This is the first in our Advent Series: Jesus: More than a Name (A series through the Isaiah Prophecies). Included is the outline and important points of the sermon from November 28th 2010. Those notes marked with * are interesting facts that due to time and leading of the Spirit were omitted from the sermon but may bless you. May God bless the hearer and reader of His Word.
More than a Baby
Isaiah 7:14
The Prophet Isaiah writing nearly 600 years before the birth of Christ was able to see across the centuries and gave us an amazingly accurate picture of the birth of the Savior. Isaiah said that the birth of Jesus would be "a sign." We find perfect harmony with this prophecy when the angels announced the birth of Christ in Luke 2:10-12, for they said, "And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."
God has always used signs to get the attention and deliver His message to His people. In the birth of Christ we have a sign from God. I challenge you today to consider the Christ of Christmas is more that a baby; he is s sign of the awesome nature, power and desires of God. Even dutifully religious people can miss the message of Jesus at Christmas. Do not get caught up in the materialism of Christmas and miss the Christ in which the holiday is about. You may ask "What is the birth of Jesus a sign of?" 3 things:
1. The Promised Baby is a Sign of God's Power
Isaiah prophesied that the coming Messiah would be born of a virgin. Many debate this today and scholars debate this as well. See in the Hebrew there is a different term than expected. Isaiah used the term young woman which most translate virgin. People get the hebbie geebies and say "It didn't mean Virgin" Well we are looking through 21st century lens. In that day a young woman would have described a girl in her early teens which in those days would have been 99.9% probability that she was a virgin. How do we solve this little dilemma? Scripture is always the best interpreter of scripture and what did the early church and disciples interpret Isaiah 7? The answer is in Matthew 1:22-23 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated "God is with us." God was to bring his messiah by birth of a woman he wasn't going to do something ordinary but extraordinary. He was going to bring a baby conceived not by man's doing but by the Holy Spirit. No one even to this day can imagine something like that happening. God literally showed off. By solidifying that the Messiah was both fully God and fully man born of a virgin God put his full power on display. This Christmas if you need a sign of God's power in your life look no further than the virgin birth. If you doubt that God clean up the mess of your life. If you have any concern if God was mighty to save and able to forgive you of your sins. Know that our God is powerful. The Same God who spoke stars into existence planted a life in the womb of a virgin. Some of us today are desperate for God's power in our lives. Pray for God to unleash his authority and his power towards you and every circumstance. If you ever doubt it remember the virgin birth.
* King Ahaz was king of Judah at the time and was an outright idolater. He had Israel and Assyria threatening to take over Judah and he wanted to strike his own deal with Assyria. This unholy alliance was against God's plan for Judah and God offered to give Ahaz a sign but Ahaz played a religious game saying he dare not tempt God. Well he should have realized that God was the one offering the sign and to refuse God was refusing true wisdom and power. Don't we do the same when God clearly speaks through his Word and to us in our prayers and we choose our own way instead of His? We are in essence denying the power of God to work in our lives. We are the ones to blame for our stubbornness and idolatry of our own hearts.
*The Hebrew term Almah is used in the original text which is translated "virgin". Almah is more often translated "maid or young lady". Betulah is the term unusually reserved for meaning "virgin". However, Almah is still translated correctly because 600-500BC a young girl in in her early teens would have 99.9% of the time been a virgin. Therefore there is no mistake in scripture understanding this as being a prophecy of the Virgin Birth of Jesus.
2. The Promised Baby is a Sign of God's Love
God wanted to display his love for us and he sent us a gift. He thought and thought and the best thing he could send was himself. The text talks about Immanuel would be the name of the child. Thankfully they translated for us and we find that it means "God with us." Think of how God would display himself among his people. In pillars of fire, in the burning bush, in a cloud on a mountain top. In a different and better way God the Son took human form. John described it that he came to dwell among us. God displayed his love by coming to be with us and live with us. He came and experienced the same hurt, pain, stress, strain, tired bodies as we have to live with. But God also came to restore a relationship that was broken. God came on a rescue mission wrapping himself in the flesh to come and save us from our sins. Our sins separate us from God plus they weigh us down and defeat us. But God being rich in mercy sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for the punishment of our sins. Three days later he rose from the grave giving victory over sins and death and a new life to live. Philippians 2:6–8 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. 7 Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, 8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross. The Virgin birth shows that God is not an absent God but a present God. When we need him he is there. When we are overwhelmed he is there to strengthen us up. He is there to love and protect us. How do we know because he came, Immanuel God with us? He lived he died and still lives with us today.
*Having God with us should move us to Praise him. Do so by listening, enjoying singing along to "God With US" by MercyMe
3. The Promised Baby is a Sign of God's Faithfulness
In scripture there are over 300 prophesies regarding the Messiah and all of them came true in the one called Jesus Christ. "In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner
applies the modern science of probability to just eight prophecies regarding Christ. Stoner suggests that "we take one hundred quadrillion or 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state 2 feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly... Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up [that one marked silver dollar.] What chance would he have of getting the right one?" Stoner concludes, "Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man." Why is this important? Because God is a God who keeps his promises. Are you not at this hour a monument of God's faithfulness? How many temptations has he rescued you from? How many times have you been struggling to breathe because of the pressures around you and the faithfulness of God got you through and drew you closer to himself? The fact that God said that he would send a Messiah and to the very detail kept his word gives a glimpse of his majestic faithfulness. Revelation 19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, ... The same God who promised a Savior promises to sustain to guide, to lead, to strengthen, to sustain and to even call you to heaven to live with him one day. We trust God with our future and our daily life because of the rock solid faithfulness of God. He said he would send a Messiah and he kept his Word.
*Isaiah prophesied this text with a meaning to Ahaz in his day and toward the future coming Messiah. Ahaz doubted the faithfulness of God and tried to win victory by himself. God was going to be faithful in protecting Judah by raising a king who worshiped him. But he was also going to raise a King that would have an everlasting dominion. We know this King to be Jesus Christ. Think of ways God has been faithful to you and spend time in Thanksgiving towards him. Remember God is faithful so we must trust him in all circumstances.
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