Anticipation (Advent Sermon)

Intro:

Anticipation of Christmas morning

It’s good because it underlines a major theme of the Old Testament: anticipation of the coming king

Matthew 2:1–6 “1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ””

Luke 1:30–33 “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.””

Luke 1:67–70 “67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,”

And every child born in the royal lineage had a grand reception of celebration, and Jesus, the King had the greatest of all despite being born to a poor virgin and in a poor stall when the angels rang out:

Luke 2:13–14 “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!””

And so this morning, we are going to take a thematic view of the old testament to get a taste of this anticipation.

And we will see that the OT right away develops anticipation through a kingly figure, working as a priest and prophet for his people.

And before we begin, if you are thinking: oh another sermon about a king, yawn, I am an American in a constitutional republic! This is just for the Bible people or strange British people (why should we care about their monarchy)

Every four years we get two presidential candidates that sell themselves as a king who will conquer all our enemies and protect and make our lives better

This is such a common practice because there is longing in every heart for a coming king who will make all things better

This was established in the OT and it is a feeling we all have in our hearts: there is something wrong and there must be something or someone who will come and rescue us all.

So let’s see the true king who is to come and do that very thing, and see how it is developed in the OT so we can share in that wonderful anticipation as we celebrate the coming of the true king of the universe.

Garden:

At the garden the focus is set on a single man—Adam

And this Adam had a wife to guard and protect against the coming enemy

And when the enemy does comes Adam fails to protect his bride

And the way he fails sets the stage for what the coming king would do for his people

Adam was to maintain proper worship in the garden by keeping the command given to him not to eat the fruit—Satan tempted his bride with the lie that eating would be better, that false worship would be better, and he failed to proclaim truth by keeping proper worship.

So notice the three main themes there: A single figure with authority guarding and protecting a person through speaking for God the truth and proper worship.

These three things can be labeled: a king, prophet, priest.

And so with the fall came a promise that a coming king would come that would conquer the enemy and protect his people:

Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””

This king motif continues in the Scripture to instill proper anticipation with the story of Abraham:

Instead of just Adam and Eve and the garden, it would be the offspring of Abraham, in the promise land.

Instead of Eve, a people:

Genesis 12:1–3 “1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””

Instead of a garden it is the promise land.

Genesis 12:7 “7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

But with a catch: Israel will have to be rescued out of slavery and brought to the good land:

Genesis 15:13–14 “13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”

And so with the enslavement of the Hebrews to the Egyptians, the development of a figure who saves is revealed in Moses.

Moses becomes a major first pre-Christ figure that would grow the anticipation of the Christ.

Moses would be a king figure, to rescue and protect his people, proclaiming truth from God and instituting proper worship for Israel

Notice how all three themes come together when Moses faces Pharoah, the great enemy of the people:

Exodus 5:1 “1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ””

Exodus 7:16 “16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed.”

“Say to Pharoah for me”: Prophet. Let my people go (deliverance): King. That they may serve, hold a feast, worship me: Priest.

And once the people are let go—Moses proves to be the figure that brings the true word and true worship to Israel:

Prophet:

The entire Pentateuch is written by Moses—he is essentially the prophet that brings the Old Covenant to Israel.

While the people are frightened at the base of the mountain, Moses is at its height receiving the word of God to give to the people.

Yet, even with all his work as prophet, he knew that it was to point ahead to another greater prophet, and another greater covenant:

Deuteronomy 18:15 “15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—”

Priest:

Moses safe guarded proper worship in the wilderness, even as Adam was supposed to in the garden.

In fact, when Aaron, the first high priest went the way of Adam and created a false god to worship, Moses proved to be jealous for the proper worship:

Exodus 32:15–20 “15 Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.”

This should bring your mind to Jesus when he drove the false worshippers from the temple in anger

John 2:13–17 “13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.””

But Moses as priest instituting and protecting proper worship is most plainly revealed in how the covenant was began and how it continued throughout the old covenant: with blood

Exodus 24:8 “8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.””

Now this is a significant difference with Adam and how he was to safe guard proper worship in the garden: with Adam it was simple obedience, with Moses it is something more: blood must be applied.

The passover was celebrated with blood

The morning and evening worship at the tabernacle and then the temple was celebrated with blood

The day of atonement was celebrated with blood

Leviticus 17:11 “11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.”

Blood, the sacrifice of another to cover your own sin, would be central to the worship, central to the function of the priest.

And you should hear the echo of the words of the king to come:

Matthew 26:28 “28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

So where Adam failed to be a proper king that safe guarded proper worship in the garden by proclaiming and keeping God’s truth....

Moses was used as a king like figure to rescue the people and institute proper worship through blood and the word of God—he was the figure used to create an anticipation of the coming prophet, priest and king.

But of course Moses fell short of the actual promise king to come...

Hebrews 3:3–6 “3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

And he wasn’t an actual king, that office came later in Israel....

The office of king in Israel did not officially get started until Saul, then David, and his son Solomon and the line after him.

And with this office created we see the purpose of anticipation is gave to the people perhaps most potently after the temple for proper worship was created, and king Solomon as a true prophet speaks at the institution of the temple:

1 Kings 8:54–66 ESV

54 Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. 55 And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. 57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, 58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. 59 Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. 61 Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.” 62 Then the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the Lord. 63 Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. 64 The same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to receive the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat pieces of the peace offerings. 65 So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, seven days. 66 On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

But of course, none of this was the fulfilled king to come that would protect and guard the people as their prophet and priest.

Moses was simply a servant of the house, not the house itself and died before going to the promise land for his own disobedience.

And it a story too well known, that all these major institutions created in Israel to anticipate the coming king would fail because of the people.

Not long after this wonderful time of the narrative of Solomon’s reign of righteousness he falls into terrible sin and allows false worship to flourish in the land.

What follows him is a series of bad and good kings, never with the ability to be that figure longed for in the scriptures.

The priests would often times lead the people into false worship, or neglect their duties altogether.

Remember what we saw in Malachi last time, with priests offering polluted sacrifice:

Malachi 1:6–8 “6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.”

And false prophets abounded in Israel most the time.

Even to the point that Elijah questions if there are any true prophets left at all

1 Kings 19:10 “10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.””

And even the few true prophets that kept their course, the people proved to be like Eve in the garden with no appetite for the word of God, instead desiring to be carried away by Satan’s lies:

Isaiah 6:8–13 “8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “ ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, 12 and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.”

Jeremiah 1:17–19 “17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18 And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19 They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.””

The Promise of Relief of Anticipation (Prophets)

But coming forth from this sorry state of affairs…the office of king broken in Israel, the office of priesthood broken in Israel, and prophets sparse yet the ones that proclaimed are ignored or hated comes the promise of one figure who would take up all these offices and succeed!

And what we see is a blending of these offices in one person:

Of course this could be a year long sermon series, but we will just focus on a set of verses for just one office from the gospel of Isaiah:

Prophet:

Isaiah 2:1–5 “1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5 O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

King and prophet:

Isaiah 9:2–7 ESV

2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

And his priestly work—where he is not after the line of the Jewish priests that applied blood of an animal that couldn’t not eternally save…but this priest offered his very own blood to establish proper worship among the people once more:

And take a look at the blending of the king role (12) and prophet role (3)

Isaiah 53 ESV

1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

This king will gain his spoil, his people through his blood.

He will be a prophet that will conquer his people with his blood.

He will bring them to himself and protect them with his words of truth

He will be the promised king who is a prophet and priest for his people.

And so when we see in the first few chapters of the gospels

An excited group of wise men looking for the king

An angel Gabriel telling frightened Mary that she will birth the king of Israel

The godly priest Zechariah proclaiming the horn of salvation from the house of David

And the angel choir announcing the birth of a king

This comes on the heels of the established offices of prophet priest and king that have failed miserably in Israel but have been promised that one would come who would fail not

And the anticipation continues today:

Across the world it is a universal feeling that lies are told more than truth…the media is not trusted anymore, the government is not trusted.

If there is one thing a liberal and a conservative can agree upon at the dinner table during Thanksgiving is that lies abound in our world

Across the world it is a universal feeling that people are trapped under guilty consciences miserable under a secular world philosophy that does not work that states all physical, nothing is spiritual, so just do what makes you happy.

And so what’s produced is a feel of shame from the guilt of living as if there is no God, while the world chalks it up to a problem with mental health

Across the world there is a longing for a figure to come to conquer our problems and bring us into a better state.

Or you as an individual—aren’t you tired of being your own false prophet and telling yourself lies…that you will be happy if you just do this sin, or that sin…or if you get this circumstance or that circumstance?

Aren’t you tired of being your own false priest trying to cope in any false way with your shame? If I just get more moral.

Do you know that the long awaited king has come who has said:

John 14:6 “6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

King Jesus came and declared himself to be the longing of Adam, Abraham, Moses and all the Old Testament saints

He declared himself to be the truth and proved it by being raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father

Where he reigns over his kingdom of salvation, doing the blessed work of a high priest even today.