The Silence Before Christmas

How many of you are familiar with the Christmas poem titled Account of a Visit from Saint Nicholas? If you're drawing a blank right now, that is because it is more commonly referred to as The Night Before Christmas. If that title still doesn't ring any bells, then let me quote a bit of it to you.

[With a feeling of suspense]

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap...

The poem goes on to describe the a visit from Santa Claus on Christmas Eve as he delivered presents to the family.

I like how this poem starts. These first two lines are so iconic. Every time you hear them read, they are spoken in soft and hushed tones. If you're watching a movie in which someone is reading it, or listening to an audio dramatization, there is usually soft, tinkling music accompanying this part of the poem. The familiarity that we have with this poem also breeds anticipation within the listener. We know what is about to happen. The silence of the night will soon be broken as there arises "such a clatter"!

That noise will be enough to draw the man of the house to window in a flash as he begins to look for the source of the noise. As he peers out the window, he sees that it is none other than Santa Claus and his reindeer that are the cause of the commotion.

The excitement builds as Santa drops down the chimney, and we, as the readers, are rewarded by the quintessential description of Old Saint Nick: Twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks, nose like a cherry, beard white as snow, a pipe in his mouth, and a little round belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly.

Santa then goes to work as he sets out the presents and fills the stockings, disappearing up the chimney as he cries out, "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

This morning we begin our series through the life of Christ. I was thinking about how to preach a Christmas sermon in July. The birth of Jesus is probably very familiar to us, as are the events surrounding it. If you have spent any time at all in a church around Christmas time, you have probably heard the story of the angel announcing to Mary the miracle conception of Jesus and His subsequent birth.

You are probably familiar with the trip that Joseph and Mary had to take from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and how they were unable to find a room in which to stay, so they had to stay in a stable. When Jesus was born, He was laid in manger in that stable.

You've probably also heard the story of how the shepherds that were in that area were told by angels of the birth of Jesus, the prophesied Messiah that would save the world of sin.

You may also be familiar with the story of the wise men that came onto the scene about two years later, bringing with them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

I thought of preaching on one of these things, when my mind wandered to the poem The Night Before Christmas, and those first two lines:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...

You know as you read these lines that the reason nothing is stirring in the house is because of the anticipated visit of Saint Nick. The children are fast asleep in their beds because it is the last night to be good before Santa drops off their presents. The anticipation of waiting for Santa to visit the house is communicated so well within the first four lines, that as readers, we become immediately immersed in this happy/anxious feeling. We know who is about to be there, but we also understand that for Santa to come, everyone has to be in their beds, fast asleep.

When I started to think about this poem and started to feel the familiar excitement of the first lines, I began to think of the true story of Christmas. We sang the the song Silent Night a while ago. That song is intended to depict the night that Jesus was born. Silent, in relative loneliness, and in a peaceful setting that well befits the birth of the Prince of Peace.

Anticipating the Messiah

But what we do not often experience as we study the events surrounding the birth of Christ, is the same feeling of anticipation that we get in the poem The Night Before Christmas. But the anticipation IS there and its even heavier than the anticipation communicated in the famous Christmas poem. See, in The Night Before Christmas, the family has been waiting for 365 days for the arrival of Santa bringing gifts and holiday cheer.

But that night of Jesus' birth, the Jews had been waiting for the arrival of their promised Messiah, that word means "anointed one" or "chosen one". He would be the one that would restore peace between God and man, something that had not existed since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. The Messiah would provide salvation from sin, something that had never before been experienced. The Jews, since the days of Abraham, had heard and recorded prophesies of this event. For thousands of years, the promise of God's Son was passed on from father to son, mother to daughter. The words of the various prophesies were repeated, memorized, and studied. Someday, this Messiah would come, not to bring physical gifts under a tree, but to bring peace and freedom from sin and from the punishment thereof.

The Jews relied on the words of the prophets to know more about when and how the Messiah would present Himself. These prophets, special messengers from the Lord, gave signs to look for concerning the Messiah. It was a regular thing to hear the words of prophets. They often spoke to the Jewish nation and even the surrounding nations about what God had planned for them. They served to instruct and rebuke and correct the nation of Israel when they had drifted into sinful practices.

The Israelites were a stubborn people, however, and often did not listen to the prophets. Upon hearing their words and the preaching against their sin, many times the Jews would even execute these prophets. The last prophet to be heard by the Jewish nation was named Malachi. The book of Malachi is written as a conversation between God and the Israelites. It depicts a nation that is far from God and suffering because of it. Malachi deals with poor crops and a faltering economy, intermarriage with the pagan nations, defilement of the priesthood, oppression of the poor, lack of support for the temple, and a general disdain of religion.

Malachi then relays God's message of a coming judgment upon the world in chapter 4. And the Old Testament is closed out by these two verses -

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet

before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,

and the heart of the children to their fathers,

lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

This is, in reality, a double prophecy. The prophecy, as we understand it by studying other passages of the Bible, deals with the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah and also deals with events approaching the end times.

But this is how the Old Testament ends. These words were given to Malachi around the year 430 BC, and after that, God is silent toward His people. There was no new prophecy for the next 400 years.

This period of time between the Old and New Testaments is known as the 400 years of silence. And this is what The Night Before Christmas made me think of.

The title of the message this morning is The Silence Before Christmas.

It serves as the introduction to the new series that starts today, and as the introduction to the series, will sound more like a history lesson than a sermon. The series itself is titled The Way, the Truth, and the Life: Studying Jesus Through the Gospels, and it all starts with His birth, but to more fully understand the setting of Christ's birth, we must understand what has happened to the Jewish people in the years leading up to that night.

We will close this message today, with the birth of Christ, but I want us to understand the excitement that caused Mary to compose a song after she was told that she would bear the Messiah, that caused the shepherds to leave their flock of sheep (which was their sole source of income) and run to find Jesus, and that caused a caravan laden with gold and precious ointments led by a group prominent and wealthy wise men to travel approximately 900 miles over the course of about 2 years to go and worship a toddler and shower him with gifts.

The anticipation for this is built up, like I said earlier, all throughout the Old Testament writings, not just the prophetic books. In fact, Genesis has the earliest reference to the coming of Jesus Christ. Throughout the history of the Israelite people, starting from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was known that it would be through Israel that the world would be blessed and that not only Jews, but Gentiles also would be able to receive salvation from their sins.

Even after the kingdom of Israel split into the southern kingdom of Judah and the northern kingdom of Israel, God still sent prophets to both nations. Both Judah and Israel ended up falling in idolatry. They forsook God, sometimes openly worshipping other false gods and other times in less obvious ways as they went through the motions of offering sacrifices to God, but refusing to follow His commands.

Both nations became very corrupt and God sent prophets many times to warn them and encourage them to go back to following God and stop the worship of false gods. Eventually, both nations would have prophets sent by God to tell them of their impending destruction.

However, with these prophecies of impending doom for the two nations, God also gave prophecies about His Son that would be born for the sake of restoring peace between God and man once again- a Messiah that would come, not to simply cover their sins like the sacrifices of lambs did, but to take away the sins of the world by offering up His own life, His own blood as a sacrifice.

The time was not known of when this would happen, but as both the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were eventually destroyed, overtaken, and their people exiled, the Jews living in exile clung to these prophecies. When God provided, after decades of exile, a way for Judah to return to its land, they went back and rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and the Temple which had been destroyed by the Babylonians.

Still, even though they were back in their land, they were subservient first to the Medo-Persian empire, then the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the Ptolemaic rule from Egypt, the Syrians, and finally the Roman Empire. But during these times, some of which were very difficult for the Jews living in Israel and throughout the empires, their was no new word from God. The Jews, however, re-read, studied, and taught their children these prophecies about the coming Messiah. It was a source of comfort, knowing that any day, they would hear the news of the Messiah coming to bring peace and salvation.

Signs of the Messiah

There were signs and prophecies to look out for concerning this Messiah.

As these 400 years passed by, I want you to think of yourself as one of these Jews living in Israel. You've grown up listening to your father and mother repeat the prophecies to you. You know them by heart.

- He would be born of the "seed of a woman" and of a virgin (Genesis, Isaiah)

- He would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of the tribe of Judah (so, He would be a Jew)

- He would be heir to the throne of David

- He would be born in the city of David, Bethlehem Ephrath

- He would have God's Spirit on Him

- He would be called out of Egypt

- He would be a suffering servant

- He would be the light of the nations

Among many, many other fulfilled prophecies

You have known these prophecies since you were a child. Last Sabbath, you went to the synagogue and heard a rabbi read out of the scroll of Malachi. He read the last words ever recorded by a prophet of God.

Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet

before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,

and the heart of the children to their fathers,

lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

And it makes you wonder, haven't you and the rest of your people already been living under a curse? Over 500 years have passed since Judah was it's own sovereign nation. Israel has been passed from empire to empire only to end up under the rule of the Romans. Judea and Galilee now have a heavy Roman presence. Jews were allowed to abide by most of their religious practices, but there was no real freedom from the oppression of Rome.

If this isn't the curse of God, then you don't want to know what is. And this prophet that would be like Elijah coming, according to other prophecies, he was supposed to announce the presence of the Messiah that would come with peace and salvation. But where is he? Why, after 400 years, do you not have any new words from any prophet? Why is there not even an shadow of a possibility that the Messiah will come soon? or even at a certain time? Why haven't we heard anything? Has God given up on us?

You know that at the time of Malachi's last words, the temple had been rebuilt. Both the Law and the priesthood of Aaron’s line had been restored, and the Jews had given up their worship of idols. But you also knew that Malachi’s warning was not without cause. The Jewish people were mistreating their wives, marrying pagans and not tithing, and the priests were neglecting the temple and not teaching the people the ways of God. In short, the Jews were not honoring God.

And now, Herod the Great is ruling in Judea. Political affiliation, not Aaronic descent, now influences the priesthood. The politics that has been brought into the temple has resulted in the development of two major factions within the religious system of the Jews, the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

The Sadducees favored the liberal attitudes and practices of the Greeks. They held to only the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) as regards religion, but like most aristocrats they did not think God should have any part in governing the nation.

The Pharisees were conservative zealots who, with the help of the scribes, developed religious laws to the point where the concerns and care of people were essentially meaningless.

The Sanhedrin, a governing body comprised of the chief priest and 70 other members had been created to govern over all religious and civil matters. These officials were not afraid to hand out the maximum sentence allowed them by the Roman government of 39 lashes for infractions of the many additional laws that had been added onto the Mosaic Law.

As a Jew living in Judea, this is your reality at the moment.

In this time of silence, there have been many prophecies fulfilled. God has been active, but the people did not put to good use either the fulfilled prophecies nor the 400 years the nation was given to study Scripture, to seek God, and to prepare for the coming Messiah.

In fact, those years blinded and deafened the nation to the point where most of the Jews could not even consider the concept of a humble Messiah, even though that is what a great deal of the prophecies talk about, including Isaiah's prophecy of a suffering servant.

And now, we go back to you, a simple citizen of Judea. You lead your flock of sheep along with other shepherds to some hills outside Bethlehem. You have found a place where the sheep can feed and sleep through the night in relative safety. As night gathers, you prepare you meal, perhaps over an open flame and discuss the influx of all the people that have been arriving in town to respond to Caesar Augustus' census and pay their taxes ti this oppressive Roman government.

As the sheep settle down and begin to lie down for the night, a watch rotation is set up. The men tasked with the first shift set up along the ridge to keep watch over the sheep while the rest of you lie down, eager to close your eyes after a long day's work of tending sheep.

You lie down and as the crook of your neck finds the bedroll you're using as a pillow, you silently begin to mouth your nightly prayers:

"Blessed are you, God of our fathers, who promised the offspring of your servant David. Your Messiah, may you speedily cause to flourish, and enhance his pride through Your salvation, for we hope for Your salvation all day long. Blessed are you, God, Who causes the pride of salvation to flourish. I believe in complete faith in the coming of Messiah."

When you finish, you notice another companion looking at you. After a moment, he asks, "I know we are taught to say that prayer 3 times a day. But that last statement... do you really believe it, or is it all wishful thinking."

It so happens to be the question you have been struggling with since last Sabbath's synagogue meeting. There is a part of you that thinks that the Messiah will never come. The world is lost, and Israel is so far from God that you wonder if God has now turned His back on your people.

But there is another part of you. A part that is hopeful. A part that knows that there has to be more to life than just reciting prayers and offering sacrifices to a silent God. That part of you believes the accounts of your ancestors that saw God's work and heard His voice, and experienced His spirit fill the temple. That part of you clings to the hope that one day, maybe you, maybe your children will here the news of Messiah, and experience the salvation and the peace that only God could bring to this world.

And as you open your mouth to attempt to articulate all this to your friend, your eyes catch a unnaturally bright light in the dark sky, and as you you stare, slack-jawed at the apparition before you, a voice like no other voice you have ever heard rings out through the night, and yet, as if he is speaking directly to your heart, your hear the words:

[Luke 2:10-12] ...Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And before you're able to completely process what just happened, where there was once a lone angel, now appear to be a multitude of angels praising God and saying "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!"

And as suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared. You look around and realize you have not just had a dream because everyone else is staring at the same spot.

Seconds go by but they seem like hours as you beging to fully grasp what has just happened: The prayer that you have been praying every night for the last 15 years, that your father taught you, the same prayer that was taught to him, and the same prayer that the nation of Israel has been praying for hundreds of years has just been answered!

That part of you that was waiting with so much hope now roars inside your chest as you join the other shepherds and run full tilt toward Bethlehem in search for this young child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The Messiah is here at last.

As you reach the place, you don't know how it will all come about, but you do know one thing: this baby, this sleeping little bundle will be the bringer of peace everyone has always prayed for and be the salvation of your nation, and, if the rest of the prophecies are to be believed, the salvation of ALL nations.

Invitation:

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Life Group

Have you ever heard the word Advent before? What does it make you think of?

Why do you think waiting is so hard for us?

Does waiting mean we do nothing in the meantime?

What were the Jews supposed to be doing while they waited those 400 years?

Matthew 3:1-3, 11-13

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

How did the anticipation of Jesus affect John the Baptist? He preached. He did what he could to let people know that Jesus was in their midst.

How should the second advent of Christ affect us?

How does it affect you to know that the God who created the universe came to this earth as a human?