Click Here to download the Power Point

Click Here to download the Sermon Outline

  • Slide 6 Introduction – Matt. 1:18-25
    • Slide 7 Matthew written to Greek speaking Jews, probably living near but outside of Palestine, maybe Antioch
      • Familiar with the Greek Old Testament
      • Experiencing tension with the Jewish leaders in their community
  • Desiring to live as faithful Jews
  • Among an increasing number of believing Gentiles
  • Slide 8 Matthew does a lot of work to connect the story of Jesus to the story of Israel. He wants to show how the Old Testament points to Jesus.
    • Joseph, son of Jacob, dreamer, takes Jesus into and out of Egypt
    • Magi, Babylonians responsible for Israel’s demise, the ending of the House of David and beginning of Gentile subjugation… show up to acknowledge the reinstating of the Kingship of the House of David
  • Jesus must flee from a King determined to kill babies, hide for a season where nobody will suspect him, until after those who were seeking the child’s life have died.
  • Jesus will go through the waters, into the wilderness to be tempted and finally to a mountain where He will instruct God’s assembled people in the word of God…
  • Jesus fully identifies with Israel, succeeds where they failed, in order to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies, covenants and promises, so that He could redeem them (and us).
  • Body – Three revelations about Jesus
    • Slide 9 Christ – Messiah – anointed one
      • 1:1, 16, 17, 18 – used 4 times to refer to Jesus
      • Son of David – 1:1, 20 – Jesus and Joseph
  • Isa 61 & Luke 4 – Use the term anointed to describe the one who would come and set everything right.
    • To this we might add Psalm 2:2 – Where the King God has installed is called the anointed one.
  • Israel was expecting a Son of David to arise and re-take the throne, overthrow Israel’s enemies, re-establish the Kingdom of Israel and usher in a golden age. They understood this to be the Kingdom of God.  The Messiah or Christ was the one who would do this.
  • The term Christ or Messiah in this context refers to the rightful King of Israel, who would by virtue of the prophecies in Ps 2, be King over all the earth. This is what we see starting to happen in the next story when Gentile Magi show up and worship him.
  • So, the first revelation is that Jesus is the Christ, the son of David, who will fully identify with His people as their rightful King.
  • Slide 10 Savior (vs 21)
    • “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
    • The name Jesus means Yahweh is Salvation. Essentially the same name as Joshua.
  • Salvation means: To rescue and deliver from peril of any kind. Includes physical healing, protection from enemies, deliverance from sin and judgment
    • “the Hebrew verb yāšaʿ, which is most commonly used, would originally have the nuance “be spacious, have plenty of room, be comfortable.”[i]
    • Trash Compactor in Star Wars – Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca.
  • In Luke, the prophetic utterance of Zechariah gives some insight into what the Jews were hoping for. Luke 1:68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
    • The Jews were looking for the messiah to come and end their subjugation by the Gentile powers (which began with Babylon and had continued to the current day under Rome). This Messiah would save (or deliver them) and usher in a Golden Age of Freedom, Peace, and Prosperity.
  • Matthew tempers their expectations by indicating that Salvation would be from their sins, not the Romans…
  • Why do we need salvation from our sins…
    • Isa 59 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. 10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. 12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. 13 rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, 14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; 19 For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along. 20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. NIV 
  • Our true enemy is not people (Eph. 6), but is our sin (along with spiritual forces that seek to influence us that direction).
    • Sin is what separates us from God, plunges us into darkness and fractures our reality. It is the source of all brokenness (poverty, sickness, death, animosity, environmental issues, pain, etc.)
    • The second revelation is that Jesus came to save us from our ultimate enemies (as well as temporal ones). Matthew doesn’t want his audience to become discouraged by the fact that Jesus wasn’t eliminating all of their human tensions in the current age. When He comes again he will remove all enemies.
    • Jesus doesn’t just deal with temporal problems until one day we die… He deals with the ultimate issue so we can live forever.
  • Slide 11 God with us
    • What is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (vs, 20, 18)
    • Immanuel – God with us (Isa. 7:14)
      • This concept appears later in Matthew in 18:20 – where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name, there am I among them; and Matt 28:20 – And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age.
  • God’s desire has always been to be with us on earth.
    • Garden of Eden
    • Tabernacle in the wilderness and temple Exodus 29:44-45 – I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.
    • Jesus during His ministry – John 1 – He tabernacled…
    • Holy Spirit – 2 Cor 6:16 – For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
    • New Heaven and New Earth – Rev. 21:2-5a – 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ u or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
  • The third revelation is that God is repairing the broken relationship between us and Him and is restoring His presence.
  • Conclusion
    • Jesus is the long-awaited Christ who has come to re-establish God’s Kingdom on earth and rule over it as King. As our King He has come to save us from our enemies, especially our sins, because they are our ultimate enemies which have damaged our relationship with God, with each other and with the creation.  Our sins have separated us from our God.  The result of the removal of our sin is that God’s Presence among us has been, and will be, restored.  Once again, he has become Immanuel, God with us.  We look forward to and long for the day, when He will remove, not just the penalty for sin, but also the possibility of sin and the presence of sin and completely restore our world.  In that day He will rule as our visible King and we will enjoy His visible presence.  We shall behold Him…
    • Slide 12 Application
      • Celebrate the one who has come.
      • Don’t quickly move on from the Christmas stories this week…
        • 1:15 -2:23
        • Luke 1:1-2:40, John 1:1-18[ii]
  • Reflect on Jesus as Christ and King – Maybe Psalm 2 or Isa 61
  • Reflect on Jesus as Savior – Isaiah 59, 60, 61
  • Reflect on Jesus as God with us – Rev. 21, Any story from the Gospels
  • Blessing at end of service:
    • Psalm 20:1-5

 

[i] Spicq, C., & Ernest, J. D. (1994). Theological lexicon of the New Testament (Vol. 3, p. 349). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.