Sunday
Morning Bible Study
December
20, 2009
Introduction
Play Kids’
Christmas Video
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
I imagine that in today’s society, people are developing some pretty
strange ideas of what Christmas
is all about.
Our society is doing everything it can to goof up the true meaning of
Christmas.
Some people get into trouble at work or school by wishing people a “Merry Christmas”. We are
told to wish people a “Happy
Holidays” instead.
Some people associate Christmas more with Santa Claus than they do with Jesus Christ.
Some think of Christmas in terms of large crowds at the shopping malls followed by mountains of credit card bills
(Play “Jingle”
clip)
Another name the holiday has developed is “Xmas”, where the word “Christ” is replaced by an
“X”. Some people don’t appreciate this word … our friend the “Evangelism
Linebacker” has a new job …(Play
“Christmas Linebacker” clip)
Carefully
planned ahead of time
The celebration of Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus Christ.
The events of His birth were not some kind of story that the disciples
decided to concoct after Jesus had become famous, as if to somehow they would add
to the mystery of this amazing person.
His birth, His coming to earth, were all carefully planned out ahead of
time and foretold in more
than 300 ancient prophecies that detail His first coming, His birth,
life, death, and resurrection.
It has been carefully documented that these prophecies weren’t written
after the time of Jesus, but were actually written hundreds and thousands of
years before His birth.
We are going to look at one of those prophecies today.
What are the odds?
Peter Stoner wrote a book called Science Speaks (Moody Press, 1963), that
applies the science of probability to the prophesies of Jesus.
First, Stoner looks at just eight
of the prophecies and considers the probability of just these being fulfilled
by one man. (from Evidence That Demands A
Verdict… pg.174-176)
Being born in Bethlehem (Mic.5:2)
Preceded by a messenger (Is.40:3)
Entering Jerusalem on a donkey (Zec
9:9)
Betrayed by a friend (Ps.41:9)
Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zec
11:12)
Money thrown in the temple, buying
a potter's field (Zech 11:13)
Dumb before accusers (Is.53:7)
Hands and feet pierced, crucified
with thieves (Ps.22:16; Is.53:12)
Stoner concludes that the odds of
any man that might have lived down to the present time fulfilling all eight of
these prophecies are 1 in 1017. That's a one with seventeen zeroes
after it! (that’s a number larger than the national deficit).
To grasp the size of this number …
“Suppose we take 1017
silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the
state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole
mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can
travel as far as he wished, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that
this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? Just
the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight
prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the
present time, providing they wrote them in their own wisdom.”
But keep in mind, that's with only
EIGHT of the prophecies! Don’t forget that there were over 300 specific
prophesies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ.
Some people think that Christianity
can be dismissed as something that’s “okay for you to believe, but I’ll believe
something else”.
This isn’t some ordinary kind of
religion.
There is something heavily
supernatural in who Jesus was. The simple fact of fulfilled prophecy alone
makes it something that you must deal with.
God has purposely entered into
man’s world.
One of the specific, detailed
prophecies, written 700 years before Christ is our text today.
(Micah
5:2 NKJV) "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler
in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."
Who was Micah? Who was the guy that wrote this book?
Micah was a
prophet who wrote around 742BC, about the same time as the prophet Isaiah.
The kingdom of Israel was divided. The northern kingdom, known as “Israel”,
was at the end of God’s patience and they were about to be invaded and
conquered by the Assyrians.
The southern kingdom of Judah was also in a place of rebellion against God,
but they would eventually pay attention to the warnings of Micah and Isaiah,
and under the leadership of Hezekiah, they would turn around and follow God.
The Assyrians would make their first invasion into the northern kingdom of
Israel in 733BC and eventually come back and completely conquer the land in 722BC. The people would
be taken captive and hauled off to foreign lands where they would live in
exile.
:2 "But you,
Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Bethlehem
– Beyth Lechem – “house of bread”
This place was
where Jacob’s wife Rachel died and was buried.
(Gen
35:19 NKJV) So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is,
Bethlehem).
Bethlehem was
where one family from the tribe of Judah settled and passed down their
inheritance from one generation to the next until there was a man named Elimelech living on a
certain family farm in Bethlehem.
Elimelech was married to a gal named Naomi, and when a famine hit the land, they moved
from Bethlehem to the land of Moab, where their sons married a couple of
Moabite women.
When Elimelech and his two sons died, Naomi came back to Bethlehem, along with one of
her daughter-in-laws named Ruth.
Ruth would end up marrying a relative of Elimelech named Boaz and raise a
family on that piece of Bethlehem property.
It was there in Bethelehem that Boaz and Ruth raised their son Obed, their grandson
Jesse, and their great-grandson … David.
This is why Bethlehem is sometimes called the “city of David”. This was the ancestral home
of David’s family.
According to the laws in Leviticus, the property in
Bethlehem would always belong to the family of which David was a part.
Bethlehem was where
the prophet Samuel found the young boy David, and anointed him to be the next
king of Israel.
In a way, it’s not strange to think that Bethlehem would be connected to
the Messiah.
God promised David that he and his descendants would always rule.
(2 Sam 7:13
NKJV) "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever.
So in a way, it’s not that odd that Messiah was linked
back to Bethlehem, the ancestral home of the line of David.
Bethlehem was
where Jesus would be born, 700 years after the prophecy of Micah.
Kind of interesting to see how God got Mary to Bethlehem in time for the
birth.
When the
Babylonians had conquered the southern kingdom of Judah in 586BC, the entire nation had been
scattered from the land of Israel. When the people began to come back and rebuild
the nation, initially they only settled in the southern area of Judah.
At the time of Christ’s birth, the northern area of Galilee was sort of like the wild west, the frontier,
a place that was just beginning to be resettled.
It was in this northern area where God decided to use two people:
Mary
was a girl growing up in the Galilean town of Nazareth.
Joseph
was also from Nazareth, but his family line actually came from the line of
David, from the city of Bethlehem.
So how could the Messiah be from Bethlehem if His parents were living in
the area of Galilee?
God used a pagan emperor to get this pregnant young woman to Bethlehem in
time:
(Luke 2:1-5
NKJV) And it came
to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be registered. {2} This census first took place while Quirinius
was governing Syria. {3} So all went to be registered, everyone to his own
city. {4} Joseph
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city
of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of
David, {5} to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
Since Joseph was actually a descendent of King David, he
was required by the Roman Emperor to go back to his ancestral home, Bethlehem,
in order to register for the census.
God used the most pagan of men to get His Son to the right
place.
Ephrathah
– “place of fruitfulness”; this was an ancient name for Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19)
The people that named the place apparently felt it was a good place for
farming., calling it “fruitfulness” and “house of bread”.
It’s interesting that this man from the “house of bread” would say:
(John
6:35 NKJV) …"I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never
hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
:2 Though you
are little among the thousands of Judah,
little –
tsa‘iyr – little, insignificant,
young
Bethlehem (Google Earth footage) has
never been a huge city. Six miles to the north of Bethlehem is the city of Jerusalem
with 750,000 people. Fullerton has 125,000 people. Today Bethlehem has a
population of 30,000 people.
among the
thousands of Judah
There were lots of little cities and villages in the southern kingdom of
Judah. You could get lost in tracking
them down. But God used just one little Bethlehem.
But only one place where the Messiah would be born.
Lesson
God uses “little”
Gideon faced an
army of 150,000 Midianites
and was told to gather his own army. He was able to get 32,000 men together. God told Gideon that
he had too many people. It wasn’t until Gideon got his army down to a LITTLE group of 300 men
that God was able to work
and bring a great deliverance.
When Paul
became afflicted with this thing he called a “thorn in the flesh”, he felt like
he needed God to take it away.
Some have suggested that it might have been some sort of eye disease.
I would imagine that Paul probably thought that he couldn’t do his ministry
with this difficulty in his life.
(2 Cor 12:8-10
NKJV) Concerning this thing I pleaded
with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. {9} And He said to me, "My grace is
sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore
most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. {10}
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in
persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
God allowed Paul to keep struggling with his “thorn”
because God wanted to display His power and grace in Paul’s life in a greater
way. The only way for God’s strength to
be obvious was for Paul’s strength to be weak.
God uses little.
God uses weak.
Do you feel small and insignificant?
Do you sometimes wonder if God could ever use you?
Little is good. Weak is good. Humble
is good. Peter wrote,
(1 Pet 5:5b NKJV) …be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."
Be careful when you feel God tugging on your sleeve and your response is,
“I’m not big enough” or “smart enough” or “strong enough”. You might just be
the right person that God wants to use.
:2 Yet out of
you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel,
ruler – mashal – to
rule, have dominion, reign
come forth
– yatsa’ – to go out, come out, go
forth
What does the “coming forth” speak of? You see this phrase in a prophecy
about the future when Jesus will rescue Israel from it’s enemies:
(Zec
14:3 NKJV) Then the LORD will go forth And
fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle.
This is what will happen in the future, as God rescues the nation of Israel
from its enemies.
The deliverer to show up and “go forth” to fight the enemy.
In Micah’s days, the nation was facing a terrible threat, even possible
annihilation from the Assyrians.
They were looking for someone to come and deliver them.
Lesson
The Deliverer
The Messiah – thought by many to be one who would deliver Israel from her
political enemies.
In Micah’s day,
it might have been a hope that the Messiah would show up and deliver Israel
from the Assyrians.
For the Jews in
Jesus’ day, more than a few hoped that a Messiah would deliver them from the
power of the Roman occupation.
There will be a day when the Messiah will actually accomplish this
political deliverance – we know it will happen when Jesus comes back the second
time.
Jesus came to
deliver us from something else.
The message to Joseph:
(Mat 1:19-21
NKJV) Then Joseph
her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away secretly. {20} But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel
of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to
take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit. {21} "And
she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from
their sins."
His name “Jesus” literally means “Yahweh saves”.
The message from John the Baptist:
(John
1:29 NKJV) The next day John saw Jesus
coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world!
What does it mean for Jesus to “save us from our sins”? He saves us …
1. From the consequence of sin
Eternal
judgment – deliver us from hell
(John 3:17-18 NKJV) "For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might
be saved. {18} "He
who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God.
Forgiveness –
deliver us from guilt
This is something that we experience right away when we
trust in Christ.
(Heb
9:13-14 NKJV) For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer,
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, {14} how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God?
(Rom 8:1
NKJV) There is
therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit.
2. From the power of sin
Character
(Rom 8:3-4
NKJV) For what the
law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in
the flesh, {4} that
the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Jesus not only took care of the judgment for our sin by
dying in our place, He did it so that we might learn to develop godly
character, so that we might learn to live the kind of lives that are described
in God’s Word.
Too often we like the sound of the forgiveness and the
escape from hell, but we stop short of the full work that God is wanting to do
in our lives.
He came to save us from sin.
(Rom 6:1-2
NKJV) What shall we
say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? {2} Certainly not! How
shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
He didn’t come to forgive us but leave us sitting in our
cesspool of sin. He came to forgive us and walk us out of the cesspool.
Part of the equation here is learning about the Holy
Spirit.
(Gal 5:16 NKJV) I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and
you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Walking in the Spirit involves learning to yield to the
Spirit, but also to cultivate the things in your life that the Spirit is
wanting to cultivate (things like prayer, Bible study, fellowship) … to actually “walk”, to allow
the Spirit to accomplish the things He’s wanting to do.
Look at some of the things God wants to produce in your life:
(Gal 5:22-23 NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23}
gentleness, self-control…
This is not just a pipe dream. This is the picture of
where you are headed.
:2 Whose goings
forth are from of old, From everlasting."
whose goings
forth are from of old
The Messiah has been delivering God’s people for a long time. This
deliverer wouldn’t be someone who was new to this “delivering” thing.
Israel was
delivered out of slavery in Egypt.
Israel was
delivered with God’s help from the threat in Gideon’s day.
A few years
from Micah’s day, the southern nation of Judah would be delivered when a single
angel wipes out the Assyrian army.
of old –
qedem – east, antiquity, that which
is before; ancient time, earliest time
from everlasting
– “from the day of antiquity”
day – yowm – day,
time, year
of antiquity
– ‘owlam – long duration, antiquity,
for ever, everlasting, perpetual
There is a sense in which every person is an immortal being.
We will all live forever – either with God in heaven, or without God in
hell.
But the idea here is not just forever in the future, but forever in the past.
There is only One who is from everlasting – God.
(Psa 93:2 NKJV) Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.
There will be something awesome about this deliverer. John describes Him
this way:
(John
1:1 NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
(John
1:14 NKJV) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…
Jesus is God in human flesh. He has
always existed. He is from everlasting.
Lesson
Trust the One with Experience
If your car
breaks down and you don’t know what’s wrong with it, are you going to want to
get the mechanic that’s right out of high school and has only fixed one other
car, or do you want the fellow that’s been fixing cars for thirty years?
If your computer
breaks down and you can’t fix it yourself, do you want the guy who works on
computers as a hobby to help you, or do you want the guy who does this for a
living, and has for some time.
So what do you
do when you are broken?
Jesus has been in the business of saving people for a long, long time.
He knows what He’s doing.
You can trust Him with your life.
You can trust Him with the messes in your life.
You can trust Him with your eternity.