The Birth of Christ Pt 1: The Promise

Merry Christmas. It's good to see everybody. If you guys want to go ahead and stand with us, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Lord, we thank you and we praise you. Lord, we ask your hand of blessing upon this time, Lord, as we sing praises to your name. And as we spend some time in your word, Lord, let it do its mighty work in our lives. Lord, we love you, we praise you, and we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. You are coming again soon to take your bride home to be with you. Lord, help us to live expectantly of your arrival.

Lord, help us to be constantly looking for you. You guys can go ahead and have a seat if you like. We'll continue on.

Lord, this morning, God, we want to lift praise to you. And we want to thank you, Lord, for just who you are and for how faithful you are to us, Lord. God, just despite all of our sin and our fault, our our our our shortcomings, God, you are always faithful. Lord, you are unchanging. Lord, you are the same God yesterday, today, and forever, Lord. God, you are our cornerstone.

For who you are, we can stand in your presence and worship before your throne of grace and sing, holy is the Lord. Thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for what he's done for us, Lord. For the new life that you sent him to take the punishment that we deserve. For the new life that we deserve has paid our ransom.

By his stripes, we are healed.

God, we just thank you. We can't thank you enough. We praise you.

Lord, God, I just thank you that you made us your treasure. God, we thank you for the new life that we have in you. This morning, as Pastor Ryan comes, Lord, and as we open up your word, I pray that your Holy Spirit just move in a mighty way. Give Pastor Ryan the words to speak. And prepare our hearts to receive. Receive that word that you've prepared for us.

We love you, Lord, and we praise you. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's have some fellowship.

Process of locating your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over a few announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you've joined us this morning. A few things to take note of, mainly in the middle section of your bulletin. Just a reminder that we do have a mission strip coming up May 27th through June the 3rd. Of this next year. And there's still a handful of spots available. Down under other upcoming events is all of the details that you would need for that.

And if you are interested, please contact Jana Lumbert. Also, the team that we're going to be going with, God Said Go, Jeff and Esther McClaren, they're actually going to be here to speak on the 7th of January, that very first Sunday. And be sharing a lot more about the ministry that they do down there. Looking forward to that. So, the other thing is that next Sunday is Christmas.

Christmas Eve. And so, for the morning, our services will be as usual. But in the evening, we will have a candlelight service at 6 o'clock. So, plan on joining us for that. So, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. But before we do our responsive reading this morning, we are blessed to have a choir here at Calvary Chapel.

Maybe for the first time ever. So, if I could invite them up, I'm so excited to have them come share with us. We are. Actually waiting for our director. So, give us just a moment.

Just another night in the hillside country of Bethlehem. The sheep were softly bleating in the pens as they settled down for the night. Just another night like so many before. With the shepherd sitting around the fire, trying to keep warm, singing kumbaya, telling sheep jokes. Just another night like the one before. Every night, it seemed, they had to go rescue that one sheep that kept going astray.

But. Every sheep was important. Just another night. Until it wasn't.

Boy, I thought they did a great job. Wasn't that great?

Okay, for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 47. Psalm 47. We'll be looking at the New American Standard for this part, just so that we can all sound the same. If you need a copy, there should be one around you in a row somewhere. And as you are turning to Psalm 47. And if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Jared and the even verses. Psalm 47. For the choir director, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Oh, clap your hands, all you people. Shout to God with the voice of joy. For the Lord most high is to be feared. A great king over all the earth. He subdues people under us and nations under our feet. He chooses our.

Inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah God has ascended with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our king. Sing praises for God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a skillful psalm reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne and read verse nine with me. The princes of the people have.

Assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted and father. We do shout our praises to you. Praise for who you are, for your power and your might and Lord, your glorious plan of salvation. It all began with a baby in a manger. So, Lord, as we take time to look at these promises this morning, I just ask that your Holy Spirit would move as you see fit in our hearts and in our minds.

Through your word, in Jesus name, amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three. We'll begin a three part series this morning that will culminate Christmas Eve night on the birth of Christ. And we'll look at three different things. The first of which today is the promise. I shared with first service is always every time I come to this time of year.

You always think, OK, well, it's time for Christmas again. You've got to come up with a Christmas series and you don't want to preach the exact same message you've preached for the last seven years. Right. And so so you always think, OK, well, how can I come up with something new to tell the exact same story? I have no idea if I did that or not. But but anyway, this is kind of what the Lord laid on my heart.

And so that's what we're going to be doing this over these next few weeks. We're looking at the the birth of Christ. And as I said today, we talk about the promise. Now, Christmas has a great deal of anticipation with it, does it not? It's always. It's one of my favorite times of year. I think most people would say it's one of their favorite times of year. I know there's some people that are like, you know, like Christmas for various reasons.

And that's OK. It's always been a lot of fun for me. For me growing up, my sister, her birthday is at the end of November. So always somewhere after Halloween, beginning of November, we knew it was time to stop snooping around places. Because between the fact that my sister had birthday gifts that could be hidden somewhere and the fact that there were Christmas gifts that could be hidden somewhere.

We all knew that anticipation. We all knew that anticipation. We all knew that anticipation was building towards the middle of November and then my sister's birthday would happen and that Thanksgiving would happen and the anticipation would continue to build. All of our moms would go shopping on Black Friday and we all knew that there was a lot of treasures that were found for that.

And so that anticipation would build. Then throughout the month of December, all looking forward to the day when especially as little kids, you're so excited to wake up, usually way earlier than you're supposed to, usually dragging your parents out of bed. If you're anything like my parents were or if. You're anything like I am, coffee has to be drank first.

But then there's so much anticipation that leads up to that morning because you know that there's this promise that maybe that thing that you asked for for Christmas is going to be underneath of the tree. Well, that same kind of anticipation that you and I feel about the Christmas season is the same kind of anticipation that is felt all throughout the Old Testament. Only it's not about receiving some material gifts. It was looking forward to the promise of a savior.

One who would come and ultimately be. The one who would take away our sin and give us some kind of hope. And that promise finds itself working all the way through the Old Testament and really building all the way through the Old Testament. And it all begins here in Genesis chapter three. What I did in preparing this is I simply looked at this very first promise that we'll look at in Genesis chapter three of the coming Messiah.

And I have a Thompson chain reference Bible. And next to the section on the Messiah, it said prophecies about the Messiah. And it gave me a little tagline to go. Back to so I went back and it just gave me lists and lists of verses throughout the Old Testament about the prophecy of the Messiah. Now, I took all of those and condense them down to the next nine verses that we're going to look at that all have to do with the promise.

And so we start in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. Genesis chapter three, verse 15 says this. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed. And her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now, we know that this comes after the fall of man. God had laid out for Adam and Eve what the rule was to not eat from that one tree.

And they did the very thing that God had told them not to do. And sin entered the world and death came along with sin. And as sin came into the world and death, there were other consequences that were handed out. There were consequences for the man. There were consequences for. The woman. But then there were also consequences for the serpent. The first of those consequences was for the physical serpent himself, that he would always have to crawl on the ground on his belly and eat dust for the rest of his life.

And there would always be enmity between he and the woman. But it gets beyond just the physical serpent in this next part, because he says in between your seed and her seed singular word there. So the seed of the woman would always be at war with the seed of. This serpent with the seed of the enemy that we face, he will bruise his heel, but the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.

You see, when Adam and Eve sinned, it brought in the looming power and hopelessness of sin and of death. And we have felt that power loom over us for all of time since the beginning, since Adam and Eve sinned. And because. Because of this power that we're held under of sin and of death, God had a plan. He had a plan to deal with that power, and that plan to deal with that power was to send a Messiah, the seed of the woman, the promised one who would come and who would ultimately crush the head of the serpent and destroy sin and death, destroy hopelessness and restore hope to a world in desperate need.

This is as. Bible scholars call it the proto evangelium, the very first mention of the gospel in all of scripture. And from this verse, from this general promise that's given to us, we have the hope of a coming savior, the hope of a coming Messiah. And so from this point on, God will begin to orchestrate history to bring about this Messiah. Now, this is the first of these that I want to show you.

The second one comes to us in Genesis. Genesis chapter 12, verse three. Now, full disclosure, you guys are going to be using your Bibles this morning. So warm your fingers up. Get your brain thinking, because I want you to be in God's word for yourself so that you know how to find these. OK, Genesis chapter 12, verse three is if you're taking notes right down.

But for context sake, we're going to start in verse one. Genesis chapter 12, verse one. It says this. Now, the Lord said to Abraham, go forth from your country. And from your relatives and from your father's house to the land, which I will show you and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will make your name great and you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you and the ones who curses you. I will curse and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now, just to bring us all up to speed, a lot's taken place between Genesis chapter three and Genesis chapter 12. Thousands of years actually have taken place at this point in time, because between Genesis three and Genesis 12, first of all, we see sin in its downward spiral take place with both the murder of Abel and then all of the other things that take place in the time of Noah.

And so God purged the land. God purged the earth and started over with a family. And that family was Noah. Noah had three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth. Ham and Japheth had their own history. That they followed. But we specifically followed the line of Shem because the Shemitic or the Semitic people are the Jewish people that we want to follow. And so as we come to Genesis chapter 12, Shem had a descendant whose name was Abram.

We later come to know of him as Abraham because God will change his name. But to Abram was given a promise in you. All the nations of the earth will be blessed or in your seed. All the nations of the earth will be blessed. This is the next. This is the next promise of the Messiah that this Messiah would have a specific line that he would come through. He would come from the family of Abraham and the family of Abraham or what we know of as the Jewish people.

Therefore, the Messiah who was promised the promised seed of the woman would come through the Jewish people. And so this family would be really important because these chosen people of God would be the ones through whom the Messiah would come. Well, as we carry on from there, we come to the end of the book of Genesis. So go to Genesis chapter 49 and specifically we're going to look at verse 10.

But for context sake, let's pick up in verse 8. Now, just again to again bring us up to speed. Abram, the one who received the promise, he had a son. That son's name was Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. But Jacob would be the child of the promise. Jacob will go on to have 12. We know of them as the 12 patriarchs or the 12 tribes of Israel. They would be the ones through whom the entire nation would come.

But there's going to be one specific tribe that's really important. And at the end of the life of Jacob, the father of the 12 patriarchs, he prophesies over each of his sons, over each of his 12 sons. He gives a prophecy about things that will come in their life. This that we're about to read is the prophecy over his son named Judah. And so we pick up in verse 8.

And it says this. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches. He lies down as a lion. And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah. And this is what I want us to pay attention to.

The ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. This is our next prophecy about the Messiah. Now, the word Shiloh there in verse 10 literally means he to whom it belongs. So let me read this to you literally. Notice what it says. The scepter, verse 10, shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he to whom it belongs.

The ruler's staff from between his feet until he to whom it belongs. He to whom the scepter belongs is none other than the Messiah, the coming king, the one to whom all the peoples at one point in time will render obedience. So this is our next prophecy of the Messiah. So I want you to notice not only the building anticipation, but the narrowing down of where this Messiah is going to come from.

We have the general promise. of the Messiah, the one who will destroy sin, the one who will bring hope into the world. He will come as the seed of the woman. But then we take note of the fact that he will come through the people of Abraham, the Jewish people. But now we find that he will come from the tribe of Judah. And so while anticipation builds, we also see the promise continue to get more specific.

Now, the next place that I would like for you to turn is to the book of 2 Samuel. The book of 2 Samuel. It's just past Judges. It's right after 1 Samuel. See what I did there? The book of 2 Samuel, chapter 7. I was like, man, you guys are really focused right now. And specifically, we're going to look at verse 16. But I want to tell you, again, I want to bring us up to speed on this. Now, after the children of Israel come into the

promised land, and they establish themselves in the promised land under Joshua, they go through a real up and down time during the book of Judges. They actually go through a cycle of sin. And every time they go through this cycle of sin, God sends a judge, a deliverer, to deliver them from judgment and to lead them along the right path. But eventually, they decide they're tired of being run by prophets and judges. They want a king, just like all of the other

nations around them. And so they ask God for a king. And so God, first of all, gives them a king that they think they want in Saul. And so God gives them King Saul, who is head and shoulders above them. And so they ask God for a king. And so God, first of all, gives them a king that they everybody else. And he just looks like a king. The only problem was Saul didn't really have a

heart to obey the Lord. And he didn't have a heart to shepherd the people. And so while he looked like a king, he didn't act like a king. And through a series of disobedient acts, God stripped the kingdom from him and said, I will give it to a man who is after my own heart, a man whom I will choose. And he anointed a young man by the name of David. And David was a man, we're told, after

God's own heart. Far from perfect. He had his fair share of mistakes and failures, but through it all, he always returned to the Lord and his heart was to shepherd the people of God. Well, after David was established as king and really had won the major wars that he needed to win and had established the capital of Israel in Jerusalem, David was sitting in his palace one night, we're told. And as he was sitting in his

palace, he looked down to see where the children of Israel worshiped and the place where the children of Israel worshiped at that point in time was what we call the tabernacle, which literally just means tent. And that's exactly what it was. As a matter of fact, if you looked at the tabernacle from the outside, there was nothing about it that looked glorious. The glorious part of the tabernacle was what was on the inside of it. But it was a small little tent. And David looked and

said, how can I dwell in this beautiful palace while the ark of the covenant of God dwells in this tent? I will build a temple for God. And he told one of the prophets at that time, this is what I want to do. And the prophet said, that's a great idea. You should do it. Only that night, God came to that prophet in a dream and said, hey, actually, David's not going to be the one that can do this. David is a man of war.

David has shed blood for me, but he's not the one that can do this. It will be a child of peace that builds the temple. His son, Solomon, will build the temple, but it won't be for David. However, I want you to tell David this, because his heart was to follow me, because his heart was to honor me. I am going to honor him even more than he can imagine. Then we come down to verse 16. This is his promise to David. Your house and your kingdom

shall endure before me forever, and your throne shall be established forever. This is the next messianic promise that we have. This Messiah would not only be, born of the seed of the woman, he would not only be of the Jewish people, he would not only be from the tribe of Judah, but he would specifically be from the household and the lineage of David. So things have gotten really specific here. They should have known exactly who they were looking

for. They were looking for someone who is of the tribe of Judah, who is of the line of David. And that brings us to the next place that we want to look at. Go over to Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14. Go to your right. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, hurry past Song of Solomon. Go to Isaiah chapter 7.

While you're turning there, Isaiah is a fascinating book of the Bible. Now, as God established other kings, God established David, and God brought along Solomon, Solomon. was an amazing king in the beginning. As a matter of fact, I think the chapter where Solomon, who after he builds the temple, dedicates the temple to the Lord, that chapter of him dedicating the temple to the Lord is one of the more powerful chapters in all of the Bible. Because in that

chapter, we're told that when he made that amazing prayer and he dedicated the temple to the Lord, the glory of the Lord filled the temple and it filled the temple so much that the people couldn't even see because the cloud of the glory of God filled the temple. The presence of God was felt in that place. It's truly one of the more powerful chapters in the Bible. But Solomon had a problem.

Solomon loved many foreign women. Solomon loved a lot of women, period. But he really loved the foreign women. And the problem was they led his heart away from God and his heart became divided and he started building temples to idols. And unfortunately, because of that, a portion of the kingdom of God was destroyed. And so he had to build a temple to idols. And unfortunately,

the kingdom was ripped from him. God kept his promise and a descendant of Solomon stayed on the throne. Solomon remained in control, but God ripped a portion of the kingdom away from the house of David. And the kingdom of Israel became split at that point in time. It became split between the 10 northern tribes who maintained the name Israel and the two southern tribes who took

the name simply Judah, because Judah was at the heart of it. Now, the two southern tribes had their share of some good and bad kings, but the 10 northern tribes, they never had any good kings. All of their kings were idolatrous. They all followed after these idols. And so God would send along prophets. And as he would send these prophets, they would give messages to the people.

The messages to the people were always to turn their heart back to God, but couched in these messages were promises of a coming Messiah. And Isaiah actually gives us some of the more colorful pictures of the Messiah to come. Now, the book of Isaiah is kind of fascinating. It's in the book of Isaiah, and there are 66 books in the Bible. The first 39 chapters of the book of

Isaiah deal with the judgment of God on the people, much like a lot of the Old Testament, which is 39 books, deals with the judgment of God. The last 27 chapters of the book of Isaiah deal with the coming hope, including the millennial kingdom, much like the 27 chapters of the New Testament deal with the hope of the truth of Jesus Christ. However, mixed into all of that judgment in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah are some promises of the Messiah, just like in the Old Testament, there are mixed in promises of the Messiah. Pretty cool, right? So we come now to one of these promises in Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. Notice what it

says. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel. Now, from this, we learn a couple of things. The first thing that we learn is that the birth of this Messiah will be miraculous, because you may have noticed that it says, therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall be with child,

and you will call his name Emmanuel. A virgin shall be with child. Now, there's a couple of things I want you to understand about prophecy real quick, okay? First of all, when it comes to prophecy, there's some things you need to know. Number one, there can be what's called fulfillments and future fulfillments. There can also be what's called partial fulfillments

and complete fulfillments. Near fulfillments means that what's spoken here had meaning for the time Isaiah was living in, but it also had meaning for a future time to come. And that's what one of these verses is. You see, the word that's used for virgin here is the word Alma, and it can carry with it two ideas. It can either mean a young maiden or a young woman,

or it can speak to a young woman. And it can speak to a young woman, or it can speak to a young woman who has never known a man. Well, in the near fulfillment, which is what takes place in the book of Isaiah, it speaks of a young maiden. You see, the start of chapter seven, if we were to read that, would show that there was an evil king named Ahaz, and God was trying to speak to Ahaz. And so Isaiah told him, ask God for a sign. But Ahaz was trying to pretend to be spiritual,

and he said, far be it from me to ask God for a sign. And Isaiah's going, whatever, God himself will give you a sign. But what it says right there, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel. Well, that's the near fulfillment. The future fulfillment is that a virgin, not a young maiden, but a woman who's never known a man will bear a child, and you will call his

name Emmanuel. The virgin birth is really the key to understanding the gospel. Because the way we understand it, sidebar, I did a little study on this, and I can't even begin to tell you some of the things I've learned, because I don't fully understand them just yet. But if you want to do a deep dive into something, do a deep dive into the idea of the virgin birth. It's fascinating, and

you'll come away going, God's really cool, and I don't get it. So anyway, the virgin birth is really important, because it is through the man, sorry, fellas, that sin is passed on to the rest of us, because Adam was the federal head, and through him, sin came to everyone. Therefore, you pass the sin nature on to your kids. That's why Jesus had to be born of, a virgin, so that he would not have that same sin nature. Because as you know, this would be the

most miraculous thing ever, because as we have learned in our church, it takes a man and a woman to produce a child, right? We know that one pretty well. But here, it would just be a virgin who would produce a child, therefore making the birth miraculous, because it would be a true work of the Holy Spirit. And so from this prophecy, we learn a little something extra about the birth of Jesus. Number one, it'd be miraculous. Number two,

we learn that the birth of this Messiah, this Messiah would actually be God dwelling among us, because the name Emmanuel literally means God with us. Now, isn't that kind of cool? This prophecy of the Messiah continues to build an excitement, because this isn't just a guy like a judge who would come down and do something. This is God himself who would come down and dwell among us. Now, the next one that we want to look at,

is also in the book of Isaiah. I want you to go about a page and a half or so to the right. I want you to go to Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. And this is what it says. For a child will be born to us, and a son will be given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father,

Prince of Peace. Now, sidebar, this is one of those scriptures where we only see a partial fulfillment, because while unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, I've yet to see the government rest on his shoulders. Currently, the government seems to be resting on a completely different body part altogether, right? So, it's not resting on the shoulders of Jesus. So, we see here a

fascinating thing. What I want us to pay attention to is the first couple of lines in verse 6. For a child will be born to us, and a son will be given to us. Now, those two statements are repetitive. For two important reasons. One is because when it says a child will be born, it speaks of the physical birth of this Messiah. And when it says a son will be given, it speaks of the deity of

this Messiah. Therefore, this Messiah who will be God with us will be fully manned, a child is born, and fully God, because a son is given. And so, this Messiah will be the God-man who will dwell among us. Which is exactly who Jesus was. Ah, the anticipation continues to build. But there's something else interesting about this verse, because it's going to solve a major problem.

You see, if you were to turn to Jeremiah 22, and I don't want you to turn there, but you might just write down Jeremiah 22, because it's important. There's a problem that's created for the line of the Messiah. You see, we were told that through David, and then through Solomon, there would always be a son of David on the throne. But when you come to Jeremiah 22, there is a curse on one of the descendants of Solomon. His name is Jeconiah. After Josiah,

who was a great king, there were several bad kings after him, one of whom was this guy named Jeconiah, the last king of Israel, the last king of Judah. And so, this prophecy is given that Jeconiah would be cursed, and that no descendant of his would sit on the throne. And so, this prophecy is given that Jeconiah would sit on the throne. And so, this prophecy is given that Jeconiah would sit on the throne. And so, this prophecy

Well, now, that's a problem. Would you agree? Because if the Messiah is supposed to come through David, who is supposed to always have a descendant on the throne, but this descendant of David named Jeconiah has been cursed, and none of his descendants can sit on the throne, well, we have a quandary now. How can the Messiah be born of David without also coming through Jeconiah?

Well, you see, David had another son. His name was Nathan, who was named after the Nathan, the one who confronted David in his sin after he sinned with Bathsheba. Now, Nathan had a descendant and her name was Mary. And so Jesus was a descendant not only of Solomon through Joseph, but he was a descendant of Nathan through Mary. Now, this is important to pay attention to

because if you were to look at the book of Matthew, you'd find the genealogy of Joseph through Solomon. And then if you look at the book of Luke, you'll find the genealogy of Mary through Nathan. So when it says unto us, a child is born, that speaks of physical birth. When it says unto us, a son is given, it speaks of adoption. And so Jesus was of the line of David,

both through physical birth because of Mary and through adoption because of Joseph. Is that not one of the greatest things you can ever imagine? Isn't it great that God has a plan when you're going, oh my gosh, I have no idea how this whole thing is going to work out. You can imagine Jeremiah writing this down, knowing that God had said only through David would come the Messiah. And he's writing, Jeconiah shall be cursed. What do you mean? But okay,

friends, it may look like everything's falling apart, but God always has a plan because God had a plan for the Messiah, we're told in scripture, before the foundations of the world. And if God had a plan for the Messiah before the foundations of the world, don't you think he had a plan for you before the foundations of the world? And so whatever it is that you're going through right now, that you don't know the end of it. And you're like, I don't know how this is ever going to work out. I don't know how this is ever going to happen. You just need

to know God's not stressed right now because he had a plan for it even before you were born. Amen. And so, so we have this beautiful picture that's given to us, this genealogical problem solved in Isaiah chapter nine, verse six. Now, the next place that I want you to go to is the book of Daniel. So go past Jeremiah, cry your way through lamentations. Ezekiel's a long book,

Daniel. I want you to look at Daniel chapter nine. Now the children of Israel did in fact get punished for their sin. All of these prophets kept saying, if you don't repent, you're going to go into captivity. They didn't repent. And so they went into captivity. It's kind of funny how God keeps his promises, right? He even keeps the negative ones. So they didn't repent and they got put into

captivity to the Babylonians. Now, as they were in captivity to the Babylonians, God was still faithful to his word and continued to provide them prophets. One of those prophets that he provided them while they were in captivity in Babylon was a guy by the name of Daniel. And Daniel was one of the most well-respected prophets, not only by his people, but even by the Babylonians and later the Persians. And so Daniel was looking one day at the book of Jeremiah who told them how

long they would be in captivity to Babylon. 70 years. And so as he was looking, he was realizing it was getting close to time for the Babylonian captivity to end. And so Daniel started seeking the Lord. He started confessing his sin. He started confessing the sin of his people, confessing all these things to the Lord. And then God appeared to him and he gave him a message. And so we pick up in Daniel chapter

nine. I actually want to start in verse 24 for context sake. It says this, 70 weeks have been in your holy city to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and to discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and seven days. And so Daniel said,

62 weeks, it will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Now, Daniel gives us a fascinating, fascinating prophecy here. We're told that there's 70 weeks decreed for the nation of Israel, for the people of Israel. Now it is almost universally accepted that the term week speaks of a set of seven years, 70 sets of seven years are decreed for the nation of Israel. After 69 sets of seven years, the Messiah will come, which if you're

doing math in your head right now, that's 483 years. Okay. I had to do it on a calculator beforehand. Don't worry. Um, so they, they had this amount of time. And so from the time when a decree is issued by Cyrus, who is the King of Persia, which took place in the book of Nehemiah to go forth and rebuild Jerusalem, there would be 483 years, until the coming of Messiah. Now, I don't know if you realize how intense this is,

but Daniel just told them exactly when to start looking for the Messiah. So I want you to pay attention to something. We know that this Messiah, this promised one who would do away with sin, who would destroy hopelessness, who would destroy sin, who would destroy death. He would be first of all, of the seed of the woman. And then he would come from the Jewish people through Abraham. And then he would come through the tribe of Judah. He would be

through the line of Judah. And then he would come through the tribe of Judah. And then he would come through the line of David. He would come about through a miraculous birth. He would be both born as a man, but also adopted. He would be both God and man dwelling among us. And now he's going to come somewhere in about 483 ish years from the time that Cyrus gives the decree to go back

and rebuild Jerusalem. You tell me, why didn't they know he was coming? You know why? Same reason why a lot of people today won't know. They don't know. They don't know. They don't know. They don't know when he comes a second time because they're not paying attention. Now, this is such a cool prophecy because I think because of this and one other place in scripture is exactly why the wise

man knew to go look for Jesus. I want you to think about who Daniel was. Daniel was probably one of the most powerful men in the world at the time when he's giving these prophecies. I know we don't think about that. We think of Daniel as being the guy in the lion's den, but Daniel was number three Persia, one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world of that time in history. And he was number

three in charge. This guy was a powerful man. And who was he in charge of? All of the say wise men, all of the, all of the wise men, right? Because that's who he was. All of the wise men and astrologers when no one else can solve it. Daniel can, Daniel can, Daniel can. He's our man. If he can't do it, no one can, right? Like that's who he was. And don't you think?

He had some Bible studies with these guys. Don't you think he had some Bible studies with all of the wise men and astrologers? And he was like, look, quit looking at the stars and look at Jesus. And I think he taught them. You need to know when he's coming in there, like, dude, we're getting pretty close to that time, but there's one other place. And I don't want you to turn there. I'm

just going to read it to you, but you might write down numbers chapter 24, verse 17, because this is the other reason why I think that the wise men were looking for the star. I want to read it to you. It says, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab and destroy all the sons of tumult. You see, that was a prophecy that was given by

Balaam. If you don't know who Balaam is, go back and read the previous chapters and numbers. You're going to love it. It's a great story, right? Balaam had been paid to try to curse the nation of Israel. And so Balaam asked God, can I go curse him? And God said, no, you can go, but only say what I tell you to say. And so Balaam, trying to curse the people, only he couldn't, he kept blessing him and they kept bringing him to

another spot. And Balaam kept having to bless him. And finally, Balaam turned into a Pentecostal preacher and just got the spirit flowing, right? And all of a sudden he goes, I don't need you to put me in a new place and build me an altar this time. This time I'm just going to flow with the spirit. And he gave this prophecy. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star

shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. I think for these two reasons, when they started seeing that it was close and they saw a star in the sky, they went, I'll be doggone. Daniel was right. I can't prove that scripturally, but boy, doesn't it kind of make sense? Because God wanted them to know exactly when to look for the Messiah. Well, there's another prophecy I want you to look

at. I want you to go to the book of Micah, right after Jonah. We're going to look at Micah chapter five, verse two, Micah chapter five, verse two. It says, but as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you, one will go forth for me to be the ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. Therefore, he will give them up until the time when she who is in

labor has born a child, the remainder of the brethren will return to the sons of Israel. So now we have the place. We know exactly where Jesus is going to be born from Micah chapter five, verse two. He's going to be born in Bethlehem. And do you know that there's actually two Bethlehems in Israel? And so God, in all of his wisdom, made sure that they would know exactly which

Bethlehem it was, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, because he wanted to be specific about where Jesus was going to be born. And this is pretty cool. And we know specifically that they should have known this because if you remember, in Matthew, when the wise men show up to Herod and they're like, hey, where's the king? And he goes, I'm the king. What kind of a king are you talking about? Like, no, not you, not the old king,

the one that was just born, the king that was just born. Where's the king supposed to be born? Because they came to Jerusalem thinking a king should be born in a palace, but he wasn't. And so he went and asked the scribes, hey, where's the king of the Jews supposed to be born? And they came back to him and said, Bethlehem. Why? Because in Micah chapter five, verse two, it says, but as

for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah from you, one will go forth to be ruler for me in Israel. They knew. And they should have known that it was the time because all they had to do is go, wait a second, Bethlehem. Why are these people looking for somebody in Bethlehem? Has it been 483 some years? Has it been about that amount of time? They should have known. It's kind of

fascinating that that's where Jesus is going to be born because there's about three things that are really cool about the city of Bethlehem. The first thing that's cool about the city of Bethlehem is that Bethlehem is the birthplace of David through whom Jesus would come. The second thing that's kind of cool about Bethlehem is its name. Bethlehem means house of bread. And

interestingly enough, Jesus referred to himself as the bread of life. But the third really cool thing about Bethlehem is that Bethlehem was said to be the place, according to Jewish tradition, where they raised the Passover lambs for the temple. And so in the house of bread, very bread of life, where they were raising the Passover lambs, the Passover lamb was born. And all this promise was given to us, right? One more place I want you to go. Malachi chapter five,

excuse me, Malachi chapter three, verse one. Malachi chapter three, verse one. Malachi is the last of the prophets of the Old Testament. It's the last widespread revelation of God that's given to us before 400 years. Malachi is the last of the prophets of the Old Testament. It's the last silent years where God was still at work, but we have no direct prophecy from him. But one of the

last messages that he gave is in Malachi chapter three, verse one. Notice what it says. I still hear pages. I'll give you a second. Okay, got quiet. Behold, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant and whom you seek will come to his temple. And the messenger of the

covenant and whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. The last thing that we're told about this Messiah that would come is that preceding him would be a messenger, one who would clear the way, one who would clear the path, who would make the way straight before him. And what did John the Baptist declare he was? I am simply a voice of one crying in the wilderness saying, prepare the way.

Isn't that great? And so let's put all this together, shall we? Let's look at this building anticipation for the coming of Jesus. He was of the seed of the woman. He would come through the Jewish people, through the line of Judah, through the family of David. He would be of miraculous birth and he would actually be God dwelling among us. But as God dwelling among us, he would come

as both a man and God at the same time. Through the lineage of David, both through birth and death, he would come about 480-ish years after the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple. And he would be born in Bethlehem and there would be a messenger that precedes him. Oh my gosh, the plan of redemption. Is it not the most amazing thing you can imagine? Is it not the perfect thing that

God did? Can you imagine the building intensity to the birth of Jesus? That's why I think the day that they brought Jesus into the temple to be blessed, there was Anna. And there, were the ones waiting to see him because they knew he's coming. He's coming. And why did God put all of this plan together? Why did God do all of this? Well, you see in Genesis chapter three,

sin entered the world and death through sin. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Brothers and sisters, we need to understand something. This plan of redemption, this promise of redemption was given not because God wanted to prove that he was God, but because God so loved the world. But let's make it even more specific than that. God put together the most elaborate

plan, the most elaborate promises to bring about the Messiah because of the great love that he has for you. Because of the great love that he has for you individually. Because in all of that, before the foundations of the world, God knew that he wanted to save you. And the way that he would do it would be by sending his son to be born of a woman, to live a life as a man, to die a death as a man, but to be raised from the dead, to prove himself to be God and to prove that the sacrifice was accepted.

Amen. God rest you, merry gentlemen. None of you dismay. Remember Christ the Savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan's power because we'd gone astray. Tidings of comfort and joy. Amen. Let's all stand. Friends, again, the world is going to be looking at you every day right now saying happy holidays, and you can just simply respond with Merry Christmas, right? Because it's about Jesus. It's about Jesus. Father,

we come to you and I thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. And I thank you, Lord, that your word is so good. To our souls, Lord, that it teaches our minds and it heals our hearts, Lord, but it's like soothing balm to our souls. And so, Lord, I pray that if there's anyone here this morning that doesn't know the deep love that you have for them, that doesn't yet understand that you came not just for the world, but you came for them, Lord, that this promise was not just for some nameless, faceless person. This promise is for us.

It had my name on it. And so, Lord, help us to truly grasp that this holiday season. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Lord, God, I just thank you for the day. Lord, I thank you for your word and for how sharp and powerful it is, Lord. I thank you for this season. I thank you for your son, Jesus, and for what he's done for us, Lord, for willingly leaving your throne in heaven to come and live among us, to go to the cross for us, Lord, to pay the price for our sins, and even more, Lord, you give us new life. You give us another shot at it.

And we thank you. Lord, God, I just pray that as we leave here today, that your spirit continue to work in our lives and in our hearts, Lord. We love you and we praise you. We thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen.