The Manger: A Manifestation of Majesty and Mystery, Part 3

It's so good to have you with us as we celebrate the the Christ Child and looking at the the manger It's magnificence and it's a place of mystery and understanding It's a place of majesty simply because of the power of God's providence It's a place of mystery simply because it's about the precision of God's prophecy And they all come together in the manger in Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago And so we're looking at the manger trying to make it simple for you by spelling out the word spelling out the word manger and showing you the points that center around its majesty and its mystery and last week we use the letter M and we said it was a place of mercy as well as a place of Ministry nothing's more merciful than for God to send his Son to this earth For mercy is not something that you achieve It's something that you receive and it's a son that was given to us Isaiah 9 verse number 6 So we talked about that last week and then we said it's a place of mystery Because give me a place of ministry simply because when the angels came to the shepherds They said for unto you to stay in the city of David has been born a Savior a Savior Because that's his ministry He came to deliver

He came to save and that's the ministry of our Lord And you know at Christmastime we begin to learn about the mercy and ministry of Christ when we begin to show mercy and To minister to others Because how do you know you you've really grasped the merciful God? You extend mercy to others because you've received mercy And how do you know that you understand the ministry of God as a Savior and a deliverer? Well, you minister to others because the Son of Man came not to be served But to serve and to give his life a ransom for many So that's a that's the M words mercy and ministry next letter is authority The major is a place of supreme Authority, how do we know that? Well when the angel said This day in the city of David has born a Savior who is Christ the Lord The word Lord curios is the word that deals with authority dominion and rule So the shepherds knew that this Messiah born of Bethlehem Was the supreme ruler with all authority in? heaven and on earth In fact, I said that in Matthew 28 all authority in heaven and on earth Has been given unto me

He has all authority Because he is the authoritative one in fact When the angel came to Mary in Luke chapter 1 the angel said this He said in verse 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over The house of Jacob forever in his kingdom will have no end So Mary would understand that the Christ child would be the all-authoritative one of Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7 where the government will rest on his Shoulders and with him there will be no end of peace Why because he will be the ruler of this world who have dominion over this world

Why because he is the Lord of all That means he has Supreme authority you can only have all authority if you are all Mighty and he is called the Mighty God in Isaiah 9 verse number 6 in Genesis 49 He's called the Mighty One Psalm 132 He's called the Mighty One of Jacob and Mary and her song Luke 1 would refer to God as the Mighty One of Jacob You see he is the Almighty God of the universe

In fact in the book of Revelation He's called the Almighty the Pantocrator used nine times in the book of Revelation Ten times in the New Testament to show us the power of the Son of God He is the Almighty King with all authority That would pilot said don't you know I have authority to kill you and Jesus said to him you have no authority over me unless it's been granted to you from above You see we like to think we have authority We like to think we're in charge of something right But in all reality, you're in charge of nothing because you have no authority God has all the authority He is a ruler of the world And yet we think that somehow we have our little piece of authority in this arena or that arena But in all reality, we don't so we have to trust in the all-authoritative one the king of the universe in fact Christ said in Revelation 1 Verses 17 and 18 that I am the first and the last I Was dead Behold, I am alive forevermore and I hold the keys to death in Hades He holds the keys

Well, if you got the if you got the keys here, you're in charge If you hold the keys here, you have the authority He has authority over death He has authority over Hades in other words

He has authority over the condition of man and the place where man will go That's authority In fact in John 5 He says that he has authority that all in the graves will one day hear his voice and will all rise That's authority to speak and everybody responds right the dead respond He speaks and the dead are raised Some to life everlasting and some to eternal damnation But because he has all authority when he speaks People respond they can't help but respond Because he's the king of the universe He had authority over death He had authority when he lived over demons

He had authority over Disease he has authority over man's destiny

He has authority over everything because he's the lord of the universe and so the manger's a place a place of authority Where you come and bow in submission? to the king of glory The shepherds would come and they would bow before him the Magi would come and they would bow before him Why because he recognized that he was the all-authoritative Lord of the universe But not only is it a place of authority note this it's a place of adversity We know that best as you look at Revelation chapter 12 And so Tristan if you would key the slide for me and let me picture for you what the real manger looks like That there's a dragon over the child How do we know that? Revelation 12 tells us it's very clear It says this and the dragon who is Satan, right? who in Revelation has seven heads and Seven diadems and ten horns. I don't can find a picture that so we just do that one up there But still it's it's it's a dragon and it says he stood before the woman who was about to give birth The woman is Israel So that when she gave birth he might devour the child you see we forget Because of Christmas and the infancy of the child we forget about his authority his deity in his glory And we forget about all the adversity that surrounds the child We'd like to think of the Christ child as a as a newborn babe and you you've seen newborn babes And and when you hold the Christ the child in your arms, it's it's you wrap it up

It's so cute You're so excited You're overflowing with joy, right? But but the reality is this that the child that you give birth to is Dead in their trespasses and sins They're a kingdom

They're a part of the kingdom of darkness They had to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son That precious little child that you hold on to is in bondage To Satan we forget that that's why they need to be born again, right? born again born twice die once born once die twice And you die for eternity die physically and you die eternally So you must be born again, right? That's why we present the gospel to people Say no about the truth of Jesus Christ our Lord But we forget about all that when when the child's born the same is true with the with the Christ child We forget about all the adversity that surrounded the birth of Christ Take all the way back

Satan has always tried to destroy the plan of God He wants a thwart God's plan He can't why because God is all authority He is all mighty He is the El Gabor of Matthew 9, I mean Isaiah 9 verse number 6 the the mighty God So Satan has to ask permission to do anything

He just can't act on his own He is subject to the king of the universe But he always tries to thwart the plan of God In fact, if you read the Old Testament book of Ezekiel Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar are both called and referred to as a dragon Why because they were used by Satan to thwart the plan of God Pharaoh was used by Satan to try to destroy the nation of Israel so they could not reproduce So they would not have any more children That's why they killed the little boys and threw them in the Nile River Destroy nation its future

That was all Satan's plan Ultimately, he had to get permission from God, but that was Satan's plan When Christ was born what did Herod do When he realized that the Magi didn't come back and tell him about the Christ child where he was He did he knew that There was probably around two years From when the Magi arrived so that he killed and slaughtered all the children two years and younger He did that Why? Because Satan was over the manger It's a place of adversity He wanted to destroy the Christ child But he couldn't because the angel came to Joseph and Mary moved them to Egypt till Herod died then moved them back again when Christ was Baptized he was driven to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights And one of those temptations and all of them centered around bypassing the cross

They would throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple and He misquoted Psalm 91 and said that you can use Your angels because they'll have charge over you and they'll protect you but knew that if he threw himself off the pinnacle of the temple he would die and Therefore he would not die on the cross for the sins of the world instead He would die in a different way

That was Satan's plan The dragon tried to destroy the Messiah Luke chapter 4 he was in his own hometown preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth and what happened they tried to run him out and they ran him out and they want to throw him off the cliff there In Nazareth many of you have been to Israel with me have been to that place that cliff that would probably possibly be that place where they would throw him off to kill him because they didn't want him to To survive they were so infuriated with him

That was a plan of Satan the adversity of Satan to destroy the Christ child and Then of course as you know all throughout his life he was ejected and Came against by the enemies

In fact many times in Scripture It was said that Herod wanted to kill him because he did and so all those things come together and we realize that that the true picture of the nativity is This red dragon according to Revelation 12, that's over the nativity that's over the throne that he might devour the child And I've told you many times over that if you have a nativity in your front yard, it must have this Or you misrepresent the nativity to your neighbors They don't get it

It's just a nice little baby in the manger to them say they don't understand That Satan wants to destroy the Christ child In fact, he knows just 315 He can read justice 315 He knows that the seed is gonna crush the serpent's head Exactly what he's going to do

And so if he can get Christ to bypass the cross if he can kill him before he gets there he wins But he can't win Because he's not the all-authoritative one Christ is so please note That when you celebrate the majesty and the mystery of the cross It's all about his authority and all about the adversity that was around the birth of the Christ child next letter is n That represents nobility the majors a place of nobility Christ was of royal descent He was of the highest descent he was the king of Israel And yet surrounding that are many many issues and many problems that most people never really truly understand it yet So, let me see if I can point them out to you to show you the majesty as well as the mystery of the manger If you go back to Genesis chapter 49 the Bible tells us in verse number 10 as Jacob gives this prophecy to his boys He foretells the future by telling them what's going to happen in their line He says of Judah in chapter 10 chapter 49 verse number 10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah Nor the ruler staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes and to him shall be the obedience of the people's The Messiah is Shiloh the one to whom it belongs What belongs to the Messiah the scepter? He's the king And so we know from Jacob's prophecy Not only is he the lion of the tribe of Judah He's the king of Judah He's the king of Israel

He's the king that will come and so The prophecy is given by Jacob that through Judah The line of Judah will come to Messiah But there's a major problem with that because Moses who wrote the book of Genesis also wrote the book of Deuteronomy He's writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit And so he writes these words in Deuteronomy 23 verse number 2, which he had to scratch his head over because it says this No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of the Lord None of his descendants even to the tenth generation shall enter the assembly of the Lord

So Moses saying wait a minute Judah Had committed immorality he had committed adultery in Genesis 38 And yet the prophecy was given that the King Messiah will come through the line of Judah yet He will not come until at least the tenth generation So Moses knows that in his day Messiah is not going to come although he's anticipating the Messiah He even writes about a number 24 verse number 7 17 that a star will rise out of Jacob Right a scepter in his hands Yet, he knows It won't happen Until at least the tenth generation Because the line's been cursed and God says no one will enter the assembly of the Lord so all you have to do is read the book of Matthew and realize that the tenth generation from Judah is David King David and the curse was lifted and so King David now becomes the one in the line of Judah where the Messiah will come and the Messiah will be called a son of David he's a son of God

He's a son of man He's a son of righteousness, but he's going to be the son of David How do we know that what the Bible tells us God gave what is called the Davidic covenant? He gave it to David He said in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 Verse number 12 when your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your descendant after you who will come forth from you and I will establish his kingdom He shall build the house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever That's the Davidic Covenant

The psalm was to reiterate that in Psalm 89 when he said But I will not break off my loving-kindness from him nor deal falsely in my faithfulness my covenant I will not violate nor will I alter the utterance of my lips once I have sworn by my holiness I will not lie to David his descendants shall endure forever and his throne as a son before me It shall be established forever like the moon and the witness in the sky is faithful God reiterates his his covenant with David that no matter what happens a son of David will sit on the throne of Israel and will rule forever So every Israelite is anticipating a descendant of David to sit on the throne They all would be doing this

Of course, they would He'd be the king that would come And then all of a sudden as they're about to go into captivity Jeremiah Says this to the nation He says in Jeremiah 22 verse number 30 thus says the Lord write this man down childless what man well konaya or Jeconiah or Jehoiachin has three names That's another story in and of itself But his name's konaya write this man down as childless now doesn't mean he's not gonna have any children because he does he has seven of them But write them down as childless

He says this a Man who will not prosper in his days for no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah Whoa, wait a minute

How could that be? God just cursed the line of Judah No, the Senate of Judah will sit on the throne of David because of the sins of konaya And the subs and and the previous sins of all the succeeding kings, but because of his sin His line is cursed So notice Senate of Judah and konaya was the Senate of Judah will sit on the throne of David or rule in Israel That's a problem How do you handle that? It's on the very next chapter Jeremiah's writing on the inspiration of God and God says this declares the Lord behold the days are coming declares the Lord Well when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and the word branch that's here is the Hebrew word that speaks about the coming Messiah and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is his name by which he will be called the Lord our righteousness and They got to be thinking

How can that be? He just cursed the line of Judah But God is going to raise up a righteous branch That will rule over Judah How's that going to happen? In Jeremiah 31 he repeats it No natural Son from the line of Judah will reign as king of Israel, but a supernatural son Would reign as king of Israel, so how does God handle this? well Same book Jeremiah Jeremiah 31 I didn't say this in the first service So you get to get it in the second service in Jeremiah 31 Israel is mourning Their morning their captivity their morning

They're not gonna have any more hope But God gives them hope he says There is hope for your future declares the Lord verse 17 and your children will return to their own territory There is hope for you

You're gonna mourn you're gonna weep You're gonna be in captivity, but they're going to return and there will be joy And then he says this in verse number 22 How long will you go here and there Oh faithless daughter? for the Lord has created a new thing in the earth He's created something that's never been seen before and never been done before he's going to create something Bara out of nothing a Woman will encompass a man that phrase interpreted by every rabbi before the time of Christ Said that that meant The Messiah would have no earthly father That a woman shall encompass a man one of two ways either hold the man in her arms or Encompass him her him

Excuse me in her womb And it says encompass a man not an not a normal man Not an ordinary man because the word is gay bear Which is used later in the next chapter to speak of the mighty God This is a valiant man This is a mighty man Not just a normal man, but a mighty man So God is letting them know there's gonna be something supernatural

It's gonna take place something That's that's going to come that is gonna It'd be supernatural and not natural he's trying to help them to connect the dots as to what God's going to do because there is going to be a seed of a woman all the way back to the book of Genesis the third chapter of 15 first a A seed of a woman that will crush the serpents head the very first prophecy about the arrival of the Messiah And the important thing about that is that never in the history of the world has a woman ever had a seed The man carries the seed not the woman But the woman will have a seed And that means that for the first time in the history of the world There will be a virgin birth And so the golden thread of the Savior coming is woven all throughout the Old Testament So you in the book of Jeremiah God says? No, natural man from this line will ever rule in Judah will ever be king of Israel In the very next chapter, but yet a righteous branch is going to come he will rule in Israel He'll be called the Lord our righteousness

Well, how's that gonna be? It's gonna be supernatural

It's gonna be unique It's gonna be begun anything they could ever imagine So If you read Matthew chapter 1 Joseph is the descendant of Konaia Joseph if the curse wouldn't have happened Would have been the king of Israel He would have been the king, but he couldn't be the king because the line was cursed So, how do you get around that you see? Joseph is the descendant of David through Solomon The kingly line you get around that by a virgin birth through a woman named Mary Who also is the descendant of David? But not through Solomon but through a son Nathan That's found in Luke chapter 3 And so when you understand the genealogy of Mary you realize that she's in the royal line She's in the royal line because she's a descendant of David and Yet legally Legally, she couldn't have a son naturally and him be on the throne because Joseph wasn't on the throne so it had to be a supernatural birth a virgin birth and Through that virgin birth

He would become the king because he'd be adopted by Joseph Therefore he'd be a legal heir to the throne as Well as a natural heir to the throne through Mary a legal heir through Joseph a natural and royal line Through Mary see that God answers all the questions But you have to read you have to study you have to learn Because God is showing you the majesty and the mystery of the manger It goes way beyond anything we can ever imagine well, we're not masters of the Old Testament

We're not Jewish people We're not reading what is written in the Old Testament and mastering those words But they had to scratch their heads and wonder how is this gonna be and God told him it's gonna be supernatural Isaiah 7 verse number 14 a virgin shall conceive and bear a child You should call his name Emmanuel God with us And so they began to put the pieces together the shepherds did Shepherds got it They were the lowest on the economic pole lowest of all lowest Yet they understood the Old Testament So when the angel said hey, there's a Savior born for you this day in the city of David

He's Christ the Lord They don't say who? Christ the who? No, they don't ask the questions They drop everything and run in haste Because you know their Old Testament They know the Messiah would come They know where he'd be born And all that comes together for you in the manger

That's why it's a place of majesty and a place of mystery not simply because it's a it's a place of mercy and ministry or because it's a place of authority and adversity, but because it's a place of nobility as well as necessity Necessity This is the way it had to be Why when Christ came? He came to ratify His prophecy All the things written about him he confirmed Now, we know he didn't ratify every single prophecy About his coming because only 224 of the 333 were Fulfilled in his first coming leaving a hundred and nine to be fulfilled in his second coming But when he came he ratified prophecy the prophecy about where he'd be born how he'd be born All the things surrounding his birth that was all confirmed

So when Christ came he ratified his prophecy When Christ came he revealed his deity Christ is God in the flesh He is the mighty God of Isaiah 9 verse number 6 He's the eternal father the originator of eternity of Isaiah 9 verse number 6 He's the Prince of Peace He's the wonderful counselor That's who he is He's God in the flesh in fact over in Isaiah chapter 43 You can read this where God says I even I am the Lord and there is no Savior besides me

Well Israel knows that But when Jesus was born He was a Savior of the world You're gonna call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sin Jesus is a Savior Jesus is the God of Isaiah 43 11 It says in Isaiah 43 14 thus says the Lord your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel The Lord God says I'm your Redeemer I'm your deliverer Galatians 3 verse number 13 says Jesus is our Redeemer Jesus is our deliverer So which is true answer

Yes, Jesus is God It says over in verse number 15 of Isaiah 43. I am the Lord your Holy One the creator of Israel your King God says I'm your King. I'm your creator well, the Messiah Jesus was a creator John 1 in the beginning was the Word and The Word was with God the Word was God See was in the beginning with God and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made He created everything Read in Hebrews chapter 1 Colossians chapter 1 It's all right there He created everything Why because he is the creator He is God in the flesh

He's also the king of glory because the Bible says he is the king of all kings He is the Lord of all lords That's who he is

He's the king of glory So just taking one chapter in the Old Testament Isaiah 43 you realize when God speaks he speaks defining who he is when Christ comes He is the fulfillment of all that God is if you've seen me you've seen the Father why because he's the exact representation of the Father Hebrews 1 verse number 3 tells us so when Christ came He ratifies prophecy Can you reveal his deity? Can you ravage the enemy? First John 3 verse number 8 the son of man appeared for this purpose They might destroy the works of the devil That's why the major such a necessity He appeared for this purpose to ravage the enemy to crush the serpents head and that's exactly what he did And this is a first John 3 verse number 5 the son of man appeared for this purpose that he might remove Your sin

In other words, he came to remove your iniquity

That's what he came to do And the only way to do that was to be born live and Die on Calvary's cross and rise again as Lamb of God So he came to ratify his prophecy He came to reveal his deity ravage the enemy He came to remove your iniquity He came to restore man's dignity first John 3 verse number 1 What manner of love is this the Father's bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God John the disciple whom the Lord loved that's how he refers to himself in John's gospel He says what other worldly kind of love is this? It's from another dimension It's not from this dimension

It's not it's not an earthly kind of love It's a heavenly kind of love What manner of love is this the Father's bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God? In other words, we were we were born children of the devil

We were born dead in our trespasses and sin But when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and gave her life to him We were transferred from that kingdom into God's kingdom the kingdom of his dear son and became children of the Living God John says what manner of love is this? So in the Son of Man appeared when he came and all of his splendor and glory and all of his majesty and all of his mystery The king ratifies prophecy He came simply to reveal his deity To ravage the enemy to remove your iniquity to restore your dignity so that He would return in glory And all of his splendor and majesty because on his thigh is written King of Kings and Lord of Lords And when he comes back every I will see him, right? Every I will see him when he was born only if you saw him But when he arrives again, every I will see him for his glory will fill the sky He'll come back and all of his majestic glory

He'll return in glory and number seven He will reign for eternity on the throne of his father David Why did Jesus come that's why he came That's why the manger is such a place of necessity It's everything We need Christ to be born We need a Savior We need our sins removed We need our dignity restored we need Satan to be destroyed We need a king who reigns forever

That's we need and Christ is that That's why the manger is such a necessity because wrapped up in swaddling clothes is the gift of eternal life Thanks be unto God for his Indescribable gift in other words, you can't describe it in normal terms You can't describe it in natural terms Why because it's indescribable It's incomparable It's inexplicable Because it goes beyond anything we can ever imagine And that's why the manger is so important That's why we come to worship at the feet of our Savior and bow before him Because in his infancy he was all deity all Authority Yes He was all humanity

Yes, he was But he's a king of glory

We bow before him in a humble submission that might worship and adore his glorious name Let's pray Father we thank you for today and the opportunity you give us to study your word What a joy what a blessing So much is there So much to to digest You have to realize father that you came For me You came into your own in your own Received you not they rejected you Yet the Bible says to as many as received him to then give you power to become the sons of God We Pray father that if there's someone here today that has yet to embrace the Christ child Messiah the Savior the King the Lord of all That today would be their day That they would understand that giving them after Christ gives them eternal life not just Quantity of life but absolute quality of life In Jesus name we pray Amen