Fourth Sunday
of Advent
Theme: Promise
and Fulfilment
1.
King Ahaz - he had only been
king for a couple of years or so, but now he was facing the biggest challenge
to his kingship. The city of
That’s what we have here in
Isaiah 7. In the year 735, Rezin, King of the huge
There’s the promise, and
surrounded by armies as they were, hope in the living God took hold in
There are many many promises here in the Bible, and all
are utterly dependable,
if we take them to heart, we can
trust in them, and we will never be disappointed.
There’s a promise, there’s the Word of the Lord......... in Isaiah 7.4
Stay calm, do not be frightened or disturbed, do not lose heart
There’s the Lord’s promise: it
may be for someone here this morning
then take it to heart, trust in
those word, and you will never be disappointed.
Stay calm, do not be frightened or disturbed, do not lose heart
But there is mystery here, that in Isaiah 7, there is one
situation, but two promises ! along
with the Promise Stay calm, do not
be frightened or disturbed, do not lose
heart the promise that
the Lord will rescue His people.......... there is another, mysterious Promise
in verse 14. This mysterious prophecy.......... Isaiah 7. 14 the
Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son
and will name him `Immanuel.' 15 By the time he is old enough to make
his own decisions, people will be drinking milk and eating honey.
What King Ahaz made of this, or even Isaiah himself, we don’t know. This strange Promise made no sense, it did not seem to apply to the situation in the besieged city.............. It seemed to be a promise far from its proper time and place. A son will be born, Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us...........’
There it is written, a Promise, a Word from the Lord, and there it stands written as the long ages past, puzzling, intriguing, prophets, priests, faithful men and women,
A Promise, a Word from the
Lord, moving slowly, steadily, on the great current and river of time
itself...... an
extraordinary message from the living God,
His loving purpose for His people, which cannot be deflected, or stopped, or
diverted……
but will endure until the day of its fulfilment arrives !
2.
We spoke, a moment ago of this
mysterious prophecy.......... Isaiah 7. 14 the
Lord himself will give you a sign: a young woman who is pregnant will have a son
and will name him `Immanuel.' 15 By the time he is old enough to make
his own decisions, people will be drinking milk and eating honey.
It seemed to be a promise far from its proper time and place. A son will be born, Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us...........’
There it is written, a Promise, a Word from the Lord, and there it stands written as the long ages past, puzzling, intriguing, prophets, priests, faithful men and women,
A Promise, a Word from the
Lord, moving slowly, steadily, on the great current and river of time
itself...... an
extraordinary message from the living God,
His loving purpose for His people, which cannot be deflected, or stopped, or
diverted……
but will endure until the day of its fulfilment arrives !
priests, faithful men and women, and filling their hearts with longing..............
A Word from the Lord, Drifting slowly on the great current and river of time itself......
until the shadows fled and the dawn came - day arrived !
This is how Matthew describes it:
Matthew 1 18. This was how the birth of Jesus Christ took place. His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they were married, she found out that she was going to have a baby by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph was a man who always did what was right, but he did not want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made plans to break the engagement privately. 20 While he was thinking about this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife. For it is by the Holy Spirit that she has conceived. 21 She will have a son, and you will name him Jesus- because he will save his people from their sins." 22 what the Lord had said through the prophet had come true, 23 "A virgin will become pregnant and have a son, and he will be called Immanuel" (which means, "God is with us"). The mysterious promise of the Lord, those mysterious verses from the prophet seven centuries before........... once out of time and place, are now reality.
God’s loving purpose, the unfolding of His promise, for
the world never deflected, or stopped, or diverted……has arrived at the day of
its fulfilment !
Matthew tells us here of the
birth of the Lord Jesus, of the Lord’s promise fulfilled in reality. The gospel
of John tells us more of this reality, a reality too high for us to grasp, too great to
understand ! John, declares that the baby in the
manger is the Son of God, who left glory, the glory of the presence of God, and
has become a human being living among us. God who has created the whole
universe brings Jesus into the life of this earth from beyond......... and
entrusts Him into the tender motherly care Mary........... Just as that mysterious text in
Isaiah proclaims, God is with us. So that the Lord Jesus, knows well this life, He
knows what it is to be misunderstood, for the world in its blindness did not recognise Him. He knows
what it is to be rejected,
for He came to His own, but His own rejected Him. He knows well life’s sufferings. He knows
what it is to live death approaching in the months, then the weeks, then the
days ahead. He knows what it is to pray, and we see in Jesus the Saviour, One
who puts all His trust, lays all His cares, lays His whole life in the Father.
Now, where God promised a king, through a prophet long ago that the Holy
city of
Now God’s promise is worldwide, from one end of time to the
other........
and its this.............
His promise is
that this whole earth will be rescued, redeemed.........
through the Child in the manger,
Through the Saviour, our Jesus
Christ.
And thanks be to God, His loving purpose for the world in
Jesus
will not be deflected, or stopped,
or diverted……
but will continue until all is
completed and fulfilled.
3.
This morning, we have heard of the
Lord’s promise given to the king and the people of the city of
of the Lord’s promise unfolding in
reality in the little town of
When we open the letter to the Romans, the opening verses,
we see that Paul is speaking of the
whole picture..........
rather than a map of a city or a little
town,
Paul is giving us a whole continent,
he shows us in these opening words the
great current of the gospel,
the great flow of God’s purposes in
history..........
Here’s what he says, just taking the relevant verses
I was, he says, set apart for the gospel of God, my work is for
the sake of the gospel, taking the good news about Jesus Christ wherever I am
led. This good news, the gospel is what God promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. So here we are
on familiar ground, Paul, looking back in history, is talking about God’s promise.
Now there are many promises, of course, but the one, the main one, the central
one Paul says, has to do with Jesus. Paul reminds us - as to his human nature the Lord Jesus was a descendant of David. But his
resurrection from the
dead through God’s power shows us this - that He is the Son of
God, Jesus Christ our Lord.
That’s the message of John’s
gospel that the baby in
the manger is the Son of God, who left glory, the glory of the presence of God,
and has become a human being, one of David’s descendant,
living among us.
The message of Matthew is the same - Jesus is
Immanuel......... God with us. In Him God is with us................ !
But Paul doesn’t leave it there, he goes on............
to show us that the promise is still
unfolding...........
what he writes next comes right into
this moment now,
what he writes next brings us, you and I
right into the great current of the gospel,
the great flow of God’s purposes in
history.......
for this is what he writes:
you
also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
the call comes to us too... to you and
to me..........
This morning we have looked back over God’s purposes as far back as 700 BC, 2700 years ago, but His purposes, the promise, the invitation, of the gospel is still moving. And it is here this morning.
Remember, what His promise is like - it is a promise: given, in God’s love and grace, which is entirely trustworthy, you can build your life on it and it will not fail, it will endure, throughout all the changing seasons of life, through all doubts, through the deepest moments of sorrow at our own sin, God’s promise is steadfast and faithful.
There are so many promises, but here just two:
the words of the Lord Jesus, to all who will hear.............
Whoever comes to me, I will never turn away ...........
and to those who know Him,
He says:
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world