Luke 2:1-20 The Advent of the Event The word ADVENT means coming. This is the coming of THE event. We have been leading up to this message for several weeks. First, we saw the darkness in which Israel and all of mankind had abode for 400 years, even longer. We saw the breaking of the day, not the sunrise, but the first light that precedes the sunrise. This came when God sent an angel to Zacharias and then gave John the Baptist as the forerunner of the Messiah. Then we saw the first glimmer of the suns beams, still not the sunrise itself, but the bright yellow and orange rays as the sun was just slightly below the horizon. This occurred when an angel was sent to Mary and Joseph to tell them that the Son rise was at hand. But now, in this text, we see the actual sunrise as the SON bright and full edges over the horizon to scatter the darkness, and His light will get only brighter and brighter until sadlyit is extinguished upon the cross of Calvary some 30 plus years from now. Some recognized what was happening even as it occurred for Matthew wrote: Matt 4:16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. So we are reading of the event, the birth of Christ. As Caesar (Tell the story.) Traditional route traveled by Mary and Joseph would have been around 100 miles and taken maybe 8 to 1o days. What does the birth of Jesus show us? Many things. Let me list a few. I. Christs birth shows mans great need. A. I do not like to make statements that I cannot prove although I know I do so often. However, some things seem to be so to me. B. It seems to me that God does not like to interfere in the affairs of mankind. 1. I know that He has. a. Those events are called miracles. b. However, the number of times God has interfered are really quite limited. c. You cant count creation because that was God creating man, but after that, you can count the seasons from the Bible that God has performed miracles on two hands. 2. There was. a. Noah and flood b. He worked in the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. But even in their lives, He mostly spoke to them, blessed them, and guided them. c. Sodom and Gomorrah d. Moses and the Egyptians e. Jericho and claiming the land f. Samuel, Saul, and David g. Elijah and Elisha h. Jesus i. Apostles j. Of course has performed miracles that are not recorded in the Scripture and still does to this day, but the point is, God seems to want to stay out of mans affairs on the grand scale. 3. It seems to be that God like to give man enough room to make decisions and to see the natural consequences. 4. I think that is why God doesnt do more miracles either in the Bible or in our lives. C. It seems that when God does interfere in the affairs of man, His interference is directly related to His determination to accomplish something. 1. God worked big in the days of Moses. Why? He wanted to make the children of Israel understand He was God. That was a big task and it required some massive miracles. 2. God worked big in the days of Elijah and Elisha. Why? God wanted the nation to understand that they had turned from Him and that if they did not repent, they would be created with the negative consequences of the covenant they had made with God. D. But the biggest miracle that God ever performed was in bringing Jesus to this world! 1. That miracle broke the laws of biology, physics, and every concept of reproduction known to mankind. 2. Why did God interfere so in the affairs of man? I believe it was because mans need was so great! E. Man was separate from God, damned to hell, and without any hope. 1. Sin had separated us. a. We were first separated by Adam and Eves sin. b. But we were further separated by our own. 2. Because of our sins, God had judged us. a. Hell may seem like a unjust punishment but for a people determined to separate themselves from God, hell is a just place to spend eternity. (1) It is a place with no mercy for you do not want the God of mercy. (2) It is a place with no love for you do not want the God of love. (3) It is a place with no second changed for you do not want the God of second changes. (4) It is a place with no water, no food, no comforts at all for you do not want the God of providence. b. I do not know whether God actually adds torments to this place or not but if you want to be separate from God for all eternity, hell is the logical place for you. 3. There was not a thing we could or ever would be able to do about it. F. So God stepped in. 1. I dont just mean that He stepped in to help. 2. He stepped into flesh so that He could help. 3. What we needed was a payment. a. The only payments allowed were the guilty paying for their own sins or else a sinless substitute. b. Jesus, Gods Son, stepped into flesh to be our sinless substitute. c. God broke ALL of the natural rules of the universe for Jesus to do that. d. What does that show you? It shows you that our need must have been exceedingly great! II. Christs birth shows Gods great power. A. God had done miracles before but never had done anything like this. 1. This Child in the manager was not just a miraculous birth. a. He was a miraculous conception. b. There was no earthly father! c. The Scripture says that the Holy Ghost and the power of the Highest would produce this Babe. 2. Nothing like that had ever happened before nor will it ever happen again. B. But that wasnt the only display of Gods power. 1. God used angels to announce His plan and to set things up. a. Zacharias b. Mary and then Joseph c. Shepherds d. Joseph – flee into Egypt and to return 2. God got into the minds of people. a. He gave visions – The wise men were told not to return to Herod in a vision. b. The Holy Spirit spoke: (1) Simeon had been told by the Holy Ghost that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. (2) It must have been the Holy Ghost who gave him the understand that Jesus was that Messiah. (3) It seems likely that Anna was likewise moved of the Holy Ghost. c. Somehow God spoke to the wise men to tell them what the star meant. 3. God altered the stars to give the wise man guidance to the Baby. 4. God worked in the Caesars heart to pass the tax and to require the people to go back to the city of their ancestors. 5. I am simply pointing out that the Christmas story is a story of many miracles. They show us just how great the power of our God actually is. C. He works in events, in hearts, in minds, in politics, in the skies, in the stars, with the angelsall to accomplish His intended will and pleasure. III. Christs birth shows mans response. A. Every type of good response you can imagine was shown. 1. Marys willingness to serve regardless of the cost. 2. Josephs confusion and but honest desire to obey. 3. Shepherds curiosity and wonder. 4. The wise mens determination to see Him and to worship the King. B. These are responses that God can work with. 1. They are not all perfect responses. a. Joseph was confused. b. I suppose Mary tried to explain but he probably would not listen. c. She may have even recommended Elizabeth to corroborate her story but I doubt Joseph would have checked it out! d. But even confused he was not hard, harsh, and hateful. e. He had a spirit that God could work with. 2. So also did the shepherds. a. We dont know whether they ever got saved. b. Maybe they just came, looked, and wondered; but at least they were curious about the things of God! 3. The same is true of the wise men. They bowed and worshipped but that doesnt mean they believed that Jesus was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. However, at least they had an open heart. C. But you can also see every type of evil response that you can imagine. 1. The indifference of the religious leaders. a. It was only six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. b. If these religious teachers were still serving they had to be in good enough shape to walk six miles! c. Their problem was not inability it was indifference! d. Indifference had been the attitude of most of those we have presented the gospel to in this place. 2. The rebellion, rejection, and even retribution of Herod. a. But Herods was the worst of all. b. He was the first to display an anti-God spirit in the New Testament. D. Strangely enough, the whole story of Christmas today boils down to what kind of attitude are you going to have toward Jesus Christ? 1. It is all history to us. a. You cannot go to Bethlehem to see Him. b. You cannot take Him gold, frankincense, or myrrh. 2. But you will either be filled with wonder, obedience, indifference, or hatred. 3. The question tonight is, "Which one?"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luke 2:1-20 The Advent of the Event The word ADVENT means coming. This is the coming of THE event. We have been leading up to this message for several weeks. First, we saw the darkness in which Israel and all of mankind had abode for 400 years, even longer. We saw the breaking of the … Continue reading “Luke 2:1-17 – The Advent of the Event – Bible study”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}