Morning Message Text: Matthew 24: 36-44
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;
39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Morning Message:
This year during this wonderful season of Advent I want us to take a closer look at the Nativity. Every year we sing songs about it. We adorn our homes with scenes and reminders of it. We greet strangers with its glad tidings. And even a world ignorant of its purpose celebrates its remembrance. It is Christmas, the time of year when we rejoice in the earthly coming of Jesus Christ. It is the season when all the world stands still at the celebration of this: the most significant event in human history. But even as believers, how often do we really focus our attention on this remarkable story? If we are truly honest, the answer is not very often. Instead, we spend Christmastimes shopping for presents for those we love, cooking meals for family gatherings, and decorating our homes with festive lights and ornaments. Should we regret these holiday traditions that we share with those nearest and dearest to us? Of course not! Christmas is a wonderful time to embrace the blessings of our families and our love for one another. However, in the midst of these activities, we need to take the time to remember what Christmas is really all about and just why it had to happen the way it did.
There is so much more to this story than just the birth of the Child in Bethlehem. The question that has been pondered by many throughout history since the birth of Jesus is: Why did Jesus become a man? Why did God come to earth, be born in such a lowly place to poor parents, and live on this planet? Today I want to give you five reasons why Christmas was necessary. In Luke 24: 44, Jesus said, “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” Everything said about Him in the Old Testament had to be fulfilled in His coming. Do you realize that it would be almost possible to write a complete Christology using only the Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus? Every page from Genesis to Malachi trembles with the wondrous anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. More than three hundred Old Testament prophecies about Jesus Christ have been fulfilled. A mathematician calculated that the possibility of all of these prophecies being fulfilled in one person is 1 in 83 billion. Jesus became a man to satisfy the Old Testament prophecies. God’s Word, His holy scripture, is always true and had to be fulfilled.
Jesus became a man to show us the Father. When Philip was talking with Jesus, he said, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus was God in a body, so if you want to know who God is, you need to know who Jesus is because Jesus teaches you who God is. When you see Jesus doing what he did in the gospels, you are watching God at work. Do you want to know God? Get to know Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” You see, an all-knowing God understood that the only way that our finite minds could understand a Holy God was if we could see Him just like we can see each other. Jesus came to make that possible.
Jesus became a man to save us from our sins. In 1 Timothy 1: 15 Paul wrote, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” We had to have a God-Man to save us. And because Jesus was God and Man, He lifted up one hand and took hold of the Father and with the other reached down and took hold of man. And at the cross, in a moment of time, He brought them together. And now with His hands reached out, He offers His salvation to all who will come. If Christ had not come, the course of humanity would be one long, downward, hopeless trudge toward the eternal night of despair. But Almighty God interrupted all of that. He shut down the cycle of sin by sending Jesus to be our Savior. If you’ve never put your trust in Jesus Christ, you cannot know Him; and without knowing Him, you cannot know God. And without accepting Him, you cannot be forgiven. That’s the purpose of His coming, to forgive our sins.
There are two more reasons, but I must keep them short for now. Jesus became a man to sympathize with our weakness. Jesus knows what it is like to live in these earthly bodies with all of these frailties. He knows what it’s like to be tempted and feel pain and suffering. He knows how weak that we can be and how much we need His strength in this world.
Jesus became a man to secure our hope of heaven. He came down so that we could go up. Colossians 1: 27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Until Christ comes to live within your heart, you are not fit for heaven. The only way that you can live in heaven is with Christ in you. Jesus is the only way to heaven; you must come to God through Jesus because Jesus is God. If almighty God has fulfilled all that He said about the first coming of Christ, then everything He says about His Second Coming will be fulfilled in the same precise way.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
Views: 12
