is the Messiah
His forerunner was announced to point to Him.
Who He would be was announced to His mother to point to Him.
He was announced to His earth-father to care for Him.
He was announced to the Shepherds so they would go and point to Him.
He was protected by angelic warnings to the Magi and Joseph to protect the Messiah
Jesus is the focal point of all of these.
Everything else in these accounts is necessary to inform how Jesus’ entry into the world took place but it all happened so that we could see that Jesus is the point!
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That’s all good and well but that’s just His birth.
Everything else in the four Gospels inform us about who He is, what He taught, how He lived, His sacrificial death for our salvation and His resurrection triumph over death.
It all points to Jesus! Sometimes it is good to point!
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What about the books of the New Testament that follow the Gospels?
Well …. It’s all the same; pointing to Jesus!
2 Thessalonians 1:12 says, “We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.”
How is the name of Jesus glorified in a person? Jesus’ name is glorified when a person lives for Jesus and points others to Him.
Acts 1:8 says, “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Pointing to Jesus!
2 Corinthians 5:20 says, “We (Christians) are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
Are we so committed to God that He CAN make His appeal through us? Are we pointing to Jesus Christ? Are we saying, “Be reconciled to God?”
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We see that the Gospels are saturated with pointing to Jesus but what about the Old Testament?
Isaiah 7:14
“(Yahweh) The Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel.”
Pointing 700 years into the future.
And Isaiah 9:6 tells us,
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Now, these two are used year after year and they are wonderful Scriptures about the Messiah who would come in the future.
Here’s a less common one …
Daniel 9:25-26a
“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the Ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ (Jerusalem) will be rebuilt with streets and a (moat), (during) times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death …”
This is amazing! This is not just describing the fact that the Messiah would come but it gives us a timeline!
The people of God, the people of Judah are in captivity in the Medo-Persian Empire. Jerusalem is in ruins and the temple has been completely destroyed.
With Jerusalem in captivity they cannot do any rebuilding but Yahweh the Lord moves in King Cyrus’ heart to allow the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple.
The time between the proclamation by King Cyrus until the crucifixion of Jesus is exactly that time period.
This, of course, is not pointing to Jesus’ birth but to His death on the cross for our salvation.
Sometimes pointing is ok, especially if it saves a live and especially if it saves a soul.
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If you are saved; if you are a devoted follower of Jesus Christ; then someone must have pointed you to Jesus!
It may have been a grandparent or a parent or a sibling or a child or a friend or a stranger on the street or a preacher on the radio or a Gideon who left a Bible in a hotel room, but someone pointed you to Jesus.
And through that pointing you realized your need for Someone to save you from your sins and you gave your life to Jesus.
If you are not saved this may be the first time you have ever heard the good news that Jesus came to save you. Or, you may have heard it hundreds of times but have never responded by turning to Jesus in repentance and asking Him to make you spiritually clean and holy. He can do that for you today.
If you are saved are you pointing to Jesus?
Does your life point to Jesus?
Do your words point to Jesus?
Do your actions point to Jesus?
If you claim to be saved and you are not pointing to Jesus you desperately need to examine your spiritual life to see if you really have a relationship with Jesus.
Point to Jesus.
You may use other words but the life of a Christian should always be saying, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Final thoughts and prayer
