The Promised King, Part 3 - Pastor Tom Loghry
Pastor Tom digs into the Old Testament to explore the promises that foreshadowed Christ’s birth.
Transcript:
Do you want to see joy? If you want to see joy, and also hear it, I would add, then all you need to do is just go to YouTube and type into the search pregnancy announcements. In fact, I looked up funny pregnancy announcements. And what you'll find there in those videos is pure excitement, pure delight. especially for those ladies who are going to be called grandma. I remember Sara's mom being over the moon when we shared that she was pregnant with James. Now, admittedly, this news is sometimes received with a bit of apprehension for all sorts of reasons that might cause a person to fear. The single mom who worries about supporting her child. The couple who knows their child will face developmental challenges. The husband worried about making ends meet. Anxiety seeks to steal our joy. In Luke 1, Mary receives the unexpected news that she will be pregnant. The factors surrounding her pregnancy threatened to swallow her up in anxiety. But as we watch Mary, we don't see her giving into her fears. We see something else instead.
So looking to Luke 1, starting in verses 26 through 29, we see that the author of the Gospel of Luke gives us this detail that it was in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy that Mary got a special visit. To give you a little bit of a background, Elizabeth was Mary's cousin. And Luke has already told us of her own miraculous conception, though she was an old woman at the time. So we're building off of that pregnancy, which was to bring about the birth of John the Baptist, who would prepare the way for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. So we start with John, but now we're moving on to Jesus here. And so God sends the angel Gabriel to Mary. Now I've talked about this before, about how the word angel in the Greek is angelos, and that just means messenger. So you're talking about a divine supernatural being who's acting as this role of God's messenger. This isn't obviously an everyday occurrence. Maybe you've had some experience that you haven't told me about, but it's safe to say I think most of us have not had an angelic encounter that we know of. Maybe we had one that we didn't know of. But Mary had one that she knew of. Now Gabriel comes to Mary and she's a young woman, in adolescence most likely, who is pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. And it goes without saying that at this time, that before a woman was married, that she was a virgin. Otherwise, that was going to cause some serious problems for her. Now, Luke picks out this fact that Joseph is a descendant of David. because of its significance for who Jesus is to be. He is the one who is to be the Messiah, this anointed promised King who is to sit on the throne of David and bring to fulfillment all of God's promises to Israel and really to the world. Now traditionally there's been a little bit of a debate about whether Mary herself was also of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David. And part of that debate is because you have two genealogies given of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3. And they differ a little bit. So one of the explanations given is that the one that we find in Luke 3 is the genealogy of Mary. And that's a very possible explanation. But it's also possible that she was not. Her cousin Elizabeth says that she was of the tribe of Levi. But I think the fact that Luke thinks it's of great significance that it's pointed out that Joseph is a descendant of David just reminds us of the reality of adoption in God's eyes, that Jesus was truly made a son of Joseph as he was adopted by him. And Joseph truly was his father in that respect, even though he was not his father in the flesh.
So Gabriel comes to Mary and says to her, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Now, it's no surprise that Mary's a little bit thrown off by this encounter. Besides the fact that we can take a guess that there's probably some glorious aspect to Gabriel's appearance being an angel, it's just a strange thing to say. And she's just, you know. kind of just a small woman from a nowhere place. The village of Nazareth, a peasant village. And Gabriel can see this. He can see that she's thrown off by this greeting. And so in verse 30, he begins to explain to her why he would greet her in this fashion, saying that she's highly favored and that the Lord is with you. So looking at verses 30 through 33, what we see is that in fact Gabriel has come to her with a pregnancy announcement. Now this is a little bit different though because usually when you do a pregnancy announcement it's the woman who's announcing it and she's already pregnant. That's not the case here. Mary's not even pregnant yet. But Gabriel has come to tell her that you will be pregnant. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and that she is to name this son Jesus. Now, the name Jesus means the Lord is our salvation. So we see how meaning is just packed into everything, every detail here. And when the angel says this, when he says you will conceive and give birth to a son, what he is doing is. recalling a prophecy that was actually given by the prophet Isaiah. And this is certainly something that Matthew's, I mean, that Luke's picking up on here in his record here. And it's something else, it's something that Matthew picks up on explicitly in his gospel. He records, he picks up on this in the message that was given to Joseph in a dream by an angel. In Matthew 1 verses 21 through 23, Joseph is told, She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us. Now the prophet, as I've already said that he's talking about, is the prophet Isaiah, and he's referring to Isaiah chapter 7 verses 14 through 17. However, when you read that passage, it's a little interesting because it seems as though the prophecy that was given would have been fulfilled within a manner of maybe like 5 to 12 years or so. Certainly well before Jesus was born. We see in Isaiah 7 verses 14 through 17 that it says that therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign and here the prophet Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God, God speaking through Isaiah, to King Ahaz, because King Ahaz didn't want to ask God for a sign, and God actually wanted him to ask for a sign, a sign that he would be able to rebuff the attacks of the northern kingdom of Israel in Syria. So God says, you don't want a sign? Well, too bad, I'm gonna give you a sign. And he says this, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He'll be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. And this is why we have the sense that this is happening within a short period of time because kids grow up and they're able to decide between right and wrong. For before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your people on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah. He will bring the king of Assyria."
So Isaiah is saying, these enemies will be overthrown but you're going to have to pay for the fact that you did not trust in me. In fact, he had turned, Ahaz had turned to Assyria and he's going to have to pay a penalty for that. But back to what we're really talking about here in Luke 1, it seems like, well, this prophecy has already been fulfilled. So what does this have to do with Jesus? And in the case of Isaiah, when it says that a virgin will conceive and give birth, was it the case that there was actually a virgin birth before the virgin birth of Mary? Now, this can become complicated. But the simplest way to put it is that in the original Hebrew, the word virgin appears as Alma, which can also mean a young woman. But what's really interesting is that when the Jewish translators of the Hebrew Bible, about 300 years before the time of Jesus, translated the Hebrew into Greek, they chose to translate that word as Parthenos, which in Greek means virgin. And so It seemed as though the Jewish scholars at that time found there to be something interchangeable in that meaning between young woman and virgin. And that kind of makes sense, how you could see how both could be interchangeable. And what this basically indicates to us is that there's an opening for a fuller meaning, for a greater fulfillment. And this is what we see very often in the prophecy that God gives is that there can be an immediate near fulfillment, but there can also be an ultimate fulfillment. That Jesus is truly bringing fulfillment to all things, not just to the law, but also to the prophets. And it's as though throughout the course of history, God has been leaving bread crumbs leading up to the bread of life. And so maybe in just another way that you could imagine this, it's almost as though, you know, imagine if I could go back in time, 50 years before the Beatles came to be a thing and I started singing Let It Be. Now a lot of people might like this song and think that's great, but my singing of Let It Be would be a mere shadow of the Beatles actually singing it. You have the same sort of dynamic going on here with this prophetic fulfillment, where you do have this near fulfillment, but it's just a shadow. It's just a glimpse of what Jesus is. actually fulfilling here. And we can believe and understand that this is, in fact, what has been intended, because both Luke and Matthew and the record of this are pointing back to this prophecy.
So as I've already mentioned, the child is to be named Jesus, which means the Lord of our salvation. And Gabriel tells Mary that he's going to be called great. He's going to be considered great. and he will be called the son of the Most High and the son of David, which gets back to the significance of pointing out that Joseph is a descendant of David. And it's the reason why Matthew and Luke give us the genealogy of Jesus. Now, this points to the human expectation that the Messiah would be of the Lion of David. But in saying that he's going to be called the son of the Most High, Gabriel's also suggesting something maybe beyond what the Jewish people were even anticipating at that time, even though God had given them their word that they should expect this, which is that not only would this Messiah be a son of David, he would be a son of God, he would be divine. And when we go back to the prophets, we can see indications of this. You go back to Isaiah 9 verses 6 through 7. I read this to you last week. I won't read it completely, I just want to point out one word here. So, in verse 6 it says, for to us a child is born. And then it goes through all these names. And notice what this child is going to be called. Mighty God. What child can be called mighty God? It's very fascinating that they were even comfortable saying that this child to be born was to be called mighty God, because the Jewish people are very sensitive about saying there's only one true God. And so again, we have this breadcrumb here of God pointing us to what is to be fulfilled in Jesus. And likewise, in Daniel 7 verses 13-14 and 27, we see this reality of one who is a son of man, who is also properly worshiped as God. You see Jesus again and again in the gospels, referring to himself as the son of man. And when he does that, he's not only referring to his human identity, he's actually pointing to his divinity as well. Because Daniel says this in chapter 7 of his book. And my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence." And then check this out, it says, He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. This is all pairing up with all the promises that were given to the one that was the son of David. Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the most high. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.
Now just to emphasize again, it's not appropriate to worship anyone else who is not God. We see in Revelation 22, verses 7-8, the apostle John is so overcome by the revelation that he's receiving of what is to come that he bows before an angel and the angel scolds him saying, you know, what are you doing? Do not worship me. I cannot be worshiped. You worship only God. So as we would imagine, this is a lot for Mary to take in. First and foremost being the fact that she remains a virgin. And so she asks, how will this be? How can this come to pass? Gabriel explains in verse 35. He says, the Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. So the first thing that we have to understand here is that the conception of Jesus is nothing like what we find in the Greek myths, where you have a Greek God deciding to have a fling with a human woman. That's not what's going on here. This is something that is brought about by the Holy Spirit, and it's purely miraculous. Now, I think some of us struggle with the miraculous. Well, it's like, well, I haven't heard of there ever being a virgin birth besides this. And in fact, when you read the other miracles of Jesus, we say, well, I don't see people walking on water. And we struggle to reckon that with our day to day reality. What I want you to remember is this, is that the greatest miracle of all was just simply the creation of this world itself out of nothing. So if it's possible for God to bring everything out of nothing, what is it for him to make a man walk on water? What is it for him to create life in a virgin womb? And what I find really interesting here is that Gabriel speaks about the Holy Spirit being present and involved in this conception. And it reminds me, in fact, of the creation of the universe, of this world. You go back to Genesis 1:2 this is the situation we find on the earth. It says, now the earth was formless and empty darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Isn't that interesting? We see the Holy Spirit present at this moment just before everything comes to life here on earth. And we find the Holy Spirit present at work within the womb of Mary so that she would conceive and give birth to a son. The empty womb will be brought to life. So, Jesus is human because he is born of Mary. But as Gabriel says, he is going to be the son of God because his origins are from eternity. He comes from God himself and shares in the divine nature. And so, what this announcement is really doing for us is It's the very start of disclosing the triune reality of God. Because if you're talking about Jesus as the Son of God, then there must be a Father. And then we also see the Holy Spirit on the scene. So you have the Father implied, the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit all operating here. So Mary is going to bear within her the Son of God. And what's interesting is that once she has conceived and once she is bearing Jesus in her womb, we see indications of the divine status of her son being recognized.
She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. It was well along in her pregnancy at this point. And in verse 41 of Luke 1. It says, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby, this is John the Baptist, leaped in her womb. Talk about joy, you have this baby leaping in the womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her." So that's kind of like the first testimony we have of who Jesus is, is this unborn baby, John the Baptist, leaping at the presence of Jesus. And then as we go further on, and it's not just limited to these verses, we find testimony from demons, soldiers, disciples, as to who Jesus is. In Mark 5:7, when we have the man that is hanging out by the grave and he's filled with the legion of demons and Jesus ends up casting them into a herd of pigs, this is what the demons say in the presence of Jesus. They say, He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? In God's name, don't torture me. When the disciples are on the boat in the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus has walked across the Sea of Galilee, invited Peter out while it's storming, and then they get in the boat, and He stills the stormy sees, they all responded in this way. It says, they worshiped Him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Jesus, when He dies on the cross, and the earth shakes, it's all dark and there's an earthquake it says in Matthew 27:54 that the centurion and those with him, the soldiers who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that happened they were terrified and exclaimed surely he was the son of God and then we find Thomas, this is after the point Jesus is resurrected, he's doubted. He's like, okay, y'all seen Jesus? I saw Jesus on a cross, die, and go into a grave. How can he be alive? And then Jesus appears before him and says, touch the holes in my hand, touch my side. And Thomas responds by saying, my Lord and my God. From the beginning of his life to the end of his life to his resurrection, all these people encountering Jesus are testifying to who he is, that he is in fact the Son of God. Now Gabriel tries to encourage Mary's faith to believe his word to her, this word from God. because of what has happened in the case of Elizabeth, because she was so old and yet she has now become pregnant. In verse 37 he says, for no word from God will ever fail.
This kind of reminds us of what we've been going through in Abraham with Abraham and Sarah and them being old and struggling with doubt. And God reminds them. in Genesis 18:14, is anything too hard for the Lord. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. No word from God will ever fail. And then in verse 38, we find Jesus, not Jesus, Mary's response. And it's a response of faith. She says, I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled. What a profound example to us, to trust God at His word. Because we understand that she was in great peril because of this situation. Most people wouldn't believe that she had conceived a son miraculously. They would have thought that she cheated on Joseph. And to be pledged to be married to a man was as good as being married. Mary was completely signed, sealed, and delivered. It was about as close as you could be, though. She knew it was going to cause problems, and yet she has faith. She has faith in the word that God has spoken to her. And this is an example to us.
God speaks a word to you as you come to his word. As you gather here on Sunday, God is speaking his word to you. And the question is, how will you respond? Will you respond with that faith? Will you do that which is difficult and seems risky and might create anxiety? Will you trust and submit yourself to him? Mary isn't only obedient though, because we can imagine someone being like, all right, like I'm gonna obey, I'm gonna do this. She's not dreading this somehow. It's really an incredible amount of faith. No, in fact, we find that she's joyful, that she's rejoicing. We go down to verse 46 in Luke 1, and we find her responding in a way that's very similar to how Hannah responds in 1 Samuel 2, when she gives birth to Samuel, the prophet Samuel, after being unable to bear any children up to that point. This is typically referred to as Mary's Magnificat. She's giving praise to God. Says, my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He performs mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones and lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors." The thing that we pick up on here in her rejoicing is she's highlighting everything that God has done for her, for His people. It's a celebration of what God has done for us. And this is really the joy of Christmas. We're not celebrating about what we've done. We're not celebrating the exchange of gifts, which is just kind of like something kind of also along the lines of things that we do. Like, oh, I bought you this great gift, and I gave you this gift, and that's all fine and good. But that's not what Christmas is about. Christmas is about celebrating what God has done for us, and we haven't done anything in return. We have done nothing to receive this great and precious gift, our salvation in Jesus Christ. Christmas when we remember God's faithfulness to us. And that He gives us joy when we might yet be going through times of sorrow. The psalmist says in Psalm 126, verse 3, verses 5 through 6, the Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Those who sow with tears. will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaths with them.
We're under no delusion that we would be without trouble in this world. We do face trouble. We do face difficulty in this life. But the beautiful thing is that God turns our tears into seeds of joy. Everything that we're going through will give way to the salvation that God is bringing. And that salvation has already appeared in the Son of God, Jesus Christ being born. But we also understand that there is more to come. There's more to come. And we're going to come in carrying the sheaves. What we're reminded of during the season of Advent is that God desires to heal us. He desires to comfort us. That His eye does see us. That He does not overlook us. Isaiah 57 verses 15 through 19 says, For this is what the High and Exalted One says, He who lives forever, whose name is holy, I live in a high and holy place. but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I have seen their ways, but I will heal them." So in verse 18, skip a few verses there. God notes that we're sinful people. He says, I have seen their ways, but I will heal them. I will guide them and restore comfort to Israel's mourners, greeting praise on their lips. Peace, peace to those far and near, says the Lord. and I will heal them. We have this promise of comfort. And Jesus himself confirms this promise in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:4. He says, blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And he can say that because he's the one that's going to deliver that comfort, who's going to bring that promise to pass. This promise. is contained in the news, then Mary will give birth to the Son of God. She is pregnant with our salvation, with her own salvation. And the person who really believes that will have a far greater joy that outshines anything you can find in those YouTube videos. Mary is not oblivious to the physical hardship she will bear. She's not unaware of the chaos this will cause her family and the trouble it will create between her and Joseph. But she believes in God's promise. She trusts in Jesus. So she is filled with the joy of her salvation. She holds nothing back, saying to Gabriel, I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled. When you trust in hope in Jesus, you can have joy even when difficulty is staring you in the face. You will face difficulties when you follow Jesus. You will face disease and death. You will be tempted to throw yourself after the momentary pleasures prescribed by the world. You'll be pressured to abandon the truth and to give your amen to lies. You'll need to forgive others when it's really difficult to forgive just as you have been forgiven. None of it makes a lick of sense unless Jesus is the Son of the Most High, the Son of God who will sit on the throne of his father David to rule forever. It doesn't make sense unless Jesus is our salvation, the one who will save us from our sins. If you believe that is all true, you can have the joy of Mary. And you can say like her, I'm the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled. Let's pray.
Dear Father. Thank you for what you have done for us. Jesus was your plan, not ours. He was conceived not by the will of man, but by your will, Father, miraculously, so that you might bring to fulfillment your promises, the promise that you would redeem us through a true King. And that, in fact, Father, Our King would be God Himself, the Son incarnate. Thank You Father that through Jesus Christ we have this assurance that we will be healed, we will be comforted, that this can begin today and that it will be brought to completion at the day of Christ's return. Thank You Father that because of this news that You have given us, we can have joy today. This news alone, Father, is a gift, because it gives us hope today. Father, give us faith. Help us to trust your word so that we might respond like Mary, both with joy and obedience, Father. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed the sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we celebrate the Advent season. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)