Scripture: Isaiah 7:13-14; Micah 5:2-5; Isaiah 53:1-5; Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Zechariah 9:9-10; Isaiah 9:6-7
Christmas Eve
For many, the truth of Jesus seems to be too good to
be believed! They are used to the ways
of earth, in that everything that you gain in life has to be earned. So how can we receive so much from this Jesus
without having all kinds of demands and expectations and regulations placed on
us? He just doesn’t make any sense!
Did He just show up here without any warning,
without any preconceived notions of what He was all about, to start a whole new
way of life that we were supposed to accept without any sufficient training or
guidance? Who is this Jesus, really, and
what are we supposed to do about Him!
This is where we are tonight – with some trusting
and believing without reservation, while a few are still searching for the
complete truth about this Man-God who looked so much like us, but still did and
taught things that we continue to try to understand, accept, - and especially appreciate!
God knows that we have always had difficulty in corelating
the life that is so natural for us, with the life that He has shown us through
Jesus. That is why He began preparing us
for His arrival hundreds of years before His birth. And yes, Jesus is certainly human in every
physical aspect of His being, but He is also completely God in His nature and
Spirit! Fully God and fully Man
is the way of the LORD.
So tonight, we will consider some of the prophecies that
the LORD
sent to the people – certainly, at first, to the Hebrew nation, but who were
expected to share God’s words with the rest of humanity, many, many centuries
ago.
Read Isaiah 7:13-14
The book of Isaiah contains more preparation for the
coming of the One they know as Messiah than any other book in scripture. Leading up to this passage, we read of just
some of the struggles that Israel was still dealing with in their relationship
with their Jehovah God. This is the
situation that leads the prophet to accuse them of “trying the patience” of
God! The truth is, though, that the LORD has
never intended for us to remain buried in the quandary that we create for
ourselves, and will send us “sign” after sign to show us the better way of
Almighty God.
So a prophecy is given to the nation as proof
that God’s presence in our lives will be given to them soon. Of course, God had been present with them for
centuries, but for some reason, they kept missing it, and kept trying to make
their own way in the world.
The word of God tells us, and Israel, that the sign
of God’s presence with us, which is what Immanuel means (“God with us”), will
be in the means of His coming to earth – that is, through human birth. It wouldn’t be through the normal means,
though. It would be through a young
woman who had yet to experience sexual relations with a man. The impossible way of earth would
become the sign of God’s power and ability and presence with the people of earth. Immanuel!
Even though the word of this miracle came 400 to 500
years before it occurred, people, somehow, still question the validity of God’s
reality.
Read Micah 5:2-5
The prophet Micah, even though he lived prior to
Isaiah, offers a great deal of Messianic prophesy. This passage proclaims that Messiah will 1)
be born in Bethlehem, 2) that He will come on behalf of Almighty God Himself,
3) that He will be a ruler over Israel, 4) that He has been in existence since “ancient
times”, 5) that Israel will live all on their own, “abandoned” by God’s
presence until this special birth occurs, 6) He will shepherd the flock of
Israel in the strength, the majesty, and the “name of the LORD
His God”, 7) His greatness will not leave them until the day that the ways of
earth come to a grinding halt, 8) and through that final day, this Ruler will
be the source of a peace that the entire world had never known before.
Eight prophecies all rolled into One, and people
still have no understanding or acceptance of how one Man could do all of this! But later in chapter 6, the prophet gives us
a reminder of all that the LORD has done for Israel and us, and in Micah 6:8, we read “He has shown you, O man, what
is good. And what does the LORD
require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly
with your God.”
And we aren’t quite sure what all of this means
either!
Read Isaiah 53:1-5
This passage begins with a very interesting and rhetorical
question! “Who has believed our
message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?” Apparently, the answer to the first part is “very
few”, and to the second part “the entire world”! But the passage itself, while written in a
past tense, is relatively typical of other prophecy, even while it refers to a
future event. And what does it tell us?
They tell about both the physical appearance of the
LORD,
as well as his divine purpose while among us.
He would be like a “tender shoot” and a “root out of
dry ground” – both images imply that He would be seen, basically, as having
little, if any, worth! He would be
unattractive and have no beauty whatsoever. He would be despised and rejected
and would know all too well what our suffering feels like. People would hide from
Him and would avoid letting their eyes meet His.
But then, we begin to hear what He would do on our behalf,
even though we had given Him no honor or respect at all. He would take our brokenness and pains upon
Himself, and in return we would claim that it was all because God had turned
against Him. He would accept torture and
death to relieve us of the burden of our sin, and this great sacrifice would be
the source of peace and healing for our lives.
Is this something that some mortal person could even
imagine, let alone accomplish? Not even
close! It proclaimed the blessings that
would given by our LORD and King, Jesus Christ.
Read Deuteronomy18:15-19
In the reference to the Day of Horeb, when the people
asked to never hear the voice of God again, it didn’t mean that they never
wanted God to lead them, but rather this is the time when the LORD
handed down the 10 commandments, and we read in Exodus20:18-19, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning
and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with
fear. They stayed at a distance and said
to Moses, speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will
die.”
This might have been a very natural reaction by the
people after actually hearing directly from the Mouth of God! And now in our passage from Deuteronomy, God obliges
the request. He doesn’t say that He will
only speak through Moses, though – He will send another Prophet who will be “like”
Moses, and who will be an offspring of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel), and
will have God’s words come directly from His mouth, which will be given as
instruction for what they must do. And
what if they, and we, do not listen and obey? They, and we, will be judged as
unworthy to be His people.
God was giving them exactly what they asked for, and
quite a bit more. This Prophet would be
exactly who the LORD needed for this world, and not who the people
expected! Jesus would be that Person,
and the people, even those of this day, still want this Prophet of God to say
what they want His words to mean, and nothing else!
Read Zechariah 9:9-10
God proclaims the glory of Christ’s coming to earth – we are to rejoice
in that moment, for the King of God’s anointing will gently and humbly bring
the salvation of the LORD to all who will accept. The instruments of war will disappear from our
presence, and peace will rest on the entire world. The reference to this King’s entering the
world while riding on a donkey is a symbol of victory, and of a final peace
that will overcome the world.
This proclamation is, obviously, a blend of both His first coming, and
the one that will come one day in the future.
Peace is promised, the LORD’s victory will become complete, and Jesus
will be the undisputed King and Savior of all who will be His people.
And our final passage tonight ties these, and all prophecies of Jesus together.
Read Isaiah 9:6-7
What more can we say about this night and the celebration of
tomorrow! Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Prince of Peace, the truth of God for us now, and the glory of eternity for
all time and beyond!
The first coming of Jesus was obviously a surprise
for everyone, except for Simeon and Anna when they met the infant Jesus in the
temple (Luke 2:25-38). Even though we have countless prophesies to
prepare us, the world missed out on the first arrival of Emmanuel in their
lives. Who attended Him at His birth? Smelly, dirty, and spiritually unclean
shepherds, and later some foreigners from the east.
Will we attend His celebration now? As sinful and unworthy as we may be, we are
still welcome at the LORD’s side, by faith in Him, by His redemption, and by
His forgiving gift of the Blood of Calvary, now and forever.
This is who our LORD and Savior is, who He has been, and who He will always be. Praise His Holy Name.
Amen!
