1st Sunday
of Advent
Scripture Luke 24:44I believe this year, more than any in our lifetime, we will have less anticipation for Christmas morning. Due to families not gathering as we normally would with hugs and joy and lots of presents all around. But let me turn that around for a moment, can you remember a Christmas that you had high anticipation for? Maybe you counted down the days (Advent Calendar) (Our kids with Advent wreath and Advent calendars) (My anticipation form Xmas Eve to Xmas morning lining up in the hallway)
Have you ever anticipated getting something for Christmas but what you got was a poor imitation of what you were hoping for (i.e. Air Jordan’s and you got Keds instead? Or, part of the American girl doll collection and you got a cheap generic plastic doll instead?)
Jesus says the following words during his first appearance to the disciples after he has been resurrected from the dead. (Gathered with Thomas missing).
Luke 24:44
Jesus said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you:
in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." NT
400 BC 200 BC 100 AD 393earlier
God created the earth and made a special place – the garden of Eden – where he put the first two people (Adam & Eve). It was paradise! Because they did what God told them not to do, they were kicked out of the garden and the entrance to it was blocked by God’s angels. In the Old Testament, the Jewish teachers believe that paradise is still there waiting for someone to come who will make it right for us to live there again, and the word they use in the OT for that person is “Messiah” In the NT, the Greek word for messiah is Christo (or Christ). When a Jewish person becomes a Christian, you rarely hear the term Jewish Christian – instead they are often referred to as Messianic Jews, using the OT designation for Jesus – the Messiah. He is the fulfillment of what they had been anticipating – who they were looking forward to coming from heaven.
The idea of the Jewish Messiah is that he would come and be a national hero and deliver the Jewish people from the hard grip of the Roman government. In reality, Christ, as seen in the NT would come to deliver people from the hard grip of sin in their own lives. He would come to free a person inwardly, not from outward circumstances.
In the next few verses, Jesus himself shares specific prophecy about that: Luke 24:45-49 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
You might be expecting me to quote all the prophecies in the bible about the birth of Jesus, and I intend to do just that. However, even as the birth of Jesus was a surprise to EVERYONE who was part of the story or heard about it, there are some surprising ways the bible prophecies the birth of Jesus without saying it directly.
What do I mean?
In the OT, what was the definitive act that showed God was creating a particular people for himself? The birth of Isaac! He was the promised seed from which would come a unique people belonging to God. The creation of a unique people for God was a unique birth announcement. Isaac was not just born to any one – he was born to Abraham 100 and Sarah 90. Had they been 20 years old, there would be little to the story. People paid attention because Isaac’s birth was an impossible one. Even Sarah thought so as prior to being pregnant she made Abraham sleep with her servant to have a child which she later regretted and when she heard she would become pregnant she didn’t believe, laughed about it then lie about laughing.
If you believe God directed the incarnation, including how it was announced, you are about to be amazed. If you think things in the bible happened by coincident, your mind is about to be blown. Who announced the coming of the Messiah to the world? Not the angels – they announced it to a couple of shepherds? Who was the forerunner, the herald, the announcer that the Messiah was present in the world and that God would be creating a new unique people for himself? That person was John the Baptist. But wait!!! We are talking about the birth of Jesus and that comes after Jesus birth. YEP – now here is the cool part: Who were John’s parents, and what was unique about them?
First, they were in the priestly line of Aaron, in fact, the Bible records, that John’s father, Zechariah, was serving as a priest in the temple burning incense a symbol for prayer and an angel from God shows up and says God has heard your prayers (this is the second unique thing) for your wife Elizabeth who will conceive and give birth to a son who will disrupt the status quo and “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Third – Zech & Beth were really old; way passed the age of giving birth – just like who? Abe & Sarah! That’s not all. In the first older people miracle birth story He believed – she didn’t. In this one she believes but he didn’t. And because he didn’t, before he could mess things up like Sarah had done, Zechariah is made a mute – can’t speak, will be SILENT until his son is born and given the name the God told him to give to him.
From Genesis till the birth of John a couple thousand years have passed but for the last 400 years, from a biblical perspective God had been what? SILENT During those 400 years there were no more prophets. John the Baptist would be the first one in 4 centuries. The 400 years of prophetic silence emphasized by 9 months of Zechariah’s silence make the announcement of the coming Messiah even greater, added to the fact that God’s people came from a righteous couple too old to give birth, yet Isaac was born to create this people for God and now the announcement of the new thing God was doing comes from another old couple too old to give birth, yet John is born who will announce the kingdom of God into the world – He knows it even before he is born (Story of leaping in the womb).
“She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:21-23; compare Isaiah 7:14)
Writing for a Jewish audience, Matthew appeals to Old Testament prophecies early and often, in order to show his readers that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah, the descendant of David and Abraham. The virgin birth of Christ fulfills a 700 year old prophecy that Isaiah said to the Judean king Ahaz. Matthew parallels the name Jesus (“God is salvation”) with the title Immanuel (“God with us”) as they both describe, the incarnate Son of God.
Born in Bethlehem of Judea
He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” (Matthew 2:4-6; compare Micah 5:2-5)
Disturbed at the idea of being supplanted, Herod wanted to know where this Messiah would be born. Bethlehem was predicted by the prophet Micah. But Micah offered other details like; the Messiah would be king and shepherd to His people, ruling the whole earth in the name and majesty of God, having existed since before ancient times.
Out of Egypt I called my son
And he rose and took the child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:14-15; compare Hosea 11:1)
Having been warned of Herod’s murderous plot, Joseph fled with his family to Egypt, which fulfilled the words of the prophet Hosea. Matthew was calling to mind the Old Testament portrait of Messiah as representative of Israel, as the perfect Israelite who identifies with His people even in their sin, in order to deliver them. From that perspective, the Exodus is a picture of God calling and redeeming His people through His true Son, Jesus.
Rachel weeping for her children
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:17-18; compare Jeremiah 31:15)
Herod, furious at being ignored by the magi and intent on killing the newborn king, orders the slaughter of every male child under the age of two in and around Bethlehem. The words of Jeremiah – aptly known as the weeping prophet –illustrate the darkness that’s present in the world, against which the light of the coming Saviour shines that much brighter.
He would be called a Nazarene
And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that He would be called a Nazarene. (Matthew 2:23; compare Isaiah 11:1-5; 53:3)
In this case, Matthew isn’t quoting a direct prophecy. He describes the Messiah as a Branch, using a Hebrew word, netser, which sounds similar to Nazarene in the original language. when a tree is chopped down, a shoot will grow from the stump, allowing a new tree to spring up where the old one has died. (our dogwood a tender shoot)
The spirit and power of Elijah
“And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:16-17; compare Malachi 4:5-6)
In contrast to Matthew, Luke wrote with a Hellenistic gentile audience in mind, assembling for them an orderly account of the life of Jesus. Rather than inserting prophetic quotes, he allows them to speak through the voices of the men, women and angels in his narrative. He begins with the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, in which the angel Gabriel paraphrases the final words in the book of the prophet Malachi – which were in fact the final prophetic words recorded in the Old Testament. In so doing, the angel bridges the 400-year gap in prophecy with an emphatic declaration: the Messianic forerunner was about to arrive, and the Messiah Himself would not be far behind.
The Son of the Most High
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:31-33; compare 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 9:6-7)
Luke then records the angel Gabriel making a similar announcement to Mary regarding the miraculous birth of her own son, Jesus. Once more, the angel references a number of prophecies that would’ve been familiar to Mary. These include God’s promise to King David via Nathan the prophet, that one of David’s descendants would sit on his throne and rule an everlasting kingdom. They also include Isaiah’s more explicit Messianic prophecy, in which the prophet describes the future king as “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Abraham and his offspring
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour . . . He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” (Luke 46-47; 54-55; compare Genesis 12:3; 17:4-5; 22:18)
Mary’s response to the prospect of bearing God’s Son has allusions to Old Testament themes, most notably the song of Hannah. She concludes her poem by recalling God’s promises to Abraham and to his offspring. Mary is the first person in the New Testament to identify Abraham’s offspring with the Messiah, the One to whom the promises were made and through whom the nations would be blessed.
Prepare the way of the Lord
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79; compare Malachi 3:1; 4:2; Isaiah 9:1-2; 40:3-5)
At the birth of John the Baptist, his father Zechariah alludes to a variety of Old Testament themes, including the covenant with Abraham and the redeemer from the line of David. Regarding his own son, Zechariah alludes to the prophecies of Malachi as well as Isaiah.
A light for the Gentiles
He took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:28-32; compare Isaiah 9:1-2; 42:1-7; 49:5-6)
Luke continues the theme of Messianic light via the words of Simeon, an old man who witnesses the presentation of Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem. Simeon recognizes the child as the Messiah who would bring light and salvation to both Jews and gentiles, echoing several prophecies found in Isaiah. One of those prophecies speaks of the Jewish tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali as Galilee of the gentiles, the land where Jesus would begin His ministry. It’s no coincidence that Luke inserts Anna the prophetess here, noting that she was from Asher, the one tribe even farther removed from Jerusalem, geographically and spiritually, than Zebulun or Naphtali. The message is unmistakeable: Messiah has come with salvation not only to Israel, but to the remotest parts and people of the earth.
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