Jesus Our Immanuel
Notes
Transcript
Mt 1:18-23
Jesus Our Immanuel
Intro: When you think about Jesus Christ, where do you start? Where do we begin with Jesus?
We could start with eternity— historic orthodox faith confesses that Jesus existed eternally/forever as God the Son, he has NO beginning;
Many people begin with Jesus in the manger when God the Son took on human flesh and became a man.
But in Matthews’ gospel does something different. It begins with a genealogy; begins with the history of Israel.
When we get introduced to someone we may ask: where are you from. Where did you go to college? What job do you do?
In the ancient world, the question was: Who is your dad? And who was his daddy?
Jesus’s genealogy does that, and hits on specifically with two key leaders (David/Abraham) —two covenant heads.
If you grew up Jewish you had something key in your worldview: The God of all creation has graciously dealt with my people, over the centuries through Covenants
But you don’t have to have a Jewish to understand, appreciate, and believe the message in Matthew’s Gospel.
**The Gospel of Matthew is written to answer two key questions:
1.Who is Jesus Christ (8:27—“what sort of man is this?”
2. What difference does is make in my life?
Now to get the answer to the first question, what was the Baby inside of Mary, going to be named?
Now in our culture, a lot of people name their children either based on a former relative, or most popular baby names, or simply because they like the way it sounds
But in Hebrew culture names carried a much higher significance & symbolism
One example is the name Moses. The Heb means to take something out of the water. It reflects Moses’s infancy when his mom put him in a basket in the Nile to save his life—and he was rescued out of the water by Pharaoh’s daughter; but it would also symbolize Moses’s leadership role in leading the nation to cross the Red Sea.
God often uses a persons name to reveal his purposes—so we can begin to get an answer to the question: Who is Jesus, but looking at the names he is given.
(V21, 23, again in 25)
Jesus the Messiah
Jesus the Messiah
Now growing up, when I heard Jesus Christ—first it was usually a curse word….and second, I honestly thought it was Jesus last name;
I was just ignorant
But Christ is not his last name—Jesus’s brothers did not have that at the end of their name
Christ is a title: Messiah (Heb)
NIV:
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
It’s a very important title; it seems to be a thread that runs from v1, 16, and 18 —the
Title Christ occurs 529X in the NT
The Greek word means to smear, or rub—it refers to rubbing oil, which indicated that someone was set apart for a special task—.
In the OT, there could be many anoint ones (Kings, priests, prophet) But there was hope that a final-end time Messiah would come (look at 2:4)
The point of Matthew’s Gospel: Jesus is The Messiah (The Christ)
Who is Jesus: He’s the Messiah.
But what does that mean?—
—A high point in Matthews Gospel is Mt 16, when Peter confess that Jesus is The Christ (Messiah)
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Note that Jesus affirms The Christ;
but also it depends totally on Divine Revelation (v17)....in other words, this is not something that people get just because they are smarter or try harder.
But we keep reading to know what The Messiah does
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
**Who is Jesus Christ? He is the Messiah who goes to the cross—who will die.
**But for so many, that is baffelling —that sounds like the Messiah being a victim instead of the Victor?
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
We preach Christ crucified
Good preaching, powerful preaching in the church has always been Christ crucified.
—Christ crucified: it’s the hope of desperate sinners;
the balm of every spiritual wound.
It’s the simplicity of God so loved the World, but also the amazing depths that carry us through in persevering grace—that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
That only makes sense if we believe in a Christ crucified.
Jesus the Savior
Jesus the Savior
Now of you believe the Bible, you have no problem saying that Jesus Birth was a miracle
But we need to realize the how we are using that word.
There are at least 3 different ways people use the word miracle
—First, some use to to describe an amazing event (That catch in the End Zone with 2 seconds left on the clock…a miracle; or every childbirth is a miracle)
—Second, philosophy of science: any event that contradicts ordinary laws of nature
—Thirdly, in a biblical sense: an extraordinary event brought by God that carries high significance (usually called signs, wonders, mighty deeds)
For Jesus, it’s an extraordinary God-sized event that he was: “Convinced by the Holy Spirit; born of the Virgin Mary” (Apostles Creed)
Miracles serves several purposes
—draw our attention in
—remind is that God is still active
—remind us that God is still in control and has purpose
The Messiah’s birth is a miracle!
Now if you asked the average Jewish person hoping in the Messiah—do you believe the Messiah will be a Savior? Do you believe the Messiah will save his people?
**The most common answer you would get is…yes:
Most first century Jews would give and amen to “The Messiah will eliminate sinners” “The Messiah will judge sinners” The Messiah will wipe our sinners from the earth”
Even when John the Baptist said in Jn 1:29 that Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
That even could be understood at Messiah who will take away “take out” sinners from the world.
Last message, I drew attention that several women who make it in the genealogy of Jesus (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba)
The question is why? Why did the Spirit inspire Matthew to include them?
First, all the women mentioned share one of two traits—either they are Gentile (Rahab and Ruth), or they were wrapped up in some scandalous, flagrant sin (1:6—David’s adultery)
Takeaway: The Line of the Messiah has a thread of scandalous sin. David himself. Abraham’s descendants
Apply: That may change the tone when God’s people want a Messiah who eradicates sinners from the earth.
It can be easy to point the finger of Judgment, until we realize that we fall under the same
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
When Mary and Joseph are commanded to give the child his name:
(1:21)
(Heb Joshua, which means “Yahweh is Salvation” )—he came to deal with our sins
Jesus’s mission of forgiveness is a thread that runs through the gospel
And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”
for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
This Son’s mission was to save his people from their sins
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
One things that strikes me—is that Paul the Apostle, the man with such a grasp of God’s Word, the scholar, missionary, church planter, evangelist, apostle….never got beyond making this the controlling factor in thinking.
Apply: What does Jesus Savior mean to you? Is is just something you agree with, because you know it’s the right answer to give in church?
Or is it the controlling factor in your own thinking ?
Do you have an affectionate appreciation like Paul the apostle because you know he is your Savior?
Jesus Our Immanuel
Jesus Our Immanuel
The high point of this text is these final verses. It adds another element —another name
Now there is a small percentage of people in the world who have a birth name, but go by another name. I’m one of those. My name on my birth certificate is Timothy—Ryan is my middle name.
But if I hear Timothy, I know I’m either at the Dr office, or in trouble.
This is not adding another name to Jesus to create confusion—it’s fulfilling a prophetic promise given in Isaiah 7:14
King Azah feared threat of invasions from the Assyrians; the Lord pressed him to trust in faith—and that he would provide a sign—a miraculous birth of a child that signal deliverance and assurance.
Some 700 years later the sign is fulfilled in the miraculous birth of Jesus
Conclusion
When Jesus came to the earth, he came to people who were dealing with suffering, sickness, disappointment, delay; abandonment—some crying out faithfully like the Psalms “How Long, O Lord”
But.... Jesus’ birth reignited hope. Hope that is real, tangible, and above all....personal
This concept of Immanuel occurs at the very beginning, and again at the end of the Gospel.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus our Immanuel
We have a Savior God that we can trust is near...very near....with us”… A Savior who never leaves or forsakes people. If you are in Christ…you are not forgotten!
We have a mission to take serious and be part of. Go. Make Disciples. Not in our own strength, creativity, ambition…but in the Power of the Spirit of Jesus, Our Immanuel.
Reflecting on the birth of Christ, should not just reignite hope, but reignite the flame for taking our Messiah’s mission seriously.