Echoes in Advent: Immanuel
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What do we look forward to during the Christmas season?
Baby Jesus
Mary and Joseph
Wise men
A star
Manger
Shepherds
Christmas Music
Good food
Good food (Christmas cookies)
good fellowship
traditions
lights, stories, presents, food
Some of you are figuring out what the traditions will be for your family
good memories
painful memories
Christmas is a time of anticipation
Manger
Bethlehem
Baby Jesus
Mary and Joseph
Wise men
A star
Manger
Shepherds
Advent comes from the latin word adventus meaning “coming”
O Come, O Come Emmanuel (the song we just sang)
O come, o come Emmanuel
To free your captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice o Israel
To you shall come Emmanuel
This longing that the people of God have experienced for generations is noted all throughout the Christmas story
Zechariah’s Prophecy:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
The people of God have been waiting for their savior. They have been waiting for the Messiah. The one who would come and rescue them. This is what Advent is all about, the coming of Israel’s Messiah.
So as we look at the Echoes in Advent we want to look at how the people of God have been longing and waiting for their savior.
Our Advent sermon series is called, “echoes in advent” because we want to look at the story of Jesus’ birth and see how his coming echoes all the way back to the first couple chapters in Genesis. How each page of the OT anticipates Jesus’ coming.
The people of God were waiting for the Messiah to come.
They were longing for the prophecies to be fulfilled
Why were they waiting?
They had expectations of what the Messiah would do when he comes.
What were they expecting from the coming Messiah?
And how did Jesus’ coming meet those expectations and fulfill their longing.
We have a really interesting conversation recorded in the gospel of Luke that talks about expectations the people of God had for Jesus.
13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.
18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning,
23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Tell the story about the stranger on the road to Emmaus.
21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
Luke 24:
These two men had expectations for the coming Messiah.
They wanted to the messiah to come and redeem them.
And Jesus talks with them and began with Moses and all the prophets and shows them how all the scriptures point to Him.
Restore the blessings promised to Abraham
Restore the kingdom promised to David
So that is what Echoes in Advent is all about. Look to see how the people of God throughout the OT were waiting for Jesus to come. And how the scriptures reveal Jesus all throughout the OT.
These a
And bring them out of Exile -
They wanted to be free from Rome, they wanted to have glory of God returned to the temple.
These men, along with all of Israel have been waiting for the Messiah to come. They have been waiting since the first promise was given back in the Garden of Eden that God would send someone to crush the head of the serpent.
So as we Explore these Echoes in Advent this Christmas season, this morning I’d like you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 1.
We see echoes of Jesus birth all throughout the scriptures
We could spend time seeing,
How Jesus compares to Samson
Both Samson and Jesus have an angelic birth announcement
Both Samson and Jesus have a promised attached to their birth
Samson would begin to save Israel from the philistines
Jesus would save his people from their sins (a verse we will look at in more detail shortly)
How both Sampson and Jesus went to a foreign land to find himself a bride
How both Sampson and Jesus accomplished more in their deaths then they did in their lives.
We could look how Jesus compares to Moses
Both Moses and Jesus were born in the midst of a child genocide by evil rulers.
Both Moses and Jesus would be saved by people “tricking” the evil rulers (the midwives and the wisemen)
Both Moses and Jesus were called out of Egypt
Both Moses and Jesus are called redeemers
We could talk about Jesus and Samuel
Both Jesus and Samuel were born by virtue of a miracle
Both Jesus and Samuel would grow in the favor of God and men
Both Jesus and Samuel as young boys taught the words of God to religious leaders
Or how Both Mary and Hanna sing songs when they found out the pregnant with Jesus and Samuel and both songs have many of the same themes.
We could talk about Jesus and Isaac
both were the promised seed
We could talk about Jesus and Joseph or Jesus and Able, or Jesus and Jacob.
The OT is a story that echoes his coming. And it is a story about God’s people longing and waiting for the messiah to come.
They are waiting for rescue, they are waiting for freedom, they are longing for their king, they are restlessly waiting for their redemption. This is the heart of the Advent season, longing and waiting for the Messiah to come.
They are waiting for rescue, they are waiting for freedom, they are longing for their king, they are restlessly waiting their redemption.
I love how many advent hymns are full of longing, and the language of the prophets. Advent hymns are about Israel’s desperations and hope, and specifically hope that the Christ would come in order to keep Yahweh’s promise to restore His people, and through them to restore the nations.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel (the song we just sang)
Advent hymns, as you’d expect, are full of longing, and the language of the prophets. Advent hymns are about Israel’s desperations and hope, and specifically hope that the Christ would come in order to keep Yahweh’s promise to restore His people, and through them to restore the nations.
O come, o come Emmanuel
To free your captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
“How lovely shines the Morning Star; the nations see and hail afar, the light in Judah shining. Thou David’s Son of Jacob’s race, My Bridegroom and my King of Grace, for Thee my heart is pining.” Comfort, Comfort Ye My people is a virtual paraphrase of : “Comfort, comfort ye My people; speak ye peace, thus saith our God; comfort those who sit in darkness, bowed beneath their sorrow’s load; speak ye to Jerusalem, of the peace that waits for them; Tell her that her sin I cover, and her warfare now is over.”
“How lovely shines the Morning Star; the nations see and hail afar, the light in Judah shining. Thou David’s Son of Jacob’s race, My Bridegroom and my King of Grace, for Thee my heart is pining.”
“Comfort, Comfort Ye My people”
Comfort, Comfort Ye My people is a virtual paraphrase of : “Comfort, comfort ye My people; speak ye peace, thus saith our God; comfort those who sit in darkness, bowed beneath their sorrow’s load; speak ye to Jerusalem, of the peace that waits for them; Tell her that her sin I cover, and her warfare now is over.”
“Wake, awake, for night is flying; the watchmen on the heights are crying; awake Jerusalem at last;midnight hears the welcome voices, and at the thrilling cry rejoices; come forth ye virgins, night is past.” The refrain O Come, O Come Emmanuel tells is all: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
Rejoice, rejoice o Israel
To you shall come Emmanuel
“Wake, awake, for night is flying”
“Wake, awake, for night is flying; the watchmen on the heights are crying; awake Jerusalem at last; midnight hears the welcome voices, and at the thrilling cry rejoices; come forth ye virgins, night is past.”
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”
“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
As Peter Leithart writes, “Advent hymns are about Israel. They are deeply and thoroughly and thrillingly political. Advent hymns look forward not to heaven but the redemption of Israel and of the nations, the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.”
This longing that the people of God have experienced for generations is noted all throughout the Christmas story
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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,
Zechariah’s Prophecy:
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Zechariah’s Prophecy:
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
Luke 1
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
The people of God have been waiting for their savior. They have been waiting for the Messiah. The one who would come and rescue them. This is what Advent is all about, the coming of Israel’s Messiah.
Luke 2:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
The people of God have been waiting for their savior. They have been waiting for the Messiah. The one who would come and rescue them. This is what Advent is all about, the coming of Israel’s Messiah.
So as we look at the Echoes in Advent we want to look at how the people of God have been longing and waiting for their savior.
Echoes in Advent
Echoes in Advent
So if you were to read from Genesis through the writings of Moses, through the history, through the poetry and the prophetic books you would see how the entire bible is anticipating the coming of the Messiah.
So if you were to read from Genesis through the writings of Moses, through the history, through the poetry and the prophetic books you would see how the entire bible is anticipating the coming of the Messiah.
And as you finish the last few verses in the last book of the OT you will see God promising to send the “sun of Righteousness with healings it its wings” referring to Jesus. And you would see how God promises to send the forerunner, who is John the Baptist, who will come and turn hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers...”
And you turn the next page and you are immediately faced with a genealogy (boring).
Lets be honest, if you were to read the whole OT you would probably skip some of the genealogies, and the lists of names and so on.
However, Matthew thinks that Jesus genealogy is so important to who he is that he puts it up front.
And the reason he does this is to call the readers attention back to God’s promises to Israel and their longing for the Messiah
Matthew’s genealogy actually outlines the OT in its three stages as the people wait the coming redeemer.
We won’t read the whole passage but if you notice
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Here we see Matthew compressing the genealogy of Jesus down to only two relatives - David and Abraham
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
We then see Matthew take us through the fourteen generations starting with Abraham and taking us to David
and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
We then see Matthew take us fourteen more generations from David to the exile and then 14 more generation from the exile to Jesus.
It is then summarized for us again in
So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
What Matthew is doing is outlining the entire OT for us as it all relates to God’s people and their longing for Jesus.
Outlining the entire OT for us as it all relates to God’s people and their longing for Jesus.
Abraham to David
Explaining
David to Exile
Exile to Jesus
In each of these sections of the OT we find echoes of Jesus. People, places, or things that point us to Jesus.
They were longing for the promises made to Abraham to come to fulfillment
Just between Abraham and David we could talk about so many echoes of Advent
Waiting for the seed of Abraham who would bless the nations
The seed of Abraham who would be a light to the nations
The seed of Abraham who would be a great king
The seed of Abraham who claim and rule the land
We could spend time seeing,
How Jesus compares to Samson
Both Samson and Jesus have an angelic birth announcement
Both Samson and Jesus have a promised attached to their birth
Samson would begin to save Israel from the philistines
Jesus would save his people from their sins (a verse we will look at in more detail shortly)
How both Sampson and Jesus went to a foreign land to find himself a bride
How both Sampson and Jesus accomplished more in their deaths then they did in their lives.
We could look how Jesus compares to Moses
Both Moses and Jesus were born in the midst of a child genocide by evil rulers.
Both Moses and Jesus would be saved by people “tricking” the evil rulers (the midwives and the wisemen)
Both Moses and Jesus were called out of Egypt
Both Moses and Jesus are called redeemers
We could talk about Jesus and Samuel
Both Jesus and Samuel were born by virtue of a miracle
Both Jesus and Samuel would grow in the favor of God and men
Both Jesus and Samuel as young boys taught the words of God to religious leaders
Or how Both Mary and Hanna sing songs when they found out the pregnant with Jesus and Samuel and both songs have many of the same themes.
We could talk about Jesus and Isaac
both were the promised seed
We could talk about Jesus and Joseph or Jesus and Able, or Jesus and Jacob.
The OT is a story that echoes his coming. And it is a story about God’s people longing and waiting for the messiah to come.
They are waiting for rescue, they are waiting for freedom, they are longing for their king, they are restlessly waiting for their redemption. This is the heart of the Advent season, longing and waiting for the Messiah to come.
I love how many advent hymns are full of longings and hopes for the Messiah to come.
O Come, O Come Emmanuel (the song we just sang)
O come, o come Emmanuel
To free your captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice, rejoice o Israel
To you shall come Emmanuel
This longing that the people of God have experienced for generations is noted all throughout the Christmas story
Zechariah’s Prophecy:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
The people of God have been waiting for their savior.
They have been waiting for the Messiah.
The one who would come and rescue them.
his is what Advent is all about, the coming of Israel’s Messiah.
This is what Advent is all about, the coming of Israel’s Messiah.
So Matthew reminds us of this longing by giving us the genealogy of Jesus divided into these three parts
They were longing for the promises made to David to come to fulfillment
That David’s offspring would be a king who rules forever
That David’s kingdom would be an everlasting kingdom
That David’s throne will be established for all eternity.
In the Exile we see the people of God longing for God to dwell with them again
The people of God were in exile separated from the presence of God
The presence of God was removed from the temple in and they were longing for the presence to return
The people of God were waiting for that day when God would dwell with them again.
This longing outlined in the genealogy prepares the reader for what comes next.
We will work from Backwards from exile to David to Abraham through this advent series and on Christmas eve we will work all the way back to the Garden of Eden and see how the echoes in advent take us all the way back to the beginning of the bible
Echoes in Advent: Immanuel
Echoes in Advent: Immanuel
Look with me at Matthew 1:18-23
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Matthew 1:18-
Immanuel means, God with us
This is a huge statement!
The entire law and sacrificial system was pointing to this moment
The promises given to Abraham and to David were pointing to this moment
The covenants, and the psalms, and the traditions, the highs and the lows of Israel has been moving toward the movement that God would once again dwell with his people.
To understand how powerful this statement is we have to understand how long the people of God have been waiting for Immanuel, God to dwell with them.
Example**
How can I illustrate this… let me ask you a question, do any of you remember what you were doing October 20th of 2004? (13 years ago)
I remember this date vividly
the backstrap is the best meet on the deer
I was waiting to eat it for just the right occiasian.
I was sitting in class very distracted, from what the teacher was saying.
I was nervous. I was excited. There was some significant tension between me and some of my classmates
we had friends come from out of town
And it was all because of what was about to happen that night.
it was game 7 of the 2004 American League Championship Series where the Boston Red Sox were about to pull of the greatest comeback in team sport history.
Even as I was writing the sermon my heart started to beat a bit faster thinking about this memory
You see, I grew up in New England and the Boston Red Sox are my team.
and if you ask any Red Sox fan about the curse of the bambino prior to 2004 you would get a similar reaction. Anger, sadness, lots of opinions, and lots of stories. And a real sense of longing for another world series.
The Red Sox went 86 years without winning a world series
Prior to 2004 the last world series the Red Sox won was in 1918 when we had the greatest player of all time, Babe Ruth.
after the next season the Red Sox made the worse decision perhaps ever in professional sports - they sold Babe Ruth to the NY Yankees
What the Red Sox did not know is that they would not only receive $125,000 for Babe Ruth, but they also received a curse that would keep the Sox from winning another world Series for 86 years.
year after year Red Sox fans longed for a championship. They waited for management to put together the right teams.
Now, at the school I was attending there were a lot of students who did not grow up in New England. There were a lot of students that didn’t even grow up in the united states. So for them to hear that the Red Sox beat the Yankees and went on to win the first world series in 86 years thus reversing the curse of the bambino - it was no big deal.
To truly understand the significance of why October of 2004 was so sweet for Red Sox fans they would have to understand how long we had been waiting.
how for a lot of New England sports fans their identity was wrapped up in the Red Sox.
Only when you begin to understand what it was like for a red sox fan between 1918 and 2004 will you begin to understand how great that game was.
Now, comparing great things with small.
For us to understand how powerful really is, we need to understand how long the people of God have been waiting for Immanuel.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
Ma
You see, God’s dwelling with his people is a major theme in the Bible. And the longing for God’s presence started back in after the fall
Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
God created man and woman to dwell with Him.
God and man were together in the garden temple in perfect unity, perfect relationship, perfect love, and there was no barrier between God and man.
Ezekiel describes The Garden of Eden as a temple. As the place where God meets with his people.
Adam and Eve enjoyed God’s presence as perfect image bearers feasting and dining with God in his temple.
Yet Adam and Eve rebelled against God and were expelled from God’s presence. They were no longer allowed to dwell with God as they were created to do.
Yet, God being full of grace promised to restore the relationship through the offspring of Eve.
One day a child would be born that would bring the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve back into the presence of God.
We continue to move through the scriptures and we find man attempting to dwell with God by creating their own temple trying to get to God themselves
Bable
The tower of Babel was mans attempt to build a temple for their own glory.
You see, mans attempt to reach God always fail. For man and God to dwell together God is the one who has to move toward man.
We see God moving toward men when he comes to Abraham and tells him that he will come to his people through one of his offsprings and through covenant.
This covenant is bond or a promise that one day God will dwell with people again.
This promise is something the people of God held on too
We then see shadows of this promise being fulfilled in the Tabernacle and Temple
Tabernacle and Temple
Tabernacle and Temple
Temple
After God brought his people out of Egypt in the exodus he came and dwelt with his people in the tabernacle.
Here God lived in the midst of his people yet his people did not have access to Him as Adam and Eve had in the Garden.
Because of their sins they had to stay away. Only able to come close through the mediation of a priests and the blood of a sacrifice.
The temple became the center part of Israel’s ecosystem.
Worship
Law
Fellowship
Food
Parties etc.
Yet what we see happening is God’s people disobeying God, like Adam and Eve, and they were exiled sent away from God’s presence.
God
And in we see God himself leaving the Temple never to return.
No longer could the people of God claim that God was with them. The concept of Immanuel seems so far away.
Babylon came and took God’s people captive.
the people of God continued to rebel.
So God sent prophets to them to teach them the ways of God and give them hope for the future.
One of these prophets was Isaiah and in we see Isaiah prophesy that one day God will return to his people
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
And now, in the birth of Jesus we see this longing coming to fulfillment
All the stories, all the promises
All sorrows and all the pains
All the prophecies and all longings
have come to their fulfillment in Jesus
The savior of the world had finally come. The wars and the captivities are now over. And the kingdom is about to be established.
Conclusion
As we walk through this advent season may we be a people who long to see Jesus as the OT prophets had.
Let us be a people who proclaim his Kingship over all creation
Let us be a people who model what it looks like to have joy in this season because our king has come.
As we look forward to
Christmas songs
good food
traditions
presents
Lets remember the what our forefathers had been longing for, Immanuel (freedom, redemption).
And may we long to live in the presence of our God.
Lets pray
Communion
The Advent season, or the Christmas season, is all about the coming of Jesus.
Throughout our advent series we will be reading from Luke’s gospel that tells the story of Jesus’ coming.
We have entitled this advent series Echoes in Advent as we will be looking back at the OT to see how all of history, all of creation, all of the bible is longing for the coming of Christ.
Longing = importance (?)
Key Verses
Therefore the •Lord himself will give •you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
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. 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.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, •whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
••In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. …