Messiah Is Here
Various
About 14 hours from now, the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch from the Guiana Space Center, French Guiana, South America. This telescope has been in the works for more than 30 years. It has cost more than $10 billion to develop.
If all goes to plan, this telescope will launch into outer-space, and travel a million miles where it will arrive at the second Lagrange point, and begin taking in images from outer space.
Currently, we have an outer-space telescope. It's called the Hubble Space Telescope, which has led to some amazing astronomy. But the James Webb Space Telescope is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope. Its mirror is bigger. It measures in the infrared spectrum, not just the visible spectrum.
To give you an idea of how sensitive this telescope is, it could detect the heat coming from a bumblebee on the moon![1] Also, the James Webb telescope is about 100 times more complex than the Hubble telescope. The Hubble telescope orbits the earth. The James Webb telescope will orbit the Sun!
When the Hubble telescope was placed into service, there was a problem with blurry images. And so, astronauts went up on the Space Shuttle and repaired it. But we can't do this with the James Webb telescope. It's too far from us. It will orbit the sun, behind the earth, allowing the sun, the moon, and the earth to be always at the back of the telescope, blocking it from the light of the sun, moon, and earth, allowing the telescope to collect very clean data.
So, in just 10 days, the James Webb Space Telescope will be launching. There is no way to repair it. Therefore, everything needs to go well. So, many people across the world are anxiously watching to see if this Billion-dollar project will work as it should! It has taken so long to develop and much of the world is anxiously awaiting to see if it will all go to plan.
I'm here to tell you this morning that there is one who came to the earth, the Messiah, and everything about his launch, if you will, went exactly as planned. There were no problems! The launch plan went exactly as was foretold by the prophets! Everything was timed perfectly, it all went exactly as to the plan of God.
Such was the mystery of the coming of the Messiah!
As I was thinking about the James Webb Space Telescope, and I was thinking about the Christmas message and read a bit about the James Webb Space Telescope and the images that it's going to give to us, and all of the mystery of outer space that may be revealed, I was reminded how mystery goes with the incarnation of Jesus. That is, the coming to the earth of the Son of God.
Though it has been 2,000 years since Jesus came and we celebrate it so often, it remains a mystery how all of this could possibly be. The birth of Christ is amazing in many, many ways.
I want to show you just a small glimpse of this this Christmas Eve. With the help of the Holy Spirit, may we see the glory of God in the face of the baby in the manger. May we see his glory and be astonished and amazed as we consider this thing. It is only with the help of the Holy Spirit that we can see the glory of Christ, that's been veiled in the flesh. This was all God's doing. If you consider all that took place in the Christmas story, you see mystery all about it.
For instance, it's a mystery how all of the prophesies concerning the birth of the Messiah were all fulfilled in Christ, down to the smallest detail. A cursory reading of the Christmas narrative in the gospels reveals how Jesus fulfilled prophecy after prophecy after prophecy after prophecy. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). It all came to pass, exactly as Isaiah prophesied! It is a mystery how this came to pass!
Micah prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). It all came to pass, exactly as Micah prophesied! It is a mystery how this came to pass!
As a side note, do you realize the orchestration it required to get Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem so that she could give birth there? She traveled 90 miles from her home in Nazareth (in the northern part of Israel), to Bethlehem (in the southern part of Israel). And this was in the days of an oppressive government! A census was issued by Caesar Augustus. (Luke 2:1). Every person needed to return to their hometown and be registered for the taxation. Joseph returned to Bethlehem (Luke 2:4). How God orchestrated an unbeliever who was in a position of power to move Mary to Bethlehem to give birth is beyond me! But it all came to pass, just as Micah prophesied!
Isaiah tells us that they would call his name "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). It all came to pass! It is all a mystery how this came to pass!
And there are many more of these prophesies! How the prophets could speak of these things 700 years before they came to pass is amazing! To me, it's a mystery similar to the size and complexity of the universe. My mind cannot grasp such prophesies.
Furthermore, it's a mystery to consider some of the miraculous events that surrounded the birth of Jesus. And there were some! This is part of the Christmas experience!
There were some miraculous circumstances surrounding the birth of Jesus, that lead them to wonder and awe. An angel appeared to Mary, telling her exactly what would take place.
Luke 1:30-31
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
When Mary inquired how this might possibly be, as she was a virgin, the angel continued,
Luke 1:35
The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
To these things, Mary magnified the Lord, and rejoiced in God, her savior (Luke 1:46-47).
Further, an angel appeared to Joseph, telling him not to cast off Mary.
Matthew 1:20-21
Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Indeed, these things came to pass, exactly as was told them. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary. She bore a son. They called his name Jesus. He came and saved his people from their sins, as he lived a perfect life and died upon the cross for our sins, that those who believe can have eternal life with him!
With these things, we are amazed!
We are amazed when we read of the shepherds being visited by an angel telling them,
Luke 2:10-12
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
It all came to pass, just as told the shepherds. This is why the shepherds left the scene, back to their fields, "glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them" (Luke 2:20). To these things, we wonder in awe and praise to God.
But none of these miraculous things are as mysterious and deep as the reality of the incarnation, when God took on flesh and blood and walked with us! As John wrote, "The word became flesh and dwelt among us."
Jesus lived among us! How that all worked, how the Holy Spirit could bring conception, how deity could take on humanity, how Jesus could be both God and man, how in the flesh, Jesus had two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.
I don't have any clue about the answers, any more than I fully understand the size of the universe.But one thing I know: God dwelt among us. That is, Messiah was here! And this Christmas night, we celebrate the fact that "Messiah Is Here!" Or, to use the Biblical terminology, "Immanuel."
We heard this tonight when Matthew, chapter 1 was read.
Matthew 1:23
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us).
"Im" means "with" in Hebrew. "Anu" means "us" in Hebrew. "El" means "God" in Hebrew. You put these things together and you have "With-Us-God," or "Immanuel."
In many ways, this shows the crux of the Biblical message: Immanuel, God with us. This message takes us from the creation of the world, to the eternal state.
When the world began, it was "God with us." Do you remember Adam and Eve? They were placed in the garden. Do you remember where God was? He was with them. After the fall, we read of the LORD God, "walking in the garden in the cool of the day." And we read of God speaking directly with Adam and Eve, as you and I do.
This is the reality of Adam and Eve in the garden before they were cast off. God was with them. God walked with them. God talked with them, just as Jesus did when he came to the earth.
With the coming of sin, there has come the alienation between us and God. God has not been with us like he was with Adam and Eve. But with the coming of the Messiah, with the coming of Jesus, this has all been changed. Jesus has paved the way for God to be with us in the future.
Do you remember how the Bible ends? It ends in Revelation with the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. And the loud voice will say,
Revelation 21:3-4
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
When Jesus comes again as king to rule and reign over the earth, Messiah will again be here! We will be with him. He will be with us.
It's all a mystery what exactly it will be like. It is like the mysteries of the heavens that the James Webb Space Telescope is waiting to discover! But this is where history is headed. It is headed for this day when God will be with his people.
So this Christmas Eve, as you reflect upon the presence of the Messiah, "Messiah Is Here," consider how this will be the reality for eternity.
This sermon was delivered to Rock Valley Bible Church on December 24, 2021 by Steve Brandon.
For more information see www.rockvalleybiblechurch.org.