Christmas is about God delivering the promise of His presence at just the right time, so that we could experience God's presence as a follower of Jesus...

This week we have been looking at the reality that, when it comes to God’s presence, timing is everything. We have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Galatians, where a man named Paul revealed for us how God delivered His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world.

But when the fullness of time came; in other words, at just the right time. At just the right point in history, not too early, not too late, at just the right time, God sent forth His Son, Jesus Christ as a baby born to a teenage girl in a feeding trough for animals.

 Jesus entered into humanity and faced life here on earth under the same conditions that all of humanity faced, under the same rules, the same expectations and the same temptations that we face, so that He could totally and completely identify with us. You see, God sent His Son on specific mission to solve a specific problem. A problem that we caused; a problem that separated us from God; a problem that only God, in a bod, could solve.

Christmas began so that Jesus would be able to rescue humanity from the selfishness and rebellion that separated us from experiencing God’s presence. Jesus entered into humanity as a baby in a feeding trough so that He could grow up and live the life that we were created to live but refused to live by following all of God’s commandments, all of the time, so that He could then allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. You see, it is not what we do for God that results in us experiencing God’s presence; it is placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection that results in us experiencing God’s presence in our lives.

In addition, Christmas began so that we could experience God’s presence as His children. Paul explains that Jesus entered into humanity so that we might receive the adoption as sons. In the Roman culture of the 1st century, For Paul to write that God sent His Son Jesus to rescue humanity from selfishness, sin and rebellion so that we would be adopted as His children in spite of our performance, this would have been a revolutionary statement. This would have been difficult to comprehend.

That God would adopt us in spite of our performance instead of because of our performance? That God would make us a permanent member of His family? That I could never be disowned, not because of my performance for God, but because of God’s performance for me? However, Christmas is about God delivering His presence in order to provide an opportunity for rescue and to experience His presence in spite of your performance, not because of your performance. And to provide further evidence of this reality, Paul states the following in Galatians 4:6-7:

Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Here we see Paul explain that we know that God has delivered  on the promise of His presence in order to rescue us from rebellion and adopt us as sons because God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba! Father! The term Abba, in the language that this letter was originally written in, was a term of endearment that was used in the culture of the day to describe one’s closeness to one’s father. In our culture today, this would be a word picture of a young child crawling into the lap of their father and saying “daddy”. 

The word father here, however, conveys the sense of a recognition of God as the Creator and caretaker of the universe. Paul’s point here is that the Holy Spirit is given to followers of Jesus to us as a gift to enable us to recognize our adoption as sons and to empower us to live as His Sons. It is the Holy Spirit’s presence that results in us experiencing God’s presence and empowers us to live our lives in light of His presence. We have access the experience God’s presence and power in our lives because Christmas is about God delivering on His promise to provide His presence in a way that provides us the opportunity to be adopted as a child of the Creator and sustainer of the universe.

And because of that reality, Paul explains that we are no longer a slave who is not a part of the family of God. Instead, we have been adopted into the family of God, in spite of our performance. And as a result of our adoption through God gracious act of sending His Son that first Christmas so that we could experience God’s presence, we are an heir. An heir is one who receives the possession of another.

In the Roman culture of Paul’s day, adopted children became co- heirs with the natural children of their parent’s estates. Paul’s point here is that, as a follower of Jesus, we are a co-heir with Jesus of the Kingdom of Heaven. We share now, and in all eternity, with Jesus, all the blessings that come from living in relationship with God as part of His kingdom.

And the reason that we can experience those blessings is because Christmas is not about us experiencing presents; Christmas is all about God providing the opportunity for all of humanity to experience God’s presence. Christmas is all about God revealing His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world.

Christmas is about God promising to solve a problem that no present under a tree could ever solve. Christmas is about God promising to solve a problem that only the presence of the Son of God hanging on a tree could solve. And Christmas is about God delivering the promise of His presence at just the right time, so that we could experience God's presence as a follower of Jesus.

Christmas is about God delivering on that promise at just the right time, by sending His Son Jesus to enter into humanity in order to live the life we were created to live but refused to live, so that He could willingly allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. Because when it comes to God’s presence, timing is everything.

Maybe you recognize that timing is everything and you are at the place where the time has come for you to respond to the gift of God’s presence through His Son Jesus. Maybe you are wondering “how do I experience forgiveness and God’s promise of His presence in my life by becoming a follower of Jesus?”

The answer is quite simple and can be summarized in three simple words: believe, trust, and follow. First, you need to believe. You need to believe that you are who you are; that you have done selfish things that have hurt God and others and are in need of forgiveness. And you need to believe and that Jesus was who He said He was; that Jesus was God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived His perfect life.

Second, you need to trust that Jesus death for your selfishness and sin provides forgiveness and the relationship with God you were created for. And third, you need to follow Jesus as Lord and Leader.

If you desire to accept God’s experience God’s presence and enter into the relationship with Him that you were created for, you simply need to express to Him that you believe, trust, and desire to follow Jesus as Lord and Leader. There are no magic words, prayers, or formulas. Just talk to God and express that desire to Him.

Because when it comes to God's presence, timing is everything...

A Christmas present of rescue and adoption...

This week we have been looking at the reality that, at the end of the day, Christmas in our culture is about the presents. And, when it comes to presents, timing is everything. There is something powerful when that special present that you spent so much time finding is opened at just the right time, in just the right place. There is something powerful when the timing goes off just as planned and we see the response that we had hoped for when that present is opened.

And that is why it can be so devastating for us when the UPS truck does not arrive on time. And that is why it can be so devastating when our presents are not received with the response that we had hoped for after all of the energy and effort that we placed into that present. Because, when it comes to presents, while timing is everything, could it be that Christmas can become about the wrong kind of presents.

We talked about the reality that Christmas began not so that we could experience presents; Christmas began so that all of humanity would have the opportunity to experience God’s presence. Christmas is all about God revealing His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world.

Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion with a promise. A promise of His presence being delivered; a promise of His presence being delivered in time to provide an opportunity for the rescue all of humanity. Because, when it comes to God’s presence, timing is everything. We see this reality revealed for us in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Galatians.

We saw the Apostle Paul reveal for us the reality that God delivered His presence in the most radical way imaginable by, at just the right time,  sending His Son, Jesus Christ as a baby born to a teenage girl in a feeding trough for animals.

In addition, we discovered that Jesus entered into humanity and faced life here on earth under the same conditions that all of humanity faced, under the same rules, the same expectations and the same temptations that we face, so that He could totally and completely identify with us. You see, God sent His Son on specific mission to solve a specific problem. A problem that we caused; a problem that separated us from God; a problem that only God, in a bod, could solve. Today, we see Paul reveal the mission that Jesus was sent on in Galatians 4:5. Let’s look at it together:

so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

In this single verse, we see Paul reveal for us two reasons why Christmas began as Jesus entered into humanity as a baby born in a feeding trough and under the same rules, the same expectations and the same temptations that we face. First, Christmas began so that Jesus might redeem those who were under the Law. Now this word redeem, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to liberate or rescue. Christmas began so that Jesus would be able to rescue humanity from the selfishness and rebellion that separated us from experiencing God’s presence.

Jesus entered into humanity as a baby in a feeding trough so that He could grow up and live the life that we were created to live but refused to live by following all of God’s commandments, all of the time, so that He could then allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. You see, it is not what we do for God that results in us experiencing God’s presence; it is placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection that results in us experiencing God’s presence in our lives.

But Christmas began not only so that we could experience God’s presence through a rescue mission to liberate us from selfishness and rebellion. Christmas began so that we could experience God’s presence as His children. Paul explains that Jesus entered into humanity so that we might receive the adoption as sons. Now to fully understand what Paul is communicating here, we first need to understand what adoption looked like in the Apostle Paul’s day.

You see, unlike today, most adoptions in the Roman society of the 1st century did not occur when children were babies. In Roman culture, you would never adopt a baby. Now a natural question that arises here is “why would you not adopt a baby? Why would you wait to adopt until children were older?”

In Roman culture, the reason you would never adopt a baby is you would never know what you would be getting.  The Romans recognized that when a baby was born, “you got what you got,” whether you liked it or not. This would include the sex of the child, birthmarks, etc. Thus, according to Roman law, a naturally born baby could be disowned from the family if they failed to meet up to expectations.

However, people adopting an older child knew exactly what they were getting, and no one adopted a child unless that specific child was wanted as a family member. So as a Roman child growing up, you never had a sense of security, because your security and your identity was based solely on your ability to perform.

So what would often happen in Roman culture, where there were many who did not have large families, an affluent but childless adult who wanted an heir would adopt a post-pubescent male, often a slave, to be his son. The need for a male heir and the expense of raising children were strong incentives to have at least one son, but not too many children. However, if that son did not work out, what a Roman citizen would do is disown his son and adopt a slave who had demonstrated the responsibility and ability to continue the legacy that they had built.  

This system of adoption also acted as a mechanism for ensuring a smooth succession, as the emperor often would take his chosen successor and then adopt him as his son. In fact, adoption was the most common way of ascending to the throne without use of force. Probably the most famous adopted man in Republican times was Augustus Caesar, who was the ruler of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus birth. In addition, according to Roman law, an adopted child could not be disowned. He or she was permanently added to the family.

So when the Apostle Paul states that God sent His Son Jesus to rescue humanity from selfishness, sin and rebellion so that we would be adopted as His children in spite of our performance, this would have been a revolutionary statement. This would have been difficult to comprehend. That God would adopt us in spite of our performance instead of because of our performance? That God would make us a permanent member of His family? That I could never be disowned, not because of my performance for God, but because of God’s performance for me?

Maybe I have just described the thoughts that are running through your mind. Maybe you feel like there is no way that God would adopt you; maybe you feel like that you need to change some things in your life, that you would need to clean up your life, before God would even consider adopting you.

If I have described you, here’s the thing; Christmas is about God delivering His presence in order to provide an opportunity for rescue and to experience His presence in spite of your performance, not because of your performance.

Friday, we will see Paul provide further evidence of this reality...

When it comes to God’s presence, timing is everything...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending the Christmas season in a sermon series entitled Presence. During this series, we have been discussing the reality that, at the end of the day, Christmas in our culture is about the presents. Christmas in our culture is driven by the presents we receive from others and Christmas in our culture is driven by the presents that we give to others.

And everything around us reinforces that reality. The advertising on TV and radio reinforces the important of presents. The scenes in the stores and the shopping malls reinforce the importance of presents. The conversations that we have with those around us reinforce the importance of presents. And our desire to get just the right gift for someone reinforces the importance of presents.

We then asked ourselves the following question: After all the energy and effort that we expend on finding just the right present for that special someone, have you ever found yourself disappointed in their response to the present? I mean just think of all the energy and effort that we spend on finding just the right present for someone. And is it not only the energy and the effort that we take to find just the right present; it is also the energy and effort that goes into making sure the present is opened at just the right time.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever been in that place where that special present had to be opened at just the right time, in just the right order? I remember growing up and spending the days leading up to Christmas anticipating what was in each box as it appeared under the tree. I remember thinking through which box I would want to open first. And then Christmas morning arrived and as I went to grab the present that I wanted to open first, I remember my parents saying, “no you can’t open that present yet; you have to open this present first”. And I remember being so frustrated and so excited at the same time. Because, when it comes to presents, timing is everything.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever been in that place where you open a present that seems to open up even more anticipation, more excitement, more questions? In our home growing up, we were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. And of course, there were some presents under the tree that I was not allowed to open yet; so frustrating as a child. One Christmas Eve, I remember picking one present to open that seemed fairly large and fairly heavy, which seemed like a good pick, because as a child we assume that the bigger and heavier the better, didn’t we? Well I opened the present to discover that it was a package filled with batteries of every size and shape. And for the rest of the night, which was a long night, I wondered what those batteries were for, because when it comes to presents, timing is everything.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever been in that place on Christmas Eve where you are looking out the window of your home or office, hoping that the UPS truck arrives with that special present that you waited until the last minute to order?  Maybe, I am the only one who has ever done that. And when the truck arrives, your heart begins to race and your mind begins to ease, because that special present has made it on time. Because when it comes to presents, timing is everything.

There is something powerful when that special present that you spent so much time finding is opened at just the right time, in just the right place. There is something powerful when the timing goes off just as planned and we see the response that we had hoped for when that present is opened. Because, when it comes to presents, timing is everything.

And that is why it can be so devastating for us when the UPS truck does not arrive on time. And that is why it can be so devastating when our presents are not received with the response that we had hoped for after all of the energy and effort that we placed into that present. That is why we can find ourselves watching with amazement as our children spend an entire day playing with the box that the present came in instead of the present that they said they so desperately wanted. That is why we can feel incredibly disappointed when that gift that was so desperately desired by someone ends up gathering dust in a closet only a few weeks after its arrival?

And we are all guilty of this, aren’t we? I mean for the vast majority of us, we do not even remember what or how many presents we received for Christmas last year, or who gave them to us. We have all been in that place where, despite all the efforts going into finding the right present to be opened at just the right time, that present really did not have the lasting impact that we thought that they would. And we have all been in that place where the presents that we thought would fulfill a desire and need in our lives ended up being unable to fill that need. Because, when it comes to presents, while timing is everything, could it be that Christmas can become about the wrong kind of presents.

You see, Christmas began not so that we could experience presents; Christmas began so that all of humanity would have the opportunity to experience God’s presence. Christmas is all about God revealing His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world. You see God’s presence was desperately needed because we have a problem. Christmas is about the reality that God’s presence cannot and will not be present with selfishness and rebellion. Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion that created a void that separated humanity from God.

Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion with a promise. A promise of His presence being delivered; a promise of His presence being delivered in time to provide an opportunity for the rescue all of humanity. Because, when it comes to God’s presence, timing is everything. We see this reality revealed for us in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Galatians. Let’s look at it together, beginning in Galatians 4:4:

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,

In this single verse, we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us how God delivered His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world. But when the fullness of time came; in other words, at just the right time. At just the right point in history, not too early, not too late, at just the right time, God sent forth His Son, Jesus Christ.

And what is so amazing is how God delivered His presence in the most powerful and radical way imaginable. God delivered His presence as a baby born to a teenage girl in a feeding trough for animals. But not only does Paul tell us that Jesus entered humanity as a baby; Paul also states that Jesus was born under the Law. But what does that mean? And is that a big deal?

When Paul refers to the Law here, he is referring to the first five letters that are recorded for us in our Bibles today, which the Jewish people referred to as the Law or the Torah. These five letters contained the list of commandments that revealed God’s nature, God’s character and the type of nature and character that humanity would need to possess and display in order to live in a right relationship with God.

However, instead of living in relationship with God, the Jewish people selfishly rebelled against God. Over time the Jewish people increasingly were involved in actions and attitudes of omission and commission that flowed from selfishness and rebellion and that hurt God and others. And as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people, the Jewish people were guilty of having a problem with God; a problem that resulted in a separation between the Jewish people and God. God’s presence was not longer present because selfishness and rebellion had created a division and void.

And in the same way today, the reason why God’s presence is not present is not because God has changed or moved. The reason why God’s presence is not present is because we have moved; we have rejected the relationship with God that we were created for and instead chosen to run from God and run to selfishness and rebellion.And at just the right time, God sent His Son Jesus into humanity to reveal His presence in the most powerful and radical way possible.

But notice that Paul states that Jesus was born under the Law. Jesus did not enter into humanity in a position where He was above the Law; instead Jesus entered into humanity under the Law. This phrase literally means to be in subjection to the Law. Paul’s point here is that Jesus entered into humanity and faced life here on earth under the same conditions that all of humanity faced, under the same rules, the same expectations and the same temptations that we face, so that He could totally and completely identify with us.

You see, God sent His Son on specific mission to solve a specific problem. A problem that we caused; a problem that separated us from God; a problem that only God, in a bod, could solve. 

Tomorrow, we will see the mission that Jesus was sent on…

God’s promise of His presence was a promise to be present: A promise to enter into humanity.

This week, we have been discovering the promise that God made to provide an opportunity for all humanity to experience God’s presence, which is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. In this section of this letter, we see the prophet Isaiah, who was God’s spokesperson to the Jewish people, the very person who God used to reveal the reality that God's presence is desperately needed  because of the problem of our selfishness and rebellion, used by God to reveal His promise of His presence.

After revealing the reality that the Jewish people were wandering through life separated from the presence of God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion; as the Jewish people began to experience the consequences that came from their selfishness and rebellion, the result was the inevitable emptiness that comes from the absence of God’s presence.

And it was at this point that God would have been perfectly justified in walking away forever from the Jewish people and all of humanity. But that is not what God did. Instead of responding by walking away, God responded with an amazing promise. Instead of promising to walk away from humanity forever, God made a promise to take a step toward humanity. In Isaiah 9:1-5, we see the prophet Isaiah proclaim that God has made a promise to the Jewish people and to all of humanity. A promise of His presence in the form of a rescuer.

Isaiah then reminded the Jewish people of an event from history that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Judges. In Judges 6-8, we read of an event from history involving a man named Gideon, who God raised up to lead the Jewish people during a period in their history when they were oppressed by another foreign nation, called the Midianites. And the Jewish people were very familiar with this event from history.

And now, God is promising to bring another deliverance from oppression through another rescuer. Once again, God is promising to enter into their story in a powerful way. Once again, God is promising His presence to be present with the Jewish people. And the Jewish people were expecting that God’s presence would be present through another leader like Gideon. What the Jewish people did not expect, however, was exactly what Isaiah said next, which we read in Isaiah 9:6-7:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

Now almost all of us are at least somewhat familiar with these verses. We are at least somewhat familiar with these verses because we have received a Christmas card or a coffee mug with these verses written on it. We are at least somewhat familiar with these verses because we have listened as a radio or T.V. station read these verses as part of a commercial.

But place yourself in the shoes of a Jewish person some 2700 years ago. You do not have radio or T.V.; you do not have the letters that make up what we know today as the New Testament. From your perspective, God seems to be distant and disinterested. You are not seeing God’s presence and activity in your lives. There were unanswered prayers. There is a decline in the health and the wealth of the nation. The Northern part of the Jewish Kingdom has already been conquered and you fear that you are next.

And here comes a prophet from God that is promising that God’s presence will once again be present in the lives of the Jewish people through a rescuer. And the prophet then tells you that God’s promise of His presence will be in the form of a baby born to the Jewish people sometime in the future. How would you respond? What would you say? "Really? I mean seriously Isaiah, what do you mean that a child will be born to us and that the government will rest on His shoulders?  I mean a minute ago you were reminding us of Gideon as an example of deliverance from oppression, and now you are talking about a baby doing the same thing? How is that going to work?"

 You see, God’s promise did not involve a repeating of the past. Instead, God’s promise was radically different in both scale and scope. "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

God’s promise of His presence was not going to be achieved through a rescuer that would lead the Jewish people into a war to overcome oppression. This would not be might making right. Instead, God’s promise of His presence would be achieved by God humbly entering into humanity as a child. God’ promise of His presence would be achieved by God taking on flesh.

And God’s promise of His presence would result in One who would rule over all humanity. God’s promise of His presence would result in One who would give wondrous counsel that is unfailing in the depth of its wisdom and insight. And God’s promise of His presence through a rescuer would be God in a bod; this King, this Messiah, this Rescuer, would not be a man who would temporary sit on the throne. This Messiah, this Rescuer would lead for all eternity.

And most importantly, God’s promise of His presence would result in One who comes in peace and who establishes peace between God and between men. God was going to fulfill the promise that He made to King David to usher in a kingdom where humanity would have the opportunity to experience an eternal state of peace with God and one another. A kingdom that would be firmly established and sustained through justice; a kingdom marked by what is right and noble.

Isaiah then explained that God’s promise of His presence was an ironclad promise, because the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. Now this word zeal conveys the sense of having a consuming concern for another’s best and an unwillingness to allow anything to hurt or destroy another. Isaiah is revealing for us the reality that God’s passionate pursuit of humanity and His promise of His presence will not be derailed by anything.

You see, God’s promise of His presence is not simply to bring a king among kings. God’s promise of His presence is to bring the king of kings. God’s promise of His presence was a promise to be present; A promise to enter into humanity. And that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is all about God’s promise to reveal His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world.

As with any promise, however, a promise made is a promise kept. A promise isn’t a promise unless the promise is kept. A promise that is not kept is meaningless and even worthless. Or worse yet, a promise that is not kept, could, at its core, be deceit at the deepest level. So the Jewish people, after hearing God’s promise through Isaiah waited for God to keep His promise. And they waited. And they waited. Some waited longer than others. For over 700 years they waited. Many gave up on God’s promise. Many continued to walk away from God and viewed God’s promise as meaningless and worthless. Because a promise made is a promise kept.

Next week, we will discover that God is a promise maker and God is a promise keeper. We will discover how God kept His promise. And we will discover when God fulfilled the promise to provide an opportunity for all humanity to experience God’s presence...

God's promise to take a step to humanity...

This week, we are discovering the promise that God made to provide an opportunity for all humanity to experience God’s presence. We discover God’s promise in another section of the letter that we looked at least week, that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. As the Southern Kingdom of the Jewish people faced invasion, the prophet Isaiah approached King Ahaz in order to deliver a message from the Lord. And the Lord’s message to king Ahaz was this: “Do not fear this army, because their plan will not happen. Do not place your trust in the Assyrians, place your trust in me. But if you do not trust me, if you trust the Assyrians, understand this; you surely will not last”.

The prophet Isaiah then put King Ahaz to the test by inviting him to test God. King Ahaz, responded to Isaiah by proclaiming that he would not test God. However, the reason King Ahaz refused to test God was not because he feared God; the reason King Ahaz refused to test God was because King Ahaz had already made up his mind. The king had already decided that he would place his confident trust in Assyria instead of the Lord.

 

King Ahaz responded to the situation that he faced from the military threat of the northern kingdom of Israel and the nation of Aram by appealing to and paying the Assyrians a great sum of money to come to his aid. The Jewish people broke their covenant with the Lord in order to enter into a covenant with the false gods of the Assyrians.

And it was this decision by King Ahaz that signaled the beginning of the end for the Jewish people of the southern kingdom. This decision by King Ahaz proved to be the turning point that led to God’s presence departing from the Jewish people. And as a result, the Jewish people were wandering through life separated from the presence of God. The Jewish people were left to grope along the wall like blind men without the light of God’s presence to guide them.

 

Wherever the Jewish people looked, wherever the Jewish people searched, they only found the emptiness and the darkness that comes from the lack of God’s presence. And as the Jewish people began to experience the consequences that came from their selfishness and rebellion, the result was the inevitable emptiness that comes from the absence of God’s presence.

We examined the reality that, while darkness can swallow up a light that is failing, darkness cannot produce or replace that light on its own. Darkness cannot fill the very void that it creates. And just like the setting sun results in darkness on the earth, the Jewish people’s selfishness and rebellion resulted in moral and spiritual darkness setting over their lives. A darkness and emptiness that could not be replaced, remedied, or filled on its own: a darkness that can only overcome by something outside of us.

And it was at this point that God would have been perfectly justified in walking away forever from the Jewish people and all of humanity. As we talked about last week, God is just and God is right. And God, in His justice, will not allow selfishness, rebellion, wrongdoing, or injustice to go unpunished. For God to allow selfishness, rebellion, wrongdoing, or injustice to go unpunished would demonstrate that He is unjust.

All of humanity rejected and rebelled against God and God had every right to exercise His right and just response to that selfishness and rebellion and just walk away. But that is not what God did. Instead of responding by walking away, God responded with an amazing promise. Instead of promising to walk away from humanity forever, God made a promise to take a step toward humanity. We see this amazing promise revealed through the prophet Isaiah is Isaiah 9:1:

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

Here we see the prophet Isaiah proclaim that God has made a promise to the Jewish people and to all of humanity. A promise of His presence in the form of a rescuer. And as a result of God’s promise of His presence in the form of a rescuer, the Jewish people would experience the joy and the numerical, material, and spiritual blessings that come from being rescued and reunited in the relationship with God that they were created for. The Jewish people would be freed from the burden of oppression from other nations that came as a consequence of their selfishness and rebellion.

Isaiah then reminded the Jewish people of an event from history that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Judges. In Judges 6-8, we read of an event from history involving a man named Gideon, who God raised up to lead the Jewish people during a period in their history when they were oppressed by another foreign nation, called the Midianites. And the Jewish people were very familiar with this event from history.

The Jewish people were very familiar with the idolatry and rebellion that marked the Jewish people during that time in history. The Jewish people were very familiar with the fact that God told Gideon to march against the Midian army with only 300 soldiers. The Jewish people were very familiar with how the Jewish nation stood by and watched as God delivered the Jewish people against overwhelming odds by His might and power.

And now, God is promising to bring another deliverance from oppression through another rescuer. Once again, God is promising to enter into their story in a powerful way. Once again, God is promising His presence to be present with the Jewish people. And the Jewish people were expecting that God’s presence would be present through another leader like Gideon.

What the Jewish people did not expect, however, was exactly what Isaiah said next. Friday, we will look at what Isaiah said next...

The darkness and emptiness that no present can fill...

At the church where I serve, we are spending our time leading up to Christmas in a sermon series entitled Presence. Last week, we launched into this series by recognizing that, at the end of the day, Christmas in our culture is about the presents. Christmas in our culture is driven by the presents we receive from others and Christmas in our culture is driven by the presents that we give to others.

We then spent our time together discovering that Christmas began not so that we could experience presents; Christmas began so that all of humanity would have the opportunity to experience God’s presence. We looked at a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Isaiah, where we discovered that God’s presence is so desperately elusive and so desperately needed because we have a problem. We discovered that just as it was for the Jewish people of Isaiah’s day, all of humanity has had a huge problem with God as a result of our selfishness and rebellion. A problem that was universal and insurmountable; a problem that reveals a desperate need to be rescued from. A problem so massively large that only God could solve.

And that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the reality that God’s presence cannot and will not be present with selfishness and rebellion. Christmas is not about us experiencing presents; Christmas is all about God providing the opportunity for all of humanity to experience God’s presence. Christmas is all about the reality that God’s presence is desperately needed because we have a problem. Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion that created a division and a void that separated humanity from God. Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion with a promise.

This week, I would like for us to discover the promise that God made to provide an opportunity for all humanity to experience God’s presence. We discover God’s promise in another section of the letter that we looked at least week, that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. However, to fully understand the significance of God’s promise, we must first understand the context in which God made this promise.

We discover the context in which God made the promise of His presence revealed to us in Isaiah chapter 7 and 8, which occurred during the period between 736 and 734 B.C. The nature and condition of Jewish nation at this time is also recorded for us in another letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of 2 Kings. At this time in history, the Jewish nation was a nation that was divided into two kingdoms; the northern kingdom, which was referred to as Israel and the southern kingdom, which was referred to as Judah.

Now Judah was led by a King named King Ahaz. And King Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings that ever led the Jewish people. King Ahaz embraced the idolatry that had previously consumed the northern kingdom of Israel. He worshipped the false gods of the gentile nations that God had commanded the Jewish people to destroy when He delivered them from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. As part of his idolatrous worship, Ahaz burned incense to these false gods and even burned his sons in fire as an act of worship to these false gods.

And it was during this period of time that the northern kingdom of Israel made an alliance with the nation of Aram, which was located in modern day Syria, to attack Judah. And as the united armies of Israel and Aram marched toward Jerusalem, the southern kingdom of Judah had a choice. And that choice was this; who are we going to trust? Are we going to trust in the Lord? Or should we trust the nation of Assyria, which was the hated enemy of the Jewish people.

Now in those days, an alliance with a foreign nation required adopting that nation’s gods and religious practices. So, an alliance with the nation of Assyria would require the Jewish people to enter into a covenant that recognized the Assyrian gods and an admission of their lordship. As part of this alliance, King Ahaz would even have to redesign the temple altar in Jerusalem that King Solomon had built so that sacrifices would be able to be made to the Assyrian gods.

It is in this context that the prophet Isaiah approaches King Ahaz. As King Ahaz was making preparations for the defense of city of Jerusalem from attack, the prophet Isaiah approached the king in order to deliver a message from the Lord. And the Lord’s message to king Ahaz was this: “Do not fear this army, because their plan will not happen. Do not place your trust in the Assyrians, place your trust in me. But if you do not trust me, if you trust the Assyrians, understand this; you surely will not last”.

The prophet Isaiah then put King Ahaz to the test by inviting him to test God. King Ahaz, responded to Isaiah by proclaiming that he would not test God. However, the reason King Ahaz refused to test God was not because he feared God; the reason King Ahaz refused to test God was because King Ahaz had already made up his mind.

The king had already decided that he would place his confident trust in Assyria instead of the Lord. King Ahaz responded to the situation that he faced from the military threat of the northern kingdom of Israel and the nation of Aram by appealing to and paying the Assyrians a great sum of money to come to his aid. The Jewish people broke their covenant with the Lord in order to enter into a covenant with the false gods of the Assyrians.

And it was this decision by King Ahaz that signaled the beginning of the end for the Jewish people of the southern kingdom. This decision by King Ahaz proved to be the turning point that led to God’s presence departing from the Jewish people. It was this turning point that led to what we are going to read this morning, beginning in Isaiah 8:19:

When they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.

Here we see Isaiah reveal for us the reality that instead of seeking the presence of the one true and living God for guidance and direction, the Jewish people sought guidance from those who would speak with the dead. Instead of seeking the presence of the eternal God, the Jewish people sought the presence of the temporary. And as a result, the Jewish people were wandering through life separated from the presence of God. The Jewish people were left to grope along the wall like blind men without the light of God’s presence to guide them.

Wherever the Jewish people looked, wherever the Jewish people searched, they only found the emptiness and the darkness that comes from the lack of God’s presence. And as the Jewish people began to experience the consequences that came from their selfishness and rebellion, the result was the inevitable emptiness that comes from the absence of God’s presence.

Maybe you can totally relate to where the Jewish people were in Isaiah’s day. Maybe you feel a void and emptiness in your life; you feel that something is missing in your life; something is missing that nothing has been able to fill. Maybe you have tried to fill the emptiness and void in your life with position, or pleasure, or possessions, but at the end of the day, the void, the emptiness is still present.

You see, while darkness can swallow up a light that is failing, darkness cannot produce or replace that light on its own. Darkness cannot fill the very void that it creates. And just like the setting sun results in darkness on the earth, the Jewish people’s selfishness and rebellion resulted in moral and spiritual darkness setting over their lives. A darkness and emptiness that could not be replaced, remedied, or filled on its own: a darkness that can only overcome by something outside of us.

And it was at this point that God would have been perfectly justified in walking away forever from the Jewish people and all of humanity. As we talked about last week, God is just and God is right. And God, in His justice, will not allow selfishness, rebellion, wrongdoing, or injustice to go unpunished. For God to allow selfishness, rebellion, wrongdoing, or injustice to go unpunished would demonstrate that He is unjust. All of humanity rejected and rebelled against God and God had every right to exercise His right and just response to that selfishness and rebellion and just walk away.

But that is not what God did. Instead of responding by walking away, God responded with an amazing promise. Instead of promising to walk away from humanity forever, God made a promise to take a step toward humanity.

Tomorrow, we will discover this amazing promise…

God’s presence is desperately needed because we have a problem...

This week we have been examining why God’s presence can seem to be so fleeting and elusive in our lives. We have been asking the question "Why do we desperately need God’s presence?" To answer this question, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded in our Bibles called the book of Isaiah.

Now the book of Isaiah was written some 2700 years ago to the Jewish people, during a time when the Jewish people had begun to question God’s presence. The Jewish people had recognized that God’s presence was not longer present. And the Jewish people responded to the fact that God’s presence was no longer present by questioning God’s nature and character.

The Jewish people were questioning whether or not God was able to deliver and rescue them from the difficulties and challenges that they were beginning to experience. The Jewish people were questioning whether or not God was even paying attention to their situation. The Jewish people were questioning and beginning to think that God had changed; that God was the problem.

The prophet Isaiah simply and clearly replied that God is not the one with the problem. Instead, the Jewish people were the ones with the problem. Instead of living in relationship with God, the Jewish people selfishly rebelled against God. Over time, the Jewish people increasingly were involved in actions and attitudes of omission and commission that flowed from selfishness and rebellion against God and that hurt God and others. And that is what Isaiah and the letters that make up the Bible refer to as iniquity and sin.

And as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people, the Jewish people were guilty of having a problem with God. A problem that Isaiah states resulted in separation between the Jewish people and God. And in the same way today, the reason why God’s presence is not present is not because God has changed or moved. The reason why God’s presence is not present is because we have moved; we have rejected the relationship with God that we were created for and instead chosen to run from God and run to selfishness and rebellion. Today, we will look on as the prophet reminded the Jewish people of the impact of their selfishness and rebellion had in their lives in Isaiah 59:9-10:

Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men, We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.

As a result of God’s presence being no longer present in the lives of the Jewish people, the Jewish people were no longer experiencing a right relationship with God. The Jewish people were not experiencing God revealing Himself in practical and powerful ways. Instead of the light of God’s presence in their lives, they were experiencing the darkness of God’s absence. 

And as a result, the Jewish people were groping along the way like blind men. They were reaching out and searching for a way to be right with God while being blinded by their selfishness and rebellion. Regardless of age and stage of life; regardless of position or prominence in society, the Jewish people were hopelessly lost and were left to deal with the consequences of their selfish and rebellious attitudes and actions toward God and others.

And the reason why the Jewish people were hopelessly lost; the reason why God’s presence was not longer present in their lives; was due to the fact that God’s presence cannot and will not be present with selfishness and rebellion. God is just and God is right. God, in His justice, will not allow wrongdoing and injustice to go unpunished. For God to allow wrongdoing and injustice to go unpunished would only prove that He is unjust.

And because God is holy, just and right, He will not allow His presence to be present with selfishness, rebellion or injustice. We see this reality repeatedly play out throughout the letters that make up the Bible. Throughout the letters that make up the Bible, we see God repeatedly withdrawal His presence from individuals and nations who chose to run from God and run to selfishness and rebellion.

And throughout the letters that make up the Bible we read that the Jewish people were well aware of this reality. The Jewish people were well aware of both God’s holiness and justice and God’s right and just response to selfishness and rebellion. That is why throughout the letters that make up the Bible, we see individuals respond to an encounter into the presence of God with fear and dread. We see this happen when the writer of the letter we have been looking at this morning, Isaiah, had his encounter with God, which we read about in Isaiah 6:1:

In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined!

Isaiah responds to his encounter into the very presence of the Lord by stating “Woe is me, for I am ruined”. In other words, Isaiah is proclaiming “Oh no! I am a dead man. I am as good as dead”. But why would Isaiah respond to an encounter where they get to experience God’s presence in such a way? Why does Isaiah feel like God is going to take him out? What is the problem here? We find the answer in what Isaiah says next:

Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

 You see, Isaiah knew that the issue wasn’t with God. Isaiah knew that God was not the problem. Isaiah knew that he issue and the problem was with Isaiah. “I am a man of unclean lips and I live among of people of unclean lips”. The problem was Isaiah’s selfishness and rebellion. In the presence of God’s perfect holiness and justice, Isaiah was able to see himself for who he truly was. There was no room for excuses, there was no room for blame shifting; who he was and who God was became painfully apparent.

Isaiah recognized that he had a huge problem with God as a result of selfishness and rebellion. The same problem that the Jewish people faced. The same problem you and I face. A problem that is universal; a problem that reveals a desperate need of rescue from; a problem that is insurmountable. A problem so massively large that only God could solve.

You see, God’s presence is desperately needed because we have a problem. And that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is about the reality that God’s presence cannot and will not be present with selfishness and rebellion. Christmas is not about us experiencing presents; Christmas is all about God providing the opportunity for all of humanity to experience God’s presence.

Christmas is all about God revealing His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world. Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion that created a void that separated humanity from God. A problem that no present under a tree could ever solve. A problem that only the presence of the Son of God hanging on a tree could solve. Christmas is about God responding to the problem of selfishness and rebellion with a promise.

And next week, we will discover the promise that God made to provide an opportunity for all humanity to experience God’s presence...