Unwrapping Christmas- The Messiah

Matthew 1:18–25 NASB95

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

INTRO: I love this time of year… not because of the cold. No, I could do without that. Not because of the busyness- in fact, I’d say we allow ourselves to get a little too busy. Rather, it’s because we get to renew our focus upon our Lord.

The Christmas season is a season of anticipation. We place neatly wrapped gifts under the tree with notes saying, “Do not open til Christmas”. There is excitement as our kids dream about what they might open on Christmas morning. And, just as parents eagerly await the smiles and joy of giving gifts to their children, there is a greater expectation that we look forward to.

That was true at the first Christmas. In Matthew 1, we see that Joseph, Mary’s soon to be husband, received an announcement that introduced the first Advent- the birth of Jesus Christ. Now, I expect that most of you have heard this account a number of times. In fact, I am confident that some of you, in your Bible reading, skim past this section because you are so familiar with it.

Over the next few Sundays, I want to slow us down. Indeed, we know the chain of events. But, we are going to focus less on the event and more on the person of Christ. The reason is not simply to fill your head with Scripture references nor is it an attempt to approach this season in a unique fashion. No, my hope is that as we dial in on this Jesus of whom the whole of our faith revolves, that we find ourselves drawn into His glory. I pray that we will marinate our hearts in the truth of our Lord and by the time Christmas day arrives, our hearts will sing Hallelujah as we renew our longing for Christ’s return- His second advent.

We will look at 3 names of Jesus mentioned in this passage, and explore what each one means. We will look at the name “Jesus” (verse 21), the name “Immanuel” (verse 23), and today the name “Christ” or “Messiah” found in verse 18.

I’ve mentioned to you before that “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, but rather a designation of who He is. Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah” which means “anointed [one]”. This designation appears 514 times in the New Testament in reference to Jesus. So, you could say that this is worthy of our attention.

To be anointed is to be consecrated, or set apart for a specific role. We see the writers of the Old Testament allude to this “one”- the “seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head”, the “seed of Abraham through whom all nations would be blessed”, the Messiah who would rescue God’s people, who would bear the transgressions of many. The Messiah, whom all Israel awaited.

When Jesus began His ministry, this designation was not widely recognized. Matthew records an interesting conversation between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus asked,

Matthew 16:13–16 NASB95

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Yes, Peter understood that Jesus is in fact the anointed One.

This anointing had been made public at Jesus’ baptism, when the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended on Him, yet many failed to see it. When Jesus was questioned by the High priest before His crucifixion as noted in

Mark 14:61–62 NASB95

But He kept silent and did not answer. Again the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

As we know, they rejected His claim to be the Messiah.

Now, while we might be content to just move on from there, I am going to ask you to dive in a bit deeper with me this morning. We are going to look at 3 specific roles that Jesus is anointed for. You can use your sermon guide to follow along. The message is entitled “Unwrapping Christmas - The Messiah”

The first role that I want to unwrap is Jesus

Anointed as Prophet

In the Old Testament, we see that prophets were anointed to deliver the word of God. I want to point us specifically to Elijah’s anointing of Elisha.

An anointed prophet would take God’s message to His designated audience. Elisha asked for a double-portion of Elijah’s anointing, knowing that the role of prophet is not done in one’s own power. Moses talked about the prophet that would come after him who was far greater. So God’s people continually were looking for this prophet.

And throughout the OT, we see prophets declaring, “Thus says the Lord God...”

Jesus was anointed to be God’s mouthpiece… actually, He was God’s mouthpiece!

Luke records Jesus testifying of this fact. Look with me to:

Luke 4:16–21 NASB95

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus went on preaching the message- “REPENT!! The Kingdom of God is at hand!” Jesus announced the end of sin’s rule! He proclaimed God’s forgiveness as He declared freedom to the world that is otherwise oppressed under the rule of Satan.

In the book of Acts, Peter draws our attention to this anointing as well.

Acts 10:38 NASB95

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Jesus received the anointing as prophet- to proclaim the word of God, which He did perfectly.

ILL: Every time I stand up here to preach, I shutter at the thought that I might err in some way. In fact, every Sunday afternoon, all I can think about are the things I could have said more clearly or the call to action that I should have led you to. I often wonder why God even called me to preach because I'm not all that great at it.

My only comfort is, as I look through Scripture, I realize I stand in the company of Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Peter, John, Paul - all had their imperfections.

But Jesus was anointed as THE PERFECT PROPHET. When we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the coming of the anointed prophet who would teach us the truth perfectly. But Jesus was far more than just a teacher.

Next, we will look at Jesus

Discuss: John 1:1 speaks of Jesus as the Word of God. How does this inform our view of Jesus’ teaching?

Anointed as Priest

Priests were a common fixture in the Old Testament. If we go back to the book of Exodus 30, we see God command Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons as priests. As Baptists, we are a bit disconnected from this idea. We know that the Catholics have priests, but we are a bit leery of how they see their role.

We have questions, and I want to try to answer them. What is a priest? A priest is an intercessor. He is one who stands between God and man to offer sacrifices and administer the offerings of worship and thanksgiving. We see priests in the OT bring food and drink offerings before God. They would enter into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle blood on the Mercy Seat in order to atone for the sins of the nation.

I’ve done a study in Leviticus and it’s pretty interesting all that these priests did. But, as interesting and involved as it was, I am so grateful that Jesus was anointed to be our perfect priest. Listen to how the writer of Hebrews explains this:

Hebrews 9:11–14 NASB95

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Jesus didn’t just put forth a sacrifice on our behalf, He gave Himself as the sacrifice on our behalf! He perfectly satisfied the wrath of God with His own blood. God Himself set Jesus apart for this role.

Hebrews 10:8–12 NASB95

After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,

Now, He is exalted, seated at the right hand of God in all power in order to mediate between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5)

It’s because Jesus is our priest, that we can go boldly to the throne of God. He knows our weakness and He gives mercy and grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb 4:14-16)

When we celebrate Christmas, we acknowledge that Jesus became flesh in order to be the perfect prophet and the perfect priest. To proclaim the good news, and to be the good news.

Discuss: If Christ is our High Priest, what does it mean when Peter declares Christians as a “royal priesthood” in 1 Peter 2:9? [Hint: read the context!]

Finally, Jesus was not only anointed as the perfect prophet and perfect priest. Heb. 7 shows that Jesus was a priest in the order of Melchizedek. This brings us to see Jesus

Anointed as King

Melchizedek was the ‘king of Salem’ who blessed Abraham (Gen 14:18). We don’t know a whole lot about him, but we know that he was a king and a priest. This dual-anointing is not found anywhere else in Scripture. In fact, Saul- anointed as king, was condemned for offering a sacrifice.

Melchizedek’s name means “king of righteousness” and the city he rules, Salem (shalom) means “peace”. He offered Abraham bread and wine after his victory in battle and in response, Abraham tithed to him.

I think this all points us forward to the anticipation of a better king. That king, is Jesus.

In the OT book of 2 Samuel 7:16, we see that God made a covenant with David to raise up a king in his line who would reign forever. Mat. 1:1 alludes to these OT promises of this anointed king, and Gabriel the angel tells Mary that her son would be the fulfillment of this promise (Luke 1:32-33).

But beyond the OT promises, are the NT affirmations of Jesus’ kingship. As King, Jesus has conquered sin and death (1 Cor. 15). He has been given ALL authority on heaven and on earth- Matt. 28:18. He has the name above every name (Phil. 2:9-11) He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Rev.19:16).

Jesus is the king who rules perfectly. One day, He will make all things new. We, as believers will dwell in His kingdom that is free from the effects of sin.

As we walk through this Advent season, perhaps we can dwell on this anticipation the most. But to await His second coming is not an idle operation. No, we are called to something more. To be ready. To be faithful.

I want to point us to this simple nativity. We like the picture of the baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. But we must recognize that this baby was anointed to proclaim truth perfectly as prophet, to offer the perfect sacrifice for our redemption as priest, and now sits exalted in the heavens as our perfect King. He is the prophet, priest, and King we so desperately need.

As we close our time together, I want to read a portion of the London Baptist confession.

“In respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of his prophetical office; and in respect of our alienation from God, and imperfection of the best of our services, we need his priestly office to reconcile us and present us acceptable unto God; and in respect to our averseness and utter inability to return to God, and for our rescue and security from our spiritual adversaries, we need his kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom.” (London Baptist Confession 8.10)

Let us respond in adoration to our Lord, our Messiah - the Anointed One of God.

Discuss: How was Jesus’ kingship established? [Hint: Read Hebrews 2]