Making the Christmas Connection: The Christmas Sign
Making the Christmas Connection
The Christmas Sign
Isaiah 7:14
The Significance of the Christmas Sign…
1. Don’t miss God’s promise of Christmas
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14 NIV
2. Don’t miss God’s purpose for Christmas
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14 NIV
3. Don’t miss God’s presence at Christmas
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14 NIV
Making the Christmas Connection:
The Christmas sign points to Christ the Savior. Do you know Him?
Intro:
Christmas video (Why do we celebrate Christmas)
Why do you celebrate Christmas?
What is it all about?
This morning I’m going to begin a series of messages called:
Making the Christmas Connection
Today I will begin by sharing a message about:
The Christmas Sign
Have you ever missed a sign while traveling?
I’ve missed a few…
I don’t know whether it is because of:
· My eyesight
· My Age
· Or My I.Q.
Probably a combo of all three…but I miss some signs sometime
Like the time our family went to Hilton Head for the first time.
We were traveling with another family…Thad and Belinda King and their kids.
Thad and I were in one van (big mistake) and Lisa and Belinda were in the other van…
We are getting ready to enter Hilton Head when we are faced with two signs…
We go one way and Lisa and Belinda go the other way…
Fortunately missing the sign wasn’t critical…(they had to tell me that)…
It is critical, if we miss the signs God places before us…
He gives us signs to direct us, inform us and ultimately to save us!!
Some billboard signs appeared a few years ago in Texas and others states…known as God’s billboard signs.
God's Billboard Signs
Let's meet at my house Sunday before the game.
-God
C'mon over and bring the kids.
-God
What part of "Thou Shalt Not..." didn't you understand?
-God
We need to talk.
-God
Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer.
-God
That "Love Thy Neighbor" thing... I meant it.
-God
I love you and you and you and you and...
-God
Will the road you're on get you to my place?
-God
Follow me.
-God
Big bang theory, you've got to be kidding.
-God
My way is the highway.
-God
Need directions?
-God
You think it's hot here?
-God
Have you read my #1 bestseller? There will be a test.
-God
Do you have any idea where you're going?
-God
(And my personal favorite...)
Don't make me come down there.
-God
God has some signs throughout His Word….
The signs of Christmas are everywhere in the Bible.
In the OT there are 6 specific Christmas prophecies…
Christmas Prophecies
1. Mic. 5:2 Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:6)
2. Isa. 7:14 Messiah would be born of a virgin (Matt. 1:23)
3. Isa. 7:14 Messiah would be named Immanuel, meaning “God with us” (Matt. 1:23)
4. Isa. 9:6 Messiah would be born in human flesh (John 1:1)
5. Isa. 9:6 Messiah would be born to bring peace on earth (Luke 2:14)
6. Isa. 9:6,7 Messiah would be born to rule on David’s throne (Matt. 1:1)
(The MacArthur Bible Commentary, p. 771)
Today I want to zero in on one verse Isa 7:14…
And see the significance of the Christmas Sign in Isa 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isa 7:14 NIV
The Significance of the Christmas Sign…
1. Don’t miss God’s promise of Christmas
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
These words were spoken in the context of a conversation between Isaiah and King Ahaz, ruler king of Judah (which included Jerusalem). Ahaz feared invasion from hostile armies;
God's prophet Isaiah assured him that it would not happen.
Isaiah gives him a sign
The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, "Ask me for a sign to assure you this is true." Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test."
Isaiah came to Ahaz again said, in effect, "Even though you didn't ask for a sign, God will give you one anyway: (v. 14) "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
How did a prediction of the virgin birth of Messiah fit that ancient scene?
Isaiah was telling the wicked king that no one would destroy the people of God or the royal line of David.
When the prophet said, "The Lord shall give you a sign," he used a plural you, indicating that Isaiah was also speaking to the entire nation, telling them that God would not allow Rezin and Pekah, or anyone else, to destroy them and the line of David
These words are about Jesus—God's Messiah.
700 years later, when Mary gave birth to her son in a manger in Bethlehem, Matthew cited these words, stating that Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.
Matt 1:22-23 says,
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."
God’s promise of Christmas is that no one or nothing can stop God’s prophecies.
To discuss the question of fulfilled prophecies regarding Jesus, Lee Strobel (author of The Case for Christmas) interviewed a man by the name of Louis Lapides, the minister of a church in Sherman Oaks, California.
He holds Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees; but what makes this man so interesting to this question, is that his spiritual journey began in nominal Judaism.
Having discovered that Jesus is the Christ foretold in his Jewish scriptures, he now confidently teaches other Jews about Jesus.
Lapides highlighted more than four dozen major predictions made in the Old Testament about the Messiah:
Isaiah revealed the manner of the Messiah birth (of a virgin);
Micah pinpointed the place of his birth (Bethlehem);
Genesis and Jeremiah specified his ancestry (a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the tribe of Judah, the house of David);
the Psalms foretold his betrayal, his accusation by false witnesses, his manner of death (pierced in the hands and feet, although crucifixion hadn’t been invented yet),
and his resurrection (he would not decay but would ascend on high); and on and on.
The weight of evidence for Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of the Messiah is very strong.
Yet, of course, there are challenges that must be recognised and addressed.
Thankfully, Lapides deals with them in a very accessible manner.
One challenge is…The Argument of Coincidence: Is it possible that Jesus merely fulfilled the prophecies by accident?
According to Lapides,
“Not a chance. The odds are so astronomical that they rule that out [...] The odds alone say it would be impossible for anyone to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies. Yet Jesus —and only Jesus throughout all of history— managed to do it.”
Indeed, mathematician Peter W. Stoner agrees, when “he estimated that the probability of fulfilling forty-eight prophecies was one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion.”
The chance, then, of fulfilling all the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah are just too great to be random.
Jesus’ fulfilling of those prophecies is no chance occurrence.
God promised a virgin born Son and He delivered…
God delivered on his promise…by sending His Son…
Have you claimed that promise?
Don’t miss God’s promise this Christmas!!
You can mark it down…God is faithful to do what He says…
Practically…
You can count on God…in every area of your life…
If He gave us the best, will he hold back??? (Paul/Romans 8:32)
The Promise of a deliverer!!!
God will deliver you…
Struggling with worry this Christmas…claim God’s promise…Phil 4:6-7
Struggling with weakness this Christmas…claim God’s promise…Phil 4:13
Struggling with fear this Christmas…claim God’s promise…Joshua 1:9
The Significance of the Christmas Sign…
2. Don’t miss God’s purpose for Christmas
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
(v. 14) The virgin will be with child...
If you took biology in high school, you know that it is physiologically impossible for a virgin to give birth.
The only way it could happen is by a miracle from God.
Now, obviously, if God can create the world from nothing, he can create a Y chromosome in a virgin's womb. He designed the laws of the universe; he can supersede them.
But the question is: Why did he?
Why was it necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin?
It was necessary because Jesus, God's Messiah, was more than just a man, more than just a prophet, he was God's own son.
He was literally God in the flesh.
Jesus entered our world as a baby in Bethlehem….but that was not the beginning of his existence.
The Bible teaches that Jesus existed before the world began.
In fact, there are 3 things the Bible teaches about Jesus that the average person on the street probably doesn't realize.
a.) Jesus has always existed.
b.) Jesus is God.
c.) Jesus created the world.
Listen to what is written in the gospel of John:
John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
These claims have not been made about any other major religious figure—Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, etc.
None of them claimed to have existed eternally; none of them claimed to be God; none of them claimed to have created the universe.
And none of their followers made such claims.
Yet, both Jesus and his followers made these claims about himself. He said to his followers... I and the father are one. (John 10:30) He also said... "I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58)
He also said in John 14:6,
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6
This son has God as His Father and Mary as His mother, so He would be God-Man, fully God and fully man.
This one of a kind person was and is the hope of all mankind. This is God’s gift to us.
John 3:16-17 spells out why Jesus came…
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17 NIV
The very purpose of Christmas is to give this God-Man, the Son of God, to the world that the world through Him might be saved, saved from sin, death, and hell.
Remember what Matthew wrote,
“You are to give Him the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
This is God’s gift to us at Christmas and it is His greatest gift.
Don’t miss God’s purpose for Christmas…to send us His Son…to save us from our sins.
The Significance of the Christmas Sign…
3. Don’t miss God’s presence at Christmas
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
(v. 14) ...and will call him Immanuel.
The word Immanuel means "God with us."
There is more to the Christmas story than the miraculous birth of Jesus.
The Christmas story teaches us that in Jesus, God is at work in the world in a way in which he never was before.
The idea of God being a remote God is gone forever, as is the idea of God dwelling in a tabernacle.
He now lives among us.
The birth of Jesus was announced with the words, "...they will call him Immanuel—which means 'God with us.'" (Matthew 1:22)
And the last words Jesus spoke to his disciples were: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)
"God with us" — that's who Jesus is.
He is with us still. Even today. Right now. He is here with us.
He is with you, every moment of every day of your life.
“I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Heb 13:5
When you stumble out of bed in the morning, he is with you.
As you face the stress of each hectic day, he is with you.
As you contemplate the uncertainty of the future, he is with you.
As you struggle with loneliness and fear, he is with you.
As you wrestle with temptation, he is with you.
He is your constant companion, your faithful friend who has promised that he will never leave you or forsake you.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year…
But it can be a lonely time, a time where some struggle with the fact that some family or friends are no longer around…
The message of Christmas focuses on Immanuel…God is with us!!
Concl…
Have you made the Christmas Connection?
Making the Christmas Connection:
The Christmas sign points to Christ the Savior. Do you know Him?
The late S.M. Lockridge once presented an incredible message, describing our God and who He is.
Though God can't be described with just words, this is as close as you can get this side of Heaven.
Watch and Listen…(3:40)
[Video… Do you know Him?]
Christmas...The pastor of a church in California put a sign in front of his church during the advent season that said, "Jesus is the reason for the season. Merry Christmas."
He received a complaint from a woman in the community who took exception with the message.
She closed the conversation by saying, "I don't think the church should try to drag religion into every holiday."
It is more likely that this prophecy had a double fulfillment. (1) A young woman from the house of Ahaz who was not married would marry and have a son. Before three years passed (one year for pregnancy and two for the child to be old enough to talk), the two invading kings would be destroyed. (2) Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah 7:14 to show a further fulfillment of this prophecy in that a virgin named Mary conceived and bore a son, Immanuel, the Christ.
LAN…7:14-16 Virgin is translated from a Hebrew word used for an unmarried woman old enough to be married, one who is sexually mature (see Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8; Psalm 68:25; Proverbs 30:19; Song 1:3; Song 6:8). Some have compared this young woman to Isaiah’s young wife and newborn son (Isaiah 8:1-4). This is not likely because she had a child, Shear-Jashub, and her second child was not named Immanuel. Some believe that Isaiah’s first wife may have died, and so this is his second wife. It is more likely that this prophecy had a double fulfillment. (1) A young woman from the house of Ahaz who was not married would marry and have a son. Before three years passed (one year for pregnancy and two for the child to be old enough to talk), the two invading kings would be destroyed. (2) Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah 7:14 to show a further fulfillment of this prophecy in that a virgin named Mary conceived and bore a son, Immanuel, the Christ. * This may be the most blessed thought of all, Immanuel, God with us. In Old Testament days God “came upon” mankind through His spirit. Since the ascension, God the Holy Spirit is with us at all times. The angelic choir sang to the shepherds, “Peace on Earth and good will to mankind.” Through the Holy Spirit we can find both peace & good will.
* God has given us His best through this boy baby named Jesus. Remember what Matthew wrote, “You are to give Him the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. This is God’s gift to us at Christmas and it is His greatest gift.