Promise Fulfilled

Prayer

An Unlikely Candidate for a Long-Awaited Promise

It’s finally here. Christmas. Decorations have been up in homes and in yards for weeks and weeks now - stores have had their displays even longer than that. We’ve been in the season of Advent, season of waiting for Jesus’ coming at Christmas for four plus weeks now. Tonight we welcome Jesus, the son given to us, as the prophet Isaiah says, the child born to us.

Of course, the Jewish people had been waiting much, much longer. The prophecy that came from God through Isaiah came hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. They had been awaiting the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, for a long, long time, and through many trials and tribulations.

They were conquered by the Babylonians in 587 BC, sent into exile for 70 years, finally able to return to Jerusalem, but still under the rule of another empire, the Persians. Then it was the Greeks. Then a brief time of independence. Then the Romans. All the time, waiting for God to fulfill his promise, to send the one who would be King, who would re-establish the nation of Israel, restore it to its former glory, an ever lasting kingdom.

When we look at story of the birth of Jesus, as we just did, it’s hard to think that this child would grow up to be that Messiah - he was an unlikely a candidate as you’d ever find. He was conceived out of wedlock, born to a couple that were peasants, living in a backwater town. The conditions of his birth? They laid him in a trough that the animals ate out of. Only visitors that came that night were lowly shepherds - which was considered an undignified occupation. Shortly after this the king at that time, Herod, sent soldiers to kill the child, ended up massacring all boys born in Bethlehem two years old and younger. Jesus’ family escaped by fleeing to Egypt as refugees.

And yet, the claim we’ve been making over the season of Advent is that not only did Jesus fulfill the promise that he indeed was the Messiah, but he did it in far bigger and better ways than anyone ever dreamed or hoped. Over the four Sundays of Advent, we walked through some of the ways that Jesus fulfilled the promises of God:

That in spite of his auspicious beginnings, Jesus was indeed the Promised King. That he has become Lord, ruler over all, siting at the right hand of God the Father. And he is establishing his kingdom, a kingdom of peace and righteousness and justice, a kingdom that will last forever.

Jesus is also the Promised Savior. Jesus did save us from our sins. That because of our sin-sick souls, we needed the Great Physician, and he came to bring healing and life to us. And when you stop to recognize the depths of our sin - not just the big, bad obvious stuff that everyone recognizes, but the more subtle, hidden sins: our selfish motivations. That pride we carry. Anger and resentment buried deep in our hearts. How attached we are to how other people think about us, and to our stuff. Our need for healing, to be saved from our sins, goes to the deepest parts of our hearts.

Jesus is not only the Promised King and the Promised Savior, but the Promised Light. As the Bible so aptly puts it, we are a people living in deep darkness, evil and deceit abound. People preying on unsuspecting children and youth on social media apps and gaming chat rooms, ugliness of political battles, the list goes on.

Finally, Jesus is the Promised Reconciler. Because of all that sin, we are divided, separated. From God, first and foremost, and certainly from each other. There’s no shortage of walls of hostility between us. Jesus shattered those walls, enabling us who are far away from God to come near, to be with him as he has come to be with us. And he has enabled us to be reconciled to one another. What a beautiful gift, the promise of having relationships restored.

So, that’s the claim, that even though Jesus was born in such obscurity, he is the fulfillment of these promises: King. Savior. Light. Reconciler. But what’s fascinating is that if you take the time to take a closer look, there were plenty of signs pointing the way. It’s clear this was no accident, but God’s doing, his plan from the beginning. God, as he always, always is, being faithful to his promises.

Over the centuries, through his many prophets, God gave word after word that not only was the Messiah coming, but all the amazing things he would do. It truly is remarkable how many prophecies came true in Jesus.

It was prophesied that he would be of the line of King David, a son of David (Angel Studios movie). Not only was Jesus a direct descendant of David, but as the prophet Micah foretold, he was born in the town of David, in Bethlehem.

Isaiah, too, prophesied that he would be born of a virgin. And that he would do ministry in the region of Galilee, which he did. Hosea prophesied that he would come out of Egypt. All these only speak to his birth, there are many more that foretold about his ministry and his death on the cross.

But we can see even more how God was working to fulfill his promise in Jesus by looking not just at the prophecies from the Old Testament, but from what was happening at history in that time. As Paul writes in Galatians 4:4-5, But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. In other words, Jesus came at just the right moment in history.

Luke gives us a clue about that in the very beginning of his telling of the birth of Jesus, providing the historical context, that the reason Joseph and Mary were traveling to Bethlehem, Joseph’s ancestral town, was due to the census that the Roman emperor of the time, Caesar Augustus decreed. Luke adds more detail because there was a later census, but this one took place “while Quirinius was governor of Syria.”

Hugely important, because as much as the Jews hated being under Roman occupation, it was Roman rule that set the stage for the spread of the good news of Jesus in a way that would have never been possible in history until that point in time. You see, even though Israel had been under the rule of other empires, they had never been under an empire that covered such a large territory and were able to maintain control of that empire - the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome.

And because they were not fighting off other nations, they were able to develop their empire - including the most advanced road system ever - nearly 47,000 miles of new roads built by Augustus and his successors. And there was a common language used throughout the empire, Greek. Not just a language, but a technology that made sharing messages much easier - papyrus, which was much easier to come by and much easier to travel with over and against clay tablets. The Romans also developed the most advanced mail delivery system that had existed up until that point in history, the cursus publicus.

And the Romans had a the toleration for the many religions that existed in the Roman empire, including even the monotheism of the Jews. When you add all these factors together, you begin to see why this was the “set time” that had fully come. Because this was the first time in history when those first disciples could bring the good news of Jesus to the world, safely and effectively, taking advantage of safe roads, a common language, and the technology to deliver that message - the writings that make up the New Testament.

And did that message ever spread. This unlikely candidate who came from such humble beginnings, impacted the world like no one else ever has. There has been no other figure in human history who has changed the world like Jesus has. It’s not even close.

James Warner Wallace lays out the evidence for this in his book, Person of Interest, making his case not from the Bible, but purely from the historical record. He argues that in so many different arenas - art, music, architecture, education, science - even religion, that it is Jesus, and Jesus head-and-shoulders above everyone else, has had the greatest impact.

To look at just one of those arenas - religion. Every major religion that has been established since the time of Jesus has taken him into account. But here’s what’s even more significant - every major religion that was established prior to Jesus has taken him into account. Worship of Heracles (better known as Hercules), Mithras, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Bahai, New Age - all of them either mention Jesus, merged Jesus into their religion, or modified who they believed their god to be to match Jesus (such as stories appearing after Jesus where these gods resurrect or walk on water).

But what’s most remarkable - it does not go the other direction. Jesus does not make room for other religions or other gods or other paths. He does not accommodate them, he doesn’t even reference them. Jesus was unabashed in proclaiming himself to be the fulfillment of God’s promises to the world: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I am the Bread of Life. I am the Light of the World. I am the Good Shepherd. I am the Gate. I am.

This impact of Jesus continues today. He is still changing the world. He is still fulfilling the promises of God.

The Promise of a King, one who will rightly reign over us, establishing an everlasting kingdom of peace, righteousness and justice, as we surrender ourselves in obedience to him. To that end, I was scrolling through some news stories the other day and one headline caught my eye: “Jenny McCarthy Says Charlie Kirk Helped Deepen Her Christian Faith.” I was like, what?! Wasn’t she the Playboy model? Kind of wild child?

I had no idea, she - and her husband, Donnie Wahlberg, are Christians. And the tragic death of Charlie Kirk had a huge impact on both of them. To quote Ms. McCarthy, “I’ve always been a follower of Christ, but when [Charlie Kirk] passed, I completely surrendered. I am so devoted. I started Bible study immediately.”

And I thought how amazing is that. Here’s someone who clearly was not living a God-honoring life in her younger years, now, more and more, she and her husband are surrendering themselves to Jesus, devoting themselves to following him. Which is to say, recognizing that he is the King, he is Lord. Here’s the thing, when we do that, when we live in obedience to Jesus, we will experience that peace, that righteousness, that justice he is ushering in.

And Jesus is still fulfilling the Promise of a Savior, saving us from our sins, bringing healing to us in midst of our brokenness - our hearts, our sin-sick souls, our bodies. A woman I know told about a conversation she had with a middle schooler who shared an amazing encounter she had where Jesus miraculously healed her. This teen had juvenile arthritis and could not bend her left leg and walked with a limp. Some kids from her youth group prayed for her and she said she thought they were shining a bright light in her face, then she felt taller and a hand on her shoulder. When she looked to see who was touching her, nobody was there. It was the healing, saving work of Jesus.

Not just the promise of a king, and the promise of a savior, but Jesus still comes to us in the midst of deep darkness as the Promise of Light. Another friend of mine that serves with Young Life in the Sissonville area was sharing about a gentlemen he knows who is an atheist, but culturally Jewish. And because he is also an expert witness psychologist, he’s was involved in several tragic deaths that have occured among teens in the Kanawha Valley. And yet, this man, this atheist, loves Young Life. He loves what he sees, devoted followers of Jesus loving high school kids, sharing the promise of life in Jesus with kids caught up in deep darkness - darkness that man encounters all too often. As my friend shared, “Every time I see him lately, he gets weepy talking about the importance of what we do. I mean sobbing.” Because this man sees hope, light in the midst of darkness. The work of Jesus.

Finally, Jesus still comes to us with the promise of reconciliation, the promise that we can be with God, relationship restored. As I’ve shared some stories this evening, my hope is that might be your story tonight. Because this is what Jesus still offers this day - because this is what he came to do, this is what he died to do - to bring us, who were without hope and without God, back to God. Reconciled, no longer separate.

All possible through the terribly beautiful sacrifice he made, taking our sins upon him as he went to his death, death on a cross. And because Jesus bore that cost, we don’t have to. There is nothing now that hinders us from coming to be with him. We don’t have to carry the guilt of our sins, the shame of our past, the secrets we still carry today. The way has been made clear.

Perhaps you’ve been distant from the Lord. Maybe you’ve just slowly drifted away. Maybe you’ve been hesitant, unsure - didn’t know whether you could be forgiven. Or if you were worth loving. Maybe you’ve just been stubborn. Too prideful. Think you can manage on your own.

Doesn’t matter where you are. You can come near to God. He is ready to embrace you with open arms, fully and unconditionally. He is ready to forgive you for everything - indeed, he already has. But here’s the thing: he will not compel us to come near, to come be with him. Jesus did the work for us on the cross. We must do our part, receiving the gift, returning to him. I promise you, it will be the best Christmas gift - heck, the best gift period - you will ever receive.

Come to Jesus. Trust in him. Let him be your king. Let him be your Savior, your light. He is the one the whole world has been waiting for, even if we didn’t know it. And now, he’s here. Let’s pray.