Angelic Birth Announcements

Well, as those of you who are typically in our Wednesday evening Bible study are where we've been doing a study on what the Bible teaches about angels and we're taking a break from that study, but almost not a break. It's kind of a detour actually. We've been doing a kind of a doctrinal theological study on what the Bible teaches about angels. So I thought with it being the week of Christmas it might be good for us just to focus on how angels are involved in the Christmas story. The amazing thing about the Christmas story, obviously Christ coming is the most unusual momentous, most important event in history up to that time and you could argue that the death of Christ or the resurrection of Christ might trump that, but none of that would have been possible had it not been for his birth, his entrance into humanity, but God had not spoken for 400 years to his people, Israel. Those were silent years and so people were not typically expecting, even those who knew the Old Testament prophecies were not typically expecting, nor did they understand what was happening when Jesus was born. For that reason God needed to give some extra explanation as to what was happening. The amazing thing is he chose angels to do that. Around the Christmas story in Matthew 2, Matthew 1 and 2 and Luke 1 and 2, you find six appearances of angels with six different announcements about the birth of Christ. So the way God chose to explain what was happening with the incarnation, the coming of his son to take on human flesh, the way he chose to explain that was to send angels. So I thought, well, since we're studying angels anyway, let's just take Christmas week to focus on those six appearances of the angels because that's how God explains what the coming of his son was all about. And we need that explanation still today. You see people still today don't understand what's going on at Christmas time. A psychology professor in a major university asked his students to write the word Christmas and then write the first word they thought of after the word Christmas. No one in that large class mentioned anything about Jesus. The reason is in the culture at large, we really don't understand what Christmas is. People generally think of so many other things when they think of Christmas, right? Trees, lights, gifts, family, food, football, whatever, but not Christ. And so let's get back to what the angels had to say, the explanation they gave. So what I want to do tonight, and typically this is an interactive Bible study. So I would like to pause after each of the announcements and see if you have any questions or comments in what direction you want to take with that. But let's begin in Luke 1. The first announcement of an angel regarding what was happening concerning the birth of Christ was actually to a priest named Zacharias. This particular announcement is the announcement concerning the preacher of his coming. The preacher who would be enabled by God to announce, prepare the nation for through his ministry, the coming of the Messiah. So let's look at the story in Luke 1. We'll pick it up in verse 11 in just a moment, but leading up to that, the Bible tells us that Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth were both God-fearing people. They were people who loved the Lord. Now Zacharias was a priest, one of those priests who would be called in a rotation of priests to come and serve for a period of time in the temple. And then he would go back to the city where he would live or the town where he lived and work there teaching the word of God, doing some farming and that kind of thing. But he was on rotation. He was at the temple in his ministry. Now Zacharias and Elizabeth are elderly beyond the age of childbearing, but they have always longed for a son. And so that kind of sets the scene for where we are. Now one of the things that happened with priests is that they would be chosen by lot to have the great privilege of actually going into the holy place, which was the first of two rooms in the temple, interior rooms. They would be chosen by lot to go into the holy place to either deal with the table of show bread, the bread on there, or to offer incense at the altar of incense. And Zacharias is chosen by lot to do that on this particular day. So it's a high honor. This priest would only get that honor maybe once in their lifetime when they would be the one chosen by lot because of thousands of priests and they rotate in for a couple weeks at a time and then go back home. So this is a high privilege. And what happens when he goes into the holy place to offer the incense is amazing. Pick it up in verse 11. When an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense, when Zacharias saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear, the typical response when people see angels in the Bible. Verse 13. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you and many will rejoice because of his birth. And then he communicates four bits of information about this preacher, the one who will proclaim the coming of the king and the coming of the kingdom. Four bits of information about him. Look at him in verse 15. First of all, for he will be great. He will be great. And he was not great in the sight of men. The Pharisees hated him. Herod thought he was too personal. And when he got the preaching against the Herod sins, Herod be heading him, arresting him and then be heading him. So he was not great in the eyes of people, but that's not what the text says. Says he will be great in the sight of the Lord, in God's sight. So we all have choices to make through life as to whether we will try to be great in people's eyes or great in God's eyes. And that's a no-brainer choice for those of us who are committed to Christ. But it's one that we know we should make up here, but we don't always make in practice. Because we have the tendency to want to be people pleasers and to look good in the eyes of men and to be great in other people's eyes. So here's a man who will be great in the sight of the Lord. Second thing about him, he is never to take wine or other fermented drink, which probably means he would be under the Nazarite vow, a vow from the Old Testament, which could be taken voluntarily for a period of time, a week, a month, a year. But in certain rare cases, God set apart a person for his own use for their entire lifetime. Samuel was one of those. Samson was another. John the Baptist is going to be another who would be uniquely dedicated to God for his entire life. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink. Part of the Nazarite vow was not to take of any fermented drink. So this is a man who is not only great in God's sight, he's going to be in a special way dedicated to the Lord, set apart for God's purpose and God's work. Okay, the third thing about him, verse 15, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Now just think about what that's saying. We know what the filling of the Spirit is. Filling of the Spirit is his control in the lives of believers. There are two types of filling in the Bible that normal, progressive filling of his control over our conduct and character. That's the command, be filled with the Spirit, be controlled by the Spirit. But then there is also that special sovereign coming of the Spirit on someone for works of service. Particularly we see this in the Old Testament. When we did our study on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, we saw that special sovereign filling of the Spirit where God just moves on someone in great power. That is probably the filling that is being spoken of here. That John will be even from birth or literally from his mother's womb will be filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come on him in amazing ways for particular ministry purposes. One of those may have even happened while he was still in Elizabeth's womb. We're not going to get into this in any depth. But you remember when Mary is told that she's going to have a child, she goes to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, for six months. Elizabeth is six months pregnant with John when Mary arrives. And when Mary shows up, the Bible says the baby leaped in her womb. And then Elizabeth immediately recognized that Mary was the chosen one to be the mother of the Messiah. There's a sense in which John the Baptist recognized that evidently that the Messiah's mother was coming even while he was still in her womb. It's absolutely amazing, just a miraculous expression of the control of the Holy Spirit. So very unusual, he will be controlled by the Spirit even from birth or from his mother's womb. One of the things that's said about him is that he will turn many people to the Lord. Many of the people of Israel will bring back to the Lord their God for sixteen. He will go on before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So he will turn many people to the Lord. That means two things. Number one, he'll turn them back to the faith of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He'll turn them back to the true faith of the Scriptures. But he will also turn their hearts to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah. That would be a huge part of John the Baptist's ministry, as his preaching was designed to prepare people spiritually to deal with sin and to be baptized as a sign that they were dealing with their sin. That was in part to prepare their hearts for the coming of the kingdom and the kingdom. So it was a big part of his ministry. And all that was tied to a prophecy in Malachi 4 about the prophet Elijah coming to prepare the way of the Lord before the Lord comes. And that's why Luke says, or the angel says, he will go on before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elijah. So amazing man of God, John the Baptist, and the prophecy here of the preacher of Christ's coming is that he will be great in the eyes of the Lord, who would be uniquely dedicated to the Lord, filled with the Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he will end up turning many to the Lord. Okay, comments or questions about what's being said here about John the Baptist. First announcement of the angels regarding the coming of Christ. Any questions, comments, observations, corrections, additions, delusions? Okay. All right, let's look at the second one then. We'll continue on here in Luke. The second time an angel appears to make an announcement about the birth of Christ is actually to Mary, verse 26. In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee to a virgin pledge to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David, the virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God, you will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. Now, we're familiar with the story and what we're really trying to do is look at the birth of Christ through the eyes of angels and their explanation as to what was happening. We're familiar with this announcement that she will have a son, but I want to focus on is his person at his coming. Who he will be, because that's what the angel is really sent to communicate, beginning in verse 32. He will be great. Okay, who is this? Who is Jesus? Well, first of all, he's described as one who is great. Now, we saw that John the Baptist was great in the eyes of the Lord. This is a little different slant, the idea of great. This greatness is greatness not because of what he will do. In other words, he's not great in the category of Alexander because he was a military genius. He's not great in the category of Michelangelo who was a great artist or Beethoven, a great musician or Shakespeare, a great writer and poet and dramatist or Churchill, a great politician or Babe Ruth, a great athlete. It's not because of what he would do, although what he would do is amazing when you get to the cross, but he is great because of who he is. It's because of his person. And the greatness that's spoken of here is who he is. Okay. Who is he? Well, notice, read on. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high, indicating that in his humanity he does not have a human father. His father is the most high God. Okay. So let's read on something else to say about who he is. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the House of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end. So he is king of kings. He has come to fulfill the Old Testament promise of a son of David, a descendant of David who will rule over Israel on David's throne. Now that promise has not yet been fulfilled. It was conditioned on the reception of Israel of their Messiah when they rejected him that promise is now in waiting until Jesus will come back. Zachariah 12 says, they will see him when he comes back at his second coming. They will see the one that they've pierced and they will weep for him as one weep's was only child. And there will be a fountain of cleansing opened up to forgive their sins. At the second coming Israel will receive Christ as their Messiah and he will set up his kingdom on this earth. But he is the king of kings. Now there is a sense in which God's kingdom is much bigger than just the rule of Christ on the earth. God's kingdom according to the Old Testament, Psalm 104 and so forth, is his rule over all the universe. And so in that very general sense, Christ is ruling now. But that doesn't rule out the fact that he is going to rule specifically, literally on this earth in a kingdom promised to Israel on David's throne. So that will happen. He is the king. So he is great because of who he is and who he is. He's the son of the highest. He's the king of kings. And then verse 35, he will be called the son of God. That's his deity. He is the son of God. So Christ is great in his person. That's the purpose of this angelic announcement to describe his person. Who he is? Comment your questions about what is described here with the angel's announcement about the person of Christ. Okay? You ready for the third one? We'll just read right on because this is the same appearance of the angel, but a third announcement, a second one to Mary, because Mary interrupts with a question, verse 34, how will this be? Mary asked the angel since I am a virgin. Now this is not a question of doubt. It's a question for information. She's not doubting what the angel is telling her. She just doesn't understand how this can happen because she's a virgin. So how can she have a child? She's asking for information. How can this be? I don't understand the process of his coming. And so that's what the angel is going to describe now. The process. We've seen the preacher who will announce his coming. You've seen his person that is coming. Now the angel is going to describe the process of his coming. How is this going to take place? Verse 35, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Now don't misunderstand what's being said there. This is not speaking of any kind of physical activity on the part of the Holy Spirit. There is no sexual union here between Mary and the Holy Spirit. That's common in pagan religions where the gods are with women or with men. But that's not the case here. The expression, the Holy Spirit will come upon you is a familiar Old Testament expression which is just equivalent to the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come on you. The same thing, the Old Testament says when the Holy Spirit came on Gideon or the Holy Spirit came on Samson or came on David. It means to express a particular aspect of his power. And so when the angel says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you, he's simply saying this miracle that's going to happen in you is going to be done by the supernatural miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit conducting this miracle of placing Jesus in your womb. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Obviously this announcement of the angel about the process of his coming introduces us to the Virgin birth. How can I have a child when I have not known a man? When I have not been married, been with a man? Well this is going to be a miraculous act of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Virgin birth is a foundational doctrine because it is the only way we could get a Savior. You see it is only through the Virgin birth that Jesus is protected from inheriting a sin nature. And by the way that's often misunderstood. It's often understood that the sin nature must come through the man, right? That's the reason you couldn't have a father. Now, don't try to blame us guys for all your sin. We're not solely responsible. The way this works, if you understand a biblical view of the soul and of how everything is generated from parents to children, anytime there is genetic matter that comes from both a man and a woman, husband and wife, anytime genetic material comes from both of them, a new person comes into existence. And that new person inherits not only physical qualities, but also psychological qualities, emotional qualities, and the soul. I believe the Bible teaches the soul is passed down through the parents, but it comes as a result of genetic material from both. The reason for the Virgin birth is a new person was not coming into existence. Jesus already existed. So it had to be a Virgin birth. You could not have genetic material coming from two people because that would result in a new person coming into existence who has never existed before, and that was not true with Christ. So the Virgin birth is essential because what's needed is for a special miracle, the Holy Spirit, to introduce Jesus into the womb of Mary. That's the reason for the Virgin birth. The importance of the Virgin birth is that Jesus is born without the sin nature being passed down to him from the combination of genetic material from both mother and father, and thus he is qualified to be our Savior. Only through the Virgin birth could we have a Savior. So the process of his coming is described here as the Virgin birth. It's a miracle of the Holy Spirit that is accomplished by him. So that's the third announcement regarding the birth of Christ, the process of his coming. Comments or questions? I'm afraid you're going to sleep. I guess, yeah, I think I would say yes. He had physical characteristics. Those had to come from somewhere. So I don't know exactly genetically how the miracle took place, whether or not the Holy Spirit supplied the other half of the DNA. We need a, we've got a chemist and a doctor in here tonight. We probably need them to help us out here. But I would say, guardedly yes, because he did have genuine physical characteristics that were human in nature, that he was fully human. Right. He is called the Holy One because he is untainted by sin. He is completely holy. So the Holy One who is to be born is reflecting his nature as untainted by sin. Yeah. Okay? Anything else that I can't answer? It is? I can't either. That's part of the issue. One of the most difficult doctrines in the Bible, I think even as difficult as not more difficult than the Trinity to explain and understand is the union of divine and human nature is in Christ and how that human nature, how it comes about, that's the mystery here that we're not sure about. He was human in every sense. He had a real human body. He had a real human mind. He had a real human set of emotions. Will everything about him was 100% human. So he also was fully God. The union of those two in one nature has been a mystery much like the Trinity that has been written about over and over and over again. So it's difficult to pin down from our standpoint because the way that we come into existence was not the way Jesus did, not exactly. And so for us to be able to figure out, okay, what were the differences in the womb genetically and so forth? That's a little difficult to pin down. Certainly. There is a divine side to this and there's a very human side to this as well. And that's the mystery, how those two function together. But we have to guard against everything just being natural because it wasn't. But we also have to guard against everything just being miraculous and there's nothing natural about it because he was genuinely human and he did genuinely have a human mother who provided, I believe, genetic material, although it was not tainted by sin. So that's a mystery. Pardon me? No, no, no, no, I'll back away from that. Okay, the process of the virgin birth, the actual details of the process is something that we may struggle with understanding. The doctrine itself is clear that Jesus was born without a human father. He did have a human mother but was born without a human father. And that's a very important part of what we believe. Okay, let's move on. We've got three others to cover and I'm just going to deal with them very quickly. The third or the fourth announcement of the angel in Matthew chapter one has to do with the purpose for his coming. And this is an angelic appearance to Joseph, Matthew 1 verse 18. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Again, reinforcing what we have heard the angel announce to Mary in Luke but here's the story where it is and Joseph responds to this verse 19 because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace. He had in mind a divorce or a quarry. I don't want to get too much into that because I'll steal from my sermon Sunday morning. But basically Joseph was a righteous man in the sense that he upheld the law of Moses. The word, it goes back to an Old Testament Hebrew word, Sadik. A righteous man was one who upheld the law of Moses and was meticulous in keeping the law of Moses, obedient to the law of Moses. He was a righteous man so he wanted to do what the law required. But he also loves Mary and he does not want to expose her to public disgrace. She could be stoned publicly for what appears to be a violation of her betrothal vows which were just as binding as marriage vows in that day. And now she's found with child. And so she could be stoned publicly but there's another option that he has and that is to do a private divorce and that's what he's anticipating doing. He does not want her to bear the shame of a public humiliation so he has in mind to divorce her quietly, to do the private divorce. So he's struggling with what to do. How to respond to this news that Mary is expecting. It's the last 20. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. So here's the explanation to Joseph that what we have here is a virgin birth. She's not been unfaithful to you, Joseph. This is a miracle from God. What she's telling you is true. But then he drives right to the purpose for his coming and notice quickly, he mentions three purposes. She will give birth to a son and you ought to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Jesus was a common name but it literally meant God saves or save your. And so the Holy Spirit or the angel makes it clear to Joseph that this name that you're to give him really is characteristic of what he came to do. The purpose for him coming is to be the Savior. So that's the first purpose mentioned here. He's the Savior because he will save his people from their sins. Then verse 22, second purpose is to fulfill scripture. While this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, the virgin will be with child, will give birth to a son. They will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. According to the prophet Isaiah, he came to fulfill prophecy. And that's just one example of the many Old Testament prophecies that Jesus would come to fulfill. And so he came to be the Savior. He came to fulfill prophecy. He also came to reveal God. The end of verse 23. They will call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. God with us. God in human flesh. God come down to dwell with us, among us. So he is God among us. If you really want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Now we know what God is like from what the scriptures say. But if you want to see how God operates, if you want to see how he was, if you want to see how he would respond to various situations and to people, look at Jesus. One of the reasons why I love the gospels is because you find out what God is like by seeing Jesus interact with the human race as a human. So he came to reveal the Father. The purpose for his coming was to be the Savior, fulfill Old Testament scripture, and to show us God. God with us. This is the purpose for his coming. The next appearance of an angel is back in Luke chapter 2. This is the one probably that is most familiar in the Christmas story. We are going to call this one the praise for his coming. Because that is what this really is. The angels are describing the praise that should come and did come on their behalf because of the coming of Christ. Chapter 2 verse 8. There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared. This is the fifth time an angel has appeared. Angel of the Lord appeared to them. The glory of the Lord has shown around them. They were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. So the angel introduces this news as a news that brings great joy. So it is a joyful message. It is a joyful news. And this news of joy came in the midst of a world that was void of joy. For the average Israelite under Roman occupation, a world that did not communicate much joy. But here is a message of joy. The Savior, the deliverer has come. And then of course, verse 13, a great company of heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests. So the angelic message of joy is that Christ's coming glorifies God, brings glory to God. And they are praising God for His coming and introducing the fact that He's come to bring peace. The men on whom His favor rests. And I'll get more into this Sunday morning. As we finish up the Christmas story in Luke Sunday morning, this is not peace, good will, to men. This is not men showing good will toward others. And that's typically what the world sees as the message of Christmas. This is God's good will toward us that's being talked about here. So the NIV has translated it well in on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests. Men who have experienced the good will, the grace of God, those are the ones to whom the peace comes. Praise for His coming. It's a message of joy, glory to God, peace and grace. What a wonderful message. And one other appearance of an angel with a message. And this one is in Matthew chapter 2. Let me just mention it. And that is the protection after His coming. Remember the story, Satan's attempt to destroy Christ at the very beginning of his life. The wise men come. They don't know where Jesus is going to be born. They just know that He's going to be born in Israel. He's King of the Jews. So they go to the capital city. They go to Jerusalem. They start asking questions, which alarms Herod. Herod is an extremely paranoid man who even put two of his sons to death and his wife to death because he thought they were a threat to his throne. So he's extremely paranoid. When he finds out a message of somebody claiming to be the king of the Jews has been born, he's going to do some investigating about that. So he plays the wise men into finding out what time did this star appear. So how old is he? And when you go to Bethlehem and find him, you let me know because I want to go down and worship him too. Yeah. So he's wanting to put Christ to death. He wants to eliminate any threat to his throne. So what happens? You remember the story? An angel appears to Joseph in Matthew 2 verse 13 and says, get out of Bethlehem. You need to leave. And so he went to Egypt. Of course, Herod comes into Bethlehem anyway, kills any male child two years old and under, hoping that he's done away with Jesus. God has sovereignly protected his son by removing him from that situation. This would be the first of many attempts that Satan would make to try to destroy Christ or derail him from getting to the cross. You can see those throughout his ministry even up until the Garden of Gethsemane. But the angel's message of protection was to take him to Egypt. And then after Herod dies, an angel appears to Joseph again, says, you can get him taking back to the land of Israel. Those who were trying to take his life are dead. And that's when they relocate to Nazareth. So God protected him. This is the Christmas story through the eyes of angels. Six times they appear with six messages to explain what was happening with the birth of Christ. And so they describe the person of his coming, the preacher of his coming, his person at his coming, the process of his coming, the purpose for his coming, the praise that the heavenly host rejoice with when he comes and then the protection after his coming. That's the Christmas story through the eyes of angels as God explained it through them. Any other question or comment before we close? Yes. That could be the way that could be the way it happened, Bill. Yes. I'd like to think about that a little bit. You may be right. The only hang up I have there is he was genuinely human. He had to get human material somewhere. I don't think that was miraculously created, but it may have been. I'm not sure. If I could get our chemist, our doctor and our theologian here together afterwards, maybe we can get all this figured out, get this settled. But that's a good point. It might have happened that way where there was just an implantation of Jesus into the womb, no genetic material from Mary at all. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Again, I'm not enough of a geneticist or biologist to know what is involved in that. Whether or not that compromise is anything about the integrity of Christ. Well, there's something that you want over Christmas. If you get it figured out, let me know. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the opportunity to meet tonight. Thank you for those who have come out. Thank you, Lord, for the way you explained the birth of your Son and his introduction into the world through heavenly messengers. And after 400 silent years, all of a sudden angels are popping up everywhere, communicating and revealing what it means for you to send your Son into the world. Thank you, Lord, for these messengers of yours revealing this truth now recorded in Scripture for us to rejoice in ourselves. May we truly rejoice in the coming of your Son to be our Savior. It's in His name we pray. Amen.