Peace: Advent of the Messiah

This past week has been really busy, rushing from one event to another, attending job parties, church socials, family functions and we can’t forget the plans and preparations for the season.

Are you at peace or is your anxiety level at an all time high?

If you have a pencil handy I want you to take out a paper, you phone or just keep it in your head. Write down a number from 1 being low to 10 being high. What is your current level of peace?

Pause

Do you have a number?

Did you write it down?

Be honest, did you peak at your neighbors number to see how you measure up?

If this was a smaller group, I would ask you to move with the higher number people move to the front and the lower number at the back in case you need to run out.

Don’t worry, stay right where you are.

What drives our peace? What give you peace.

I went to the authority on Peace, you guessed it Wikipedia

Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups.

Peace is not a concept but a reality. The angels were part of the advent of the messiah because they were the agents God used to usher in His Peace.

His Son. We can only truly find Peace in God.

With that in mind, let’s look through this morning two passages of Scripture that describe the Advent of the Messiah, The Peace that the messaih will usher into our lives.

Setting the stage

Matthew begins to set the stage of the ushering in of peace, the Advent of the peace, beginning with where he came from. The Genealogy.

Let’s be honest, how many of us skim over the reading of the genealogy if we are systematically reading through God’s word? What does this have to do with the story of Christ?

Matthew’s Audience

The first reason is that The audience of the book was primarily Jews. Matthew as a lad raised as a good jewish boy and understood the importance of family upbringing.

Where are you from?

Who is your tribe?

These were important in the life of a Jewish people. Where you sat in the order of lineage became an important part of Jesus’ life as we could explore later.

Jesus’ Lineage

The second reason is his lineage. Prophecy spoke of the Messiah would come from the line and house of David.

It’s important to list that lineage as we set the stage for he Angels, the main characters or focus point this morning.

Remember the audience was primarily Jewish. They were particularly patriarchal. The family line traveled through the father and the father, and so on.

As I was reflecting on this passage this week, a relative posted an article from a Advent journal reading she was working through. The writer of this article, made a remarkable comment, and I thought I would share this with you this morning.

This morning if you are wondering where God’s peace is in your life, if you are wondering if it can ever be real in your life, let me read to you a small quote that I read this week from Ann Voskamp.

The family tree of Christ startlingly notes not one woman but four. Four broken women — women who felt like outsiders, like has-beens, like never-beens. Women who were weary of being taken advantage of, of being unnoticed, and uncherished and unappreciated; women who didn’t fit in, who didn’t know how to keep going, what to believe, where to go — women who had thought about giving up. And Jesus claims exactly these who are Wandering And wondering And wounded And worn out As his. He grafts you into his line and his story and his heart, and he gives you his Name, his lineage, his righteousness. -Advent Devotional by Ann. Voskamp

The Advent of the messiah, the coming of the messiah, the coming of the savior was for all of us. Through Him we will have peace.

Matthew after outlining the genealogy of the messiah, he begins his passage as a story.

Matthew 1:18–25 ESV

18 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. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Now the birth took place in this way.

If you look on the surface of the text you will see that Matthew begins to highlight the couple. Remember he is writing this in a past tense. This has taken place.

Matthew points out that they were engaged. A social engagement that was different than we know of engagement today. They were in the Jewish culture a couple.

But wait she was with child. A quick simple statement that asks the readers many questions. Why didn’t he go into details. A good story requires details. Before we look at the Angel in this story, we are going to jump passages.

Angels involved in the Advent of the Messiah

Turn with me to the book of Luke and we are going to walk through three Angels and their presence and significance in the Advent of the Messiah that brought peace.

The First Angel

The first angel found in the story of the birth of Christ did not come to Joseph first, but to Mary.

The Pronouncement

As I was putting this sermon together and doing research, I never once found that when an angel appeared that there was a sense of peace.

An Angel’s pronouncement

Think about that. How peaceful would you be if you come face to face with an angel.

I would think, started is a better term.

I thought about all the TV shows that depicted Angels. Touched by an Angel, Highway to Heaven, now a good place, and don’t forget my favourite, Christmas Angel Show, “Angels and Ornaments”.

All of those angels when exposed for their role as celestial beings bringing words from God, are treated with wonder, fear and astonishment.

Let’s look at what the text states.

Luke 1:26–28 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

Gabriel,

Mentioned only a few times in the Bible, here in the story of the birth of Christ and in Daniel’s book about prophecy. Angels are often referred as God’s messengers. or Angel of the Lord, but not often are they given a name like in this passage.

Luke sets the stage for this dialogue. Here is a description of who Mary was, her condition before the Christ child, and now the angel speaks.

Greeting, o favored one. God is with you.

How would this make you feel if and angel appears to you and says Greeting.

Are you peaceful?

Hardly,

Let’s look at Mary’s response

Luke 1:29 ESV

29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

She wasn’t just troubled but greatly troubled.

The Advent of the saviour was messy. It required an angel to bring news otherwise, the characters in the story would have difficulty understanding God’s plan.

The Proclamation

We have the pronouncement and now the proclamation.

Luke 1:30–33 ESV

30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The Proclamation

The proclamation required from Mary 3 things. 2 of which were very much out of her personal control.

She is to conceive

She is to deliver a son/child

She is to call him Jesus

The proclamation also gave a description of what this Divine child will be

He would be called the son

He will be given a throne/kingdom

He will reign forever

Six items in the proclamation and I wonder if she at first really heard the news.

She is to conceive

She is to deliver a son/child

She is to call him Jesus

He would be called the son

He will be given a throne/kingdom

He will reign forever.

The Pondering

Wait, what, I am to conceive? Umm. That’s not the way mom told me how this works.

Angel are you sure? Really.

Look at Mary’s Pondering

Luke 1:34 ESV

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

The Possibility

The angel must have been aware that there would be some questions.

and the Angel responds with the possibility

Luke 1:35–38 ESV

35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The Possibility

Mary wanted to know how.

Simply put. God

God is in control. He will take care of it.

Remember your cousin. God took care of that as well.

God will take care of you.

Are you searching for the peace this Christmas season.

Where are you looking. Are you looking at things you can do. Things you can accomplish.

God’s peace will come to us when we give all our worries and concern to him.

The angel reminded Mary,

For nothing will be impossible with God.

Nothing with God

impossibility is not in his vocabulary.

The first angel’s role was to bring the news to Mary and when her questions were answered she was at peace resting in the comfort of God’s peace

The Second Angel

The Second angel in the story.

We now move back to the Matthew passage.

Matthew 1:19–21 ESV

19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 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. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

What was the need for the second Angel?

What was the need for the second angel? Think about that for a moment. I had to this week.

As I sat down and poured over these passages, and researched this text, I found something interesting that had never occurred to me before.

You see I have heard this story for many years. Maybe you have heard this story before and hearing so many times we seem to gloss over the facts or in some cases focus on some points.

Here are some of the facts I have been taught over the years:

Joseph had every right to “divorce” her

Joseph was a such a godly man because he didn’t want to bring harm to Mary

Joseph was an honorable man for thinking of all these things.

Now don’t get me wrong. These statements are true. But think of it this way.

How did Joseph find out that his engaged to be wife was pregnant?

The bible doesn’t specifically say, but we can assume Mary told him. It wasn’t that she was showing as he would not have been thinking of divorcing her quietly as the news would have spread quicker.

Think about that, if she was really showing that she was pregnant, would it have been the man to notice first?

Really, you give the men credit too quickly if you think we would notice a women being pregnant.

I can only conclude that Mary told him.

Mary would have also told him about the angel’s visit.

God’s messenger had spoken, Joseph heard the story and was trying to distance himself from the story.

One commentary states it this way

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke B. The Birth of Jesus (1:18–25)

1. Because Joseph, knowing about the virginal conception, was a just man and had no desire to bring the matter out in the open (i.e., to divulge this miraculous conception), he felt unworthy to continue his plans to marry one so highly favored and planned to withdraw (so Gundry, Matthew; McHugh, pp. 164–72; Schlatter).

That really stuck out for me.

Joseph felt unworthy as Mary was the one who was favored.

Have you ever felt that way about your life.

Unworthy that God would use you for something of his plan.

I mean you look at another and you see that God has apparently blessed them and wonder, I could never meet up to that expectation.

I could never .....

It is at that moment of Joseph’s life, God sent an angel to reassure him.

The Angel of the Lord

The Angel of the lord.

Matthew 1:20 ESV

20 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.

Joseph, Don’t worry, God is in control

Joseph, Keep moving on your plans, I have your back

Joseph, Do not fear, God is in control.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke B. The Birth of Jesus (1:18–25)

That was what Joseph purposed. It would leave both his righteousness (his conformity to the law) and his compassion intact.

Are you sitting here this morning feeling out of sort. Are you wondering if God is real and has left you on the edge of your life. Can I repeat the words of the angel

Friend, Don’t worry, God is in control

Friend, Keep moving on your plans that God has ordained, I have your back.

Friend, Do not fear, God is in control

The Advent of the messiah will bring about Peace.

The Third Angel

The third angel in the story of the birth about the Christ child is found back in Luke.

Luke 2:9 ESV

9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

The Third Angel

This angel brought about the response most of us would do when an angel appears before us.... Fear

As this passage is mainly about the advent of the messiah through the shepherds, I will leave if for next Sunday we are going to explore this at greater lengths.

Needless to say, the angels were used to bring about the Advent News of the Messiah that he will bring peace.

True Peace

Matthew set the stage for the Advent of the Messiah, the angels were involved in the message to usher in God’s plan for the Advent of the messiah. So this week we discover that True peace will come when the Messiah comes. As we learned last week in the words of Isaiah, he will be called the prince of Peace

The Angel’s Purpose

The Angel’s purpose in the Advent of the Messiah was not to bring peace to one another, but rather to direct people to the prince of Peace. To bring them back to God or to point them to God’s plan for the Advent of the Messiah

Our Peace

Finally, we need to address our peace. I asked you earlier, what level of peace would you identify with?

Has it changed?

You see your peace is from God.

Christ came, his Advent of the messiah brought in a way of peace with God. We were once alienated and separated from God through our sin. Christ’s work on the cross made a way to once again have peace with God.

To receive full peace, God’s peace, one must come to the father and accept God’s redemptive work on the cross,through this child, Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins.

It’s a free gift, but we have to accept this gift. To give our lives over to Christ. To allow Him rule in our lives and usher in the true peace.

If your number is low on the peace scale and you haven’t accepted Christ as your personal saviour for your sins, and Confessed Him to be your lord, your peace number will truely never rise.

You may strive and strive to find peace, filling your life with many things, but the true peace, one that cannont be replaced by anything other than God’s peace will come when you accept the Advent of the messiah in your life.

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Peace

Because of the world’s chaos through man’s sin, and because peace comes only as God’s gift, the Messianic hope was of an age of peace (Is. 2:2–4; 11:1–9; Hg. 2:7–9), or of the advent of the Prince of peace (Is. 9:6f.; cf. Je. 33:15f.; Ezk. 34:23ff.; Mi. 5:5; Zc. 9:9f.). The NT shows the fulfilment of this hope. In Christ peace has come (Lk. 1:79; 2:14, 29f.). By him it is bestowed (Mk. 5:34; Lk. 7:50; Jn. 20:19, 21, 26), and his disciples are its messengers (Lk. 10:5f.; Acts 10:36).

If you have accepted God’s forgiveness, and your still struggling with peace, why not do like Mary and put your faith fully in God’s redemptive plan. Are you finding yourself like Joseph who was considering dealing with the matter in his own way because he felt he couldn’t possibly measure up, turn it over to God. His redemptive plan will usher in peace.

As the worship team comes up and leads us through a song of response, may I encourage you this morning. If you haven’t given your life over to the Prince of Peace. Do it today. Christmas for you will never be the same.

Philippians 4:7 ESV

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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