DEC 15
What does it Mean?
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST: The Cast
The story of the Birth of Jesus is seen by many as a fable, some scoff about ‘the virgin Mary’, atheists have dumbed down the Life of Jesus to that of an ordinary man - that Jesus married and had children… to Mary
Others/believers know that our God is the God of the impossible, He can do anything, He can raise the dead, He can bring life from the dust, He created the world by speaking… and so to these folks, the story is miraculous yes, but totally possible for a God like the God we serve.
The story is recounted twice at the beginning of 2 gospels - Matthew and Luke
Today I am going to walk us through an overview of each of the key members of the cast of the event that brought the world to the event of the first coming of Christ to the world – as a vulnerable human being.
And I will cover lessons learned from each of the characters for us to take and act upon as we grow more and more in the likeness of Christ which is our chief goal in life.
ZECHARIAH (Luke 1)
Father to be of John the Baptist
Served in the Priesthood and attended when called in for his duties
Vs 5 “a righteous man walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.“
Was struck dumb as a result of his unbelief - on receiving the message from Gabriel the angel at the altar of Incense
LESSONS LEARNED
Keep being faithful
Keep your heart in a state of faith and hope - no matter what the circumstances
ELIZABETH (Luke 1)
Vs 5 She too was “ righteous walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
She was filled with joy that her ‘reproach – of not bearing children – was now gone
She was filled with the Holy Ghost and she prophesied when Mary arrived at her place during their pregnancies.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Keep the daily routines, read the word, worship, sing, give thanks, so when the time is right you will receive God’s blessings and promises
Be open and receptive to the Holy Spirit and how God wants to use you. Elizabeth was filled with HS AND Prophesied possibly for the first time ever.
JOHN (the Baptist)
He had a special birth (miraculous)
He lived according to strict rules – the life of a Nazarite
He prepared the way for the coming of Jesus and was a cousin of Jesus
He was a righteous man
He grew strong in Spirit and stayed in the deserts until his time (Luke 1: 80)
He went to prison for his faith
It appears that while in prison John doubted / questioned whether Jesus was the Christ
John 11: 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
He stood up to Herod regarding the unlawful marriage to his brother’s wife. He gave the ultimate sacrifice – his own life by decapitation. The event that led up to his death came about due to Herod’s wife Herodias schemes and revenge – waiting for the right time, being an opportunist, using her daughter’s probably beauty and dancing to catch Herod off guard – which opened the door to her plan to get John executed.
Jesus honored him as being more than a prophet (Matt 11.9 and Luke 7:26).
Luke 7: 24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 25 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
LESSONS LEARNED:
Be steadfast even when things appear to go wrong
There will be great reward for all
Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
JOSEPH
Was of the lineage of David (Matt 1: 16)
The paternal carer of Jesus - as a father
A just man
He taught Jesus to work - after his own craft of carpentership
When he learned that Mary was pregnant, he didn’t want to make a public disgrace of her.
He had a dream and took it seriously. He called the child Jesus as he was asked to do
An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream, told him what was going to happen, that Mary had NOT laid with another man, that she was a virgin, but had taken place by God’s intervention (the Holy Ghost) the sex of the child, what to name the child and that the child would save his people – the Jews from their sins.
All of this was the fulfillment of a prophecy in the book of Isaiah. Having been alive during King Uzziah’s and until the 14th year of Hezekiah’s reign puts Isaiah’s life around 700+ years before this event took place!
Isaiah 7: 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
interesting to note, he is barely mentioned beyond the story of the birth of Christ
LESSONS LEARNED
Trust God when He is speaking even when you don’t understand everything
Be obedient - and your name will be written in the Book of Life!!
ANGEL OF THE LORD: GABRIEL
Brought messages from God:-
1) to Zechariah by appearing physically in the temple
2) to Joseph via a dream
LESSONS LEARNED
Be aware of all the different ways God may choose to speak to you / get your attention to His plans, His ways, His will for your life
MARY
She was a virgin engaged to be married
She was humble – she couldn’t quite get the salutation she received from the angel
Believed God, believed in God
Her response to God was immediate
Obedient to God’s will for her life – no matter the reputation or cost
LESSONS LEARNED
Be aware of all the different ways God may choose to speak to you / get your attention to His plans, His ways, His will for your life
Respond with excitement and acceptance of His will for your life because HE knows best
WISE MEN
They had heard a prophecy that Messiah would come at a certain time, there would be signs.
They saw the signs (his Star in the East) and acted on them (Matt 2)
They came from the East to Jerusalem
They brought the most expensive gifts at that time as offerings
They took heed of God’s warning to them regarding Herod’s intentions
LESSONS LEARNED
Know the times in which we are living
Be discerning
HEROD
Was king at the time of Jesus birth
Known in the history books as having been a tyrant
Became very troubled to learn from the Wise Men about a new born “King of the Jews”
Called a council of key Jews – priests, scribes to ascertain the situation
He learned of the prophecy of old regarding Bethlehem in Judea which would bring forth a Governor to rule Israel God’s people
He called the wise men quietly back to meet them with the intent to get as much information from them as he could regarding the timing of the star appearing
He tried to appear that he too wanted to worship the King also and thus asked them to come back to him with word.
His intent, however, was to seek and destroy him (Matt 2:13)
When he realized the wise men had seen through his plan and gotten away, became incensed with anger and sent forth swiftly to kill all the children (not just the sons) that were 2 years of age and under)
LESSONS LEARNED
There is an enemy out to destroy the works of life, light, truth, love
Be careful to follow God’s leading in your life in order to avoid being caught in bad situations
ROMAN EMPIRE
They were the ruling power in the time of Christ’s birth
Jesus mentioned we should give tribute to whom tribute is due
He and Peter paid taxes via the fish with the coin in its mouth
People think today we live in an enlightened age but we have babes aborted while in the womb – or immediately on birth, wars, beheadings, torturing and terrorism.
LESSONS LEARNED
Distinguish those things that belong to God and those that we need to observe on earth
ALL JERUSALEM
The arrival of the Wise men was made known in all of Jerusalem
All of Jerusalem was trouble (along with Herod) regarding what they heard about a prophecy of old regarding the time had come for the fulfillment of that old prophecy regarding the arrival of a new King of the Jews
LESSONS LEARNED
Be aware of the times we live in – so that we can be prepared
THE MOURNERS
The cost of that one life coming to earth was death to many in Bethlehem (Matt 2: 18)
The mourning in ‘Rama’ was prophesied in the old testament
LESSONS LEARNED
Bad things happen to good people
COUNTRY SHEPHERDS
A normal night of work out in the field watching their flocks
Suddenly, in a moment their life was changed as an Angel visited them to announce the birth of Christ the Lord this day (Luke 2:11)
Then suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God around them!
They left their flocks and made straight for Bethlehem to find the baby.
They then told Joseph and Mary about the visitation and all that was said and happened and then went back to their flocks glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
LESSONS LEARNED
Be diligent in your work, you will get rewarded
THE PROPHETS
Lots of prophets prophesied of the coming of Jesus Christ and the surrounding events long before it took place
Isaiah 53 (whole chapter)
David – Psalms 19 – whole chapter,
110:1 The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
LESSONS LEARNED
God always reveals His plans prior to the happenings
God wants to tell you His plans for your life, shew you secret things that you don’t know at the moment
Amos 3: 7 - Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
JESUS
Born in humble place – no room in the Inn in ‘The city of David’.
He was circumcised after 8 days, presented to the Lord as per the standard Jewish customs of the day
He grew strong in Spirit an wisdom and the grace of God was upon him (Lu 2:40)
He could keep up (even as a youngster) with the doctors of law in the temple – as they were asking him questions
He obeyed his parents and was ‘subject to them’
LESSONS LEARNED
The 10 Commandments are life principles that are to be obeyed by all.
BID
Us
Why did he come to earth?”
Where do I stand?
Where do you stand?
Where do we stand?
Hebrews 11 :40 “God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” -Hall of Fame. We too can be in the Hall of faith
Heb 12: 1- 2 “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.