Christmas eve 2023

Merry Christmas One River,

Today marks our celebration of the LORD’s initial coming as well as a celebration that we look forward to his return.

We celebrate the birth of our savior and his return of King of Kings.

In order to fully appreciate what it is that we have been given this day, I think we need to take a look around scripture. It’s important to remember that immediately after the death of Christ, in the days of Antioch and the Epistles, a large following of Christians was comprised of fulfilled Jews. A people that knew their OT scripture back and forth. For they people Jesus was seen as the fulfillment of the OT Messianic Prophecies.

However, within a few hundred years, much of this shifted. They Jewish population that did not immediately shift to follow Jesus, stayed Jewish. By far the largest converts to Christianity were pagans and other Gentiles.

When that came about, the church for many years had a real crisis about what they should do with the OT. Most did not read or speak Hebrew. They didn’t understand the cultural relevance that the stories contained in the OT worked around. Some members of the church hierarchy thought the best thing to do was to simply cut the OT out and go forward with just the NT.

Now much of the modern church has figured out that this is not the proper way to interpret scripture. However, there are still many churches around that rarely read from the OT in Sunday messages. They rarely study anything outside the NT, and often they rarely study anything outside the Pauline epistles.

If we choose this path to celebrate Christ, we miss the glorious message that Christ truly has for us.

Let’s look at our first reading for today;

2 Samuel 7:1–16 (NIV)

God’s Promise to David

7 After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2 he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”

3 Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you.”

4 But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:

5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6 I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7 Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’

8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies.

“‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

Now this can seem a little confusing at first glance. Why are we talking about David when we’re celebrating the birth of Jesus. Well, because this is where it started. David is the one they say “Is a man after God’s own heart.”

David sees the LORD’s tabernacle as a tent. He sees the arch as being in what he considers a substandard dwelling place and, in his heart, he wishes to rectify this.

Nathan says ya go for it. But then that night Yahweh gives him a vision and tells him that his son will build the house where the LORD dwells.

The last paragraph is particularly difficult, because it switches tense back and forth. There’s a bunch of, what we’re discovered to be double meanings here. God’s talking about Solomon, David’s son, but He’s also talking about Jesus.

David’s Kingdom will be established forever.

I’ve talked before about the separation of the leadership, the kingly class followed one side and the priestly class followed another. This was started at almost the beginning of the Arks dwelling on earth. Moses and Aaron are a bit of an exception because Moses was a prophet. But the kingly line followed Moses, or at this time it was really a leadership line that passed to Joshua, and Aaron took the priestly line.

Most of the time these two lines stayed separate, but the first time we see them joined together is actually here with David. Now, he was not elected as high priest, but if we checkout 1 chronicles;

1 Chronicles 15:25–28 (NIV)

25 So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. 26 Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. 27 Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps.

Did we catch that? David wore an Ephod – this is a priestly garment expressly spelled out in Leviticus. Only the priest could wear this garment. David was the first king and priest in the history of Israel. There were many priests back then, but only one king. David does this brilliant liturgical dance to celebrate the LORD and the return of the Ark.

This is Yahweh connecting the dots. Bring all things into fulfillment.

There are only a few times in all of scripture this happens, most of the other ones are not seen as a good thing. One of the guys in the book of Maccabees is actually called the Antichrist – this, of course, takes place before Jesus was born, so were not talking about the same antichrist as the one in revelation.

But that too makes some sense. If we think there will be a false Christ that comes before Jesus’ final return, then why would we think the enemy wouldn’t send a false Christ before his initial appearance?

Ok, let’s jump to the main reading for today;

Luke 1:26–38 (NIV)

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

Now it’s Matthew’s Gospel that opens with an incredible genealogy connecting Jesus to David and ultimately back to Abraham. But it is here in Luke that we see this angel, the messenger of God tell Mary that she will have Jesus. He will be Son of the Most High and His kingdom will rule forever. It’s that same OT Davidic language from 2 Sam.

We cannot understand the mission of Jesus apart from the OT. If we separate the OT and New, what we get are these arguments about Jesus as a good man, a moral teacher. All the names he would come to use, are expressly spelled out in the OT, from the simple title Messiah, to the term Son of Man. Jesus cannot be properly understood apart and aside from the OT.

Last week when we sang Oh, Come Oh Come, Emmanuel. (Again, a title from the OT.) Cheryl made reference to the O Antiphons.

Antiphons are ritual chants that are sung or repeated. They go along with the daily readings of the liturgical calendar and they’re almost as old as that calendar.

However, the O’ Antiphons are specific to the Calendar around advent. They started early on enough that the originals were taken from Kione Greek, the language of the NT. But they evolved over the years into Latin.

Cheryl and Julie both shared a version of this on the Signal but there’s something else interesting in there.

The O’ Antiphons for Advent are all taken from the book of Isaiah.

Dec. 17, O’ Sapientia (meaning O Wisdom), from Isaiah 11:2-3.

Dec. 18, O’ Adonai (O Lord or Ruler), 11:4-5 and 33:22.

Dec. 19, O’ Radix (O Root of Jesse), 11:1.

Dec. 20, O’ Clavis (O Key of David), 22:22.

Dec. 21, O’ Oriens (O Radiant Dawn), 9:1.

Dec. 22, O’ Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), 2:4.

Dec. 23, O’ Emmanuel (O God with Us), 7:14.

It is widely pointed out that if you take the first letter of each Latin name and reverse the order — that is, begin with E from Emmanuel, then Rex Gentium and so on you will spell the word EROCRAS, which in Latin means “I shall come tomorrow.”

Some may see this type of thing as a coincidence. I see this as Yahweh playing 3D chess. He’s always moving things around for the betterment of His people.

Tomorrow, we celebrate the birth of Christ. But let us not forget we’re also celebrating the eminent return of our Christ.

As the world shifts around us, new things will come our way. Whatever happens and whatever way you feel led by the LORD, let’s not forget to give Him credit as He’s always working in our lives. Let us not forget that we are commanded to continue to meet together in person to worship Him and for the continued nourishment of our own souls.

Not everything in this life will go the way we want it to. But Jesus loves you and he came for you to show us the path, and ultimately, he died for you.

God bless.