1st Sunday of Advent
Prophetic Prognostication Predicts a Foreknown Forecast:
The Messiah will be born and laid in a manger.
Scripture Micah
5:1-5a
Then the shepherds
returned, glorifying God and praising God for all the things that they had
heard and seen, as it was told them. (Luke
2:20)
As it was told them - we will come back to that!
When was the last time you looked
at Christmas either through the eyes of a child or the eyes of a new Christian?
We are in the final month of our 2018 theme “BEHOLD! I am making all things
new!” I want to help us see Christmas as though it were the first time - as
though it were new to us. That will be difficult for most because our eyes have
glazed over with Christmas cheer. As it Comes to Santa and all the
extemporaneous make-believe part of Christmas we could look at that through the
eyes of a child. But for the real Christmas - the God in a manger on His way to
a cross Christmas, we need to see as through the eyes of a new believer.
USA Today, based on the PEW
Research Institute reports 9 in 10 U.S. adults celebrate Christmas. However, a
growing number of Christians discount key elements of the biblical Nativity
story.
Just three years ago, 51% of U.S.
adults said Christmas for them is more a religious holiday than a cultural one.
But that has slipped to 46% in the new Pew survey. President Trump’s
demand that Americans all say “Merry Christmas,” which drew cheers at his
rallies, now draws shrugs from most U.S. adults: 52% say it doesn’t matter how
they are greeted in stores and businesses.”
The survey also finds a “striking
shift” in the overall share of people — down from 65% in 2014 to 57% today —
who believe four key elements of the biblical Nativity story.
• Jesus was born to a virgin: From 73% to 66%.
• Baby Jesus was laid in a manger: From 81% to 75%.
• Wise men, guided by a star, brought Jesus gifts: From 75%
to 68%.
• An angel announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds: From
74% to 67%.
This suggests
that even Christians need to see Christmas new again. We need to be reminded of
the truth of Christmas. SO:
“Prophetic Prognostication Predicts a Foreknown Forecast”
What kind of a sermon title is that? Why not - Joy to the World or Christmas
time is here again?
A crazy 5 word title where each word means essentially the
same thing. I don’t care if you remember the title, I want you to remember the
redundancy of it. Those 5 words are saying over and over and over again that God
had a plan - Through different people at different times in different
locations God said, I am coming to do something NEW. praising
God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told
them. God, through the angel said Jesus is coming.
the angel was prognosticating, predicting, forecasting what he foreknew by
prophecying to the shepherds that their lng awaited savior had been born and
was near by lying in a manger.
Prophets were not just Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Elijad and such, rather angels, Abraham, Noses and other also prognosticated
that God was doing some new thing in the future.
Moses in Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between you (Serpent) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your
head, and you will strike his heel." Cain
& Able / Jesus & Satan.
The moment Sin
entered in God had a plan to overcome it and He gave Moses the exact words to
predict what would happen when Jesus would be hanging on a cross over a
thousand years later.
WHY?
Why did God have prophets and specifically
prophecy about Jesus birth? To create faith. David Coresh, Jim Jones, Buddah,
Mohammad, Joseph Smith did not have predictions of their birth - life -
ministry - death - resurrection - coming again. ONLY JESUS.
Let’s look: Micah 5:1-5 (Not just Micah 5:2)
Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod. (Matt
27:30-31 They spit on him, and took the staff and
struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took
off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify
him.)
2 "But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of
you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from
of old, from ancient times." (Matt 2:1-2 After Jesus was
born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east
came to Jerusalem. John 17:5 And now, Father,
glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world
began.)
3 Therefore
Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. (Rom
3:29-30 Is
God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles
too.)
4 He will
stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the
name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth. (John 10:11 "I am the
good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.)
5 And he
will be their peace. (John 14:27 Peace I leave
with you; my peace I give you.)
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Matthew 1:21-23 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." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the
prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and
they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will
be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the
increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on
David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice
and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
Luke 1:31-33 You will be with child and give
birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32
He 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will
never end."
HEROD TRIES TO
KILL JESUS
Jeremiah 31:15
This is what the Lord says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and
great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted,
because her children are no more."
Matthew 2:16-18
When Herod realized that he had been
outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys
in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance
with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the
prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be
comforted, because they are no more.”
Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and
out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:19-20
After Herod died, an angel of the
Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, "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."
OTHE PROHECIES
In the
genealogy recorded in Matthew’s first chapter, we discover the fulfillment of
several other Old Testament prophecies. Jesus was from the line of Abraham (Genesis
12:3), Isaac (Genesis
26:4), Jacob (Genesis
28:14), Judah (Genesis
49:8–12), Jesse (Isaiah
11:1), and David (Isaiah
9:7). But that’s
not all. A search through the rest of Scripture reveals dozens of other details
prophesied about the Messiah, including the following facts:
·
The Messiah would
die a sacrificial death for us (Matthew 27:50; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Daniel 9:26; Isaiah 53:8).
·
He would die with
criminals but His burial would be with the wealthy (Matthew 27:57–60; Luke 23:33; Isaiah 53:9).
·
He would say certain
words on the Cross. He would be mocked, and people would gamble for His clothes
(Psalm 22:1, 8, 18).
Many other prophecies could be listed that were perfectly
fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. These were not lucky guesses made by
fraudulent prognosticators; they were precise predictions made by the
all-knowing God of the Bible who repeatedly demonstrated that He has perfect
knowledge of all past, present, and future events. Consequently, we can be
completely confident that He will always make good on His promises and that
those future events He has foretold will certainly come to pass.
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