One of the most surefire ways to hit you in the feels is to watch people being reunited at Christmas. Especially when the war in Afghanistan and Iraq was in fully swing, to see a soldier returning home, wells up a sense of hope and joy for both that family and others.
But the one homecoming that gets me at the heart, is when a dog sees their owner again. Because we as individuals may embrace each other after a long separation, but that usually only lasts until it’s normal to see each other on a regular basis once again. But for dogs, no matter if it’s ten minutes, or ten months, they’ll be just as excited at you’ve return.
And it’s this idea of return that brings us back to our Christmas series, where we’ll be picking it up in one of the most iconic Christmas passages, Isaiah 9:6 & 7. And as we open up to Isiah 9:6, let’s bring back to our minds what we talked about last week.
In the first week of our Carol of Christmas series, we talked about Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and how it’s main emphasis is about the past, present, and future of Christmas. We then talked about how the real Christmas story also has aspects of a past, present, and future. It’s here that when began to discussion the first of four of these moments when we talked about God’s first hope for humanity. In the midst of humanity’s fall, God gives hope that the offspring of the woman would overcome the serpent. We then briefly followed that prophecy of an offspring through the Old Testament until we came to it’s realization in Jesus, who overcame the serpent on the cross. We then talked about how we are living in that present victory still, but how the full victory is still to come when Jesus returns. Then we talked about how until Jesus returns, we must first accept his work on the cross, and submit to God so as to resist the serpent until it’s final defeat.
We know turn our attention to another past, present, and future of Christmas that begins in Isaiah 9:6-7, so let’s read together. “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
In this past prophecy of the Christmas event, we’re again connected to that offspring idea from last week. It’s not the same language as Genesis 3:15, but the subject is still in full view here. Yet we’re given a little more detail about what this child will be doing and an insight into who he is. The child will be a boy, narrowing down the population by half, but emphasizing his humanity in that he will be born. Yet he will also be divine, being called Mighty God, with emphasis upon his divine wisdom, his eternal nature, and his bringing of peace. And his work, his kingdom will be brought about. This boy will bear the weight of the government upon himself, he will sit in the lineage of his ancestor David, and the kingdom he will reign over will be one that holds justice and righteousness for all eternity. And it will be God who will do all of this, because it is God himself who will come to earth as this boy.
This prophetic word is written around the mid 700s BC, and in roughly 700 years it would begin to be fulfilled on that first Christmas night.
It was Mary who was found to be with child without knowing a man. She would then give birth to a son, who would go on to astound the teachers of the law at an earlier age, showing he possessed divine wisdom. He would teach peace and point to his nature as the God who came down. This is what brought the religious teachers against him. A man who claimed to be God was blasphemous if it were not true. And so they arrested him in the dark, brought lies against him, and carried him off to the Roman authorities to be crucified. It was there that Jesus was confronted by the Roman governor Pilate in John 18. Starting in verse 33 we read their conversation. "33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ 35 Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?’ 36 Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.’ 37 Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’”
In this moment, the world government collides with the Eternal Ruler. Pilate, who represents Rome’s rule, asks if Jesus is indeed a king. After having his own question answered, Jesus responds in the affirmative. But it’s not a rulership like Pilate is thinking. Pilate would know his regional history and is probably thinking of rebellion, like in the case of the Maccabees, from which we get the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. So Pilate is probing to see if Jesus was trying to insight such a rebellion. And what does Jesus do? He alludes to the Isaiah 9:6-7 passage. Jesus was born for the purpose of being king, and he came into the world to bear witness to this truth and to call people to himself.
Yet, like we said last week, Jesus went to the cross. To the Romans it was one, if not the most, shameful way to die. They used it to punish those that would try to usurp Rome’s power and authority; a power and authority that was challenged by Jesus’ very presence. Yet in that moment Pilate had a moment of clarity, realizing that Jesus wasn’t like the rebels in the past, seeking to release him, and yet God’s plan to bring about the path to salvation still brought Jesus to the cross. Through that death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, his kingdom began to march forward in the proclamation of the Gospel.
This is where we live, in the time where the kingdom of God is being proclaimed for all those who would turn from their sins and turn to the true king of the world, Jesus. Speaking of this kingdom, Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of people would die for Him.”
This is the where the kingship of Jesus stands right now, but there is a future to this Christmas event. We read about this future fully established kingdom in Revelation 20:4-6, “4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”
The Scriptures tell of a time when Jesus will return to fully establish his kingdom over all aspects of his creation. In the day, the Scriptures tell us in Philippians 2:10-11, “10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This means all rebellion will be quelled and those who have trusted in Jesus as their Savior will be ushered into the eternal presence of their King and it will be a joyous day. But those who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior will find that their rejection, though it will be tolerated for a time, will eventually come to an end, and they will be judge into the eternal separation that the serpent from last week enters into. As Jesus himself states in Matthew 25:41, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
This is why the proclamation of the Gospel of the kingdom is so important to participate in. When we don’t take the command of Matthew 28:19-20 seriously, we are not taking the future kingdom of Jesus seriously. Christian, do you believe Jesus is coming back? Then you must take every opportunity that God gives you to be in prayer for the lost around you. We must take every opportunity to serve the hurting and abandoned. We must take every opportunity to share the message of Jesus with those who would listen. This is all done so that on that day when we see Jesus return in his full authority to rule for eternity, the joy of knowing we can hear the words of, “Well done, good and faithful servant (Matthew 25:23),” and they will ring out and bring greater joy with them, because we have done what Jesus called us to do.
This is where our challenge for this week begins; if you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, today is the day. God is calling you out of your sin, that rebellion that we all have done and so fallen so far from God, and because it was so far and so deep, we ourselves could not get back. But God bridged the gap. He came down, wrapped himself in our flesh to walk like us in every way, except the rebellion. This is what Isaiah prophesied about, when he spoke of the child being born who was Mighty God. But to fix our rebellion, Jesus died, because death waits for us all, and not just a death of the body, but an eternal death that is an unimaginable hell of separation from everything good, because everything good comes from God, and we will be separated from him. Yet Jesus died, that we might not have eternal death, and now if we accept that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and if we accept his work for us, and move forward in following him, at his arrival we will be as joyous as when a loved one returns home for Christmas. Don’t let another Christmas go by, without calling on the Savior.
To the believer who has accepted Jesus as their personal Savior, we are called to share him and his kingdom, so let’s do it. I want to challenge you to accomplish three tasks this week. Pray for one person, someone who you may or may not have a close relationship with, but who is not a disciple of Jesus. Then serve one person who is not a believer; maybe make them a Christmas pie, or fix their leaky pipe. Finally share the message of Jesus, his death, resurrection, and return, with someone. It could be all for one person, or three, but take seriously the return of Jesus, by actively participating in his kingdom work.
Let us be a people who not just look forward to the return of Christ, but are active in it. Jesus stated in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” In the Alliance we have a mantra, about this passage, “Bring back the King!” Let’s do our part in proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed so that may see the King of kings in his kingdom. Amen.
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