40 Minutes In The Old Testament - CHF Christmas Special

Episode Date: December 21, 2016

40 Minutes in the Old Testament and 30 Minutes in the New Testament have come together for the Christ Hold Fast Christmas Special! Join Daniel Emery Price, Chad Bird and Erick Sorensen as they talk about their favorite Christmas hymns and take a look at the prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus from the book of Isaiah. Have a listen and Merry Christmas!

Come down to the manger, see the little stranger Wrapped in swaddling, below the beds of peace The wheels start turning, the torches start burning And behold, wise men journey from the east How will you, baby boy Bring the people so much joy Son of a carpenter Mary carried the light

This must be Christmas, must be tonight Welcome to the 40-minute Christ Hold Fast Christmas special. This is where we've done the unthinkable, and we have combined the cast of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament with 30 Minutes in the New Testament, which I am the common denominator there, to talk about some messianic texts and prophecies of Jesus coming. because you know it is tis the season tis the season to be in isaiah so i am joined therefore by both chad bird and eric sorensen how you guys doing today hey we're good this is exciting it's it's good to see the old testament new testament coming together you united in a in

a common bond and goal right never done before never that was always meant to be yeah i i feel like this meeting of 40 minutes and 30 minutes together was was meant to happen before the dawn of time that this was written somewhere it was divinely ordained yeah that's right there chad told me that the reason we had to do this is because if you if you know the hebrew real well it's it's also not only does it speak about the birth of jesus in bethlehem it speaks about the union of 40 minutes and 30 minutes uh discussing the birth of bethlehem hezekiah chapter 3 verse 14 you prophesize that yes yes yes all there yeah so it was uh hey it's really it was really out of our controls meant to be hey uh what we're gonna do here guys is just gonna show up on both the 40

minutes in the uh in the old testament feed and the 30 minutes in the new testament feed this week so if you listen to 30 minutes in the new testament but you don't listen to 40 minutes in the old testament you'll get to hear chad and then if he's not terrible you can go and listen to me and him do uh some old testament stuff and if you listen to 40 minutes but you don't listen to 30 minutes you can figure out if eric's terrible or not and if you like that you can go and check out me and eric talking about the new testament on that podcast it's going to show up both feeds and um yeah so but we're all here together before we get going uh since people will be listening to their christmas songs since they're gonna be traveling on the road

they might need to know what are your favorite christmas carols or hymns chad you go well i'm to go total uh old school on you here i'm gonna go with a luther hymn from heaven above to earth i come it's uh it's it's a it's a long hymn as you might expect coming from luther but it's just packed full of uh good rich uh rich material so that's what i'm gonna go with you know what i would have swore it's shocking that you would go old school and go luther i thought for sure you were gonna say uh you know mary did you know by the gaither vocal band well that was that was gave a second option but i was afraid that eric might steal it yeah every uh every time i hear that song i'm thinking yeah yeah she did like an angel an angel told her so yeah yeah she uh

she totally knew like did you know this was god yeah yeah she did yes uh yeah so my my favorite christmas carol or christmas hymn is what child is this especially when you uh you include all the verses. In a lot of hymnals, they don't include all the verses. But if you look at all the verses of that tune, there's some great imagery about what Jesus actually came to do. It avoids some of the over-romanticized visions of the manger and focuses on the fact that this baby came to ultimately have nails driven into his hands and a spear driven into his side for the redemption of sinners, for the forgiveness of sins. And so I love that stuff. And so I think what child is this is probably my favorite you know eric you uh you have stolen my song well

that's the that's that's my christmas jam right here and if you have not or the listeners have not now you might hate this you might love this i think i feel like this is the way i feel like there's probably not a very good chance of people saying of taking what i'm about to say doing what i'm about to tell them to do and coming away thinking like meh it's all right i think you're either gonna love it or you're gonna hate it but there's a version of what child is this by a band called Cloverton that is uh I love it I love it I'm a little I'm a little bit rock and roll so uh so just know that going in but uh it's it's pretty great and if you hate it that's fine too I get it it's like sometimes you don't want to you know hey no one likes their sacred cows

touched I get it like so if you're if you're uh if that's your your song and you like it you like it on the on the piano or the organ only or the choir i get it but uh maybe if you're a less idolatrous person you can you can suffer it and like it so uh yeah check that out you know you should do you should put that at the end of the uh at the end of the podcast dan i will for our bumper music i will i'll i'll bumper with uh cloverton what child is this uh i'm gonna go with uh savior of the nations come uh that's also an old one actually you know that's that's uh some people credit that to luther but he actually just translated it into the uh into the common language into german there that is actually uh originally accredited to ambrose as a as a christmas as an

advent prayer the father the father of christian hymn today right hey so chad you put that in your pipe and smoke it man yeah you uh you way out schooled me man by centuries it's what it's i feel i feel like my my life's mission is accomplished i just went i just went more old school than chad just went you went you went totally patristic there that's right that's right i like my i like my my hymns patristic all right well that's a good transition though savior of the nations come because what we're going to be talking about today is the the sort of the prophetic voices saying that the Savior of the nations is going to come, the prophecy of the Incarnation. And we're going to start, I think we're going to start in Isaiah here. And Chad,

we'll let you take it away since you are the Old Testament guy. Yeah, so I like to think of approaching Christmas as walking backwards to Bethlehem, because when you're walking towards the Nativity, you're looking back on everything that led up to it. You're looking back on the various prophecies about the Messiah, some of which we will look at today. And you're also looking at narratives that in one way or another are going to serve as a type or a foreshadowing of the incarnation of our Lord, as well as some of the things we've looked at in 40 Minutes in the Old Testament about how Christ already then was manifesting himself in the appearance of a human being to people like Moses at the burning bush or

to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. So when you're walking toward Christmas, you're always walking backwards to Bethlehem, looking at everything that led up to this climactic moment in human history when God takes on our own flesh in order that he might redeem us as his own. so what we're going to look at uh if depending on how much time we have are a couple of sections from the uh the shakespeare of the prophets as he's sometimes called isaiah and uh then if we also have time we're going to check out uh micah one of his contemporaries and see what he has to say about the birthplace of our lord so we're in we're in isaiah 7 that's where we're going to start out and uh this is the prophecy of the virgin birth that's what this chapter is most

well known for but uh way too often that prophecy is just kind of plucked out of the context and unfortunately when that happens you really you miss the whole impact of what this uh this ancient sign was supposed to uh was supposed to communicate so we need to get kind of the the backdrop of where the sign was given in order that we can fully appreciate fully appreciate what it means so this is uh this is a long time before the uh before the birth for the birth of our lord this is in the 700s bc uh specifically about 734 735 bc and uh we got a king in the southern part of Israel in Judah, whose name is Ahaz. So at this time, you've got a long time split between the north and the south. They split after the death of Solomon into the northern kingdom and

the southern kingdom. And there were sporadic civil wars that went on between the northern and the southern parts. And one of those is going on right now. And not only is the northern kingdom threatening and attacking the southern kingdom where Ahaz is king, but they've also joined forces. Some of their neighbors, the Arameans, have joined forces with the northern kingdom of Israel in order to attack and eventually subjugate the southern kingdom. So you've got threats, you've got political alliances, you've got wars and battles and impending possible destruction kind of looming in the background here. And then you've got Ahaz, the king, who's caught between political alliances that he could make. He could try and make a deal with these people attacking

him or the more attractive option for him is to make a deal with the Assyrians and their king Tiglath-Pileser and hopefully then to basically put himself in submission to the Assyrians so the Assyrians are going to help him out. The long and short of this is you've got Ahaz who is faced with an option either he can put his trust in some sort of political salvation which is going to come from the assyrians or he can put his trust in the lord who has sworn to be with israel and to and to protect them so this this whole story really revolves around the question of faith and where that faith is going to be trust placed is it going to be placed in people, in kings, in political alliances, in the things of this world, in the things that

conform to reason and to human expectation? Or is the faith going to be placed in the Lord who's promised to be with Israel, to save them, to preserve them, and eventually to send them the messiah who will who will save them so in the background is this question this question of faith now he has i i don't think that uh i don't think that relying on political maneuvers or military strength uh for your deliverance is uh is applicable at all to our to our current time and place not not a bit not a bit i mean we the the church learned long ago not to put its faith in any sort of political alliances whatsoever well you you you would hope that the church learned that right uh i don't know wouldn't it be nice yeah wouldn't it be nice yeah yeah christians

everywhere are are totally not depending upon political strength and totally reliant upon the the coming of uh of of god in the in the form of christ yeah that's where all our that's where all our hope and trust resides isn't that the way it always is though we're uh because it's always easier to trust in something that we think that we can in some way control or manipulate something that has measurable results something that has immediate satisfaction something that really promises to give us what we want that's that's that's always the direction we go it doesn't matter whether it's the church and politics or us individually and the things under under our control that that's always the way that we by nature gravitate that's because we're all theologians

of glory instead of theologians of the cross because what god asks us to trust in is often that which is counterintuitive and and doesn't seem like it's going to going to work because that's always directed back to the cross and to grace and to things that are outside of our control. So we're all kind of Ahaz, in other words. I can't help but think of Hebrews 11, you know, that defining verse about faith, that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. That one of the real appeals of any idol, which certainly politics can be for people uh and for us is that it's seen and so it seems to you know hey this seems to be a good option for us and constantly in the scriptures we're being

called back to say no no no trust in what's not seen yet but trust in it because god said it yeah yeah so what's what so what's the promise then chad what how is how is god uh say that he's gonna gonna make this okay here here's what happens so god sends isaiah the prophet in order to uh to deliver a word to ahaz now you got ahaz is a bad dude i i failed to mention that i mean he's a lot of the kings in the old testament are bad guys but i mean he's he he outbads even some of the worst kings of Israel. He was a full-blown idolater. He set up an altar to another god in front of Yahweh's temple. I mean, there's hardly anything that a bad king did in the Old Testament that Ahaz didn't outdo. So that's kind of where he's at. And so knowing that beforehand, you can

probably expect what his reaction is going to be when Isaiah approaches him. And Isaiah goes out to him and basically says, hey, this is what the Lord is doing. He's promising to deliver you. And what he's calling you to do is to believe in his word of promise. That's what he's placed before you. So, political alliance or the word of God. And then he follows this up, and this is where we're kind of getting to the whole prophecy that I mentioned earlier. I'm going to read for you what we have in Isaiah 7, beginning of verse 10. So we have this conversation, and then it follows up with the second conversation. The Lord spoke again to Ahaz and said, ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God. Make it as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. But Ahaz said,

I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord. Then he said, that is Isaiah responded, listen now, O house of David, is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel. So that's where we kind of finally reach the uh uh the crescendo in this this whole dialogue that takes place between ahaz ahaz and isaiah so isaiah delivering god's word to ahaz says listen if if it's too hard for you to believe in the the the verbal promise of god then then ask for a sign the lord the lord says you know you can i'll move heaven and earth you can make this sign as as deep as shoal or or

as high as heaven and then ahaz refuses it's kind of this this pious pretense oh no no no i i i wouldn't i would want to test god god is telling you to ask for a sign there's no testing that's going on here you're testing the lord by refusing to ask for a sign it's it's pretty weird when a guy that's got an idol out in front of the temple it's like i i wouldn't want to do anything to offend this god i'm really careful in my piety not to offend god in any way there's something in that by the way the obvious idol outside the temple and then you're like i wouldn't i wouldn't i wouldn't presume upon god's uh god's patience uh who am i to ask far be it far be it for me to test the lord by any actions in which which i engage it's amazing how often we can mask our sin

with false piety right i mean that's that's really going on yeah that's uh that's where we win oh no no no no i'm just too holy for that ask another thing yeah so that that one verse oh i will not ask nor will i test the lord that that perhaps gives us a greater insight into ahaz's personality than than anything else so uh isaiah responds Listen, O house of David Which is interesting He doesn't say, listen now, O Ahaz He says, listen, house of David

Because Ahaz In his person In his office as king He personifies the house of David The house of David here is In reference to the whole Regal lineage Of the kings who are descended

From David Of whom Ahaz was one So the house of David is kind of the whole kingship history of Judah. So Ahaz is embodying kind of all the kings before him and all the kings after him in his one person. So that's important when we hear this sign given. He says, listen now, house of David, it's a too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men that you will try the patience of my God as well. So you're putting God's patience to the limit. And God says, therefore, if you're not going to ask for a sign, even though I've told you to, then I will give you a sign.

And this is what the sign will be. A virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel. well. Now, the reason this sign fits so perfectly with everything that precedes it is because it makes as much logical sense for us to expect a virgin to conceive as it does for Ahaz to expect that salvation would come from the Lord in the presence of all these foes who were surrounding him. So both kind of the political situation of Ahaz and this prophecy situation fit because they're both calling for faith, like Eric said earlier, and that which is unseen, that which is incredible, that which doesn't seem like there's any possibility of it happening. And the only way

it's going to happen is by God speaking into existence this salvation, just like he will speak his word into the into the womb of the virgin so he would speak salvation into this seemingly barren and hopeless situation in which in which ahaz he has found himself yeah so so the prophecy fits then with uh with this this call to to faith in the creative word of god which always accomplishes that which that which speaks yeah you know i think it's i think it's interesting that the the good news right so like the the hope of your salvation uh both the house of david's salvation and and ours this this promise is not uh i mean the god makes some promises that are pretty um pretty flamboyant right i mean like some pretty extreme promises

like where like he like my mighty hand will deliver you and stuff and you can you could interpret those as these sort of like well god through is gonna like wipe some people out or god is going to uh raise us up and then we're gonna you know we're like david we're gonna rise up and slay i mean there's there's prophecies like that in the old testament for israel against their foes and this sort of thing but this prophecy people like this is like i think i just think we can miss it because we're so used to it we're like yeah i mean i set up the nativity like yeah a virgin bore a kid like yeah you know that's what christmas is about but like if you don't know if that's if no one's ever if no one's ever heard this explicitly stated like this before

and then uh this dude comes says god will give you a sign a virgin will conceive that's so weird like one like how am i gonna know about that like how like how am i gonna verify that like like this told this what like we got we got a problem here we got like a military problem here we got like oppressors and enemies and stuff and you're telling me that like oh a virgin will conceive and bear a child awesome that that should be really helpful yeah you know i think the key in at least you know when i read this passage is the very end of verse 14 where we we learn the identity of this child, that he shall be called Emmanuel, you know, God with us, that ultimately what Ahaz is being called to trust is that is God's presence with him and God's presence with

his people, that God is not absent from Ahaz. And Ahaz probably at that moment is feeling, you know, for probably many good reasons of his own doing, that God is not around, that God is not there. But it's actually the promise that this child will be the very presence of God, that the kingdom of God comes with this child that is really the anchor for our hope and the anchor for our faith as well. It's the identity of the child that gives us strength and hope. Yeah. And this is why it's applicable not only to Ahaz, but to us as well. You know, The birth of the Messiah is the promised grace that gave hope to the people of the Old Testament, just like it's the promised grace that gives hope to us today. So this one-time birth, this coming of the Emmanuel, is that which continues to define God's saving presence with us in a time when he's seemingly absent.

so the the the virgin birth the presence of Emmanuel is the assurance that not only is not only is God with us kind of in a in a I guess what we would say a spiritual sense but he has sunk himself into our flesh so this is a this is not just God with us in the sense that you know he's with us in spirit but this is God with us in the flesh a virgin is going to can see a real human child a son and this son is going to be the god who is god who is with us so this incarnate presence of god one of us a brother in the flesh is here to be with us and to and to save us yeah god aligning himself with his creation by becoming one with it is really what i mean what's what the incarnation and the majesty of incarnation is is all about yeah i

I think that it's tempting to believe that we're saved, and this is true, we're saved by this all-powerful God who is able to deliver us and all this sort of thing. That's true, but the good news is sort of looked at as God reigning in power and majesty and strength, right? uh like that's like that's that's going to save us um and you know and like certainly there's this there's this uh we include it in some prayers and stuff we talk about like jesus who was seated at the right hand of the father and that sort of thing but but really uh the the reason the reason we know the reason we can have confidence of that god is for us is because christ is for us and that god not god out there in the heavenly seat at the right hand of the father is why i

know i'm saved as much as god with god with us that god came and made himself low that he conned that he condescended that's that's how i know that he came that he came and united himself to all his creation and like in an actual flesh and blood physical way and that i know that he won't deny that. And that doesn't just end in his incarnation either. I mean, you know, you think about the last words in his great commission, I am with you always to the very end of the age. I mean, his presence is guaranteed. And that's what he gives to his disciples as he's sending them out on mission to comfort them, because the mission is not going to be easy. This life is going to be filled with many tribulations and persecutions and all sorts of difficulty.

But fear not, I am with you always to the very end of the age. Right. Because our hope is not, hey, God is findable. Our hope is not we can find God if we seek him, but rather that he has come and dwelt among us and sought and found us. Right. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. Well, that's Isaiah 7. That's one of the prophecies of the incarnation of our Lord. But shall we move on? Yeah, we got like 13 minutes to look at Isaiah 9. Let's do that. All right, let's keep moving then. So flipping over a couple chapters here, we have another one of these very well-known sections of Isaiah.

And it starts out by referencing a geographical area of Israel. So I'm looking at Isaiah 9, already verse 1 here. It says, there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. It says, in earlier times, God 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 the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. One of the things that the Old Testament does quite frequently is it infuses geography with theology, so that when you look at the terrain, you're actually looking at theology. Because in many cases, Israel put sin on the map. There's some places named after sinful actions.

In other places, there's a mountain, which is the embodiment of God's activity, like Sinai is, of the giving of the law, or the Jordan River, and its meaning in connection with the crossing of Israel into the Holy Land, or even the baptism of Christ in the Jordan River. So geography is important because this geography in some way communicates theology, and that's what's going on here. So you've got the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali kind of in this gloom and in this darkness because of the oppression that they often suffered. This is the northern part of Israel. And because of that, the northern part often bore the brunt of invading armies from the outside. So if anyone was going to get hit, they were going to get hit hardest when an invading army came in. So because of everything they'd suffered over the centuries, these areas of Israel are described as in gloom or in darkness. And they're connected then with Galilee of the Gentiles. But then it goes on after this to say that the people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

And those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. of course this you can't hear light and darkness without thinking of which of which gospel star wars episode four this reminds me of johannine literature this reminds me of john yeah oh you threw the adjective in there johannine yes this is all this is john right he loves this whole light and darkness, these depictions of evil and righteousness, of God's work and the devil's work, of sin and of holiness, you know, this contrast that you have here. So you've got people walking in darkness who are going to see this great light. They don't kindle the light. They see a great light. And they live in a dark land, but the light's going to shine on them. So this is a

this is a shocking epiphany of divine work that's about to illumine the darkness in which they've been residing. So this is God's activity that's about to dawn on them. They have as much to do with it as we have to do with the rising of the sun every day. God simply accomplishes it, and they are shocked by what he's about to accomplish. Yeah, and we talked about this in 30 Minutes in the New Testament as we were going through Matthew, but Matthew references this as he writes to the uh you know matthew is a gospel written primarily to the jews and uh but he so he quotes a ton of old testament right and uh and the and he quotes this he talks about uh because jesus is and he comes from galilee and uh and he talks about hey this this is a fulfillment of that

that this this light that has that has shown on them is in the form of this uh baby on the run Yeah, you know, one of the things that I love about the Gospel of Matthew is that he is, it's like he runs through the whole Old Testament full speed along the way, just picking up verses here and there. And these verses are intended to be kind of windows into other stories in greater context. So that, yeah, that's one of the things he's trying to accomplish is along the way he drops these verses which say, hey, look at how God has prepared the way by giving us these signs of what his son is going to accomplish when he comes. So Isaiah, Matthew, I mean, Matthew is basically preaching on Isaiah when he does that. Well, then it goes on. It says, you shall multiply the nation. You're going to increase their gladness.

They'll be glad in your presence, just like the gladness of the harvest or as men rejoice when they when they divide the spoil. So we've got light dawning. We've got rejoicing taking place, just like people rejoiced at harvest time or they rejoice in victory as they divide the spoils of spoils of war. Why? Well, we're we're getting there. Verse four says, here's what God's going to do. He's going to break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders. He's also going to break the rod of their oppressor, just like he did at the Battle of Midian. Now, I got to say this because this happens to be one of my favorite little verses to point out to something that the Old Testament frequently does. So the Battle of Midian, what's he talking about?

What's the Battle of Midian? Well, that's in reference to something that happened way earlier in the time of the judges, when a judge by the name of Gideon defeated the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east. And if you remember the story, the way that Gideon had 300 men, they weren't Spartans, by the way, this was the original 300, 300 Israelites. And they went out in the middle of the night and they surrounded 300 soldiers. I mean, they were going to a camp of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers. And they went out with not with swords and shields, but with clay jars and torches and trumpets. And they broke the clay jars. They held the torches high and then they blew their trumpets. And God confused the Midianites so much by this that the Midianites just started killing themselves.

So it's this crazy, wild battle that takes place where the victory is given to the Israelites only because God was fighting with them and for them. And I think the reason that's so significant is because in reference to the battle of Midian here, Isaiah is saying, hey, when this victory comes, when the Messiah comes, it's also going to be kind of a backward sort of victory in which he accomplishes salvation by means of unorthodox weapons, things that you would never have chosen, like a cross. Well, let's get to kind of the verse of Isaiah 9. That's verse 6. It says four. So all of this is leading up to verse six. All these things are going to take place. Well, why? Well, here's the reason. Because 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 a 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. Yeah, yeah. You know what I like? So all that is because of the incarnation, because God is going to send his son. And what I love about this, as you see this, It's like unto us a child is born, unto us a child is given. So this is Christ for you. Not like, you know, God will come, but this is given unto. Like the unto is important, like unto you.

Like he's given you, this is Christ for you in the incarnation to do all these things. And what does this? This is the zeal of the Lord will do this, right? And like that word zeal, correct me if I'm wrong in Hebrew, but I know up in that Greek, it's like the passion of the Lord will do that, which reminds me again of John, who says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, right? That the love of God, the zeal of God, the passion of God will do this,

that God is passionate about this, and that it's him alone that accomplishes this. I'm reminded of the, there's a hymn by Johann Gerhardt where he says, love caused the incarnation. Yeah, yeah, that's what this is all about. Just a side note to this too. When Luther preaches on this passage, man, if you want to hear, frankly, if you want to read great Christmas preaching, read Luther preaching on Isaiah 9. I mean, it really doesn't get better than this. Whereas you would think that he would naturally spend a ton of time on the wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, those amazing declarations of this child, where he spends his time almost in every Christmas sermon on this passage is in those first

words of verse six, unto us. And he will say, you need to capitalize those two letters, U and S, because those are the letters that make everything matter in this passage. For you, for you, for you. That's the gospel. I mean, that's what makes it good news and simply not news, right? This isn't just news that a child was born, even just news that a child who's a great child was born. It's not even just news that God was born, but that all of this happened for us. That's what makes it good news. So the gospel is not just simply the declaration of what God has accomplished, but the declaration of what God has accomplished for us and for our salvation. So yeah, I mean, write those words in gold because that's where that's where the gospel is it's all done on our

on our behalf yeah yeah yeah yeah the unto us and the uh and the given you know the last time i preached on this i basically spent the the entire sermon of that and and when you hear those words given i'm gonna get a little sacramental here but uh but when he when he's when isaiah says unto you a son is given and you know and jesus in the lord's supper says you know there's this sort of you know given and shed right this is that sort of thing like his body and blood this is this is the the boiled all down like the incarnation the coming of christ is about it's about a gift i mean it's the whole reason we give each other gifts on christmas because uh this is out of response to this incredible gift that we've been given Christ. We've been gifted God in flesh out of the passion

of God. He's just given us this and asked for nothing in return. That's the great message of the incarnation, right? Emmanuel, God with us, a child born to us, God active out of his zeal for us, out of his love for us in order to do anything. In fact, even becoming one of us in order that he might make us make us his own that's that's the gift of the incarnation that we have that we have not only god for us and with us but that god has become one of us to share our own human nature and that we might have uh everlasting assurance that he will not leave us or or forsake us that's it guys that's christmas according to isaiah and that's out of time for us hopefully everyone enjoyed uh us rambling sort of uh through this we put this together last minute so hopefully we

didn't confess any heresies uh that's the that's a goal hey check out uh 30 minutes in the new testament if you don't uh check out 40 minutes in the old testament if you don't and uh you can you can uh hear more of this stuff we really appreciate and we hope that all of you guys have a have a very blessed and and merry christmas guys thanks so much for coming on hey glad to be here thank you merry christmas guys Why lies he in such mean a state Where rocks and dust are feeding Did Christians fear for sinners here

The silent word is pleading This is, this is the Christ our King Whom shepherds call and angels sing Haste, haste to bring Him praise and love The Son of Mary The Son of God We'll see you next time.