Luke 1:26-33 "The Kingdom Announced"

Introduction:

Hard to believe that this is the 4th Sunday of Advent. It has really gone by fast. We have been looking at the prophetic and covenant aspects of Christ as the Messianic ruler of the Kingdom of God from the OT.

Through hundreds of years all that the Old Testament had proclaimed was converging upon the events of that original Christmas.

And most of it was coming down on the shoulders of a young teenage girl named Mary as declared to her by the angel Gabriel who was sent to her by God.

This was all God’s doing and Gabriel was carrying out the mission that he was sent to accomplish. But what we will see is that it was not just Gabriel who had a mission. Look back at verses 26-28:

I. The Mission (26-31): There are two missions being talked about in our text this morning.

The first, is the mission of the angel Gabriel (26-28).*

Gabriel was on a mission to announce the coming birth of the Messiah of God.

Gabriel has been seen in the Bible before. He appeared to Daniel in Daniel 8:16 and in Daniel 9:21. And we see Gabriel referred to back up in Luke 1 where he came to Zachariah the Priest and announced the conception and birth of John the Baptist.

At least in the NT it appears that Gabriel is the angel in charge of miraculous births. And in our text this morning he comes to a young virgin named Mary. And we find that she also will be a mission. Look at verses 29-31:

The second is the mission of the virgin Mary (29-31).*

Mary is afraid at first but she finds out from Gabriel that she is highly favored of God. Both Mary and Joseph were of the house and line of King David.

And Gabriel informs her that she will conceive and give birth to a Son and she is to name Him Jesus.

She would carry in her womb the Messiah of God. She would be the human means by which God would bring His Messiah into the world. And then we see the Message that Gabriel would proclaim to her concerning this child in verses 32-33:

II. The Message (32-33).

He will be called great, the Son of the Most High (32a).

The prophetic foundation is rooted back in Isaiah 9:6 as we saw last Sunday on the third Sunday of Advent.

He will be given the throne of David (32b).

The prophetic foundation of this truth is rooted back in 2 Samuel 7:12-17 as we saw on the second Sunday of Advent.

He will reign over the house of Jacob forever (33a).

The prophetic foundation of this truth is rooted back in Genesis 49:10 as we saw on the first Sunday of Advent.

He will rule over His Kingdom eternally (33b).

All of the prophetic references we have looked at during this Advent season allude to the eternal aspects of the eternality of the Messianic rule of Christ.

If Jesus Christ is the Supreme Sovereign and He rules, then there is a Messianic Implication that applies to our lives.

III. The Messianic Implication

And Christian the Messianic implication is not just merely calling us to do nice things for people during the holidays.

Nor is the coming of Christ into the world just giving us a reason to have a holiday and celebrate with family and friends.

The Messianic implication is declaring that the Kingdom of God has come to earth. And Jesus Christ as the Messiah King rules over the nations of the world and His Spirit dwells in us as the covenant people of God.

This is the foundational truth that should govern the context of our celebrations and any good works that we do at Christmas or at any other time of the year.

The Messianic Implications inform us of the eternal plan of God in at least 2 ways that we see in this text:

First, God has decreed His Kingdom to display the glory of His covenant fidelity.

This truth is rooted in all three of the prophetic foundations mentioned: Genesis 49 (1690 BC), 2 Samuel 7 (1045 BC) and Isaiah 9 (760 BC).

All of these foundational prophecies were given hundreds of years apart and yet they all converge upon the Christ event of that first Christmas.

Second, God has decreed His Kingdom for the glory of Christ and the security of His covenant people.

Challenges us to live in consistency with this purpose too. Because it is the Christ centered focus that pulls us out of a self-centered focus.

The antithesis of human vanity is the glorification of God through Jesus Christ.

This is not just the basis of the sanctification of the human heart. But it is the only pure motive that can drive the authentic love and service to others in all that we do in celebration of the coming of Christ.

That is very practical in the temporal sense. Where we put the actions of our hands to the theology of our head and heart.

The security of His covenant people is not just for ministry in this world. But this security projects us to the eternal.

Reel to Reel movies at Christmas time at Sacramento elementary. Big projector with a movie on film tape.

Pictures in a series flashed as the reel fed the film tape through the projector.

We had a big screen on the wall of the gymnasium and when it was movie day at Sacramento elementary everyone came to school because it was all part of the Christmas celebration.

Once the movie film would role nobody spent the next one and a half hours watching the projector. Everyone watched the screen.

They watched the screen because all the pictured events on the role of film were being projected in another direction.

Christian God gave us all the historical events of the prophecies about Christ and all the historical events of Christ and His Spirit ministering through His disciples to project onto the big screen of eternity.

He did this that our hope would not be anchored in the temporal but in the eternal! So that as we lived in the world the eternal hope would be reflected in our lives.

And that our actions in the world would project on the big screen of eternity as well.

If this world and the temporal was the pinnacle of our human experience, Jesus Christ would have taken the throne in physical Israel and be ruling from the city of Jerusalem to the current day.

But the true reality of Christmas is that this baby who was born didn’t come to just give us another temporal and yearly holiday experience but He came to give us eternal life.

Conclusion:

Does the true reality of Christmas live in you or is Christmas just another holiday?

Unbeliever whether you know it or not your life in this temporal world is playing out on the big screen of eternity. Everyone will live forever and eternity will reflect the film of your life.

You either live in the lake of fire paying for your sin against a Holy God in satisfaction of His infinite holiness; Or you live in eternal glory with God because One who is infinitely holy took your place and paid for your sin.

Believe the gospel and trust in Christ and in His finished work.

Christian Christmas should help to keep the eternal focus because the Christ event of His birth did not come to an end in His death on a Cross. The tomb in which He was buried is empty as He was raised on the third day.

It might be very awkward to receive a gift and open it only to find that the box empty. But in the case of Christ and His tomb it was glorious.

Christian rest in the gift His grace is sufficient for you. Let’s pray!