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The Voices of Christmas
The Voices of Christmas
Good morning my friends!
Well, here we are Christmas eve!
This I believe is one of the most wonderful times of the year. And when we think of the gift of God, it really is easy to say “…It’s a wonderful life....”
It’s wonderful because of Jesus. He is indeed the reason for the season.
Jesus came, born of a virgin, in a stable area and laid in a humble manger. The gift of God come to man.
And as we gather, we celebrate so much, we rejoice with family and friends, we exchange gifts with one another, we share love…
But truthfully, it is God’s love that we share. God first loved us and we take what has been given to us and we share it, we have the joy of sharing God’s great gift with all those around us.
So this morning lets take a little time and reflect on all God has done for us with the sending of His Son into the world.
We are going to hop around several passages today as we look at the Christmas story. We will look at primarily as the opening of Luke and Matthew’s gospels
So lets talk about the Voices of Christmas, those points in Scripture that speak to us about the coming of God’s son into the world.
So lets look at this first thought today…
1. The Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness....
We cannot open the story of Christmas without the voice of John the Baptist.
John is the person that God sent into the world to help people prepare for the gift God was sending into the world.
As you walk through the Old Testament, God was calling for people to hear the story of hope.
A message of hope for the world to hear and embrace. God was sharing himself with the world, He was sending his Son to redeem the people from their sin.
And at the perfect time, God sent his messenger ahead of Him, to proclaim the way of the Lord.
But John’s voice would begin as God’s angel visited his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth, they were both of priestly lines, they were righteous in front of God the Scriptures declare but sadly they were advanced in age, and childless.
That is a sad difficult place to be in during that time. Family was everything and husband and wives hoped and prayed for children, but none came to this couple yet.
But God was at work in His timing.
… Look with me at Luke chapter 1. Verses 13-17.... Luke 1:13-17
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17 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.”
So just think of this, Zechariah is there in the temple itself, he is standing right in front of the altar of incense which is in front of the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple.
And suddenly the angel of the Lord stands before him.... And Zechariah is troubled, he is scared, it’s not every day you see one of the Lord’s great angels. This is Gabriel, one of the Arch angels…
And his announcement is truly wonderful.... Your prayers have been heard and your wife will bear you a son…Wow.
In their old age God is going to bless them with a child, a son, whom they were to name John. But that isn’t the entire message...
The message is the child’s future purpose.. Look at exactly what the angel says....
* He will be great before the Lord
* He must not drink any type of strong drink
* He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from His mother’s
womb.
* He will turn the hearts of many back to the Lord.
* He will go before Him (Jesus) in the spirit and power of Elijah.
* He will prepare the world for His coming.
How wonderful .... John would have the privileged of telling the world, the Kingdom of God was coming close to them, get ready. God’s Son was about to take the stage of life...
Let me share Mark 1:4-8, Mark tells us of John the Baptist as an adult...
4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
He was a voice crying in the wilderness my friends, He was the telling the the world, get ready the Messiah has come.
And we know from the Gospel of John as day would come when John would declare, “…Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
What a voice calling and what a witness the Lord provided and sent into the world
Now lets move forward then there was the voice of the Angel visiting a young maiden
2. The Voice of the Angel Visiting a Young Maiden...
Now it was just about 6 months after the angel Gabriel visited Zechariah, that the angel visited Mary, a young lady waiting for her wedding day.
Lets go to Luke chapter 1 again, and look with me at Luke 1: 28-33
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
What a wonderful passage, to hear the message of God, delivered by the voice of the angel Gabriel.
Look again at what the Lord says to her… “...Greeting O’ favored one...” or in your text might say “...you who are highly favored.”
Wow what a greeting, God was indeed pleased with her life.
Mary has been graced by God the Father, He has chosen her to bring forth the Son of God into the world. It has nothing to do with her own piety or righteousness. It is God’s choice to use her, and He is about to do just that...
Gabriel says the “Lord is with you…” Very literally His presence and power is upon her life.
Now verse 29 tells us that Mary was alarmed by all this, again, it’s not every day you see the angel of the Lord but Gabriel reassures her and tells her there is nothing to be afraid of in this moment.
Gabriel then delivers the message He was sent to share with her, look at verse 31 again… Luke 1:31
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
In conjunction to the Lord being with her, the Lord will use her and His plans will be fulfilled in her. You Mary will conceive and bear a Son and you shall call his name Jesus.
Now its one thing to tell her that she is going to bear a child, a Son nonetheless, God tells her even the name this child should be called... And this child will be special, far more than she can ever realize right now....look at verses 32-33. Luke 1:32-33
32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Lets break this down, just what is Gabriel saying about this child....
He will be great… In comparison to the rest of humanity, which by the way are not great, This child will be great, He is the one sent from the Father, fit and qualified for the task ahead of him.
He will be called the Son of the Most High… this gives us a reason for His greatness, He is and will forever be the Son of God. He is the second person of the Trinity, sent from God to our world to accomplish the Lord’s purposes.
Next Gabriel says "...And the Lord will give him the throne of his father David...” This statement is a reference to the Father’s promise to David. Let me share this with you 2 Sam 7:12-13
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Jesus is the physical and spiritual descendent of David, the past great King who had a heart for God. Jesus has the right to occupy that throne, the Great throne as King of Israel, as King of the world and yes the throne of each heart here today.
And finally verse 33 shares with us that His kingdom will have no end.....Lets look at verse 33 again.. Luke 1:33
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Here the angel depicts the role of Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. Only God can rule over the kingdom of Israel. This was God’s plan from the beginning. He would be their God and they would be his people.
This kingdom would never be threatened, it would never perish. He would rule the world. Listen to Daniel 7
13 “I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
14 And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
While Babylon would fall and all the nations after that, God’s Kingdom would soon come and it would never be upturned or destroyed. Jesus will rule and reign forever.
Now I love Mary’s question about all of this, it’s honest and seeking.... How will this take place since I am a virgin?
Listen to Gabriel response to her in verse 35....
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Now think of this , John was filled with the Holy Spirit from His mother’s womb, Jesus would be conceived by the Spirit. And Mary, God’s power will over shadow you
Because of this, the one born to you Mary will be Holy, the Son of God.
Those two points are important. Holy refers to his state. He would be the person who is without sin. And he would be the Son of God.
Jesus would be the God man, fully God and fully Man, And he mission is to e seek and to save those who were lost.
And my friends Mary’s spoken word is powerful… Listen to her confession and proclamation… Verse 38 she simply said I am the Lord’s servant, let it be to me according to your word...
You see her confession is that She believed… And the proclamation is let it be as the Lord would have it....
She is submissive to the word of the Lord. What He desires, she is content with..
Oh my friends, how often are we content. We struggle with being content, so often we want our desires, we want our way, and we fail to listen and do God’s way.
O that we would do just as the Lord leads in our life and would follow his direction.
Mary is a good example of a mortal person being obedient and content with the Lord.
And as we move through the text, there is another voice we should listen too.. The voice of the Shepherds.
3. The Voice of the Shepherds....
Now we know from Luke chapter 2 that Joseph and Mary had traveled to Bethlehem as required due to the Roman census being conducted in the land.
And with so many returning to their ancestral home, they was no place for them to lodge over night, no room, no home to share.
All they could find was a stable, a place shared by many animals and then time came for Mary to give birth, and she did so in a humble stable area, a grotto if you will.... and laid the baby Jesus in a manger...
And this night as the Savior has been born as a humble child, the angel and later a host of heaven appears to the simple shepherds, the lowest of the society but the message of God Son came to them.
Look with me in Luke 2, verses 8-14 Luke 2:8-14
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
So here are these men, men of varying ages, and while they are trying to settle in for the night, The angel of the Lord visits them as well.
And while they are afraid, the angel tells them, “... fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people...”
Fear not, there is no need to worry, I have something good to share with you.
Good news, is the message to be shared, it is the gospel for all people.. it was for the entire house of Israel, and for the world as well..
And here is the message, a Savior is born to you… Luke 2:11
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
In the ancestral home of David, Bethlehem a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord. These three titles reveal the nature of God’s son.
He is a Savior, literally the one who saves people from their own nature, from their sin.
As Zechariah praised the Lord after his mouth had been opened when it came time to name John. He praised God for having raised up a means to Salvation. Listen to Luke 1:69.....
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
The horn of salvation speaks to the one who might be guilty but in a last ditch effort to find mercy would run into the temple and take hold of the horns that were on the 4 corners of the Altar of Incense.
There the high Priest would prevent harm from coming to them until he could try his case.
God has raised up the means for man to be saved, we take hold of the one God has sent into the world and he will changed us.
He is the Christ… which also means Messiah. The promised deliver of Israel. Just as God raised up Moses and he lead the people out of bondage of Egypt so Jesus has been raised up and He will lead the people who trust in Him out of the bondage of sin and death.
And finally, He is the Lord.... He is the one given the authority and power to act, to save, to bring life and death. Paul would later refer to Jesus by all three titles in Phil 3:20
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
And here is the most beautiful thing my friends… after this proclamation and the praise of the heavenly host… the shepherds went to see this thing that had been revealed to them. Listen to Luke 2, verses 16-17
16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
These humble men witnessed for themselves what the angel proclaimed to them and in great Joy they made know what had been told them.
They made a confession to Mary and Joseph, telling everything, and Mary treasured this all up in her heart.
My friends, today These are some of the voice of Christmas.
The Savior came and His name is Jesus, He is the greatest gift God has extended to humanity, one that will save us from our sin.
Jesus is the reason why we celebrate Christmas, He is the reason for the season.
Jesus is the Son of God, born into flesh, began life as a child wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in the mainger.
He lived and grew in the power and strength of His Father. At the right time Jesus began His public ministry and that work would lead to the cross, where he would give his life as a ransom for sin.
He took our place, suffered our pain and death that we might have life.
God has given us the greatest gift at Christmas and we fall down and worship Him today.
Thank you God for giving us Jesus.
Do you know him today?
Are you walking with him today?
Only you can answer that, we call you upon the Lord at any time and seek Him with the needs of our heart.
Seek Him today if you need him. The Scriptures declare that you will find him..
lets pray....