Who Is This Jesus?
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We are looking this morning at the annunciation happenings in the Scriptures - when Angels visited Mary and Joseph and how they described who their Son was and how He was going to be known.
We will be reading from three of the Gospels this morning - and we are reading in order they are found in the Bible:
Matthew 1:18-25. - Annunciation to Joseph
Luke 1:26-33 - Annunciation to Mary
John 1:14 A Theological and Doctrinal Description of Christ.
Bible Reading:
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 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.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
I have read to you the Greatest Story Ever Told. It is a story of both beauty and love. Of Greatness and Humility, of power and glory, of sadness and great joy
I am going to pull some statements out of our reading and speak to them as they are descriptive statements about who Jesus is.
Mrs. Lavanna Schaper has been in charge of elementary Chapels this week and she loves music and has been teaching them Christmas music. One she has been singing frequently is a beautiful little song called:
WHO IS HE IN YONDER STALL
The song is written in a question and answer style - the first stanza goes...
Who is He in yonder stall,
At whose feet the shepherds fall?
Then Mrs. Schaper has taught the children to stand up and sing loudly -
’Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!
’Tis the Lord! the King of glory!
At His feet we humbly fall,
Crown Him! crown Him, Lord of all!
The questions keep coming - but the answer is the same:
’Tis the Lord! oh wondrous story!
’Tis the Lord! the King of glory!
At His feet we humbly fall,
Crown Him! crown Him, Lord of all!
This morning many of these statements are the same way - they give many questions - but the answer is the same - “His name shall be called Jesus - for He shall save his people from their sins.”
Now without getting into all of the details - Mary has her visit first and is already found with Child chronologically when we read the passage in Matthew - because Joseph her fiance is contemplating ending the relationship because of it.
While Joseph is thinking about this - he has a special visitor that came to his troubled sleep and have a special message for him.
The message is threefold:
Don’t be afraid to make Mary your wife- God is working in this
Mary is going to have a son
You will name this son JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
The first thing we see about this name is that
JESUS is a SAVIOR - and the idea of Savior is modified by “FROM THEIR SINS” SO Jesus is going to be a SAVIOR - from both the actions of sins, and the judgment of those sins.
Paul’s letter to Titus explains this a little more for us
Titus 3:4–7 “4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The meaning of the name JESUS means savior - The Hebrew ‘yeshua’ means “YAHWEH or JEHOVAH - GOD saves”
Tyndale Bible Dictionary (Savior)
Mary praises God as Savior in her hymn of praise.
Jesus’ name (Greek for Joshua) means “the Lord is salvation” and was given in anticipation of his function as the Savior (Mt 1:21).
As the Savior, Jesus completes God’s plan for a promised deliverer (Acts 13:23; Ti 3:4), provides redemption for humanity (Ti 2:13–14), and is the hope of the believer (Phil 3:20–21).
Inherent in the term “savior” is the concept of one who saves or delivers from danger to a position of safety.
Jesus has delivered the believer from sin and death into immortality and life (2 Tm 1:10).
While Jesus never refers to himself as Savior (soter),
he is announced as such by the angels at his birth (Lk 2:11),
confessed as such by those who heard his words (Jn 4:42),
and proclaimed as Savior by the early church (Acts 5:31; 13:23).
Salvation is central to the mission of Jesus (Lk 19:10). Paul teaches that Christ is the Savior of the church in the present (Eph 5:23) and future (Phil 3:20).
The message is for a reason:
A fulfillment of prophecy given by Isaiah 700 years before its fulfillment.
Matthew quotes the Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 “14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.”
It also defines for us another title of who this JESUS is:
Immanuel - GOD WITH US - That means right here with us right now.
John’s Gospel put it this way John 1:14 “14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
God came near - into our sphere - into our world, into our mess, into our lives - and HE IS STILL HERE.
I don’t agree with everything Max Lucado writes but I love his writings about the incarnation - the miracle of Christ’s birth - the “thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son” later defined by Gabriel to Mary as “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the Highest shall overshadow thee:”
The incarnation also speaks about the virign birth - Surprisingly there is more information in the New Testament about the virgin birth than about the Lord’s Supper (D. A. Edwards, The Virgin Birth in History and Faith, chap. 3; Ramm, EC , p. 71)
Lucado put it this way:
It was Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable...
...His golden throne room had been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. And worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds....
...Heaven had opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb. The Omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl. God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created.
...God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen.He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of his mother.God had come near. Love was reaching, longing, searching…
...Angels watched as Mary changed God’s diaper. The universe watched with wonder as The Almighty learned to walk. Children played in the street with him. And had the synagogue leader in Nazareth known who was listening to his sermons…
Jesus may have had pimples. He may have been tone-deaf. Perhaps a girl down the street had a crush on him or vice versa. It could be that his knees were bony. One thing’s for sure: He was, while completely divine, completely human.
For thirty-three years he would feel everything you and I have ever felt. He felt weak. He grew weary. He was afraid of failure. He was susceptible to wooing women. He got colds, burped, and had body odor. His feelings got hurt. His feet got tired. And his head ached.
...To think of Jesus in such a light is—well, it seems almost irreverent, doesn’t it? It’s not something we like to do; it’s uncomfortable. It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. Clean the manure from around the manger. Wipe the sweat out of his eyes. Pretend he never snored or blew his nose or hit his thumb with a hammer. He’s easier to stomach that way. There is something about keeping him divine that keeps him distant, packaged, predictable. But don’t do it. For heaven’s sake, don’t. Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him into the mire and muck of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us out.
God came near - into our world - and it is only by coming in can he truly be the SAVIOR!!!
Mary is given more descriptions of this child - look at her visit with Gabriel - She is givne a sevenfold description of who Jesus is beginning with HE SHALL BE GREAT!!!
1,000 Bible Study Outlines: Study Helps and Sermon Outlines 202. Christ, the Great One
This is one of the positive statements Gabriel gave to Mary regarding the Infant Christ. There are seven “shalt’s” and “shall’s.” The “shalt” of incarnation: “Thou shalt conceive;” the “shalt” of designation: “shalt call His Name Jesus;” the “shall” of exaltation: “He shall be great;” the “shall” of determination: “shall be called the Son of the Highest;” the “shall” of identification: “The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David;” the “shall” of dominion: “He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever;” and the “shall” of continuation: “Of His Kingdom there shall be no end.”
He will be great. This greatness contrasts with the rest of humanity, which is not great, and also with the greatness of John the Baptist, whose greatness was not “absolute” but qualified with “in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15). Thus Jesus and John were both alike (“great”) and different (Jesus’ greatness is an unqualified greatness). This adjective functions not as a name but rather indicates his being and nature.46
The Gospel of Luke b. The Prophecy of Jesus’ Birth (1:26–38)
E. Schweizer (TDNT VIII, 376f., 381f.) thinks that in the present verse we have a Lucan formulation, intended to contrast Jesus with John who is merely the ‘prophet of the Most High’ (1:76)
Now Dr. Adam Clark runs them all together in his description of GREAT:
1st. Because that human nature that should be born of the virgin was to be united with the Divine nature. 2dly. In consequence of this, that human nature should be called in a peculiar sense the SON of the most high God; because God would produce it in her womb without the intervention of man. 3. He shall be the everlasting Head and Sovereign of his Church, 4thly. His government and kingdom shall be eternal. Revolutions may destroy the kingdoms of the earth, but the powers and gates of hell and death shall never be able to destroy or injure the kingdom of Christ. His is the only dominion that shall never have an end
He … will be called the Son of the Most High. This means “will be the Son of God.” This is evident from Matt 5:9 and Luke 6:35, where “will be called” in Matthew has the same meaning as “will be” in Luke (cf. also Rom 9:7; Heb 11:18; Gen 21:12). “Most High” is a circumlocution for God (Luke 1:35, 76; 6:35; Acts 7:48). Once again Jesus is shown to be greater than John the Baptist, for John is described as a “prophet” of the Most High (Luke 1:76) whereas Jesus is described as “Son” of the Most High. The mention of Jesus’ divine sonship before mention of his Davidic messiahship in the next part of the verse indicates that the latter is grounded in the former and that Jesus’ messiahship should be interpreted in terms of his sonship.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Clearly 2 Sam 7:12–13, 16 and Jesus’ role as Israel’s Messiah are in view here. Compare Luke 1:69; 2:4, 11; Acts 2:30 for this same emphasis. Jesus’ Davidic descent already has been alluded to in Luke 1:27, where Joseph is described as “a descendant of David.”
1:33 He will reign over the house of Jacob. Like the previous description, this description depicts Jesus as the awaited Messiah. Thus, like David, he is the King of Israel.47 The “house of Jacob” was a traditional term to describe Israel (Exod 19:3; Isa 2:5–6; 8:17; 48:1).
Forever. The eternal rule of the Davidic kingship is taught in 2 Sam 7:13, 16; Pss 89:4, 29; 132:12; Isa 9:7, but in this verse it is the final Davidic King, the Messiah, who will reign forever. Compare also Dan 7:13–14, where one “like a son of man” is given an everlasting kingdom.
His kingdom will never end. This may be an allusion to Isa 9:6 (LXX) or to Dan 7:14. The kingdom of God that is realized in the coming of Jesus and is to be consummated at the parousia will continue forever. - Stein, R. H. (1992). Luke (Vol. 24, pp. 83–84). Broadman & Holman Publishers.
This morning - we aren’t waiting for Him to come as a baby in a manger and deliver us - HE HAS COME and is with us now through the work of the Holy Spirit - and is our Savior - and is KING OF KINGS ANd LORD OF LORDS - and HE SHALL REIGN FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER AMEN!!!