ChristMas

I want to introduce our new series that we're gonna be on for the next 4 weeks. It's called Christ Mas. You're probably wondering why I'm saying it that way I'm glad you asked the word Christmas it is made-up of Christ right keep the Christ in Christmas and then you have the word Mas. In Spanish the word Moss means more so you can literally take the word Christmas and break it down to christ's mass Christ more I don't know about you but I always need Christ more this season is about Christ we're going to be walking through advent at the same time but the theme of advent is Christ came and Christ is coming again and in the mean time I need Christ more I need christ's mass not just Christmas and national holiday.

 Advent comes from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.”

•  It is the four weeks leading up to Christmas, beginning on the Sunday closest to November 30.

•  Advent is a time of waiting, preparation, and expectation for the celebration of Christ’s birth and His promised return.

•  Hope, peace, joy, and love are often highlighted, symbolized by the candles of the Advent wreath.

•  Christians use this season for prayer, reflection, Scripture readings, and worship that center on anticipation of the Messiah.

 Advent is the church’s season of hopeful waiting and spiritual preparation, looking back to Christ’s first coming in Bethlehem and forward to His second coming in glory.

Brothers and sisters, Advent is a season of waiting. But in Wesleyan theology, waiting is never passive—it is active, Spirit-filled anticipation. We are not simply counting down days until Christmas; we are preparing our hearts for the coming King. Think of Israel: centuries of silence, longing for Messiah. They walked in darkness, yet clung to hope. In the same way, we live in a world of uncertainty—wars, brokenness, personal struggles. But Advent reminds us: Christ has come, Christ is coming again, and His Spirit is sanctifying us now.

The first week of advent is built around hope and to me one of the coolest things about the Christmas story or about the birth of Jesus is all of the different prophecies that were fulfilled in just this story alone. To me the prophecies instill great hope because Jesus fulfilling 1 prophecy is basically impossible but fulfilling 300 prophecies that the New Testament and Old Testament confirm that he fulfilled and that Christians believe he fulfilled is literally mind blowing. Let's take a closer look just how amazing the prophecies from the Christmas story alone are.

The Christmas story fulfills several Old Testament prophecies. I want to put this in perspective to show you why I mention these things that we hear all the time, but we don't really understand the depth and the supernatural miracle of what fulfilling a prophecy means.

The probability of Jesus fulfilling even one Old Testament prophecy has been a topic of a lot of interest in study. Peter Stoner, a mathematician and professor, wrote in his book Science Speaks that the chance of one person fulfilling all eight of the major prophecies in just the Christmas story alone is one in 10 with 17 zeros behind it, which I don't even know how to express that. He went on to say it would be compared to covering the entire state of Texas in silver dollars two feet deep and then asking a blindfolded person to pick out a marked silver dollar on their first try.

Considering there are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that Christians believe Jesus fulfilled, the probabilities becomes astronomical! Just to name the top five prophecies that there's really not even any discrepancy on whether or not He fulfilled, or that was fulfilled, in the Christmas story is:

#1 The Virgin Birth from Isaiah 7:14

#2 The Birthplace in Bethlehem Micah chapter 5.

#3 The lineage and bloodline from David from Jeremiah 23:5 and several other places.

#4 Being Called Out of Egypt is prophesied in Hosea 11:1.

#5 And then the fifth one is the Massacre of The Innocents in Jeremiah 31:15.

So we see so much hope in the Christmas story alone. Isaiah declares in chapter

ISA 9:2-7 2 The people walking in darkness

Isaiah 9:2–7 CSB

2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

have seen a great light;

a light has dawned

on those living in the land of darkness.

3 You have enlarged the nation

and increased its joy.,

The people have rejoiced before you

as they rejoice at harvest time

and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.

4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke

and the rod on their shoulders,

the staff of their oppressor,

just as you did on the day of Midian.

5 For every trampling boot of battle

and the bloodied garments of war

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

6 For a child will be born for us,

a son will be given to us,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

He will be named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

7 The dominion will be vast,

and its prosperity will never end.

He will reign on the throne of David

and over his kingdom,

to establish and sustain it

with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this[1]

. The promise of a child, a ruler, whose reign will be marked by peace and justice.  This is more than a future dream—it is the holy character of God breaking into history. Hope is grounded in God’s holy love. His promises are sure because His nature is pure. Hope is not just comfort—it is transformation. God’s promise of light means He will not leave us in sin’s darkness.

There would come a day when the people walking in darkness would see a great light(9:2), and the kingdom of heaven would come near. Indeed, in the future the Messiah will reverse the humiliation and bondage of Israel and usher in an era of peace in which the garments of warwill be no more  .  

Most straightforwardly, Isaiah used the Hebrew literary tool of repetition to emphasize the point. The Child is born, the Son is given. At the same time, we recognize the hand of the Holy Spirit in the specific wording.

For unto us a Child is born: This glorious prophecy of the birth of Messiah reminds Israel that the victory-bringing Messiah would be a man. Theoretically, the Messiah could have been an angel. Or, the Messiah could have been God without humanity. But in reality, neither of those options would have qualified the Messiah to be our Savior and High Priest as Jesus is. The Child had to be born.

What glorious truth! We needed a perfect, infinite Being to offer a perfect, infinite atonement for our sins. We needed Immanuel, God is with us (Isaiah 7:14). 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.,  

Isaiah 7:14 CSB

14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

That Jesus is both God and man tells us that man really is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and that perfect humanity is more compatible with deity than we imagine. It says that our problem is not our humanity, but our fallenness. To say “I’m only human” is wrong because Jesus was fully human yet perfect. It is more accurate to say, “I’m only fallen.” But remember that the humanity that Jesus added to His Divine nature was not the sinful humanity we commonly know, but the perfect humanity of Adam and Eve before the fall.

 Jesus remains a man eternally

Acts 7:55-56 55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

Acts 7:55–56 CSB

55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

 He did not relinquish His humanity on His ascension; but He is now a man in a resurrection body, as we will one day have.

 If Jesus were not fully man, He could not stand in the place of sinful man and be a substitute for the punishment man deserves. If He were not fully God, His sacrifice would be insufficient. If Jesus is not fully God and fully man, we are lost in sin.

And there lies the hope because brothers and sisters he is fully man and he is fully God and he did become the substitute for the punishment that I deserve and he did fulfill the sacrifice in his deity but even more beautiful than that is that he broke the chains of the bondage  of sin.