Godʼs King Comes (Luke 1:26-38) I donʼt know if any of you have ever done this, but one thing Iʼve always wanted to try was sending a message in a bottle. You know, where you write a note with your name and details on it, and seal it up in a glass bottle, and throw it into the ocean. And you hope that itʼll reach some exotic part of the world and someone will write to you saying that they found it. Well, twenty-five years ago, eight year old Kylie Tatham-Tahere did this. She threw a message in a bottle into the ocean from New Zealand. And just last year, on Christmas day, a little boy named Tom Hussona found it. Now the bottle didnʼt break, but some water had seeped into the bottle, so Tom and his mum carefully opened the paper with toothpicks and they found Kylieʼs name. They tracked her down and she was ʻblown awayʼ after meeting young Tom, many years after sending her message. Itʼs pretty exciting isnʼt it? To find something like this on Christmas Day. A message that had floated silently in the ocean for twenty five years, only to be finally found and read. Thatʼs sort of whatʼs happening here in the first chapter of Lukeʼs Gospel. See, so far in our storyline of the Bible, weʼve read that God made us as a special creation, designed to know Him. But we sinned and turned away from our Creator. So during the Old Testament, God keeps letting us in on His plan to fix our relationship with Him. But itʼs a shaky ride full of ups and downs. Slavery and freedom, sin and judges, good kings and bad kings. See, despite Godʼs love and faithfulness, His people just canʼt devote their hearts to Him, just like we saw last week with Solomon. And so the Old Testament concludes with Godʼs people still in a mess, still waiting on the promises of God, but thereʼs silence from Him for hundreds of years. That is, until the news that Jesus will come. See, itʼs as if Mary is opening a message in a bottle. God put His plan into action a long time ago, and after the Old Testament stories, and then a time of silence, finally we hear His voice again. All of the promises of the Old Testament are pointing to this child that Mary will have. And so this morning weʼre going to ask what kind of child will he be. Weʼll see that Heʼll be the son of a human, the son of God, and an eternal king. So letʼs look at out first point. This coming child will be the son of a human being. If you have a Bible open, please read with me verses 26 and 27: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. This childʼs mother was a girl just like other girls of her day, following the customs of her people. It says that Mary was a virgin pledged to be married. This was sort of like an engagement, but taken more seriously. You couldnʼt just easily break it off if you changed your mind. A woman would be legally bound to her husband-to-be when he paid the bridal price to her father. But she still lived under her fatherʼs roof and his authority for up to a year before the marriage. This is the situation Mary wouldʼve been in. Living with her Bern Merchant Grenfell Presbyterian 5 Apr 09 page 1 of 6
family, obeying her Dad, legally bound to Joseph, and probably looking forward with excitement to her wedding day. We also see from this that she was probably young. Girls back then were eligible for pledging for marriage at 12 years of age. So Mary here was most likely about 12 to 14 years old. That might sound strange to us, but this was the normal age to be married and begin having children. Mary was a normal Jewish girl. The angel said to her, You will be with child and give birth to a son, meaning that sheʼll physically bring him into the world in the usual way. The baby grew in her womb, she became big and round as she got closer to the birth. Her feet probably swelled and her back hurt. And when labour came there would have been contractions and pain and screaming and blood and fluids. See this is important to grasp this because it tells us that the coming child Jesus would be fully human too. And lots of people over the years have misunderstood this. Theyʼve gotten it wrong by saying that Jesus was God but not man. Or theyʼve elevated Mary so much that sheʼs almost a god herself, and minimizing the humanness of it all. But letʼs not sidestep whatʼs clearly written in Lukeʼs Gospel. Jesus had a normal human mother named Mary. He had a stepfather that she was pledged to when He was conceived, named Joseph. He was born in the usual way. And putting this together with the rest of Scripture, we see that Jesus grew up just like a normal boy in a normal Jewish family. This coming child was the son of a human, and therefore a human being Himself. Our second point this morning is that while Jesus had a human biological mother, His Dad was God. I remember how I found out that Alison was pregnant with Anouk. We were getting ready to go out for dinner with some friends from college. Alison was probably going to wait until we got home, but she couldnʼt keep the news in. So she subtly said to me, We need to talk about something. And then she showed me one of the home pregnancy kit results. I knew right away what it meant. And it was exciting and numbing and special and crazy, all at the same time. But you know, if I felt like that, how do you think Mary wouldʼve felt, receiving this amazing news in an amazing way? See, it begins with, God sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin. Look at that statement with fresh eyes. Donʼt let your familiarity with the Christmas stories dull down how special this is. This is all beginning with God, itʼs His plan. And He announces it by sending a special angelic messenger. And on top of it all, the girl getting the news that sheʼs going to have a baby is a virgin. I mean, talk about mind-blowing. Read with me please verses 29 and 30: Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. Bern Merchant Grenfell Presbyterian 5 Apr 09 page 2 of 6
Mary was troubled, confused, and afraid. This wasnʼt a normal message. It wasnʼt the postman arriving at the door. It was a glorious revelation from God. She wasnʼt expecting this. She didnʼt earn this from God because she was holy. God simply chose Mary for this special role and placed His favour on her. She was part of something He was doing. And so Mary, still bewildered, goes on to ask how all this will happen. It says in verse 35: The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon 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. We really donʼt know any more than this. We canʼt really grasp the full answer to the ʻhowʼ question. Itʼs a mystery. Mary asks, how can I conceive if Iʼm a virgin? Godʼs answer is that itʼll be the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of God. And the outcome will be a holy child whoʼs Godʼs Son. Thatʼs our second answer to the question, What kind of child will he be? Heʼll be the Son of God. We need to be sure to hold our first two points together. Jesus was fully man, and He was fully God. To really understand what Heʼll later do on the cross, we have to hold these two things as both completely true. Not sort of God and sort of man, but both. And so, letʼs move on to our third answer. This human son of God will also be a great king. Read with me please verses 31-33: You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. What do we learn here? This child will grow up to be a ruler. Itʼs no accident that His stepfather is Joseph, because that makes Him from the line of David. So Heʼs linked with the great king of the past. See, the promises of 2 Samuel 7 that we looked at a couple of weeks ago are now finally being fulfilled. It says that Heʼll reign over the people of Israel, so the great king that the people wanted is finally coming. And if we think back to the promises to David, God said that someone would be on the throne forever. Thatʼs what it says here about Jesus. His kingdom will have no end. Heʼll never be obsolete. Itʼs not as if a more powerful king will come in and overthrow Him, His reign isnʼt just for a lifetime. Itʼs forever. And of course thatʼs possible because Heʼs the Son of God. But look at one more thing about this king. His name will be Jesus. Thatʼs important. Let me read to you from Matthew 1:21. These are words from an angel who appeared to Joseph in a dream: you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. The name ʻJesusʼ is a version of Joshua, which means the LORD saves. See, the big problem that weʼve been facing all along is being addressed here. People are sinful. Peopleʼs hearts will wander from God. And now we see the coming of the promised eternal king, and Heʼll be the one to save us. The one to restore us to God. The one to fix up the Bern Merchant Grenfell Presbyterian 5 Apr 09 page 3 of 6
mess weʼve been in ever since the Fall in the garden. Heʼll be the One to sit on the throne of Godʼs kingdom, King over our lives. From this one passage we see that the coming child will be fully human, fully God, and the promised eternal king from the line of David who will rescue us from the destroying power of sin. Itʼs pretty amazing stuff, isnʼt it? So letʼs conclude by spending a few minutes thinking about what this tells us about God. One theme weʼve seen over and over again is that God is faithful. Think about all the horrific things people have done in the Bible stories so far. Think about all the sin, and the unfaithfulness of Godʼs chosen people, the worshipping of other gods, and how quickly people forgot the one true God. God couldʼve solved all of this by snapping His fingers and making us all go away, as if we had never existed. But He stayed faithful. God said that He loves us, and He has poured out so much grace and mercy and help over and over again. He said way back in Genesis that Heʼd do something about the mess weʼre in. He said that Heʼd bless His people and not forget them. He said Heʼd send a great King. And He did all of this. Every Christmas we celebrate proof that God keeps His promises, that He doesnʼt change His mind. And that means that Heʼll come true with every other promise that He has made to us in Scripture. Never doubt God for a minute. The Bible is full of the promises of a faithful God. So claim them as your own. Grasp them and live them, because God doesnʼt change His mind. Philippians 4:6-7... Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6... he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Romans 8:38-39... For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. John 11:25-26... Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? Weʼre promised Godʼs peace in the face of worry, that Heʼll never give up on us, that Jesus will never stop loving us, and that by believing in Him we have eternal life. Will the God who stayed faithful to His promises change His mind on these things? And finally, we also see here, as it says in verse 37, nothing is impossible with God. Think about this story of the coming of the human-divine king. Think about how we might have done it differently if we were God. Weʼd probably having Jesus arriving in a blaze of glory, announcing His arrival with celebration and fireworks, just like at Sydney Harbour at Bern Merchant Grenfell Presbyterian 5 Apr 09 page 4 of 6
New Years. But God chose a normal Jewish girl in a tiny town, to bear Jesus in the normal human way and raise Him like a normal boy. God is the God of the impossible and unexpected. Think about it. God came to earth as a man. Nobody thought this would be the answer. Why would He do this? Because we cannot save ourselves. We need to be saved by a King who in being God is good enough and in being a man can represent us. And so letʼs not limit the God who can and does what we see at Christmas and the coming of Jesus. Heʼll also do the impossible and unexpected in our lives too, as His plans unfold, and He uses us for His purposes. I canʼt help but think about my own life. When I was still living in Canada, right before I came to Australia, I was faced with a choice. All I knew clearly was that God wanted me to go to Bible college in Australia. Let me tell you that while it was an exciting idea, it was a big and scary step too. And if you had told me that all of this was leading to being the minister of a church and actually preaching a sermon, I think I wouldʼve been too scared to get on that plane. But I did. And here I am now. How does a young Christian from St. Johnʼs, Newfoundland, Canada end up as minister of a church in Grenfell, New South Wales, Australia? Think about it. But God does the unexpected to work out His purposes. And Heʼll do that in this church too. We just have to trust in God and obey Him and stay faithful to Christ and His Gospel. So letʼs say as Mary did here, We are the Lordʼs servants. May it be as you have said. Lord, do with us whatever You will and wish and plan, as we serve and obey the King that You sent, Jesus. Letʼs pray. If you would like to speak with Bern about this sermon, please feel free to contact him on (02) 6343 2013, or bernm@iinet.net.au. Bern Merchant Grenfell Presbyterian 5 Apr 09 page 5 of 6
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