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[3985.78 --> 3992.54] the baby Jesus, doesn't want to hear anything else other than the baby Jesus, right? And that's all we |
[3992.54 --> 4001.06] ever think about. We miss out on the context of where it's going or how we got there. Now, before we get |
[4001.06 --> 4007.72] into this, let me clear the air, don't hear what I'm not saying, right? Each aspect of this story is |
[4007.72 --> 4015.58] individually important, and it's just as important as the next and the one to follow. But what I hope |
[4015.58 --> 4027.00] we can see is that the sum of the grander story, or the sum of the parts, is grander than each doll |
[4027.00 --> 4034.68] on its own, and that the grandeur, now, of each part of the story is made all the more magnificent |
[4034.68 --> 4044.00] when we see it in relationship to the doll that it nests within. The first part of this Christmas story |
[4044.00 --> 4052.92] is the littlest doll in our image. It's the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem. Now, the Bible tells us |
[4052.92 --> 4060.16] this story in a few places. The one we're going to read is from Matthew 1, and I'll read 18 to 25. |
[4063.04 --> 4070.84] This is how the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to |
[4070.84 --> 4076.42] Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. |
[4077.60 --> 4082.72] Because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and yet did not want to expose her to |
[4082.72 --> 4089.46] public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, |
[4089.58 --> 4092.54] an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, |
[4092.72 --> 4100.06] Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived |
[4100.06 --> 4106.40] in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, |
[4106.40 --> 4114.24] because he will save his people from all their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had |
[4114.24 --> 4119.78] said through the prophet. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him |
[4119.78 --> 4128.48] Emmanuel, which means God with us. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him, |
[4128.50 --> 4134.30] and he took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son, |
[4134.30 --> 4139.12] and he gave him the name Jesus. This is the word of the Lord. |
[4141.00 --> 4150.76] Now, right from the beginning of this story, right, you can see how it's nested in a larger story. |
[4151.62 --> 4156.16] This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. Well, what's a Messiah? |
[4156.16 --> 4162.32] Right? She was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Well, who is this Holy Spirit? |
[4163.36 --> 4169.18] Right? Our questions of the story and of the reading help us see that there's more to the story |
[4169.18 --> 4177.24] than what's going on in the surface level. And this nested nature of the story continues |
[4177.24 --> 4184.16] as we read, all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. |
[4185.70 --> 4192.10] The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means |
[4192.10 --> 4200.46] God with us. And so you start to see it, right? Right? What's happening in this part of the story |
[4200.46 --> 4207.40] in Matthew 1 is part of a bigger story that so many people miss. And even back then, that so many |
[4207.40 --> 4214.72] missed what was happening. All this took place to fulfill what the prophet had said. Matthew is telling |
[4214.72 --> 4222.56] us about the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is a prophet in Israel some 700 years before the time of Jesus. He is |
[4222.56 --> 4228.34] a prophet before the Israelites are carried away into exile by Babylon and the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. |
[4228.34 --> 4234.80] Isaiah is a prophet. Isaiah is a prophet. That means he speaks the word of God and reveals God's will to |
[4234.80 --> 4242.34] the people during the reigns of King Uzziah through King Hezekiah and may even still yet be alive in the |
[4242.34 --> 4253.76] reign of Manasseh. Now, just a little tidbit. In 2018, archaeologists working in Jerusalem found a clay |
[4253.76 --> 4261.26] bulla. A clay bulla is like a piece of clay with a carving in it. It's a stamp that's pushed into wax |
[4261.26 --> 4270.46] that's used as a seal to identify a writing or an object as belonging to someone. So they found a clay |
[4270.46 --> 4279.86] bulla in Israel that's inscribed with Isaiah the prophet. And they found that just like 10 feet away |
[4279.86 --> 4288.62] from where three years before they found a bulla, a fancier one, inscribed with belonging to King Hezekiah. |
[4290.44 --> 4298.50] And so the point is, right, that this is a story nested within a story, but it's also a true story. |
[4299.22 --> 4305.28] It's also history, right? It happened in the world. And so this is the true story of the whole world. |
[4305.28 --> 4311.08] So Isaiah writes, and remember, this is 700 years before Jesus. Isaiah writes, and you can look it up, |
[4311.16 --> 4317.94] chapter 7, verse 14, the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a |
[4317.94 --> 4327.98] son and will call him Emmanuel. And that's part of what so many people and what is so easy to miss |
[4327.98 --> 4336.92] in what Christmas has become in today's world. And for so many, the message of Christmas is about gifts |
[4336.92 --> 4343.14] or about Santa or Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, right? It's about Hallmark Christmas movies and |
[4343.14 --> 4349.80] chestnuts roasting on an open fire. And really, to be candid with you, it's not just about these cliche |
[4349.80 --> 4355.86] things, right? But it's also become about things that are otherwise really good, right? Things that are |
[4355.86 --> 4364.84] a part, by all accounts, a good part of our lives and the world, right? So for many of us, Christmas is |
[4364.84 --> 4371.54] all about family, right? It's all about connecting with people. Christmas can be about resting from the |
[4371.54 --> 4377.96] hustle and bustle of a workaday life and taking a break, taking some time out of the ordinary busyness |
[4377.96 --> 4382.78] of life to be with those people whom you love, to remember those people whom you have lost, |
[4382.78 --> 4387.52] and to dwell in the moment of blessing. All of this, right, is good. |
[4389.92 --> 4398.34] But if that's what Christmas is all about, you are missing the nested nature of the Christmas story. |
[4399.22 --> 4405.40] You're missing the nested nature of what's really going on. Because better than all of those good |
[4405.40 --> 4410.02] things, better than the best chocolate you may have got, better than the best gift you may have |
[4410.02 --> 4418.82] received, better than the best family reunion you have ever experienced, no matter what it may be, |
[4418.96 --> 4426.78] better than all of those things is the truth of Emmanuel, God with us. |
[4426.78 --> 4436.20] Because the eyes of our heart, because the focus of our attention this time of year can be so much on |
[4436.20 --> 4444.66] other things, we miss the majesty of the God-man. We miss the miracle of the infinite somehow becoming |
[4444.66 --> 4452.02] finite. We miss the impossible yet made possible of the transcendent becoming imminent, of God taking on |
[4452.02 --> 4460.34] flesh and making his dwelling among us. We miss the truth of God coming as a baby in the manger, heralded by angels, |
[4460.48 --> 4470.34] but missed by so many other people. Emmanuel, God with us. That's the Christmas story we don't want you to miss again |
[4470.34 --> 4480.28] this year. And that story is actually nested in the grander story, right? Because God with us begs the question, |
[4481.48 --> 4491.04] why? Why does he have to come with us? Matthew gets us started in this direction in verse 21 when he writes, |
[4491.04 --> 4498.48] He will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. |
[4499.52 --> 4509.04] You see, the Christmas story is a story of Emmanuel, of God with us to save us from our sins. And so if you |
[4509.04 --> 4514.34] want to understand this Christmas story right, you actually have to go right back to the beginning, |
[4514.34 --> 4522.40] right? To understand another example of God with us, you have to go right back to the story of the |
[4522.40 --> 4530.08] creation and the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the garden against God. Now, I'm not going to read all |
[4530.08 --> 4534.20] of it for you, but I'm going to summarize it quickly and a bunch of it will be on the screen as we go. |
[4535.06 --> 4540.40] Genesis 1 starts, very first words of the Bible, in the beginning God created the heavens |
[4540.40 --> 4545.84] and the earth. And then we get day after day of the creation story where there is light and there |
[4545.84 --> 4551.72] is waters, there is land that is gathered up and lights given to govern the land and lights given |
[4551.72 --> 4557.78] to, lights given to govern the day and lights given to govern the night. And then the water creatures |
[4557.78 --> 4563.80] and the birds are created and land that is producing living creatures, each according to its kind. And |
[4563.80 --> 4573.90] then the capstone on day six of creation is humanity. And in Genesis 1 26, God says, let us make mankind in |
[4573.90 --> 4580.52] our image, in our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the |
[4580.52 --> 4586.52] livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created |
[4586.52 --> 4594.84] mankind in his own image, in the image of God, he created them male and female, he created them. |
[4596.34 --> 4605.74] Not only is the story of creation a story of God with us, but it is a story of us with God. |
[4606.28 --> 4613.60] It is a story of us created to be like God in his image. It is a story of God's presence among us, |
[4613.60 --> 4619.26] giving us purpose and meaning and grounding us in something bigger than ourselves. It is a story |
[4619.26 --> 4626.20] of our relationship to God being the source of our wholeness and our peace, our shalom in the world. |
[4626.86 --> 4634.26] It is a story of God living in perfect communion with humanity in the world he created and called good. |
[4635.76 --> 4642.54] And it is a story of our rebellion against God, of humanity sinning against our creator, |
[4642.54 --> 4648.92] in Genesis 3, again the story continues, you can read how the serpent comes along and tempts |
[4648.92 --> 4653.50] the woman and she tempts the man and then God speaks the word of judgment over them all. But |
[4653.50 --> 4658.68] there's this beautiful line in Genesis 3 verse 8 where we can read, |
[4658.88 --> 4663.84] the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord as he was walking in the garden in the cool |
[4663.84 --> 4673.42] of the day. This is a picture of God with us, a picture of God walking among us in the garden, |
[4673.56 --> 4683.10] a picture of perfect shalom and our sin wrecked it. God with Adam and Eve walking in the garden and they |
[4683.10 --> 4691.44] hid because of their shame. But even in that moment of judgment, if you remember the story, |
[4691.44 --> 4695.90] right, even though they were kicked out of the garden, the man and the woman and the serpent |
[4695.90 --> 4701.90] were all cursed to one degree or another. Even in that moment, there is a promise of grace. |
[4702.96 --> 4708.46] God said to the serpent in Genesis 3 verse 15, he said, I will put enmity between you and the woman |
[4708.46 --> 4715.10] in between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. |
[4715.10 --> 4723.64] In biblical theology, this verse, Genesis 3 verse 15 is called the first gospel. It is the first |
[4723.64 --> 4730.92] promise of Jesus, of Emmanuel. The promise that would be reiterated through Isaiah. The promise |
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