Immanuel

Matthew 1 23. ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).

Introduction

It has been said like that many of the Old Testament prophecies are rather like looking at a range of mountains from a distance. You look over at the mountains and you think you have just seen one set of peaks. But in fact there are several ranges of mountains one behind the other. From the distance that you are viewing them they seem to be just one range of mountains. They all seem to be at the same distance, although in reality there are large distances between the various ranges.

And when we read the prophecies in the Old Testament there may be several different ways in which they will be fulfilled. The first one is the message that was given to the people in those days – to be interpreted within the context of the political and national life of that time. The second one might speak of the coming of the Messiah into the world. This will be fulfilled when Jesus is born in Bethlehem, grows up in Nazareth and dies in Jerusalem. The third fulfillment of the prophecy will be at the End Times when Christ will return to judge the world. And then, beyond all this there is usually also a personal application which the Christian reader can make to their own lives.

So what seems at first to be the one range of mountains is really a series of peaks one behind the other. And just as the ranges of mountains in the distance might be very far apart from one another, so it is with Biblical prophecy. There may be hundreds or even thousands of years between the various fulfillments of a prophetic word.

This is true of our text today: it speaks of a child called Immanuel who will be born to a young woman. It had its first application in the time of Isaiah and king Ahaz. But we see its second and most important application in the birth of Jesus who was born of a virgin.Then again it will find its third fulfillment when Jesus returns.

So let’s consider these things. Let’s look at the first peak, as it were – the words of Isaiah to King Ahaz. (Isaiah 7:1-17.)

The Lord himself will give you a sign

 The kingdom of Judah was in danger of invasion by the King of Syria and the King of Israel ( the northern Hebrew kingdom). They had allied and come to attack Jerusalem but they had not been able to overpower it. And so the Lord gave to Isaiah a message of encouragement for the king of Judah.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: it will not take place, it will not happen.” Isaiah says that within 65 years the kingdom of Israel will be too weak to be able to do anything. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all,” is what he said to king Ahaz. God says he will rescue his people.

 And then the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 

 ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.’

But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.’

Then Isaiah said, ‘Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?

(Isaiah 7:11-13).

King Ahaz says that he won’t put the Lord to the test – but God is asking him to do this, to ask for a sign! This is not tempting God or putting him to the test. It is responding in obedience and faith. And that is what Ahaz will not do. He cloaks it in pious talk but really he is trying the patience of God.

 “Therefore,” says Isaiah,”the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.”

These words are obscure but Isaiah seems to be saying that God will bring his deliverance to the people in a very short time – in the time it will take for a young child to be born and weaned. “Before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste,” he says.

But why refer to a virgin giving birth to a child? The Hebrew word actually simply refers to a young woman – it does not require a miracle and it is not, in the first instance, referring to a virgin birth. This child going to be born maybe refers to a son of King Ahaz, or prehaps a son of Isaiah. This child will be a sign to the people and a reminder to them that God is with them. Immanuel: God with you.

As I said these words are obscure and difficult to understand. If we just restrict it to the days of Isaiah and king Ahaz then we can not make much sense of them. These words do not find their full completion in those days – we have to look to the coming of Jesus we find the true fulfillment of these words.

  The coming of the Messiah

 The New Testament writers, and especially Matthew, saw this prophecy answered and fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ.

 “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel – which means God with us.  (Matthew 1:22)

Matthew sees these words fulfilled in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. Now some Bible scholars seem to take delight in pointing out that the Hebrew word used in Isaiah doesn’t really mean virgin at all – it just means young woman. And then they make the unjustified assumption that the Bible does not teach a Virgin Birth of Christ. This is wrong in so many ways. Yes, the word used in Isaiah does simply mean “young woman” and, as I said, in the first fulfillment of these words it was just about the ordinary birth of a child in Judah. But when we think about the second fulfilment of these words, when we think about the birth of Jesus, then the word “virgin” is totally appropriate.

Matthew uses the Greek word “parthenos” which means “virgin”. And he makes it very plain to us that Mary became pregnant before she had had intercourse with a man, that the conception was miraculous and the work of the Holy Spirit, and that Joseph had no intercourse with her until after she gave birth to her son.

Thus the Gospel of Matthew teaches the Virgin Birth of Jesus. It’s all about God taking the initiative. The birth of Jesus was not the result of any human act.

And the title given to the child is highly significant. Immanuel means: God with us. Matthew is telling us that when Jesus was born, God himself was coming into the world to dwell with us. This is the doctrine of the Incarnation. It is the most wonderful thing in the whole world: that God should take human form, to live like us, to suffer and to die on a cross for our sins.

Immanuel: God with us. What good news that is!

The second coming of Christ

And so we come to the third fulfilment. When Jesus returns, then these words will be completely fulfilled. God will be with us. He will return to earth to dwell with man.

 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

(Revelation 21:3).

 God with us.

  Its application to us as individuals

 And what does it say to us as individual Christians?

· The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is important because it stresses the grace of God. When we realise that our salvation is the work of God and not of man, then we learn to live the life of faith.

· The name Immanuel: God with us, reminds us that the Lord dwells with us. If we are true followers of Jesus Christ, if we trust in him for salvation, then we have his Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God himself to dwell within us. If we believe in Jesus, then God is with us and within us.

· And then going back to king Ahaz – he refused to “put God to the test”. He thought it sounded more pious to talk in that way. “Oh no, I won’t ask for a sign from God, that would be putting him to the test!” But when God himself has invited you to do so, how dare you refuse? And the same could be said of us all.

“I am not good enough to come to Jesus. Oh I can’t say that there is a place in heaven for me – I would not presume to that”. We hear people talking like that all the time. And yet when John says whoever believes in Jesus has eternal life (John 3:16), who are we to doubt it. It may sound humble, it may sound pious, to say, “I don’t know whether or not I have eternal life,” but it is going against the word of God himself. We must have faith and believe the words of God. We must believe his promises.

Immanuel – God with us.

World Communion Sunday

[Sermon preached at Brecon Presbyterian Church on Sunday 6th. October 2013]

Introduction

Did you know today is World Communion Sunday? I did not know until recently. It may be a worldwide celebration but it seems to have bypassed the Presbyterian Church of Wales. World Communion Sunday is an ecumenical initiative of the US Presbyterian Church which has been going since 1936 and has been taken up by some other denominations as well. It is held on the first Sunday in October.

Great variety

It provides a Sunday too think about Christians all over the world united in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Today I want us to think about this too. For the Communion service is one thing which unites almost all Christian churches. Our Lord commanded that we should remember him in the breaking of bread and pouring of wine, and most Christians do that, but they do it in an incredible variety of different ways. Some take Communion every week, some even every day , while others only have communion 3 or 4 times a year.

And the way in which the sacrament is celebrated varies from church to church. In some churches only the priest takes both the bread and wine – the congregation only have the bread. In many churches the bread takes the form of wafers of unleavened bread: in others, such as ours, we use ordinary bread. Some use real wine: others use non alcoholic wine, or even fruit juice. In some churches the communicants share a common cup: in others they have individual cups. In the Orthodox Church the bread is dipped into the wine and served together, with a spoon, to the communicants.

Great unity

Yes, there are so many different ways of celebrating this sacrament. But we are all doing the same thing, and all doing it in memory of Jesus.

Of course, there are great theological differences. In some churches they believe in transubstantiation – that is they take the words of Jesus literally when he said, “This is my body”. They believe some kind of mystical change happens at the moment of consecration. In Protestant churches we say, “No, it is not to be understood literally, it’s symbolic. The bread and wine reminds us of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It’s not that he is being sacrificed over again each time the Eucharist is celebrated”. No, it is a reminder of his sacrifice, as the Apostle Paul said:

For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 26 )

 So there are these very different ways of understanding the Lord’s Supper. You might think that the difference between, for example, the Roman Catholic and the Protestant understanding is irreconcilable. But it is still the same Lord we celebrate, the same Jesus who died on the cross for us all, the same Risen Lord who is alive in heaven and who will return one day to judge the world.

For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11: 26 )

For all the differences in the way we take Holy Communion, and all the different words we use to describe it, and all the different ways of understanding it, it is still something that unites us.

Three aspects

The Lord’s Supper has three aspects: past, present and future. When Jesus was with his disciples in the upper room he was celebrating the Passover – looking back to the deliverance of the Israelites from slavery. At the same time they were sharing a meal together in the present moment. But Jesus was also anticipating his death on cross, his Resurrection and his final victory.

 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’   (Matthew 26: 29 )

And for us too this service has three aspects:

Past

We look back to Calvary and remind ourselves how Jesus gave his life for us on the cross. How he died to take away our sins. We confess our sins to him and ask forgiveness for all that is in the past. And then we know that the past is forgiven and we have a new start in life.

Present

We are forgiven people – we live in the light of God’s love. We are children of the Kingdom. We share the bread and wine in a spirit of fellowship and love, of unity and forgiveness. We are united with one another and with all God’s people throughout the world, and with those who have gone to heaven. We share fellowship with the Living Lord.

Future

We look forward to a final victory of Christ. To the day of his return. We anticipate feasting with him in heaven. As the hymn writer says:

“Feast after feast comes and passes by,

Yet passing points to the glad feast above,

Giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,

The Lamb’s great bridal feast of bliss and love.” (Horatius Bonar)

O come! Emmanuel

(A sermon preached at the Brecon Presbyterian Church,  Advent Sunday 2012)

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

This hymn is based on the ancient Advent Antiphons which were first chanted by monks in the ninth century. The mournful yet beautiful tune is from the 15th century and the words as we know them were translated into English by John Mason Neal in the nineteenth century.

As I said, it’s a mournful tune, and if you sing it too slowly it can be a bit of a dirge. And yet as every stanza ends it breaks out into that wonderful expression of praise: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”

I felt we just had to sing it today as I am going to talk abut the words of this hymn. These words are based on ancient Messianic scriptures. They are all from the Old Testament and speak of the coming of the Messiah. The hymn says Israel should rejoice because the Messiah is going to come. As Christians we know he has come, and we celebrate his Advent, his coming, particularly at this time of the year, just before Christmas.

When we think about Advent it is worth remembering that there are two Advents or Comings of Jesus. The First Advent was 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. The Second Advent will be when Jesus returns in the Day of Judgement. By his First Advent he brought redemption and forgiveness into the world. He made it possible for us to know God’s love. At his Second Advent he will come with power to establish his Kingdom in all its fullness.

Emmanuel

So who, or what, is Emmanuel? It is a title of the Messiah. “Emmanuel” is the Greek form of the Hebrew “Immanuel”, which means “God with us”. We find it in Isaiah chapter seven:

The Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

 

In other words: God will come into the world in human form. Yes, since Christ has come we can know the presence of God in our lives. “God with us”.

The Jews had been in exile in Babylon and even after their return from exile they were under the power of various other nations: the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. But they were also in a spiritual bondage or exile. God seemed far away, however hard they tied to keep his laws. Then Jesus came, as Immanuel, to put that situation right.

Lord of might

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai’s height,

In ancient times did’st give the Law,

In cloud, and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

God, the Lord of Might, gave his laws to his people on Mount Sinai. But the hymn says that Emmanuel is the Lord of Might. Now we are talking about Jehovah here – Yahweh, because Jesus is the same as Jehovah. He is not just a man who lived in Israel, but God in human form. That’s why the first Christian creed was simply the statement “Jesus is Lord”. (“Lord” is the word used in the English Bible for Jehovah or Yahweh.) When we say “Jesus is Lord” we are saying “Jesus is God, the Lord of the Universe. And we worship him as divine.

Rod of Jesse

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan’s tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people save

And give them victory o’er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Isaiah speaks of the “stump” or “root” of Jesse. Jesse was an ancestor of Jesus, the father of King David. Isaiah predicted that a branch would rise from the “stump of Jesse” – one of his descendents would rise up to do great things. (Think of a tree which has been chopped down putting out new branches from the stump.) That branch which will arise from Jesse will be a rod to strike down all God’s enemies. And he will bring God’s salvation to his people.

With righteousness he will judge the needy,

with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;

with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

(Isaiah 11:4)

So our hymn says Emmanuel will strike at the power of Satan, save his people from hell and bring victory over the grave. And that’s just what Jesus did. He died on the cross to defeat Satan, to save us from our sins and he rose again to overcome the power of death.

Dayspring from on high

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

This comes from the song of Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) in Luke 1:78-79.

Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (KJV)

“Dayspring” is an old English word meaning “the dawn, the rising of the Sun” and that’s how it is translated in new translations. But I like the word “dayspring”. It speaks of the moment the Sun come up from beneath the horizon, the moment when the day springs into action. (We have the same idea in the seasons when we talk about the Spring time, which was originally the “springing of the year”.)

Jesus is the Dayspring from on high, the Rising Sun from heaven, who shines his light on those living in darkness. He puts death’s dark shadows to flight. He cheers our hearts by his coming into this world, for the world is a very dark place – sin and ignorance are found everywhere. But Jesus is the Light of the World. As John says, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). The candles of Advent and the lights of Christmas symbolise for us the light of Christ. His light shines into our lives and dispels the darkness.

Key of David

O come, Thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

You may well ask, “What is the Key of David?” Well, there is a rather obscure passage in Isaiah which speaks of this key:

I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Isaiah 22:22)

This is about Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was appointed by God to take over the running of the royal household of Judah. As steward of the palace he would have had the key they opened every door in the building. He was the one who controlled access to every part of the royal precincts.

Now in the Book of Revelation this phrase is applied to Jesus Christ himself. He himself holds the the key of he House of David. The Risen Lord says to the church at Philadelphia :

These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Revelation 3:7)

These words tell us of Christ’s power to open and to shut, to provide or prevent opportunities and to decide the eternal fate of individuals.

So our hymn writer says Emmanuel opens the door to heaven and shuts the door that leads to eternal misery (for all those who believe in him). And we can take comfort and assurance from these words if we trust in Christ, then we have eternal life, John tells us (John 3:36). We can have assurance and confidence we shall eventually go to our heavenly home.

Conclusion

“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee,”

– he comes as Lord and God to be worshipped and adored

– he comes as Rod of Jesse to strike the forces of evil

– he comes as Dayspring from on high to pour his light upon us

– he comes as Key of David to open the gate of the heavenly kingdom to all who believe in him.

“Rejoice!”

.

The Day of the Lord

2 Peter 3

Wholesome thinking

During the season of Advent we concentrate our thoughts on the coming of the Messiah. There are two “comings” to consider:

-`his First Coming, 2000 years ago, as a baby in Bethlehem.

– his Second Coming, at the end of the world, as Judge of both the living and dead.

The topic of the Second Coming, or Day of the Lord, is a very important one. If you read all the sayings of Jesus in the Gospels you will find that he refers to this topic more than any other. Indeed, it is had to find one page of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke which does not refer to the coming Kingdom, the Day of Judgement or the return of the Lord.

Many other passages in the New Testament speak of this great event and some Biblical scholars have attempted to build up a picture of the sequence of events leading to the Day of Judgement. There are many ways of interpreting what we read in the New Testament and many differences of opinion among commentators.

I’m not going into all that today. Instead, let’s just see what Peter says in his Second Epistle. He speaks of the Day of the Lord and what should be our response to it. He tells his readers that he wants to stimulate “wholesome thinking” in them:

 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Saviour through your apostles.    (2 Peter 3:2).

That is: the teaching of both Old and New Testaments. We depend on the whole Bible for our understanding of God’s working in his world. What then does Peter tell us? Four things:

1) There will be scoffers

 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.   (2 Peter 3:3-4)

people will come along and mock at the whole idea of the Second Coming and the Day of Judgement. “Where’s the evidence?” they say. “You don’t think God is really going to intervene in the world in that way, do you? Ridiculous! He’s in heaven. He’s a million miles away. He’s not interested in what happens here. Everything in the world will go on as it always has. Why be a prophet of doom and gloom?”

This is the sort of thing they were saying in the days of Peter and that is exactly the sort of thing they say today. Many of them deny the very existence of a God who will judge the world. Either they don’t believe in God at all or they think he is going to save everyone anyway, so there will be no judgement.

But Peter reminds us:

 They deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.  (2 Peter 3:5-7)

They “deliberately forget”, Peter says, that God has intervened before. In fact he has judged the wold before, as we read in the Book of Genesis about Noah’s Flood. And there will come a time when he will judge the world again. The Lord will return to wind all things up. It will be a day if destruction for all that is evil.

2) God’s patience

 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9).

Peter is writing these words towards the end of his life. The generation of people who had actually met Jesus were passing away. It had been generally assumed that the Lord would return during the lifetime of his disciple but this had not happened. Now only a few were left. What then could you say to the scoffers? Perhaps the Christians had got it all wrong and the Lord would never come.

Well, if that was the situation in those days, it’s even more true for us today. We live two thousand years further down the line. I’m sure even Peter himself would have been astonished to be told that the Lord would delay for more than two thousand years before returning!

And yet, in the light of what Peter says here, what is two thousand years? A mere two days! A thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years to the Lord. He does not dwell within the constraints of space and time as we do. He dwells in the eternal present. In the divine order of things the centuries and millennia are nothing.

“Lord?” a man once prayed.

“Yes?” came the reply.

“Lord, can I ask a question?”

“Go right ahead.”

“O, Lord my God, what is a million years to you?”

“Only a second.”

“And, what is a million pounds worth to you?”

“I count it as a penny.”

“Lord, can I have a penny?”

“Sure! … just a second.”

Things will happen in God’s own time. And there is a reason for the delay, Peter says. The Lord is patient and merciful, “not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

The delay is a sign of God’s mercy and love. He is going to give a chance to people. before his return. Jesus said he would return when the Good News had been peached in every nation (Matthew 24:14).

(God doesn’t want anyone to perish but on the other hand he cannot force people to accept him. In the end there will be those who have rejected him, and they will suffer his judgement.)

But look how merciful he is! He has already delayed two thousand years!

3) Destruction of the material universe

 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare…… That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. (2 Peter 3:10,12b,13 )

Now, it’s had for us to grasp exactly what Peter means here. How can the “elements” melt or disappear? I suppose a physicist could answer that in terms of modern science. He could say that atoms can be smashed to subatomic particles. And these can be be further broken down to elementary particles and those broken down further until you have nothing but energy. In fact they anticipate the disappearance of the universe as we know it in the distant future.

But what the scientists anticipate does not seem to be quite what Peter is referring to. He is speaking of a cataclysmic and sudden destruction of all things. Some would see this in terms of a nuclear holocaust destroying the earth. I have my doubts about that. I see it rather as a divine event. God will destroy the universe and then remake it. There will be a new heaven and a new earth in which will dwell righteousness.

The Apostle Paul also refers to the Day of Resurrection in which the dead in Christ shall rise with spiritual bodies in the perfect new word God will create. A world without sorrow or sin of any kind. A world in which death is no more. This is our heavenly hope. It’s not going to be the coming of Christ’s Kingdom to this world under its present conditions. Nor will it be some vague shadowy afterlife as a disembodied spirit. It will be a bright and vibrant new world.

4) So, in the light of this, how should be live?

 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. (2 Peter 3:11,12a)

In our daily lives we should do and say the things that please God. We should love our neighbours, we should share the good news of Jesus, we should feed upon God’s word and pray to him. in doing these things we are actually in some way hastening the return of the Lord.

 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2 Peter 3:14)

We should aim to be at peace with God, trusting in Jesus and knowing our sins are forgiven. Knowing peace with God and peace within.

And a final word from the Apostle:

 Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever! Amen. (2 Peter 3:18)

.