"Thus says the Lord" Watching
Christmas can change your life forever. • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Watching Isaiah 7:14-16 Isaiah 11:1-5
Introduction: Today is the first day of Advent. So to start off today let’s take a look at the what, when, who, why and how of this celebration. Let’s start off with:
What Does Advent Mean?
Advent means "arrival" and signifies the start of an event or the arrival of a person. In Christian communities around the world, Advent refers to a four-week season of remembering and celebrating the arrival of Jesus on Earth. It’s a time to reflect on the unexpected nature of Jesus’ humble birth and join in the anticipation of when he will come again to reunite Heaven and Earth once and for all.
What Is Advent?
Advent is a four-week season in the Church calendar dedicated to anticipating the arrival, or "advent," of Jesus of Nazareth, the long-awaited Messiah and King. Christians from many backgrounds celebrate this time with reflections on hope, peace, love, and joy. And while their practices may look different, all focus on the hope-filled arrival of Jesus.
When Is Advent?
Advent takes place on the four Sundays that lead up to Christmas Day.
Who Celebrates Advent?
People from Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and other Christian traditions celebrate Advent, though the specific practices may vary from community to community. Additionally, some people celebrate Advent without the focus on Jesus' arrival, seeing the tradition as a fun way to countdown to Christmas.
Why Is Advent Important?
Advent can be a simple and fun tradition of counting down to Christmas. But for others—particularly those who believe Jesus to be the incarnation of God and the long-awaited Messiah—Advent is a shared experience of meditation and prayer that celebrates the arrival of Jesus.
How Is Advent Typically Celebrated?
In some traditions, followers of Jesus devote the first two weeks of Advent to remembering Jesus' promise to return and renew Heaven and Earth. Then, during the last two weeks of Advent, these communities focus on the birth of Jesus.
In other traditions, people reflect on the concepts of hope, peace, love, and joy—one for each week leading up to Christmas. People may light Advent candles, prepare unique wreaths, hold special church services, or read specific Scriptures each day to reflect on the arrival of Jesus on Earth.
Now that those questions are answered let’s take a look at what caused the anticipation of God’s people to watch for His coming and for believers to continue to watch for His return.
Passage: Isaiah 7:14-16
14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.
15 “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good.
16 “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
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.
Transitional Sentence: So we are celebrating the advent of Christ Jesus, while at the same time watching for His return because we believe the prophecies of the Old and New testaments.
Prophecies
a. Let’s begin with the question of what is a prophet?
Lexham Theological Wordbook says this about Prophets.
In the Old Testament, a prophet is a person, either male or female, who functions as God’s spokesperson and is commissioned by him to deliver his word, either to individuals or to groups. The prophet receives the word of God through various means, including dreams, visions, and theophanies. In the New Testament, a prophet is one whom God has equipped, alongside apostles, pastors, and teachers, to lead the church through the edification and encouragement of believers.
So, what is a prophecy?
It is An oral, divine message mediated through an individual that is directed at a person or people group and intended to elicit a specific response.
Keep that in mind - the prophecy should elicit a specific response.
So who were some of the Prophets?
b. Those best known for their prophecies about the coming of the Messiah are: Isaiah, Micah, Zechariah, and David.
All the People in the Bible: An A–Z Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture says this:
Isaiah was the son of Amoz (not to be confused with the prophet Amos), born in Jerusalem around 760 BC. His first vision happened “in the year that King Uzziah died” (Isa. 6:1), which was about 742, and the indications are that Isaiah was about eighteen at the time. There is evidence that he may have been of royal or at least high noble blood. He had close connection to many kings, and his level of education indicates that he was probably given royal tutelage.
Isaiah prophesied for over forty years, extending through the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. It is not known when or how he died, but there is an ancient rabbinic and Christian tradition that he was martyred by the tyrant king Manasseh.
Isaiah’s messianic prophecies were not central to his teaching at the time, although they became important in later Judaism and are powerful in Christianity. Messianic hope arose out of dissatisfaction with so many of the Jewish kings, and Isaiah’s messianic prophecies were along these lines. He lived under five kings, only two of whom could be considered reasonably good and faithful rulers—Uzziah (under whom he lived but did not prophesy), and Uzziah’s grandson Hezekiah. Like all men, these kings had serious flaws; but the other three, Jotham, Ahaz, and Manasseh, courted evil, idolatry, and corruption. The most famous messianic prophecy, that a virgin would bear a child, was given in the time of Ahaz as a sign that despite Ahaz’s corruption God would save the Jewish people.
And then Micah -
Micah is the sixth of the twelve so-called minor prophets. He was born in Moresheth, near the old Philistine city of Gath, about halfway between Jerusalem and Gaza. He would have been considered a provincial, quite without the sophistication of his contemporary, Isaiah.
There are two outstanding features of his prophecy: he understood the problems and fears of the common folk—the peasants and shepherds—and he seems to have had only a small concern for international intrigues other than having a deep recognition of the constant danger of foreign invasions.
Micah prophesied under three kings, Jotham (750–735 BC), Ahaz (735–715), and Hezekiah (715–687).
Zechariah -
Was the eleventh of the twelve so-called Minor Prophets.
In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.
David:
David is one of the most enigmatic characters in the Bible. He is honored as the ideal king of Israel, the builder of an empire, a great father to his people, the root from whom the Messiah would come, and the key to Jesus’ ancestry. He was a mighty warrior, a musician, a poet, a deeply loyal friend, a devoted lover of God, and for the most part a just and able king.
He was at the same time a liar, a cheat, a swindler, an adulterer, a cruel warlord, and a murderer.
When David died he left the kingdom vastly enlarged, militarily very strong, and financially secure. Unlike the short-lived dynasties of the northern kingdom of Israel, David’s dynasty lasted from its inception in 1000 BC, survived the division of the United Monarchy, and continued through the kingdom of Judah for over four centuries until Judah’s fall to the Babylonians in 587 BC.
Other Psalmists made prophetic statements in their poems as well.
These few I have listed are just a sample of the many prophets that spoke from God to help lead the people.
c. So what are some of the Old Testament prophecies you might know about the coming of the Messiah:
Isaiah 7:14 which talks about a virgin birth, Micah 5:2 which talks about a birth in Bethlehem, Zechariah 9:9 which talks about a horse ride, Zechariah 12:10 which talks about the piercing of a king, Psalm 16:10 which talks about a dead body that doesn’t decay, Psalm 69:9 which talks about zeal for a house and don’t forget Isaiah 53 which describes the suffering servant, the coming Messiah.
And what are some of the New Testament prophecies you might know about the second coming of the Messiah: Matthew 24:30-31 which talks about a party in the clouds, Matthew 25:31 which talks about a glorious throne, Mark 13:32 which talks about a surprise return, Hebrews 9:28 which talks about salvation, Revelation 22:6-7 which talks about when it will all take place.
Other prophecies you may have heard of and recognize are in the books of: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Habakkuk, and many of the New Testament Books. The Bible is the story of the Messiah walking through the history of God’s chosen people and the prophecies are road signs to help us find Him.
2. As the Messiah walked through the history of the Hebrew people the Prophets, God’s messengers, were telling the story before it was written. They were watching and waiting intently.
a. They spoke the word of the Lord and searched intently to see how this message would play out in the history of the people. 1 Peter 1:10-11 says:
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,
11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
The prophets searched for the answer, they asked others of what they have seen. They wanted to see the answer for themselves. They trusted the word of the Lord.
And they - Longed to see the Messiah. Matthew 13:17 says:
17 “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
This verse was Jesus speaking to the disciples when He was teaching them by using parables. Jesus reminded His disciples that those prophets and righteous men would have loved to see the Messiah standing before them teaching in parables. The question that comes to my mind is: Would they have known Him for who He was, the Messiah, or would they have kept looking for someone else?
For those who at the time recognized Him for who He was they -
Rejoiced at the thought along with Abraham. John 8:56 says:
56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
Jesus was not yet fifty years old but He was saying that He knew that father Abraham waited expectantly for His coming and saw it from heaven because God is the God of the living and not the dead. Abraham looked forward to His coming because it was foretold in the beginning when God laid out His plan for redemption to Adam. Genesis 3:15 begins the story:
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
So, those who knew the word of the Lord and trusted it were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah with expectancy and were intently searching for Him as they pronounced the word of the Lord.
b. But how were the people of God changed? Those who believed the pronouncement would become expectant and hopeful just like those who pronounced the word of the Lord. The whole idea of advent is built around the expectation of His coming. Those who lived before Christ could look forward to His coming. They didn’t know when it would happen but they believed. They believed He was coming, they watched and waited.
Think of it this way. At what point in the year do you start looking forward to Christmas? January 1st - just one week after you celebrated it? Or do you wait a while, maybe June, August or do you wait until after Thanksgiving.
Businesses look forward to Christmas in October now. Christmas stuff was on the shelves before Halloween stuff. Is this right or wrong? You can decide that, but the question is still there - When do you start looking forward to Christmas? How much expectation do you have? Do you wait and watch intently with great joy? Or do you simply want to get it done and over with?
Christmas is for the celebration of the coming of our Lord and Savior. And Advent is the celebration of that expectation.
c. But how would those who weren’t Hebrew but knew what was foretold be changed? Such as the Wise men who came to worship Jesus shortly after He was born. Matthew 2:2 says:
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
According to this they saw His star. A sign that would appear, a sign that was foretold in a prophecy. A prophecy that led them to watch expectantly for the sign of His coming. A sign they saw, a sign they believed, a belief they acted on. Who else was watching, who else was waiting?
3. But what about us? Should we be watching for something? Certainly. We are here more than two thousand years after His arrival but there is more to come. We can celebrate the day He was born into this world but we can also look forward to His return, His salvation and the establishment of His kingdom.
a. So what’s this about His return? That’s right. There are numerous prophecies that He will return. Except that His second coming won’t be like His first. The first was quiet and lowly in a manger. Not the place where most people were looking for Him to arrive. The return trip will be different. Matthew 24:30-31 says:
30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
31 “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
When He comes the second time it will be obvious and things on earth will change in the twinkling of an eye. And then Matthew 25:31 says:
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.
So He will take His rightful place on a glorious throne before all the nations. I wonder what that will look like. The word glorious brings to mind ideals of nothing that has been seen before.
But when is this to happen you ask? Well Mark 13:32 says:
32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
So nobody knows when He will return. Sounds kind of suspicious to me. But, that’s why we have to keep an eye out. Keep watching, keep expecting, keep hoping.
And when He comes, what’s going to happen?
b. Well many things are going to happen but the thing that matters the most to those who believe will be Salvation. Hebrews 9:28 says:
28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Are you eagerly waiting? Prophecy says that the day of the Lord, or the day when the Lord comes will be one of catastrophe and horror. But those who are being saved won’t be worried about that. Those being saved will be with the Lord, not against Him.
Have you ever received a gift you really really wanted? How much did you look forward to it? Did it turn out to be everything you thought it would be? Well His salvation will be more than we can ever imagine. This is a gift worth waiting for. His salvation is a gift worthy of our expectation.
And when He comes He will set up a brand new kingdom.
c. The Kingdom of God. In this kingdom He will have dominion and glory just like Daniel said about 550 years before Christ’s first coming. Daniel 7:13-14
13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.
And this kingdom will never end. But when is it all going to come about? When Lord, when?
Well if we go by what John wrote in the book of Revelation 22:7
7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”
He is coming quickly. I guess that term is relative. Quickly for us is sometime during our lifetime. Quickly is in time for each of us to see it happen. But that isn’t the way things have worked out. He has tarried, waiting until the time the Father set for His return. To us it seems to be a really long time. More than two thousand years even though Jesus said: Matthew 24:34
34 “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
This generation. Which generation. Ours, my parents, grandparents, great, great, great grandparents?
The original idea of this generation, the generation alive at the time, seeing these things would have provided hope. It would have provided some anticipation, it would have provided purpose for spreading the gospel that others might be saved when He returned quickly.
Exit: With that thought we need to close. This generation will see the fulfillment of all that was spoken in ages past. Knowing and believing that He is coming quickly should provide an eagerness to watch expectantly, and Hope fervently. It should provide a willingness to do what will bring Him back so that the promises of God in scripture will be fulfilled. Christ’s birth has come and gone but He promised to return.
He promised to return when the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.
So, during this advent celebration where we remember the coming of the King and look forward to His return do the things that will bring Him back. Preach the gospel of the kingdom as a testimony to all those around you.
Come Lord Jesus, Come!
Pray!
