Special Announcemen

Tonight we are going to begin a special two part message that is going to look at specific events regarding the coming of Christ.

Christmas is nearly upon us! In fact, we are just a few weeks away from the day on which we celebrate the arrival of our Lord and Savior!

We know tonight that Jesus is the reason for the season! And I realize this is something we say each year but it is done so for good reason.

There are many traditions and cultural practices that come with Christmas.

Many of us get together with friends and family to celebrate.

Many of us exchange gifts with friends and family.

Many of us attend special programs or concerts with friends or family.

Many of us… find ourselves missing friends and family that are no longer here.

My point is, a lot can come within the season but let us NEVER forget the meaning behind the season!

In our morning messages, we are looking at the lives of some of the main characters and the events they experienced around the coming of our Lord.

The coming of Jesus… was a BIG deal. It still is a BIG deal. His arrival involved very real people living out their daily lives and a VERY REAL God who sent His Son who would change the reality of this world… FOREVER!

Our morning series focuses on the events surrounding His birth. What this series is going to do is look at the before… and after this event. Not just days, weeks or months… but hundreds of years before and after.

What I want us to understand is… THE COMING OF JESUS IS A WORLD-CHANGING EVENT! But He didn’t come just to change the world per se… He came to change the person… He came to change… YOU.

We often talk using large and general vernacular that can sometimes de-personalize what Jesus came to do. Yes He came to change the world. He came to changes lives… to give His life as a ransom for many… but often in Scripture we see Him stand in the gap for one.

He is Lord of all… yet He is personal… He is compassionate. He will leave the 99 to go after… the one. There truly is NO ONE like our Jesus. There is no other king like the King of ALL Kings.

Before the first Christmas ever happened… before there was Away in a Manager and that first Silent Night, There was… expectation.

This evening we are going to look at what the Bible has to say about Jesus before He was laid in a manger. We are going to look at what Scripture had to say about this soon coming King.

Today… we know Him as Lord and Savior… but then He was a glimmer of hope… the Messiah… the One who would come bringing victory to the oppressed.

Consider with me for a moment how it is that we tell of something or of someone who is coming soon.

Consider books, movies, or music. Long before these stories or songs are made available, we begin to see advertisements and announcements regarding the release of the new material.

Now, in business, you NEVER give out all the information regarding the story or the album. You simply give brief insights.

For movies, they call these announcements trailers or teasers. They do not tell all, but they tell just enough to get the consumer interested in the story.

For music, they might release one or two songs in hopes that it will cause the consumer to want to buy the whole album.

These announcements are designed to build… expectation. These announcements are designed capture the attention.

Church, this book, the Bible… is one great announcement. This book was given to us by God to reveal the work of the King… a work only He could do. Since the dawn of creation, God has been announcing the arrival of His Son… and the story will not end until all the old is gone and the new has come.

Too much of a stretch? Let me show you. Genesis 3 tells the story of the fall of man. Before there was sin, there was perfection. But after sin entered this world, our need for a Savior was born.

And God began to talk about this reality the moment the need was realized. In response to what had taken place, God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:15

The New International Version Chapter 3

15 And I will put enmity

between you and the woman,

and between your offspring a and hers;

he will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

So what did God just tell the enemy? YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED. There is coming One who will put an end to his influence once and for all! That someone is Jesus! God just announced to the world that a Savior is coming!

Secondly, God announced to the world what that Savior would do. God produced a covering made from animal skin for Adam and Eve… a new covering that required the life of an animal to be given to cover their shame. Blood had to be spilt.

Again, this is an announcement of things to come. And from that moment, the rest of the story is about how our soon coming King will bring redemption to ALL who will receive!

There are three different things that I want to see in Scripture regarding the announcement of the soon coming King. We are going to briefly look at what Scripture has to say about Jesus before He came as a baby. In doing so, I want us to see just how radically His coming to this world changed our reality… FOREVER.

The first thing I want us to see is that Jesus is the King foretold.

The King Foretold

The foretelling of Jesus coming to the earth did not stop in Genesis chapter 3. In fact, as we read through Scripture, it can be said that ALL of Scripture leads us to… Jesus. He can be found in everything.

But the aim of this point is not to generalize but to be specific. God wanted this world to know that a King… a Savior was on the way. God desired to lead His people to redemption… to deliverance that could only be found in His Son.

Consider this… how is it today that we the route or the way to a destination we are trying to reach? If you are like me, I plug in the location to the maps app on my phone or on the GPS in our car and the computer tells us how to get their.

It compiles the data and plots out the course. And most of the time… it get’s it right. Although there have been a few times where it got it wrong.

I find it really funny that just north of Phillipsburg there is a sign telling motorists to stop and to turn around. It literally says, and I quote, “Your GPS is wrong.”

We get to enjoy these kind of technologies today… but how was a world thousands of years ago supposed to find its way to Jesus?

He was FAR from being a physical location on a map but yet God had plotted out the course for people to find Him.

The Magi found him because of the appearance of a star… a star that was foretold of.

When Herod wanted to find him, who did he consult… where did he look to find out where Jesus would be? He went to prophecy. He looked at what Scripture had to say about Jesus’ arrival.

God had been telling this world about His Son for generations! Why? Because His Son would be the answer to the sin problem introduced in Genesis 3. God was laying out the map… plotting the course… to the person who would have the power to redeem and forgive the world of its sins through His blood.

I want you realize something regarding the foretelling of Jesus’ arrival. The prophecies given in Scripture excluded every other person who had ever lived. Jesus is the only person… out of the billions who have inhabited this earth… that fulfills what prophecy laid out regarding the soon coming King.

The prophecies spoke of His ancestry… that He would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was from the Tribe of Judah, the house of David.

The Psalms foretold of His betrayal. They spoke of His accusation by false witnesses, and even His manner of death.

It mentions that He would be pierced in the hands and feet. Why is this a big deal? Because at that time, crucifixion hadn’t even been invented yet!

They also spoke of His resurrection… that He would not decay but ascend on high.

Again, all of this was given as a road map to the Savior. All of this was given to the people as assurance that God had an answer to the sin problem of this world and that answer would be like not other person this world had ever seen!

God was continually dropping hints… leaving clues… laying out the bread crumbs, if you will, that all led up to Jesus. He desired for this world to keep a look out for the soon coming King.

And then came along the prophecies that we find in Isaiah. These prophecies are strong and revealing and… were written 7 centuries before Jesus would be born.

God, through the prophet Isaiah, drops an amazing teaser or trailer regarding what the life of the Messiah would look like.

Isaiah 7 He is about to be born.

In Isaiah 9, He is already born and declared mighty God and divine King.

In Isaiah 11, He is ruling and reigning in the supernatural power of the Spirit.

We are given an amazing picture of what to expect! And perhaps one of the most comforting pieces of that picture is found in Isaiah 7:14

The New International Version Chapter 7

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin h will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Talk about an amazing special announcement! Immanuel is coming! Immanuel which means God WITH us!

The Scriptures clearly lay out the way to Jesus and… they lay out what Jesus came to do. It was amazing to know that the King was coming… but He was coming with purpose. He was coming as the answer. And we see in Isaiah just how exactly the King came to be the answer for the sin problem of the world.

The King Afflicted

Now when we consider the use of the word king tied with the use of the word afflicted, this might set off some alarms in our minds. Why? Because affliction is NOT something we do not ordinarily associate with a king.

Affliction, defined, is something that causes pain or suffering. Affliction is not something any person desires to experience or walk through. But we know that affliction… came with our sin.

There is a wage that comes with sin… a wage God made very clear in the beginning. Once sin entered the picture, the reality of that wage set in… the hardship of that wage set in… for the wages of our sin is death.

The sin problem is something that is only overcome with… death. THERE IS NO OTHER ANSWER.

The shame of Adam and Eve’s sin required a covering. They tried to cover their mistakes on their own… but their efforts were… inadequate. God, therefore, stepped in and made for them a new covering that resulted in the spilling of blood. A life had to be given.

What life could possibly be given that would be strong enough to serve as a covering for ALL the sins of this broken and rebellious world? Nothing on earth was suitable… so God sent His Son from heaven to earth to take on the task… to take on our affliction… and to die for our sins.

Jesus literally was born… to die. Jesus was sent to be the sacrificial Lamb. We know this truth from His own words in Luke 19:10

The New International Version Chapter 19

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus came to the earth with a mission - to seek and to save the lost. Salvation would only be found through His blood.

Jesus did NOT only come to show bad people how to live… He came to give His life so that bad people might find life more abundantly! He came so that people who were dead in their sins… COULD COME ALIVE!

Death was the payment needed… and Isaiah spoke of how the soon coming king would take on our affliction and our death. Look at Isaiah 53:3-6

The New International Version Chapter 53

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

From the moment sin entered the picture… it was the Lord’s will to answer the sin problem through the offering of His Son. Isaiah 53:10 states

The New International Version Chapter 53

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

Scripture made clear that the soon coming King would be the king afflicted. Not because of anything the king had done… but because of what the king had come to do - to take away the sins of the world!

Jesus is the offspring God spoke of when talking to the serpent. Jesus is the one that WILL crush the head of the enemy. And although the strike to His heal appeared to be severe… it wasn’t the end of what the soon coming King had come to do.

In order for the payment of sin to be fully satisfied… Jesus had to die. The grave had to be occupied. Death had to occur.

But even in the writings of Isaiah do we see that the soon coming King… will be the king victorious!

The King Victorious

Remember what I just said… Jesus had to die in order for the sin payment o be fully satisfied.

So what do we know of death? It is not a topic we like to speak of often, but it is something we all know very well. Death is… final. Death is… permanent. Death is game over… there is no more moving on.

Yet, in reading one more verse in Isaiah, we are going to see talk of the soon coming king doing something AFTER he paid the price. Isaiah 53:11 reads

The New International Version Chapter 53

11 After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

Look carefully at this verse. It states that AFTER He has suffered… AFTER He dies… HE WILL. Yes, Jesus would have to die for our sins, but Jesus would conquer not only sin, but also death and the grave!

Nothing could stop the soon coming King from doing what He came to this earth to do!

Jesus came to the earth to completely transform the reality of this world.

When sin entered the picture, the teasers or the foretelling of His arrival quickly came to the surface. God began to incrementally reveal His plan of redemption. God revealed to the world that the king… that victory of sin was on the way.

And today… we have the opportunity to know that King first hand. Today, we have the opportunity to know the new life that He offers to all who would believe. Today, our afflictions, our sins, our transgression can be covered by the blood of the Lamb - we can receive that new atonement, that new covering that God is offering the world.

Today… we no longer have to live in the defeat of our sin… today we can live in the victory offered by the soon coming king!

Church… we find ourselves in the middle of an amazing story of redemption. We know how the story begins… we know how the story is going… and we know how the story is going to end.

Tonight we looked at the prophecies that led up to His birth and the His death that brought us new life.

We do not have to wait to experience what the Lord offers through His Son. We can know Jesus NOW. We can know His love, His mercy, his compassion, His forgiveness, and His victory right now.

This Christmas, I pray that we would look to the king who HAS come. I pray that we will take time to honor the One who the Bible spoke of… take time to honor the One who took on our affliction… take time to honor the One who brought us victory.

In response… I want us to worship. In response I want us to say thank you. In response, I want us to lift up our voices and to raise our hands as we sing of His Amazing love! We you join me as we worship the King?