The Birth Annoucement of Jesus

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Christmas Caroling this Wednesday! Sign up sheet in the foyer for finger foods afterwards.

Christmas Eve service on the 24th!

INTRODUCTION

Attention Getter

We are going to take a break from John’s gospel for a short series of messages focusing on Christmas prophecies from the Old Testament for a few weeks.

I’ve said this many times, but one of the great values of knowing and understanding the OT prophecies is that it strengthens our faith. We often think about the life of Jesus as only being only found in the NT, but the whole Bible testifies about Jesus. And we will look at these specific prophecies over the next few weeks about His incarnation.

The first one we will look at is the most well known from Isaiah chapter 9. And this prophecy is so unique because it specifically tells us that the Savior will be born as a child, but not just any child, but truly God in the flesh.

I want to start in the beginning of chapter 9 to give us some context of the verses that we are going to look at today.

Isaiah 9:2 NASB95

The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.

Context

Isaiah is a prophet speaking to people who are on God’s waiting list for judgement. Despite warning after warning after warning that he has given them from God they continue to defy God and live in wickedness.

“The people who walk in darkness” speaks of the people’s spiritual condition. Darkness is a symbol of God’s judgement. When Jesus hung on the cross, darkness covered the land for three hours. And when this verse is saying that Israel was literally walking under the judgement of God.

It was not dark because God had forsaken them, it was dark because they had forsaken God

If we back up to 8:19 we have an example of just how wicked Israel had become

Isaiah 8:19 “When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

These were the people of God that were now seeking answers for life among the dead. This is the equivalent of witchcraft! Seeking the spirits of the dead to provide answers for life rather than seeking the living God.

BUT despite all of this, God sends them this beacon of hope:

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light”

When is this verse referring to?

This is the same verse that Matthew used in reference to Jesus

Matthew 4:13–16 NASB95

and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”

The light that God said was coming into the world to overcome the darkness is Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said:

John 8:12 (NASB95)

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

Now what dopes all this mean to us?

It is really hard to read this and not see the grace of God shining forth

What is grace?

Grace is mercy or compassion from a more powerful person to another, Grace is finding favor in the eyes of God.

Grace gives people something they do not deserve and something they cannot earn. It is a gift offered despite any prior offenses!

Think about Israel, in the midst of their rebellion and wickedness, worshiping demons, and God still says to them I am going to do great things in the future of this nation. I am going to do such things that even in the middle of darkness the light will shine on them.

That is really what Christmas is all about. That is why Christmas is a time of joy. That is why it is a merry time of celebration and happiness. Grace stands behind it all.

The greatest act of grace is what we are celebrating when we celebrate Christmas. That God would send the LIGHT into the darkness, to save sinners from their sin.

John 1:17 “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

We are living in the age of grace. This is the essence of the gospel: God reaching out inviting people to receive His grace! It is not a reward for what we do, it is a gift given!

And God still welcomes sinners to come to Him, receive it, be enlightened by it, despite anything you have done in your life, and be changed by it.

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound,

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now I’m found,

was blind by now I see.

Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved,

how precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed.

You may have made terrible mistakes in your life, and done things so bad that you think there is no hope for you, BUT Even if you have are so bad that you have worshiped demons, God’s grace is still available to you.

God is saying to you today come, come, come, and receive the grace of God. Cry out to Him for mercy, turn from your sin and you will experience the great life changing grace of God.

Isaiah makes this announcement that things are going to change, and then gives three reasons why:

And each one of them is introduced by the word “for” (v 4,5, and 6). And I am only going to mention the first two, because our primary interest is in the third reason.

1) Because the Lord will free them from their oppressors: Assyria

Isaiah 9:4 NASB95

For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

In 701 BC, Assyria had surrounded Jerusalem and their fate was certain. But Hezekiah was on the throne and he cried out to the Lord for help. And that very night God slew 185,000 Assyrians and saved the city from certain destruction

2) Because peace will come upon them

Isaiah 9:5 NASB95

For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

The boots and the cloak represents battle garments

And the burning of the boots is a figurative way of saying these things will no longer be needed in Israel because peace is on its way.

3) Because a Child will be born

Isaiah 9:6–7 NASB95

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

THIS IS A REMARKABLE PROPHECY ABOUT JESUS’S BIRTH

Isaiah was written in the 8th century, about 700 years before the coming of Jesus

Isaiah doesn’t know when this Child would come, but He does know some very specific details of what His life will be like and even more specifically what He will be called.

1) HE WILL HAVE A HUMAN DESCENT

“For a Child will be born to us”

The entire emphasis of this passage rests in this phrase. It is all about this CHILD that will come. All of Israel’s hope rests in this. All of the world’s hope rests in a Child!

And what is significant is that this ruler will not merely be God as He is called in verse 6, BUT this prophecy is declaring a human child! Not just a human child, but a human male child.

And if we back up to chapter 7, Isaiah even gets more specific about this child. He mentions that the child will also be born of a virgin:

Isaiah 7:14 NASB95

“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.

So now we have a child that will be born of a virgin. How can a child be born of a virgin?

That is the same question Mary asked the angel Gabriel. And Gabriel said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon her and make it happen, for nothing is impossible with God!

A human child from a virgin birth announced 700 years before the birth if Jesus.

The point is that this human child swill be fully human (coming into the world by birth) but also have divine attributes equal to God

But it also says that He “will be given to us”

Quite possibly they would have read this to understand that this child would be given as a ruler over Israel. But we stand on the other side of this fulfillment in knowing that this Child will be given as a sacrifice, a substitute for our sin.

And who is going to give Him? The Lord Himself. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

2) HE WILL BE A RULER FROM THE LINE OF DAVID

(v 6) “And the government will rest upon His shoulders”

(v 7) “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom”

The word “government” means to rule and to have it upon his shoulders means to carrying the responsibility for it. This is saying that this Child will have the authority to rule. And verse 7 says He will come from the throne of David.

Now we need know that this Scripture comes after the reign of King David.

And during David’s reign, God made a promise to David and said He would raise up a descendant from David and will establish His throne forever! (2 Sam 7:13).

What is this saying? This is a declaration by God that this CHILD will be a King, will have a Kingdom, and will be a descendant from King David.

And in Matthew chapter 1, He shows us that Jesus is a direct descendant from David, and John the Baptist testified that the Kingdom of God has come to earth with the birth of Jesus Christ.

JESUS is Lord of this world!

Lord just means one who rules. But we cannot be in the kingdom of God and not be ruled by the King of the castle.

We cannot be under the rule of Jesus and not follow the orders of Jesus. We cannot say He is Lord of our life without submitting to Him as Lord of all

WHAT HE WILL BE CALLED

WONDERFUL COUNSELOR

I had to take a counseling class in seminary and I had always equated counseling with psychiatry. Well the two are not the same. Counseling means to give guidance or help devise a plan.

We all need guidance and counsel through this life. There are things that we need help navigating. And there are many good counselors who give good advice, but there is only one wonderful counselor who is always right.

PRINCIPLE: God’s counsel is rarely the easiest way, but it always yields the better result.

We will not find a better source to see guidance.

MIGHTY GOD

I was on a plane a couple years ago and God so divinely set me right next to a Jehovah witness. Now it didn’t take long before we began talking about God. Jehovah’s Witness do not believe Jesus is God. They believe He did stone for sin, but that He was not God in the flesh. That lady I was speaking with was very knowledgeable of the Bible, but she only wanted to talk about what fit her theology. I took her straight to this verse and showed her this announcement that Jesus will be called Mighty God. She did her best to ignore it, but that is a hard thing to ignore.

When the birth of Jesus was announced, it was said that He will be called Mighty God. Why? Because He would do the world that only God can do. And

ETERNAL FATHER

That is He is eternal.

Jesus has no beginning or no end. He said to the Pharisees, “before Abraham was, I am”.

There has never been a time when Jesus didn’t exist, and there will never be a time when Jesus doesn’t exist. He has an eternal nature.

You know what else is eternal? We are. All of us are going to die physically at some point; But all of us will live after we die. The question is where will we live….we will live forever either in heaven or in hell. And the deciding factor rests whether or not we were in Christ Jesus.

I have been watching this documentary “After Death” about near death experiences. And I usually don’t pay things like this much attention because people are unreliable. But what really caught my attention was patients telling the doctors what happened while they were on the operating table while they were dead. And they were describing things that took place that in no way could they have known. And these doctors were mostly atheists who got a little freaked out by it.

Now whether these people’s spirits left their bodies or not is hard to say, but biblically we know they will. And what we see as reality now, will become Fanta y and reality will be eternity.

PRINCE OF PEACE

Why will He be called the Prince of Peace? If we look at the world it is never at peace. So that must mean this Savior has not come yet. He will not come to bring world peace, but divine peace. Peace between man and God.

The death of Jesus satisfied the wrath of God. And those who have become children of God, now experience peace with God on earth.

We use Billy Graham BiBle tracts when we knock on doors. They are called “steps to peace with God” and the first question is “do you have peace with God?”

Now that doesn’t seem like that good of an evangelistic tool, but the truth is most people know deep inside when they’re not right with God. There is something inside of us that testifies to our souls that we need to be forgiven. The opposite is also true. That when we do have peace with God, have been forgiven, the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that we are children of God. And only because of Jesus we can have this peace.

No one can predict the future but God.

I know there are people who claim to have the ability to predict things, but no one knows what the future holds. People guess and get lucky sometimes, but no one can know the future except God.

Dead Sea Scroll Discovery

In 1947 a shepherd was looking for his lost goat and wandered into a cave and found jars containing scrolls. Some of these scrolls date all the way back to the third century BC.

In this discovery, was a complete book of the Bible known as the Great Isaiah Scroll. It is the largest and most complete scroll found in that discovery and the only biblical book to survive in its entirety. It is so well preserved that modern Hebrew readers could read it and understand it.

This is Isaiah 9:1-7. Dated at least 100 years before the coming of Christ into the world!

Why do I make such a big deal out of this? Because that is the trustworthiness of the Word of God! God made the declaration, science affirms this prophecy was written before the birth of Jesus, and the apostles and church testify that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, attest to the miracles He did, died for their faith!

And since WE KNOWN the Lord God came to earth, what is stopping us from giving everything to Him?! He was here! Isaiah saw it before it happened! The apostles gave their lives to it! And 2,000 years later the church remains firmly grounded on it!

A son would come, Mary had a Son and she named Him Jesus which means “Yahweh Saves”!

CONCLUSION

Only God can tell the future. People can guess, but God is always right. And since we have tangible evidence that what God has said 700 years before hand has come true in the person of Jesus, what is stopping us from giving everything to Him?

The way I see it, only a blind man can look directly at the divine tangible evidence and still refuse the lordship of Jesus Christ.

GOD IS TRUSTWORTHY! When God says He is coming, no matter how impossible it may seem, God will do what He says. And every word of Scripture is breathed out by God and worthy of our trust.

If you have not tasted the goodness of God’s grace, you are invited to come.

If you do not have peace with God deep down in your soul, come and give your life to Him today.

You can trust Jesus with your life, for He is the Author of it an and has come to save us.

~PRAYER~