Context of the Birth Story (2)

Text: Isaiah 7.

Today we will learn about the Immanuel child and the Incarnation.

Matthew 1:

[21] 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.

[22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

[23] “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Colossians 2:

[9] For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…

God sends a part of himself to earth to live in human form.  God, the Father, speaks to humans in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:

[6] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; [7] rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

[8] And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

John 1:

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[14]  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Key text:

Isaiah 7:

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

This passage occurs in the midst of a discussion about a serious threat to the nation and the house of David from which the promised Messiah would come.

Discussion of chapter 7 (the context of the text):

Isaiah 7:

[1] When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

[2] Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

***

[7] Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “It will not take place, it will not happen…”

[10] Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, [11] “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

[12] But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Notice that Ahab rejected the Lord’s offer of a sign in verses 10-12.

In the next verse that Isaiah rebukes Ahaz for his answer:

[13] Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David!  Is it not enough to try the patience of humans?  Will you try the patience of my God also?

In this verse Isaiah addresses the whole house of David.  Note: the descendants of these Jews are the Jews of Jesus’ day. 

He now gives a prophecy to the unfaithful Jews of his day about a time when the Messiah would come.

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

This prophecy is the promise to the house of David of a coming child who will be called “Immanuel.”  The time when this child will come is not stated.  All that is know is that it will be in the future.

However, what can be known is that the length of time that it will take for this child to be born and come to know right and wrong is the length of time when God will bring deliverance to the house of David in the present circumstance.

[15] He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, [16] 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.

[17] The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.

Later, Isaiah tells us the coming of Immanuel of 7:14 will appear in Galilee of the Gentiles:

Isaiah 9:

[1] Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.  In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—[2] The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Matthew quotes this prophecy at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry:

Matthew 4:

[12] When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee.

[13] Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—[14] to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

[15] “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—[16] the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

[17] From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Isaiah 9:

[6] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

[7] Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of The Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

The point: The Immanuel child.

The Immanuel child of Isaiah 7:14 is more that just a child in Isaiah’s day.

The Immanuel child is a messianic figure to come.

The Immanuel child of Isaiah 7:14 is the baby Jesus of Matthew 1.

In addition, Isaiah provides information later that will suffer affliction. 

Isaiah 53:

[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.

Jesus learned obedience through his humiliation and suffering (Hebrews 5:8-9).

Philippians 2:

[8] And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Conclusion:

The Immanuel child of Isaiah 7:14 is a messianic figure.

This is confirmed by Matthew’s quotation of this text.  Immanuel, meaning “God with us,” is a descriptive title of the Messiah.  His name will be “Jesus” but he is God with us or God incarnate in the flesh.

Matthew 1:

[21] 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.”

Mary’s son, Jesus, will do more than just bring salvation—he will save.

The people whose sins Jesus forgives are the ones who will gladly call him Immanuel, or “God with us.”

(Compare Micah 2:5-6 and 5:2-3; Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries.)

J B Myers

Books:
Faith and Addiction
Elders and Deacons
Life Choices

Sermon for Sunday, December 18, 2018

Context of the Birth Story

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

By “context” I mean the big picture.  Or, “the view from 30,000 feet” as some would say.

Reading and explanation of the text:

Matthew 1:

[18] 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.

[19] Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

[20] But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  [21] 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.”

[22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  [23] “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

[24] When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.  [25] But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son.  And he gave him the name Jesus.

There were two great scandals surrounding the birth of Christianity:

1) Jesus’ mother became pregnant before marriage.

2) Jesus died a scandalous death on the cross.

Two thousand years of Christian faith have softened both of these scandals, but at the time they were great obstacles to the Christian movement.

In John 8:41, the opponents of Jesus said to him,

“We are not illegitimate children.”

Where did that come from?  Jesus does say they were born of an illegitimate birth.  So why did they  bring this up in the argument with Jesus?  It was likely because of the controversy surrounding Jesus’ birth in the story we just read in Matthew 1.

Matthew 1:

[18] 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.

[22] All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  [23] “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

1 Corinthians 1:

[21] For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.  [22] For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: [23] But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness… (KJV)

Galatians 6:

[14] But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (KJV)

The history surrounding the birth of Jesus:

1) The time of Jesus’ birth:

In the coming of Jesus to this world, God intervened in history with a redemptive purpose.  It was the ancient world of the first century in the closing days of the reign of Herod the Great.  Ancient historians tell us that late in the life of Herod his suspicious nature resulted in the death of many of his family members.

Matthew tells us that Herod murdered all the children of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the child Jesus (Matthew 2:16). Consider the following great texts:

Galatians 4:

[4] But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

2) The year of Christ’s birth:

In the year of 525 AD, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church asked a monk named Dionysius to prepare a standard calendar for the world.  Time was counted from the birth of Christ.

The term ‘AD’ is from the Latin anno domini and means “in the year of the Lord.”

An adjustment was made to the date set by Dionysius by later scholars because of a

reference in Josephus.  Josephus tells us an eclipse of the moon occurred shortly before Herod’s death (Antiquities 17.6.4).  This means that Jesus was born sometime in 4 or 5 BC, if Josephus is correct.The day of Christ’s birth was assigned to December 25 much later in church history and it is based on no historical evidence.

The birth of Jesus has something to do with The Creator of the universe:

(Turn to Genesis 1)

Charles Krauthammer said, “Atheism is the least plausible explanation for the existence of the universe.”

We can set aside the biblical explanation for the creation of the universe and just talk about some kind of creative force outside of physical matter who decided to bring a huge complex universe into existence.

Consider:

1) The universe did not happen by itself or create itself.

2) The universe is not self-existent or eternal.

3) Something did not come from nothing.

4) Life did not come form spontaneous generation.

It is difficult to imagine that The Creator, having once gone to all this trouble, would abandon what he created.

The Point: The existing universe bears witness to a Creator but provides us no explanation why it was created.

The Bible gives us the explanation.  The birth story of Jesus Christ is part of that explanation!

The biblical explanation of creation:

The fact of creation is how the Bible begins (Genesis 1:1).

Genesis 1:

[26] Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

[27] So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

[28] God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The purpose of the world is as a place for humans created in The Creator’s own image.  The image of God means we are like The Creator is some way.

After introduction of sin, The Creator tells us more about what it means to be in God’s image:

Genesis 3:

[22] And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Knowing good and evil is not the only thing that makes humans but it is an important characteristic that explains the birth story found in Matthew and Luke.

Remember what we noted earlier about what Paul said in Galatians:

Galatians 4:

[4] But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, [5] to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

The message from the Bible is that God created humans like him or in his image for a reason.

The point: God has a plan for those he created in his image.

John 3:

[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

[17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The sending of his Son is called the incarnation of God:

Colossians 2:

[9] For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…

God sends a part of himself to earth to live in human form.  God, the Father, speaks to humans in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:

[1] In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

J B Myers

Books:
Faith and Addiction
Elders and Deacons
Life Choices

Sermon for Sunday, October 7. 2018

Problem of Evil

John 9:

[1] As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  [2] His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

[3] “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Evil is more than wickedness and sin.  Evil can also be bad things like suffering and loss.  This may be something that we are to pray for (Matthew 6:13).

The problem of evil is how to reconcile the existence of evil with an all powerful God.  Some think that either God is not powerful enough or he is not good enough to  stop evil.

When I was young, I did not think too much about the problem of evil.  It is only after that I have lived and seen the bad things that happen to people that I now see it as a much greater problem to my faith.

Example: I recently was looking at an old college year book when I discovered that a girl was listed as a student although she was physically unable to come to class.

Why was this man born blind?  This question reveals the problem.  Most people have a problem of reconciling the bad things that happen to people to faith in God.

1) Why do bad things happen to good people?

Have you noticed that even good people fall sick.  Being righteous does not exempt us from the trials of life.

Verse 1 indicates it was Jesus who first drew attention to the man: “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.”  The pronoun is singular.  The subject is Jesus who is being discussed in the previous verse (8:59).

Verse 8 indicates this man had to beg for help.

The disciples question seeks an explanation for his condition.  It is easier to blame the victim than to be compassionate.

But here they cannot blame the victim because he was born that way.

Sometimes we try to explain away bad things by misusing Scripture.  This misuse comes from a misunderstanding  of the KJV translation of Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:

[28] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (KJV)

Romans 8:

[28] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The point:  Bad things are not good, but when they happen God can work for the good of those who love him.

Some bad things may be our fault but some are not:

Ecclesiastes 9:

[11] I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

[12] Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Bad things can happen because:

1) of our own actions;

2) of the actions of others;

3) of time and chance.

Jesus explains that it was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

[3] “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

The point:  We should not look at the man or his parents for an explanation of his suffering.

When Jesus says in verse 3, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him,” he is referring to what God can do as a result of his suffering.

“Neither this man…” – The man was born that way.

“nor his parents…” – It is natural for parents to feel some responsibility at the birth of a handicapped child, but most parents have nothing to do with the conditions of a child at birth.

God can use this example of suffering to point to something we should look forward to that is better.  In proof of this, Jesus heals the man as a sign of what is to come.

Paul does something similar in Romans 8 where views the concept of future glory in relation to the present suffering.

Romans 8:

[18] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

[19] For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

After the suffering of this world, Christians are promised a future glory that will be greatly appreciated after seeing the sufferings of this present world.  The future glory will be so great that the present suffering will be viewed as insignificant.

Scripture does not say a lot about what the glory will be like but only that it will be.

2) Why does evil exist?

1) The existence of suffering is because of sin.

Genesis 3:

[16] To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.  Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

[17] To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

[18] It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

[19] By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

If there never had been sin, there never would have been suffering.

2) The created world is imperfect but perfect what God intended.

This is a world where we can freely choose to do right and wrong.

This is a world designed for imperfect biological creatures like ourselves.  We are imperfect by design.  There are no guarantees how biology will turn out.  This should signal to us humans that this world is not our ultimate destination (Hebrews 9:27).

It is in this context that we should understand some important texts:

Isaiah 45:

[7] I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.

The KJV has “evil” instead of “disaster” which shows that the English word “evil” does not always mean sin.  The Hebrew word translated “disaster” in the NIV refers to something bad that happens, such as a disaster or bad times.

Exodus 4:

[11] The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths?  Who makes them deaf or mute?  Who gives them sight or makes them blind?  Is it not I, the Lord?

Psalm 139:

[13] For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

As Jesus says in John 9:3, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Our imperfect world is perfect for what it was designed it for.  Among other things, this imperfect world provides opportunities for God’s works to be displayed.  This display should point humans to the messages their creator has for them.

Important points:

1. a) General pain and death is a consequence of sin.
2. b) A specific suffering may not be the result of a specific sin.
3. c) The terribleness of suffering reveals the terribleness of sin.

3) Responses to the problem of evil:

1) The world is not intended to be heaven.

2) The world is a perfect environment for the expression of free will.

3) It is important and valuable that humans have free will.

4) If Christians never experienced pain then people would be Christians for selfish reasons.

5) The world is perfect for what God designed if for, which is an environment where people can freely choose to love and serve God.

6) We do not know all the facts about God’s design and purpose of the world.

7) We do not know the ways in which God may reward those who have unjustly suffered in this world.

8) Evil is a necessary contrast to good.

Compassion, a valuable virtue, can only exist if there is suffering.

Bravery only exists if we sometimes face danger.

Self-sacrifice can only exist if some people find themselves in situations where they need help from others.

9) Evil is an all or nothing proposition.

Some argue that God ought to eliminate the worst forms of evil like cancer, or Hitler.  But then the second worst forms of evil would seem awful and require elimination.  Eventually, no evil would exist.

J B Myers

Books:
Faith and Addiction
Elders and Deacons
Life Choices