The Christ of Christmas, Part 3

The Christ of Christmas is our study. Why is that? Well, there were two men who were walking from Jerusalem to a place called Emmaus. And as they were walking, they were discussing among themselves all the things that had taken place in the preceding days. And Jesus shows up. He does not reveal Himself to them. He's in His glorified body. They are prevented from seeing who He really is. And He asks them what they're talking about. And they were wondering how could you be in Jerusalem and not know all that had taken place these last couple of days.

And they began to talk to Him about Jesus in Nazarene. The prophet. The one they thought was going to redeem Israel. And that the women had gone to the grave and He wasn't there. They were totally perplexed. And Jesus responds with these words. In all the scriptures. Now think about that conversation. Jesus is going to explain to them. He's going to exposit the Old Testament in this seven-mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. How is He going to do that? What's He going to say? And He begins with Moses.

And He goes to the prophets. And as He's speaking the word of God to them, their hearts are burning. Because the book of Jeremiah tells us that God's word is like a fire. And when they finally recognize who He was, He disappeared.

They journey on. Christ shows up with the other men. And says these words to His men. In verse 44 of Luke 24. These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. That all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said to them, thus it is written, that the Messiah would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

And that repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. In other words, in order to preach the gospel effectively, you must understand the identity and the ministry of the Messiah. And so He takes them back to Moses, the Pentateuch, the law. He takes them back to the prophets. He takes them back to the Psalms. And I wonder what He said and how He said it. I wonder if He took them back to Genesis chapter 3, verse number 15 and explained to them that He was the seed of the woman.

Maybe He did. I don't know. I wasn't there. But He had to go back to the beginning, to the book of Genesis. And the gospel was first presented in Genesis 3, 15.

So I would assume that our Lord would take them back to Genesis 3, verse number 15 and explain to them that He was that seed. And maybe He journeyed from Genesis 3 to Genesis 7 to talk about the ark and that He was the shelter or the safe house and that those who hide themselves in Him escape the judgment of the world because the ark is a type of Christ according to 1 Peter chapter 3. So, maybe He did that. And maybe He journeyed to Genesis chapter 22 and talked about substitutionary atonement, that He was the substitute, that He was providing Himself as the Lamb on Mount Moriah as foretold in Genesis chapter 22.

So they would understand that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. I don't know. Again, I wasn't there. And maybe He took them to Genesis chapter 28 and said, let me explain to you this stairway that descends out of heaven down to earth and these angels ascending and descending.

That's the only way to glory. And I'm that stairway. I'm that gate. I'm that door. I'm the only way to heaven. And maybe He journeyed from there to Genesis chapter 49 and said, remember Shiloh? The one to whom it belongs. That's what it means. The scepter belongs to me. I'm the King. The King of kings and Lord of lords. I am that Shiloh. And maybe He said more in the book of Genesis. I don't know. But if He went through the law of Moses, He would move from Genesis to Exodus and say in Exodus chapter 12, there was this whole Passover scene.

You remember that, right? They would say, oh yeah, we remember. And everything about the blood of the Lamb. Why? Because in Exodus chapter 12, that spotless land, that young land that you would take into your homes, that's me. And then He would take them from the book of Exodus to the book of Leviticus. Maybe, again, I wasn't there. But He would soon tell them about the book of Leviticus and the scapegoat. And how the high priest would put his bloody hands on that scapegoat and take them out into the wilderness and it would all picture the removal of sins that would soon come through the arrival of the Messiah.

You explain to them, I'm the scapegoat. I'm not just a spotless land. I'm the scapegoat. Because I'm the substitute. Because I'm the one to whom it belongs. I'm Shiloh. I am the seed of the woman. I am your only safe house. That's who I am. And then He takes them from the book of Genesis to the book of Exodus to the book of Leviticus to the book of Numbers and says, remember in Numbers 24, the star? And that star will have a scepter in its hand. I'm the bright morning star. I am the day star that rises in your hearts.

Remember when I was born and the glory of the Lord would shine all around? Well, that was the presence of God manifested in brilliant light. That's everything about me. I am the star. And then maybe He would take them from the book of Numbers to the book of Deuteronomy and say, remember when Moses spoke in Deuteronomy 18 about a seer, a prophet that would be greater than him and that you need to listen to him? Again, that's me. Remember, He explains to them in the Scriptures everything concerning who?

Himself, that's what it says, Luke 24. So He's gonna explain to them who He is. So He says, I am the seed. The seed describes me, right? I am your safe house. The ark describes me. I am your substitute. I am the only way to glory. I am the staircase into heaven. I am the king. I'm the one to whom the scepter belongs. I'm Shiloh. I am the spotless lamb. I am the scapegoat. I am the star. I am the seer. I am the son of David. So He moved from Moses and the law to what? He moved to the Psalms. He moved to the prophets.

And maybe He would reiterate that He's the son of David because that would be number 10 in our outline. And He would take them to 2 Samuel chapter 7 and explain to them that Davidic covenant, Psalm 89, that He was the son of David. Of course, they would know that the Messiah would be the son of David because that was the identity of their coming Messiah. And then maybe He would move from the Psalms from Psalm 89 to Psalm 118 and speak about how He is that stone, that stone of stumbling and explain to them that He was that only rock, that chief cornerstone that the Jewish nation would stumble over.

And He moved for the fact that He was not just the stone of Israel, the rock of Israel, but He would move from there to help explain to them that He was the shoot in Isaiah 11, the netzer, the branch that would stem from the root of Jesse. And maybe He would take a moment to take them back to the etymology of the word and say that netzer, which is the sprout or the shoot or the branch that stems from the root of Jesse is rooted in the word Nazareth and that's where His hometown was. He's called Jesus of Nazarene and maybe He would explain that to them so they would understand His identity all the more.

But He would take them back to help them understand that He was the fulfillment of the shoot that would stem from the root of Jesse. And maybe He would take them back to Isaiah chapter 61, Isaiah chapter 11, where it says that the Spirit of the Lord would descend upon me, would be upon me. And you would know about the baptism of John the Baptist and how the Spirit of the Lord descended upon me and how He would quote Isaiah chapter 61 in His hometown in Nazareth to tell them that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him and He came to preach the gospel to those who were in prison, those who were downcast and downtrodden, to explain the favorable year of our Lord, to prove to them that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, that He was the branch, the shoot from the root of Jesse.

Maybe He'd move from Isaiah 11 back to Isaiah chapter 9 and say, remember what Isaiah the prophet said? When he said that unto you a child will be born, but a son will be given. The son's not born, the child's born, the son is given. Speaking of the humanity and the divinity of this Christ child, of this Messiah, this was the hope of Israel and this son that was given, this child that would be born is called by a name. His name will be called Wonderful. His name will be called Counselor. His name will be called Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Eternal Father or Everlasting Father or Originator of Eternity and the government will be upon His shoulders and there will be no end to the increase of His government.

Explain to them that He is the Son of God so they would understand that there's no discrepancy in what the Old Testament says and who He is. And maybe He would even in His explanation of the Old Testament tie in illustrations that took place in His life and so maybe He would take them back to John chapter 5 well not John 5 because it wasn't written then but take them back in their memory to the pool of Bethesda, the house of mercy and take them back to that one location because that's where, no pun intended, the tide began to turn against Messiah at the pool of Bethesda because in John's gospel in the fifth chapter we know these words about how Jesus healed a man who had been paralyzed for 38 years and when Jesus healed him he had no idea who Jesus was and the religious leaders began to ask them how was it that he was able to walk on the Sabbath?

It wasn't so much that he had been healed it's just that he was walking on the Sabbath but they knew he'd been paralyzed for 38 years and finally he realizes who it was that healed him that it was Jesus and he tells them it was Jesus who healed him so in John chapter 5 it says my father is working Christ says until now and I myself am working verse 18 for this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but also was calling God his own father making himself equal with God see that's a very important verse because he says my father is working so much he called himself the son of his father he called himself the son of God and no self-respecting Jew would ever refer to God as his own father in a personal way never only in a national sense no Jew ever referred to God as father in a personal sense only in national sense because they couldn't do that because to be a son of God would mean to be equal in nature to God and they are not but Jesus is that's why they wanted to kill him because he wanted to make himself equal with God that's the definition of the word weos the son of God he has never called the brifos of God the little born one of God he has never called the technon of God the child of God he has called weos the son of God and that means equal in nature to God because weos never is a word of origin never so maybe in his explanation to these disciples as he was explaining in the scriptures from the Old Testament remember now he is doing this in a brief amount of time he is going through the law of Moses he is going through the Psalms he is going through the prophets and connecting all the dots that's what we are trying to do with you now granted we are not doing like Jesus would do it but I am doing the best I can so we are trying just to connect all the dots for you so you can see how this golden thread runs all throughout the Old Testament screaming the Messiah that's why in John chapter 5 in verse number 39 Christ says you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life it is these that testify about me and you are unwilling to come to me that you might have life in other words you are searching the scriptures and you know what the Bible says but how do you search the scriptures and miss me that's a major problem so we are trying to help you understand that as you read the scriptures you can't miss Christ you can't miss the Messiah you must see him for who he is so when the Greeks in John 12 came to Philip and said sir we wish to see Jesus right all we want to do every Sunday is help you see one person Jesus that's all that matters it doesn't make a difference whether you see me or see your elders or see Tim up on stage or anybody playing the flute or the organ or the piano or whatever instruments we might have that's irrelevant do you see Christ that's all that matters and all we are doing is trying to follow the example of Jesus and going through the Old Testament to explain to you who he is so maybe in this conversation he is telling them I am the son of God that's why no one could take my life from me I laid it down on my own initiative and took it up again because I am God I can do that nobody else can I am the son of God that's who I am so maybe he moved from Isaiah chapter 8 to Isaiah chapter 9 to Isaiah chapter 11 and then maybe he would move a little further in Isaiah because Isaiah speaks a lot about the coming Messiah and move them a little further to help them understand that in the book of Isaiah he not just is the stone not just the shoot from the root of Jesse not just the son of God but he truly is the swallower of death and of the 25 we are giving you this is my favorite the swallower of death that's just a great description of the Messiah why is that?

because there are two times in scripture Isaiah 5 Proverbs chapter 1 that speak to us about the fact that death swallows man Isaiah 5 Proverbs 1 that when the grave opens up it swallows man but when Christ came he swallowed up death Isaiah chapter 25 says these words Isaiah chapter 25 verse number 8 he will swallow up death for all time that's just a great statement he's the swallower of death well how did he do that? well he came as Hebrews 2 14 and 15 explain to us these words therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might render powerless him with the power of death that is the devil and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives in other words if you're an unbeliever you are subject to the slavery of the fear of death if you're an unbeliever you fear death if you're a believer you don't you don't because you believe in the swallower of death the one who took it upon himself to make sure that you would no longer fear death because the unbeliever fears the unknown the unbeliever fears that which he has no idea what's going to happen next but we do and we don't fear that because we know we're going to enter into the presence of God we don't fear death we might fear how we're going to die right we want to burn to death we want to suffer through death but you don't fear death itself you don't that's why Paul would say these words in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 quoting from Isaiah 25 verse number 8 he would say death is swallowed up in victory oh death where is your victory death where is your sting the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ we have the victory over death we have victory over sin and the consequences of sin is death but because we believe in the swallower of death we don't fear death why because we're going to glory we're going to the presence of our God and so maybe he took time again I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what verses he went to in the Old Testament or how he explained it to them but let me tell you something if Jesus did it you better make sure we do it because if Jesus did it it must have been important because you see you have to preach to Christ you have to preach to the Messiah so people will repent so they'll receive the forgiveness of sins and you have to go into all the nations and do that so you better know the identity of the Messiah because unless you believe in his name you won't have life in his name these are all descriptions these are all attributes these are all character qualities these are not names of God again let me tell you he has one name 800 times in the Old Testament 200 times in the New Testament that's 1000 times the name of God is spoken never is it in the plural always in the singular he has one name it manifests itself in a myriad of descriptions and attributes and character qualities but he has one name for at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run to him and are safe right?

it doesn't mean God's name is Mr. Strong Tower but it is the attribute it is the character it is the quality of his name and his name is his character his name is who he is you must understand that that's why his name will be called it doesn't say his names will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace his name, singular will be called because it describes the variation of his character so here is Jesus spending time with his men having spent time with the two men on the road to Emmaus for seven hours seven mile journey so maybe it was seven hours, maybe it was shorter than that I don't know, seven mile journey talking to him about the Pentateuch, Lord Moses the prophets and the Psalms and then he reiterates the same thing to the rest of his men how everything points to him you see they have to be able to connect all the dots themselves so that when they go out they can preach the gospel with clarity so people aren't confused people need to know so he takes them and says I am the stone of Isaiah 8 the shoot of Isaiah 11 the son of God of Isaiah chapter 9 the swallower of death of Isaiah chapter 25 I am the soulless of Israel the comforter of Israel the consolation of Israel from Isaiah chapter 49 for in Isaiah chapter 49 these words were spoken by Isaiah the prophet he said these words shout for joy O heavens and rejoice O earth break forth into joyful shouting O mountains for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted he is the comforter of Israel, Isaiah 40 is that great chapter of Isaiah that begins the whole comforting section from Isaiah 40 to 66 of how the Messiah will comfort his people Israel that's why when you go to Luke chapter 2 and you read about Simeon he was looking and longing for what?

the consolation of Israel the comfort of Israel he was looking for the Messiah because there's only one person who brings consolation it's the Messiah he's the only one that can comfort your soul because he's the only one that can save your soul so maybe he would take them back to Isaiah 49 and Isaiah 40 and show him that I am the soulless of Israel and young Simeon old Simeon because he was up in years was promised that he would not die until he saw the Lord's Messiah because he was looking for that Messiah the consolation of Israel and maybe I don't know, again I wasn't there but maybe he would take them to Isaiah 43 which you studied last night it said that he was the savior of Israel not just the soulless of Israel not just the son of God not just the shoot not just the stone of Israel but he was and is the savior of Israel for in Isaiah chapter 43 these words are spoken but now thus says the Lord O your creator O Jacob and he who formed you O Israel do not fear for I have redeemed you I have called you by name you are mine when you pass through the waters I will be with you and through the rivers they will not overflow you when you walk through the fire you will not be scorched nor will the flame burn you for I am the Lord your God the Holy One of Israel your Savior verse 11 I even I am the Lord and there is no Savior besides me chapter 45 verse number 21 says these words there is no other God beside me a righteous God and a Savior there is none except me chapter 49 verse number 26 says and all flesh will know that I am the Lord that I the Lord am your Savior and your Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob and she would tell them that's why they call me Jesus because in that name is my mission he shall save his people from their sins Matthew 1 verse number 21 and so he explained to them that's why God my Father named me Jesus because inherent in the name is salvation and I am your Savior and maybe maybe he would move from there and talk to them about today that he was a servant of the Lord there's only one servant and he himself is that servant so when you go back to the book of Isaiah because he would spend time there he would say Isaiah 49 3 says he said to me you are my servant Israel in whom I will show my glory verse 5 and now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him so Israel might be gathered to him for I am honored in the sight of the Lord and my God is my strength he says it is too small a thing that you should be my servant so you explain to them I am God's servant and of course Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 to 11 explain to us the great self emptying of our God who is the ultimate servant of course the gospel of Mark is all about the servanthood of the Messiah again I was not on the road to Emmaus and I was not in the room where Christ explained himself to his men by taking them back to the law of Moses to the prophets and to the Psalms but some way he was going to connect the dots for them he had to open their eyes so they could see because they were blinded they did not understand when you become a Christian God removes the scales from your eyes opens them so you can see and understand so if anybody asks what are you guys doing at your church for Christmas say we're just connecting dots that's all we're doing they'll say what we're connecting dots we're doing what Jesus did on the road to Emmaus we're doing what Jesus did are we doing as well as Jesus did no not at all we're trying but we're not going to come close but he sets the example does he not and maybe I've got four minutes left maybe he would spend some time on on one or two of this maybe he would spend some time on on the stone of Israel do you know when the first time the Messiah is referred to as a stone is recorded in the scripture this is important yes Genesis who said Genesis Therese do you know how many times he's referred to as a stone in the scriptures that too is important now I don't know if Jesus said that to them or not but Genesis chapter 49 is the first time the Messiah is referred to as a stone and 14 times in the scriptures Messiah is referred to as a stone that's important first time Jacob's blessing Joseph as he blesses Joseph I'm not even sure Jacob understood fully what he was saying it was all inspired by God right but as he blesses his son Joseph he speaks of the first coming of the Messiah and the second coming of the Messiah he says in verse 24 but his bow remained firm and his arms were agile from the hands of the mighty one of Jacob from there is the shepherd the stone of Israel encompassing in that is the first coming Messiah as shepherd because Joseph was a type of Christ and the stone of Israel the second coming remember prophesied about the second coming of the Messiah not his first coming and how do we know that how do we know that the Messiah is a stone remember in Exodus chapter 17 and Israel was crying about no water and Moses said what do I do they are going to stone me he says I want you to go to the rock and the Lord says I will stand on the rock you strike the rock and water comes out so Moses does strikes the rock water comes flowing out of there right when he comes in Numbers chapter 20 Israel is once again complaining about there is nothing to drink we have no water and so they ask Moses why have you done this why have you let us out to die in the wilderness what is going on and Moses is fed up with the people and the Lord says take the rock or the rod and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes that it may yield its water let us bring forth water for them out of the rock let the congregation and their beasts drink so Moses took the rod from before the Lord just as he commanded him and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock and he said to them listen now you rebels shall we bring forth water for you out of the rock then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rock the water came forth abundantly and the congregation and their beasts drank then you had that famous butology but the Lord said to Moses and Aaron because you have not believed me or treated me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them God said to Moses speak to the rock Moses struck the rock God says because you didn't do what I said you did not regard me as holy whenever you disobey what God says no matter how small you might think it is you no longer treat God as holy and there are consequences and Moses would never lead the people into the promised land now to be fair Exodus chapter 3 tells us that Moses would be the deliverer to deliver them out of Egypt but God never said you'll deliver them out to bring them into the promised land never said that because God knew what was going to happen and Moses disobeyed the Lord struck the rock and striking the rock he gave an inappropriate and inadequate picture of the Messiah because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 these words for I do not want you to be unaware brethren that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed to the sea and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ for the Lord said I will stand on the rock you strike the rock right the water will come forth so people will live second time he said don't strike it because the Lord will only be stricken once not twice so speak to the rock and water will come out Moses struck the rock God still in his grace provided water for the people but the consequences of Moses sin kept him out of the promised land because he did not regard God as holy why not because he didn't think that what God said was that important what he wanted to do was more important than what God said and whenever you do that you don't treat God as holy you treat him as unholy and therefore there are consequences for that so maybe Jesus would tell them I'm the stone but I'm the stricken stone from Exodus chapter 17 and not only am I the stricken stone I'm the stumbling stone of Psalm 118 and not only am I the stumbling stone I am the scorned stone from Isaiah chapter 53 and Isaiah chapter 8 but you know what I am the only satisfying stone from Isaiah 28 Isaiah 28 says that this stone who comes to this stone will never be disappointed why is he a satisfying stone because he's the only saving stone because there's no other name in heaven given among men whereby you must be saved Acts 4.12 but in Acts 4.11 Peter speaks about the fact that this is the stone of stumbling but this is the only name that can save you so not only is he a stumbling stone for Israel he's a saving stone he's a satisfying stone but he's also a superior stone he is a significant stone for he truly is a shattering stone because in Daniel chapter 2 there is a stone that's not cut out with hands that means it's a supernatural stone it's not a man made stone it's a stone not cut out with hands that destroys the image of Nebuchadnezzar and brings it all down shatters it, it's a shattering stone it's a superior stone because it was cut out of rock and the god of Nebuchadnezzar was Marduk and Marduk was worshipped at a huge mountain and this rock cut out of a mountain began to fill the whole earth and became a superior stone because he's a superior god and maybe, just maybe our Lord would spend time talking to them about how he is the stone of Israel not just any stone but the most significant stone ever the chief cornerstone the stone you can count on because he is a saving stone, a satisfying stone yes he is a stumbling stone because many will stumble over him yes he is a shattering stone because Christ would quote that in the book of Matthew in the 21st chapter book of Matthew chapter 21 and say these words did you never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected this became the chief cornerstone this came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes therefore I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it and he who falls on this stone will be shattered to pieces but on whomever it fans it will scatter him like dust our Lord is everything the Old Testament says he is we must understand the identity of the Messiah because without that he can't be saved Jesus Christ is our Lord's Messiah and hopefully today I could have simply connected some dots for you to help you understand who he is let's pray Father thank you for today the opportunity you give us to study your word we are truly a blessed people our prayer Father is that you would go before us as we study your word each and every day we would grow in the knowledge of our God and growing in that knowledge everything about you would rub off on us in such a way it would alter our lives completely for your glory and your honor until you come again as you most surely will in Jesus name Amen