The Promise of Christmas

Thought I was being cut real short today. Of course, if I am, I did it myself. Right. Well, thank you this morning, Bible class. I appreciate each and every one of you. Let's just say that this it's an honor to teach this class. It's a lot of work to teach this class, but it's work that I love. And not only because I get to study the word of the Lord, which I enjoy doing. I love to do to get into his word, but also because of your attentiveness and your faithfulness, many comments and questions and things that come up after that.

I appreciate that. Love each and every one of you. Hope you all have a very merry Christmas holiday season. So, we've been going through First Corinthians, and I'm not afraid to teach the word of God, Pastor Brad. After all, I did the lesson on fornication and you know heard a few comments on that. Uh there were two chapters left that we have not talked about. One was 1 Corinthians 14 on regulation of spiritual gifts and I'm not afraid to teach that either. But um we're going to move on to a different topic come January.

So we will not be teaching that lesson. Maybe another date or maybe pastor will take it up at some point. Uh 1 Corinthians 15 is on the resurrection. I will give you that on Easter. So, whatever Sunday is closest to Easter, we'll do 1 Corinthians 15. Today, I wanted to take a little bit different approach. Obviously, we did to open this class, give us some time of fellowship, but I just want to talk about the promise of Christmas. And I thought the best way to do that is just take it straight from the word of God.

There's enough there that I don't have to add a whole lot of anything to it. I will throw in a few little comments, but not many. So, I'll begin. The promise of Christmas. The story of the Bible is one of order over chaos. It's light over darkness. It's righteousness over sin. It's peace over strife. It's love over hate. And that theme is carried all throughout history. But nowhere does it culminate as fully as it does in the Christmas story. Took thousands of years to get from the beginning of history to the birth of the Christ child.

But those thousands of years came with constant reminders to give us hope, constant pointing forward to the day that the Messiah would be born. But let me not get ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning. Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form. It was void. It was empty. It was darkness. Was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light." And there was light.

So begins the promise. The earth was in chaos. It was in darkness. Yet God says, "I'm not going to leave it that way." From the darkness, the emptiness, the confusion, his word commands the light to shine. Looking in retrospect, John would take up this same theme over four millennia later. John 1:1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

He was the true light, which lightth every man that cometh into the world from John 1:9. But perhaps his greatest revelation comes in the words of John 1:14. And that word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth. We see this promise made in a myriad of ways. And I want to look at a few of them. The first is made in what seems to be cryptic language. In hindsight, we understand its significance.

We teach about it. But its import was probably not grasped when it was given. And that's when the Lord God looked at the serpent and he said,"I will put enmnity between thee and this woman and between thy seed and her seed and it will bruise thy head and sha thou shalt bruise his heel." Probably no idea what he was talking about as far as Adam and Eve were concerned. But there was a plan of one to come. By the end of Genesis, the promise starts to become starts focusing in a little bit, becoming a little more clear.

And Jacob prophesies, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawmaker from between his feet until Shiloh come, and to him shall the gathering of the people be." The scepter, the emblem of a ruler, the promise of a king. A few hundred years later, Balam would declare in Numbers 24:17, "I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. Israel's most beloved king, the mighty David, joined the chorus of voices.

Being a king himself, perhaps he understood more than others when he wrote in Psalm 45, "Thy throne, oh God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness. You hate wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with oil, with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. But it's left to Israel's most eloquent prophet to really flesh out the details. And in Isaiah 9:6, he proclaims, "For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace, of the increase of his government, and the peace shall there shall be no end.

And upon the throne of David, upon his kingdom, to order it, to establish it with judgment, with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Then in chapter 11, beginning at verse one, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor. He reproveth with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked, and righteousness shall be the girdle of his lords, and faithfulness the girdle of his reigns. Chapter 11 and verse 10. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an insign of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.

Isaiah 32, behold, a king is going to reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment, and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, as a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Isaiah 40 says this, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably be to Jerusalem. Cry unto her, your warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned, for he hath received of the Lord's hand double for all our sins.

Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be exalted. Every mountain and hill made low, and the crooked shall be made straight. What he's saying is he's making a plain straight path. The rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Isaiah 42, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighted. I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

He shall not cry. He shall not lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth, and the isisle shall wait for his law. So many words no doubt spoken in mystery. So many prophecies that were given to stir hope in a weary world. And when the darkness seems to have won.

And while Israel lies under the rule of Rome, and the world has endured 400 years of no inspired word from heaven, the silence is broken. When the angel of Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espouseed to a man whose name was Joseph, to the house of David, and to the v and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came into her and said, "Hail, thou art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast on her mind, what manner of salutation should this should be?

And the angel said unto her, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great. He shall be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom there shall be no end." Then said Mary unto the angel, "How can this be, seeing I know not a man?" And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest will overshadow thee.

Therefore also the holy thing which shall be born in thee shall be called the Son of God. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmade of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word. And so it was fulfilled. Another prophecy from Isaiah 7 and 14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. God had spoken it. God had willed it. And now God had performed it.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ from Matthew was on this wise when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found the child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. A king, yes, but more than the king, a savior. What could Joseph do? Joseph being raised from the sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and he took unto him his wife. Luke records, "And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed, and they all went everyone to his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, unto Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was the house and the lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child." A coincidence coincidence, you say? No, much more than that. You see, God had spoken through Micah in Micah 5:2, "Behold thou Bethlehem Ephrada, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me he that is to be ruler in Israel, whose going forths have been from old and from everlasting." A baby from everlasting.

Is that a riddle? No, it's a promise. Matthew makes the connection in Matthew 1:22. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the Lord the by the prophet saying behold a virgin shall be with child shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us. God with us. A savior God with us. Who is this child? He was the fulfillment of all the promises given concerning him since the beginning of time.

In Galatians 4, Paul would later write, "But when the fullness of the time was come, in God's timing, when it was ready, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, for what purpose? To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." He was son of God, and he was son of man. The psalmist David declared in Psalm 2:7, "I will decree, declare the decree, I'm going to say it. The Lord hath said unto me, thou art my son.

This day have I begotten thee. Story continues in Matthew. Then Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son. And he called his name Jesus. She brought forth her firstborn son, Luke tells us. And he wrapped him in swaddling clothes and strips of cloth and laid him in the manger because there was no room for them in the end. a king, a manger, a barn, rags for clothing, a king who being in the form of God, made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to that plan of God.

But wait, in the darkness of the night, on the hillside outside of the town, there's a glimmer of light. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Once again, the light pierced the darkness. Isaiah said in 9:2, "The people that have walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light hath shined." Verse chapter 42, he said this, "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness.

I will hold thy hand. I will keep thee, and I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the blinded eyes to the prisoners of the out of the prisoners from the prison." and then that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Isaiah 60, arise, shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the land, but the Lord shall arise upon thee, but his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to the light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

2 Corinthians tells us, "For God commanded that light to shine out of the darkness, and he hath shined it in our hearts to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God where in the face of Jesus Christ." The verses we read earlier in him was life and the life was the light of men. That light was the light of men. It shined in the darkness. The darkness comprehend the darkness could not grasp it. that dark darkness could not pull it down because he was the true light which lights every man that cometh into the world.

30 some odd years later Jesus would proclaim in John 8, I am the light of the world. And he that followth me walks not in darkness but shall have the light of light. As it was in the beginning, light won out over darkness, order over chaos, righteousness over sin, peace over strife, and love over hate. And so would end the Christmas story. But Matthew has one chapter to add. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east, saying, "Where is he that is born king of the Jews?

We have seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him. And lo, the star which they saw in the east, which went before him, till it came and stood over the where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And so the first part of Balam's prophecy from Numbers is now fulfilled. I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There is going to come a star out of Jacob.

The wise man gave the only appropriate response in Matthew 2:1 and it is this. And when they are come into the house, they fell down and they worshiped him. They fell down and worshiped him. Christmas is so much more than just a story. It's so much more than everything the world has made. It is the birth of the savior of this world. And our only proper response Bible class is to worship him. And as they worshiped him, they opened their treasures and they presented unto him gifts of gold and frankincense and more.

I pray this morning that we will do no less. this child, this savior, this king, this prince of peace, mighty God, everlasting father is in this house this morning. And as the wise man worshiped, he deserves our worship today. But more than that, as they presented to him what was of value to them, we must present ourselves this morning. Paul said it this way. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Will we be wise men and women today? If we are, we'll remember the promise of Christmas. We'll bow down to worship him and offer our gift to him this morning. Pastor Can we do that right now? Would you stand together all across this place as we close this Bible class? And would you just lift your hands in worship? And in that worship, would you present yourself a living sacrifice, Lord? This is our response just as those wise men and magi responded and could not help but worship you and sacrifice on your behalf.

We worship you, Jesus. When confronted with your presence and when confronted with the truth of the word, our response is to glorify you and to worship you and to present ourselves a living sacrifice to present ourselves as worshippers. Lord, we give you glory and honor and praise. Oh God, thank you Jesus for coming. Thank you for making yourself of no reputation. We honor you and praise you Lord. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Amen. Amen.