The Prophets

Micah 5:2

     Today is the beginning of Advent but, “What is Advent?” The Advent is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and begins this year today. It’s a time of expectation and hope. It’s a time of preparing for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

     Advent itself can be hard to understand. The word, “Advent” means “coming” or “arrival.” The songs we sing and the scripture we read sometimes can seem to be talking about two different things. And that is because on the one hand; we are talking about waiting for the “first coming,” the birth of Jesus, and on the other hand we are talking about waiting for his “second coming,” when He returns to put all things right in the end. I think it is important we understand that, so we can reflect and pray and realize what it is all about.

     You see, the early Christians developed a church calendar as a way of reliving and retelling the story of Jesus. We go around the circuit: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week and Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost. The traditional Western churches sum all this up on Trinity Sunday, the first Sunday after the day of Pentecost. And we do that so that we can grow and learn to understand who God is.

     But we are not simply going around in a circle not getting anywhere. We are taking part in God’s plan for the world. so that (as the prophets said) the earth will be full of the knowledge and glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. That is the hope of Advent. That we can express our hope in the glory of God and the world will grow and recognize what we are doing and who He is.

     Jesus launched the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven with His life, death, and resurrection. But it’s clear that His work isn’t finished, so as God’s people we continue the work of Christ today, until He returns and brings heaven and earth together completely. That is what the Advent is all about.

     On another note, the beginning of Advent means you only have about 24 or 25 more days of shopping left until Christmas. But does that even matter anymore? With online shopping we can shop 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We just must make sure we order our gifts in time so that they are delivered before Christmas. According to the Washington Post, UPS will ship somewhere around 750 million packages this holiday season.  They’ll do the work, and all we have to do is click and wait.

     Christmas is certainly a time of waiting and expectation. And really that is the way life is. We spend most of our time preparing in life and very little time doing the things that we are preparing for. We will spend the next month decorating our homes, planning get- togethers with our families, sending out Christmas cards, shopping and rapping presents and then the whole event will come and go in one day. So, we spend all of our time preparing and very little time doing.

     But as Christians the opposite is true in our relationship with God. The short amount of time we spend here on earth we are preparing for an eternity spent with God in heaven. In fact, the best use of our time is to prepare our hearts to become more like Jesus and to help others prepare to meet Him.

     Preparation was the main point of the Old Testament. From the moment sin entered into the world the entire Old Testament pointed to the day when the Messiah would come and save us from our sin. The law and all the temple sacrifices show our need for a Savior. The slavery and sorrow of the nation of Israel in Egypt, point to the bondage of sin we face today. The prophets looked and longed for His coming, and seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Micah was inspired by God to write about His birth. And that is what we are going to talk about today. Just as the prophets were preparing for Christ to come, we are preparing for His return.

     So, lets read this passage in Micah 5:2,  “But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, to little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me, to be ruler in Israel. His going forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” (pray)

     In our passage this morning we have one of the clearest and most important prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, that you will read in the Old Testament, because it describes where He would be born, in Bethlehem. What His purpose would be; to go forth from God as a ruler in Israel. And it describes who He is by, describing His place from all of eternity.

      Chris Tomlin, has a modern hymn that proclaims, “Emanuel, Emanuel, God incarnate here to dwell, praise His name Emanuel.” And I can’t help but think about how the one who would go forth from eternity. The One that Micah wrote about, has over a hundred names in the Bible. He’s called the Alpha and the Omega, the Word of Life, the Bright Morning Star, the Light of the World, I Am, the Ancient of Days, Jesus. His name Emmanuel means “God with us.”

      And when Jesus arrived, He came humbly, quietly, in a small and forgotten town that didn’t even have a proper place for Him to be born. But don’t let the circumstances God chose to fulfill these prophecies confuse about who He is. He is the Ancient One, the Creator, the Author and Giver of Life, the Word of God. And for hundreds of years, the Israelites and the prophets looked and waited for Him.

     Advent is the perfect time for us to wait and prepare as well. Just like the prophets waited for Jesus to be born, we wait and prepare for Him to come again. But how do we do that? Well, first- of -all, Preparation begins with repentance.

     John the Baptist was really the last of the Old Testament prophets, even though we read about him in the New Testament. He came in the spirit of Elijah and he served as a bridge between the people and Jesus. And John taught the people how to prepare their hearts for when Christ came, and he teaches us how to prepare for His return. But what was John’s message? It was a message of baptism of repentance.

     In Matthew 3:2 he says, “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In verse 8 he says, “Therefore, baring fruit in keeping with repentance.” And in verse 11 he says, “I baptize you with water for repentance.” So, John’s entire purpose as the forerunner of Christ was to call people to repentance and the same thing is true for us today.

     But, it’s important to understand that repentance doesn’t mean I want you to feel bad for what you have done. Oh, there will always be things in life we regret. But that is not what repentance is. Repentance is to change our mind about the way we behave. It is to consider a new approach to life. To reconsider the way we think, and act and to do it differently.

     Have you ever tried to ride a bike against the wind with the wind blowing in your face? Riding a bike like that is difficult because the wind is resisting you. But, if you simply turn the bike around, that same wind that was resisting you will now help you and even push you. That is the way repentance works.

     So many of our struggles in life come because we are going against the wind of God. But, if we simply change directions in life that same wind that was resisting us will help us to grow. It is interesting that the word Spirit in the Greek is the word “pneumia,” Which means wind or breath. So, to repent and turn toward Jesus is to go with the wind of God in your life. It is to stop resisting what God wants to do, and to go and move along in His power, instead of your own.

     Christmas gives us an opportunity to do that. It gives us an opportunity to consider a different approach and to make a change. This Christmas can be like all the rest. It can be stressful and overwhelming. It can come and go without ever making a difference in us. Or we can learn from the prophets, and we can spend our time waiting, preparing and reflecting on what it is really about. It’s about Jesus. We can make this holiday season special by spending our time in worship.

     Also, remember there is no better way to approach God, than with an attitude of humility. When all else fails and you do not know what to do; humble yourself and pray and ask for forgiveness. David said in Psalm 51, “A broken and contrite spirit, God will not despise.”

     You know what has always been interesting to me. Is the religious leaders in Jesus day were His greatest enemies, even though they had all of the prophecies of the coming Messiah. And even though Jesus fulfilled every one of them, they put up the greatest resistance. Because they refused to humble themselves and repent. They did not understand the depths of their sin. They thought they could be righteous on their own. They did not need to repent because they followed the rules. And in the end, they missed out on Jesus.

     I pray that we do not make that same mistake today. I pray that we recognize our greatest need is for a Savior. You might think right now your greatest need you have in life is to accomplish everything you have to do. You might think that your greatest need is getting a job or paying your bills or buying everyone Christmas gifts. But our greatest need in life is to know Jesus. To humble ourselves before Him and go in the direction He wants us to go.

     So, just as the prophets prepared for the coming of Christ we prepare for His return, and preparation begins with repentance. But also, Preparation Increases Expectation. And we see that in (Luke 2:1-5) as the time of Jesus birth came near the preparation by God and the people of the world began to increase.

     1.“Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3. And everyone was on his way to register for the census each to his own city. 4. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David. 5. In order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.”

     Joseph and Mary had to travel a hundred miles on a donkey over rough terrain, while she was pregnant, to register for a census in Bethlehem. But it wasn’t because Caesar Augustus sent out a decree. But it was because God said that was where Jesus was going to be born and God was in control. And everything was building, and all of life was preparing for that moment. Preparation increases with expectation and that is true in every aspect of life.

     When the Chinese were getting ready to host the 2008 Olympics, they had a vision and an expectation of what they wanted to show the world. They wanted to show that they had become a world power. In 2001, the International Olympic Committee announced China would host the games. Preparation began immediately. By 2007, China had built a new National Stadium, a new National Swimming Center, a new shooting range, a new National Tennis Center, and a new National Hockey Stadium.

     China used more than fifteen thousand performers for the opening ceremonies. Of those performers, 2,200 had a small part in demonstrating martial arts. That group lived and prepared together in an army camp for three solid months, and they practiced for sixteen hours every day. Many of the performers were given diapers to wear during rehearsals so they didn’t have to take breaks. One rehearsal lasted fifty-one hours straight during a rainstorm.

     There is much to be said about China’s human rights record, but I have to admit that they delivered during the opening ceremony They had huge expectations, they made tremendous preparations, and they delivered amazing results.

     Have you ever thought about how you would prepare yourself if you were expecting to meet Jesus? How would you prepare yourself for work or for school if you knew He was going to show up there? How would you prepare for church if you knew that God was waiting to meet you when you got here? How would you spend your time getting ready in the morning if you knew the Holy Spirit was just waiting to tell you something amazing as soon as you were ready to listen?  If we had those kind of expectations of God, how would it affect the way we prepared every day?

The truth is, Jesus will be at work or school when you get there this week. God is ready to meet you at church when you are ready to meet Him. The Holy Spirit is ready to speak to us when we are willing to quiet ourself to read and listen.

We can be certain of this, we are living in the Last Days regardless of how long it takes for Jesus to return. We have one opportunity at life, to spend it with God living the life He wants us to have. Maybe, knowing that Jesus is here with us right now, maybe that should change the way we prepare for Christmas, work, school, church, and even tomorrow morning.

     So, just as the prophets prepared for the coming of Christ we prepare for His return, and preparation increases with expectation. But also, Preparation expects delivery. We don’t prepare for things in life that we don’t expect to happen, we prepare for things we know that will.

     The promise To Micah, to David, to Isaiah and to all of the other prophets of The Old Testament was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the moment He arrived on the scene, the Messiah was here, their rescue had taken place. Isaiah prophesied about it 800 years before Jesus was born He said, Isaiah 53:6, “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.” Isaiah was talking about their rescue as though it had already taken place.

     And What is interesting to me is; for us, it already has. We don’t have to wait for our rescue. Our salvation was made complete at the cross. Our preparation today, is in response to what Jesus has already done for us. He has rescued us from a life of guilt and shame because of sin and He offers us a life of freedom and hope. And we don’t have to wait for that It belongs to us today. So, we are preparing our hearts for Him to take us home.

       In 2013, the movie Captain Phillipsstarring Tom Hanks was released. And it was based on the true story of how Somali pirates highjacked a cargo ship piloted by Captain Phillips. Somehow the captain convinced the pirates to let his crew go. But then the pirates took the captain hostage and headed for Somali in a little lifeboat.

     One of the best moments in the movie—and in Captain Phillips’s life—is when out of the darkness the horns of the USS Bainbridge thunder through the sea and it’s floodlights lit up the ocean like it was daytime. and you can see the relief on Captain Phillips’s face when he knew he was rescued.

     The USSBainbridge is one of forty-six guided missile destroyers in the US Navy with massive guns and missile capabilities to destroy more than one hundred targets simultaneously. When the Bainbridgecomes to the rescue, you know the pirates are in trouble and that a real hope has finally arrived. And watching the film I thought, “I don’t ever want to be on the wrong side of a fight with the US Navy.”

     What I want you to understand, is at Christmas we celebrate with nativity scenes and we sing sweet songs like; “Silent Night and Away in a Manger,” but make no mistake Christmas is about a rescue mission. And the One who came to our rescue could never be outgunned, or out classed or be an underdog. He is like the USS Bainbridge fighting against a lifeboat of Somali pirates. Sin and shame don’t stand a chance in our lives.

So, this Advent I am not preparing to be stressed out, or overwhelmed.

I am not expecting things to fall apart, or to be defeated. 

I am waiting expectantly for God to come through for you and for me.

I am waiting expectantly for Jesus to be revealed in our lives.

I am waiting expectantly, knowing that He is preparing me for heaven and chiseling away at the hardness of my heart.

I am waiting expectantly for the plans He has for you, for me, and for this church.

I am waiting expectantly for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.

I am waiting expectantly for the lost to be found and the blind to see.

I am waiting expectantly for His love to be made known to people who are hurting and dying in the world.

I am waiting expectantly for Jesus to return and to claim His bride, the church.