Luke 2:1-7; Isaiah 11:1-10 - In the Manger of Thy Birth
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Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Luke 2:1-7]
1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
[PRAYER] Christ Is All, a Puritan prayer…
O Lover to the uttermost,
May I read the meltings of Thy heart to me
in the manger of Thy birth,
in the garden of Thy agony,
in the cross of Thy suffering,
in the tomb of Thy resurrection,
in the heaven of Thy intercession.
We pray in your holy Name, “Amen.”
Many celebrate Christmas by decorating their homes with all sort of ornamentation. A Christmas tree with lights. Garland across the mantle. A nativity scene with Jesus in the manger.
If you were to ask some of them why they chose to decorate with Jesus in a manger, they might say, “It’s just nice. Like the lights on the tree or the garland across the mantle, Jesus is the manger is just a nice decoration.”
Like lights and garland, Jesus in the manger doesn’t make any claims on us. He doesn’t get in our business. He doesn’t confront our sin. He won’t get us killed.
In the manger, Jesus is manageable.
But you know that is completely wrong, don’t you?
You know that Jesus in the manger of His birth isn’t just nice decoration.
You know that Jesus in the manger is the birth of the King.
Jonathan Edwards said, “…this feeble infant, born thus in a stable, and laid in a manger, was born to conquer and triumph over Satan, that roaring lion. He came to subdue the mighty powers of darkness, and make a show of them openly, and so to restore peace on earth, and to manifest God’s goodwill towards men, and to bring glory to God in the highest…”
Let me ask you, when you look at Jesus in the manger, what do you see?
You should see your King!
Think of what we’ve sung this morning…
Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King!
Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee Christ the Lord the newborn King.
Hark! the heard angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”
Come and behold Him, born the King of angels!
This morning I want to show you your King in Isaiah 11:1-10.
These words were sent by God through the prophet Isaiah long before the manger of Christ’s birth, but they tell us what king of King was born to us on that first Christmas morning.
[CONTEXT] Coming to Isaiah 11, understand that God has used Assyria, a powerful and wicked nation, to bring judgement on His rebellious people in Judah.
However, Assyria failed to realize that it was just the rod of discipline in God’s hand and so became prideful. God would bring judgment on Assyria as well describing in Isaiah 10 like this…
33 Behold, the Lord, the God of hosts, will lop off the boughs with a terrible crash; Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down And those who are lofty will be abased. 34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
Assyria had been the axe in God’s hand. Now, God promised to use the axe on Assyria.
But whereas there is no promise of redemption for Assyria, there is the promise of redemption for Judah—redemption that will come through the line of King David.
Before Isaiah 11:1, one writer sets the scene of Judah’s humility like this…
“Bare stumps as far as the eye can see. No branches waving in the wind, no birds flitting around, no life, no movement, no sound. The world is dead.” (Ray Ortlund, Jr.)
And then we read in Isaiah 11:1-10…
1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. 10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.
Who is this King that will come out of this wasteland? This shoot of Jesse, this branch from the line of David?
You know, that it is Jesus!
And these verses tell us what kind of King He is!
[TS]…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
First, Jesus is the legitimate King (Isaiah 11:1)
First, Jesus is the legitimate King (Isaiah 11:1)
1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
[EXP] God chose the descendents of Abraham as His people. He was their King, but eventually they wanted a king like the other nations, so God gave them a King Saul.
Saul, however, was not devoted to God and was replaced with King David, an imperfect man but still a man after God’s own heart.
God promised King David that his son, Solomon, would sit on Israel’s throne and there would never be an end to the Davidic kingdom.
In Jeremiah 33:17 God promised…
17 “For thus says the Lord, ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;
In the days of Joseph and Mary, people understood that this promised son or descendent of David was to be the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed of God who would sit on Israel’s throne forever.
If Jesus is the legitimate King, He must be the shoot of Jesse; the righteous branch of David.
This is why Matthew begins His gospel with the genealogy of Jesus, which shows that Jesus is the descendent of David. Matthew 1:1-6 says…
1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.
And the genealogy of Jesus keeps going until we get to “Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah,” (Matt. 1:16).
Isaiah 11:1 says that the legitimate king of Israel has to be from the line of David.
Matthew 1 says that Jesus is that legitimate King!
[TS] …
Second, Jesus is the Spirit-filled King (Isaiah 11:2).
Second, Jesus is the Spirit-filled King (Isaiah 11:2).
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
[EXP] David was empowered by the Holy Spirit, so its only fitting that this righteous branch of David is Spirit-filled.
Matthew 3:16 shows us that this is Spirit-filled King is Jesus.
16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him,
Because Jesus is the Spirit-filled King He is filled with…
…wisdom and understanding,
…counsel and strength,
…knowledge and fear of the Lord (Isa. 11:2).
He is the perfectly wise, perfectly capable, and perfectly holy King!
[TS]…
Third, Jesus is the judging King (Isaiah 11:3-5).
Third, Jesus is the judging King (Isaiah 11:3-5).
3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.
[EXP] As King, Jesus is the perfect Judge.
Second Timothy 4:1 says that Christ Jesus to judge the living and the dead.
Second Timothy 4:8 says that Jesus is the righteous Judge.
He will judge according to divine knowledge and wisdom, according to divine perspective.
He will not be limited or misled by what He sees and hears but will judge with righteousness and fairness.
The will judge the poor with righteousness just like the rich.
He will judge the afflicted with fairness just like the powerful.
Righteousness will be upheld and wickedness slain when Jesus the King comes to judge!
[TS]…
Fourth, Jesus is the peaceful King (Isaiah 11:6-9).
Fourth, Jesus is the peaceful King (Isaiah 11:6-9).
6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
[EXP] Verses 6-8 give us multiple pictures of the peace King Jesus brings.
Because of Jesus predators will not prey and the vulnerable will not be victimized.
They will not hurt or destroy in all His holy mountain—i.e., in all creation—because the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth like the waters of the sea.
The knowledge of the Lord refers to knowing God for who He is and who we are in light of Him.
It refers to revering Him for His holiness and being in awe of Him for His love.
One day all who are His shall know YHWH this way because they will know Him through Jesus.
As Jeremiah 31:34 says…
34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
[TS] …
Fifth, Jesus is the standing King (Isaiah 11:10).
Fifth, Jesus is the standing King (Isaiah 11:10).
10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.
[EXP] Isaiah 11:1 and Isaiah 11:10 both mention the shoot or root of Jesse, which pointed to Jesus.
But notice that v. 10 says that Jesus will stand as a signal for the peoples.
This signal is a banner, and earlier in Isaiah (cf., 5:26) the signal banner was used to rally the nations against God’s people.
But the Messiah would be a signal banner calling the nations to come find rest in Him.
Jesus said in John 12:32…
32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.”
Revelation 7:9-10 looks forward to the nations rallying to the Messiah by saying…
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
Jesus is the Lamb.
Jesus is the Messiah.
A great multitude shall rally to Him to find rest.
And as long as He stands, there will be no end to our joy.
How long will He stand? Listen to what Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:31-33…
31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
His kingdom will have no end.
King Jesus will always stand.
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
At Christmas time or any other time, we must never think of Jesus as just a baby in a manger.
Jesus came in a manger in Bethlehem, but He is King on a throne in Heaven, and of His kingdom there will be no end.
One day King Jesus will come again and all the promises of His rule in Isaiah 11 will come to pass, but how will King Jesus deal with you when He comes?
When you see Him standing, will you see Him as your salvation or as your destruction?
How you see Him depends on whether you have been saved from your wickedness or whether you still remain in your wickedness.
There is only one way to be ready for the King’s second coming.
You must turn from all sin, all rebellion against Him, and put your trust in Him.
He came for you in the manger of His birth.
He obeyed for you in the garden of His agony.
He suffered for you on the cross of His suffering.
He rose for you in the tomb of His resurrection.
He prays for you from the throne of His intercession.
But He did and does all this for you only if you repent and believe.
[PRAYER] O LOVER TO THE UTTERMOST,
May I read the meltings of thy heart to me
in the manger of thy birth
in the garden of thy agony,
in the cross of thy suffering,
in the tomb of thy resurrection,
in the heaven of thy intercession.
…
I think of thy glory and my vileness,
thy majesty and my meanness,
thy beauty and my deformity,
thy purity and my filth,
thy righteousness and my iniquity.
Thou hast loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I love thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given thyself for me,
may I give myself to thee;
Thou hast died for me,
may I live to thee,
in every moment of my time,
in every movement of my mind,
in every pulse of my heart.”
…
We pray in your Name, Jesus, Amen.