Sunday
12/09/18 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Messianic Prophecy”
(“Hope
is Coming” Series – Part 2 of 5)
Old Testament
Scripture: Malachi 3:1-4
New Testament
Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 1:68-79
Once again, happy Second Sunday in this the Season of Holy Advent.
As I discussed last Sunday, the Season of Advent is a season leading up to the
Season of Christmas that developed out of the worshipping tradition of the
Christian Church. In this season we are called to prepare our hearts, our
minds, and our souls, for the memory of the coming birth of Christ, we are
invited to bring Him into our hearts daily, and we are called to eagerly await
his triumphant second coming to earth.
Last Sunday to emphasize Christ’ birth and his awaited
second coming to earth, my sermon title was called, “He came, and He will come
again!” In this season of Advent, among the many things that we are called to
try to do with God’s help, are to claim anew joy, love, peace, and of course
hope. I believe that in Sidney and this world in general right, many of us need
hope. Can I get an Amen?
How
can we find hope in the birth of Jesus Christ though? How can Jesus come into
our lives and change us this very day? How can the anticipation of Christ’s birth
and return to earth affect and change us? How can we be changed so that our
lives are changed?
You see for nearly two-thousand years the Christian Church
has believed that God’s Son, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, was born, lived,
breath, walked, loved, healed, forgave, and died for our sins. Due to this, we
can be forgiven, spiritually cleansed and we can live and reign with God in
eternity forever. This means we are not complete stories, and your past, and
your mistakes can be washed away through the love and the blood of Jesus
Christ. God can recreated you, you can be a new creation through Jesus Christ
The
coming birth of our King Jesus, the love he offers us, and his eventual return
has given billions and billions of people the world over hope. On our hardest
days, we can realize that Christ is right there with us. Whatever we face, we
know that God loves us, and that we will be with him for eternity. We know that
when it is all said and done that the righteous will walk by faith and that the
wicked will be judged. Jesus is coming soon! I have hope, I have joy, for I am
a son of the King. You are sons, you are daughters of the Most High King!
Well I wonder if anyone had any idea that a savior was
coming 2000-years ago on Christmas? Meaning they know Jesus would be born, or
did it just happen one day? To put it another way, did folks that lived in
Jesus’ day have any idea that the savior or the “Messiah” was coming? Did they
expect his birth, or not at all? The answer to this question, is yes many of
them did.
In the first half of our Bible, or the Old Testament, we
have among many other things a variety of predictions about the coming of the
savior. The Old Testament is also called the Jewish or the Hebrew Bible, and it
includes the Torah, which is the first five-books of the bible, and the rest of
the Hebrew Scriptures. Do you know that hundreds and hundreds of years before
Jesus was even born that many were awaiting his arrival, and knew that he was
coming? This is why his birth was expected and wasn’t a complete shock to
everyone. Some of the Jews said “Emmanuel” was coming soon, which means “God
with us”. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel” (UMC Hymnal, pg.
211).
So many of the Jews for centuries had hope that Emmanuel,
the Messiah was coming to save and to redeem them. In this season of Advent we
are called to have hope that the Messiah is coming to be born in Bethlehem,
coming into our hearts, and coming back again soon. We are called to share this
love and hope with each other, and this love and this hope will change us. When
are changed, God can use us to do amazing things that we never thought possible.
As
I said, and as I will get into a little bit this morning, Jesus birth, life,
death, and resurrection were all foretold hundreds of years before his birth in
the Old Testament.
For this reason, in part-2 of my 5-part sermon series on “Hope
is Coming,” today I want to talk about “The Messianic Prophecy”. You might be
saying, “huh, what did you just say?” Or, “God bless you pastor!” I said the “Messianic
Prophecy”. We have two words in this sermon title, Messianic, and Prophecy.
Messianic breaks down to the word Messiah, and Prophecy is prophecy. So let’s
define these two words. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the
world Messiah means:
1a. The expected king and deliverer
of the Jews
1b: Jesus
2: a professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/messiah?utm_campaign=sd&utm_medium=serp&utm_source=jsonld).
So Jesus is the expected king, savior, deliver, and leader
that the Jews awaited. He was and is the Messiah.
So we know what Messiah means, so what does the word prophecy
mean? According the Merriam-Webster dictionary, prophecy is:
2: The function or vocation of a prophet, specifically: the inspired declaration of divine will and purpose.
3: A prediction of something to come (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prophecy).
So when we put these two words together into my sermon
title of “Messianic Prophecy”, this means the predictions and the understandings
of the coming savior of the world. This means that predictions were made for
centuries about the coming of the Messiah, the savior, who is Jesus Christ.
In our Holy Communion or our Great Thanksgiving liturgy in
our United Methodist Hymnals it says:
“You delivered
us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,
and spoke to us through your prophets” (UMC Hymnal, pg. 9).
and spoke to us through your prophets” (UMC Hymnal, pg. 9).
What does this statement that we say on communion Sunday’s
mean? It means that God lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, that God
made a convent or a promise to be with us, and that He also spoke truths
through the prophets of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we have
prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Malachi, and etc.
For example, this morning we have a reading from the Prophet
Malachi. Malachi like the other Old Testament or Hebrew Bible Prophets makes predictions
about the Messiah, the future, and speaks the truth of God. These prophets said
and did many things, but some of what they said as I said were Messianic Prophesizes.
So why do we specifically have for a reading this morning Malachi 3:1-4? Also,
why do we have this scripture during Advent in general? The reason is my
brothers and sisters, is that this scripture from Malachi, written hundreds of
years before the birth of Christ predicts the birth of Christ. More
specifically, it also talks about the one who would prepare the way for Christ,
called John the Baptist. John the Baptist is of course the one who baptized
Jesus in the Jordan River. Let’s look at Malachi 3:1-4 again. It says:
“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before
me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger
of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure
the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a
refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold
and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and
Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as
in the days of old and as in former years”
(Mal. 3:1-4, NRSV).
This scripture written by the prophet Malachi predicts that
John the Baptist would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, of Jesus
Christ. The scripture says:
“he is coming” (Mal. 3:1c, NRSV).
This Messiah will
purify, refine, and be an offering for us. Messiah, our hope is coming.
Our gospel reading from Luke 1:68-79 once again is prophetic
in speaking of the coming of Jesus Christ. In this scripture John the Baptist’s
father Zechariah is singing this scripture as a song or a hymn. In this
scripture, John the Baptist is eight days old, it is therefore the day of his circumcision,
as he is a Jew. Zechariah sings of the joy that his son John the Baptist will
prepare the way for Jesus, even though Jesus has not even been born yet. So here is Luke 1:67-79 again, entitled “Zechariah’s
Prophecy”:
“Then his
father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: “Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and
redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us
in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Lk. 1:67-79, NRSV).
in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Lk. 1:67-79, NRSV).
In
this scripture that John the Baptist’s father Zechariah is once again singing, Zechariah
sings that God will redeem his people. He says that a savior is coming, who
will save us. Zechariah also sings as he celebrating that his son John will go
before Jesus and prepare the way for him.
Now
I’m going to get more into John the Baptist next Sunday as a lead into the
coming of Christmas, but this Sunday I wanted talk more about “The Messianic
Prophecies” that led to Jesus Christ. If you have time today or this week I
would encourage you to look up on the internet, Old Testament prophecies fulfilled
by Jesus, and you will see many. It’s pretty amazing to see that the savior of
the world was foretold over and over hundreds of years before his birth.
Just
to illustrate this, here are but a few of the many examples of Old Testament
prophecies of Jesus Christ:
1. In Psalm 22:7
speaking of the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Psalm says:
All who see me mock at me; they
make mouths at me, they shake their heads; (Ps. 22:7, NRSV).
This was
written hundreds of years before Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, yet the gospels say
this is how Jesus was treated on the day of his trial and crucifixion.
2. The Prophet Isaiah predicted the healing power that Christ
would have in 35:5-6, when he said:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a
deer, and
the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the
wilderness,
and streams in the desert;” (Isa. 35:5-6, NRSV).
and streams in the desert;” (Isa. 35:5-6, NRSV).
Hundreds
of years later, Jesus healed many.
3. Since we are in a season that is
partially preparing for the birth of Christ, here is what Isaiah 7:14 has to
say:
“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin
shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
(Isa.
7:14, NKJV).
In this scripture written hundreds of
years before Jesus’ birth, the prophet Isaiah is saying that the Messiah will
be born of a virgin, and she shall call him “Immanuel,” or “God with us”.
If you read any of the gospels in the
New Testament you will also notice fairly often that Old Testament Prophets are
quoted, as to connect their prophecies to Jesus. In fact, the gospels also
speak of things that Jesus did to directly fulfill the Old Testament prophecies
about him. The gospels say things such as, “Jesus did this in order to fulfil
the prophecy”.
Friends, brothers and sisters, this
hope that we have in Jesus Christ started long be us, it even started hundreds
of years before Jesus was even born. It’s amazing to me that all the
predictions, all the signs regarding Christ, one by one have or are being
accomplished. One the last, is the return of Jesus Christ.
In this season of Advent leading into
Christmas, we can have joy knowing that anything we have ever done can be
forgiven, that Jesus can give us a new heart, a new mind, and renew our
spirits. As we are transformed by Christ, we can then transform others.
I would like to close this message
with a quote from the founder of the Methodist Movement, Rev. John Wesley. This
quote inspires me in this time of the year. Here it is:
"I want the
whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for
my fellowship and the whole world for my mission field."
- John
Wesley (Read more: https://www.christianquotes.info/quotes-by-author/john-wesley-quotes/#ixzz5YrnIfqo9)
Friends
it is my hope and prayer that in this Season of Advent that is soon to be
Christmas that we all rediscover Christ anew, for He is the one was, who is,
and is to come. Amen.
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