Christmas B.C.: The Fulfillment
Rev. Brian Bill
December 24, 2000 (Evening)
Kids, its great being out of school for a few days, isn’t it? Now that it’s Christmas vacation, no one needs to come up with an excuse to get out of classes – at least until January. I came across some actual excuse notes that were sent to teachers (I’m including the original spelling).
· Dear School: Please ekscuse John being absent on January 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33.
· Please excuse Roland from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip.
· Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins.
· Please excuse Ray Friday from school. He has very loose vowels.
By the way, these excuses were actually written by parents! We live in a culture of excuses, don’t we? We’re quick to blame others or our circumstances. We try to get out of commitments. We excuse our behavior. And, we sometimes come up with excuses as it pertains to our relationship with God.
I want to state unequivocally that of all the things that Christmas is, the birth of Jesus demonstrates that there is no room for excuses. God has made it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the 300 or so prophecies and pictures in the Old Testament. That means that at Christmas, the Old and the New intersect, culminating in an extravagant explosion of fulfillment. In short, we have no more excuses.
During our “Christmas B.C.” series, we’ve identified four key prophecies that were fulfilled precisely by Christ. He is the Seed from Genesis 3:15 who would one day crush the head of Satan when He died on the Cross. He is the sacrificial Lamb who was pictured in the Passover in Exodus 12. The Place He was to be born was prophesied 700 years beforehand in Micah 5:2 and was fulfilled when Mary gave birth to her little lamb in Bethlehem. And, His Birth was miraculous in that it perfectly fulfilled Isaiah’s prediction that He would be born of a virgin in Isaiah 7:14.
Beginning in the book of Matthew we move from the realm of shadow, prediction, picture, and prophecy to the full sunshine of the presentation of the Son of God. You cannot read the Old Testament without being aware of this constant promise running through every page: Someone is coming! Someone is coming! Someone is coming!
Christmas According to Matthew
I want to focus my comments tonight on the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew carefully links the first part of the Bible with the second by citing 53 direct quotes, and 76 allusions from the Old Testament. The gospel writer clearly identifies Jesus as the promised and long awaited Messiah, or Savior. Without a doubt, the evidence is overwhelming. Jesus is clearly presented as the fulfillment of all that the prophets of old were longing for.
Matthew uses the phrase, “to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet” eleven times in his book. I want to start at the end of his gospel and work backwards to show how precisely the person of Jesus, and the events of His life, fulfilled everything that was written about Him hundreds of years before He was even born.
· The betrayal by Judas (27:9) was predicted by Jeremiah 32:6-9.
· Entering Jerusalem on a colt (21:1-7) was first pictured by Zechariah 9:9.
· Speaking in parables (13:35) was laid out in Psalm 78:2.
· Affirmation of His ministry (12:14-21) was predicted in Isaiah 42:1-4.
· Healing of people (8:14-17) was pictured in Isaiah 53:4.
· Origination of His ministry (4:13-16) was first mentioned in Isaiah 9:1-2.
· Living in Nazareth (2:19-23) some commentators say was pictured in Judges 13:5.
· Slaughter of young boys (2:16-18) was sadly predicted in Jeremiah 31:15.
· Flight from Egypt (2:12-15) was spelled out in Hosea 11:1.
· Born in Bethlehem (2:1-10) was prophesied in Micah 5:2.
· His virgin birth (1:22-23) was clearly foretold in Isaiah 7:14.
Matthew ties the Old to the New in order to tell us that we are without excuse. He also very clearly sets forth Jesus as the King. Thus, the Babe born in Bethlehem is not only our merciful and loving Savior, He is also the King who warns of judgment to come and expects right living to be manifested by those who claim to know Him.
The carols we sing this time of the year are filled with references to the fact that Jesus Christ was born a King.
Joy to the World “The Lord is come, let earth receive her King.”
Angels We Have Heard on High “Christ the Lord, the newborn King.”
Hark, the Herald Angels Sing “Glory to the newborn King.”
What Child is This? “This is Christ the King”
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus “Born a Child, yet a King.”
Angels from the Realm of Glory “Worship Christ the newborn King”
These carols emphasize the reality that Jesus was in fact born a King. In Matthew 2:2, the wise men ask King Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” He didn’t become king later on when He was old enough. No. He was born a king. He is the supreme sovereign. Revelation 19:16 says, “On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
The book of Matthew opens with the genealogy of the King. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to chapter 1. Every king has to have a royal lineage because his ancestry is the most important thing about him. Kings have to be in the regal line in order to qualify to be on the throne. Matthew begins with an exhaustive, and somewhat exhausting, family tree that traces the right of Jesus to reign. These opening verses are very important because Jewish people, who made up Matthew’s audience, were tenacious about the matter of pedigrees.
The most important two names in the genealogy are given first. Abraham establishes the racial lineage, and David gives Jesus the royal pedigree. Take a look at Matthew 1:1: “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.” In order to possess royal lineage, one would need to be a son of Abraham and a son of David.
The racial line was promised through Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” The royal line was promised through David in 2 Samuel 7:16: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
It’s interesting that Matthew gives us the family tree as it comes through Joseph. Luke, on the other hand, establishes the lineage through his mother, Mary. Mary was also a descendant of David. She came through David’s son Nathan. It is through Mary then, that Jesus is the real son of David.
Christmas According to Matthew
There are at least three powerful lessons that we can learn about Christmas from the gospel of Matthew.
1. God always keeps His Word. God gives promises and He keeps them. He may be long, but He is never, ever, late.
2. God works in spite of people like us. If God can accomplish His purposes through people like Herod and Caesar, and even through some shady people who appear in the family tree of Jesus, He can work through you and me. God specializes in accomplishing historical improbabilities and biological impossibilities.
3. Jesus is the King of Christmas and has the right to rule your life. The great question of Matthew is this: “Is Jesus Christ King of your life?” Has the Christ of Christmas penetrated your spirit? Has He mastered your heart? Is He the single most important person in the entire universe to you? That is when He becomes King.
What’s Your Excuse?
I’m told that the three most common excuses are:
· I forgot.
· No one told me ahead of time.
· I didn’t think it was that important.
Friends, when it comes to the real meaning of Christmas, we can’t say we forgot. That excuse won’t work because God has surrounded each of us with evidence for the incarnation. He’s trying to get our attention through Christmas carols, concerts, the Jesus video, and through His Word.
We can’t say that no one told us ahead of time. God let us know about Christmas B.C. in the Old Testament. He told us what was going to happen and then it did, exactly as He predicted it would. After hearing this message tonight, it is now impossible for you to say that you weren’t told ahead of time.
We certainly cannot say that Christmas is unimportant. All of human history hinges on the birth of Jesus. He’s more than a baby in a manger. He came to die for your sins, and for mine. This is God’s plan. It’s how He set it up from the very beginning. There is no arrangement other than Christmas. He is the King.
The wise men understood better than anyone that first Christmas. Look at Matthew 2:11: “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him with gifts of gold and of incense and myrrh.” Back then, bringing gifts was essential when approaching a superior. The gifts they brought were expensive and represent a worthy tribute to a king.
3 Kings
I want to close by shining the spotlight on 3 different kings.
1. When King Herod heard that another king had been born, he went ballistic. He was threatened by anyone who would dare challenge his right to rule. When he figured out where the King of Christmas was to be born, he gave orders in Matthew 2:16 “to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under…” He would bow only to himself. Does that describe any of you tonight? Are you unwilling to humble yourself and allow Jesus to reign in your life?
2. There’s another king who lived hundreds of years after Herod. His name was Charlemagne. One day he came to the cathedral and was shocked to find the gate barred by the bishop. “Who comes?” shouted the bishop. The heralds answered, “Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire!” Answering for God, the bishop replied, “Him I know not! Who comes?”
The heralds, a bit shaken, answered, “Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth!” Again the bishop answered, “Him I know not. Who comes?”
Now completely crushed, the heralds say, “Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ.” “Him I know,” the bishop replied. “Enter!”
3. King George, who lived about 1,000 years after Charlemagne, went to the premiere performance of Handel’s Messiah. When this music was first heard, it was pronounced a masterpiece. It recounts the prophecies of Christ and His triumphant birth, with dramatic passages like, “For unto us a child is born…and the government shall be upon His shoulders” which is right out of the book of Isaiah. When King George first heard the “Hallelujah Chorus,” he was so moved that he spontaneously rose from his seat, and the entire audience followed his example.
Friend, where are you tonight?
· Are you like Herod, refusing to allow the King of Christmas to impact your life? Are you openly hostile to the whole idea of Christmas and just looking for an excuse to not believe?
· Or, are you like Charlemagne? He was in process. When challenged with his own pride, he eventually came to the realization that he was nothing in comparison to the King of Kings.
· Many of you are like King George. When you hear the music of Christmas and focus on the fulfillment of the prophecies, you want to stand and say, “Hallelujah!”
Without excuse or apology, let’s all stand in recognition of the King of Christmas as we close our service by singing the Hallelujah Chorus.
