Mid-Week Advent Service, 2016
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Psalmody Psalm 2 p. 124
The First Lection
The Second Lection
The Sermon Hymn #61 Hark a Thrilling Voice
The First Lection
The Second Lection
The Sermon Hymn #61 Hark a Thrilling Voice
The Great Miracle - God Incarnate - God in the Flesh
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
Sermon - The Great Miracle - God Incarnate - God in the Flesh
Isaiah 7:10 Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
This passage is often debated over the issue of the Virgin Birth. For some reason, the people who pretend to be shocked about rationalism and denying the Virgin Birth of Jesus forget one thing. The greatest single source of this rationalism was Halle University, which was the center of denying the truths of the Scripture and defining Justification as universal, everyone forgiven without faith.
As I have said many times before, the language alone of the passage states that this will be a great miracle, even greater than the one promised by the prophet. When the hypocritical king denies any need for a miracle, the response is extremely harsh, ending with God Himself will give this miracle.
Based upon the language alone, this miracle must be gigantic, a miracle of miracles, so the Halle wise guys said, "Just a young woman giving birth to a baby." And their fellow wise guys have said the same thing ever since.
As dense as that is, that rationalism pales in comparison with the even greater miracle - God in the flesh. Immanuel can only mean that. El is for God, and Immanu means "with us."
So the issue is not proving what the passage says. The Hebrew word almah means virgin, and the explanation goes beyond that, transcends that to say - God with us - his name.
One part of this miracle reflects upon the other. This unique birth to come would be the marker of the Messiah coming to the world. Because it was far beyond man's reason, that also signaled that the Son of God would not act according to man's material desires, but fulfill God's will.
This is a good example of what Luther taught about God's Word. He observed that men claim they cannot believe what is taught in the Scriptures because they defy human reason. But if man could comprehend one thing, like Creation, or the Incarnation (God with us; God in the flesh), we would not need the Bible at all.
The Bible reveals mysteries through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. We can support those mysteries through our observations, but teaching comes by revelation, not by adding up our evidence.
For example, Creation is a mystery. No one can explain how it happened, and every effort by man falls apart. However, we can see the truth in that mystery when we observe the way everything around us is perfectly times so that animal and plant life work together in every possible way.
I have a plant that sows its seed easily, and in doing so provides food for the beneficial insects all summer - Fever Few. It is also a medicine for headaches. I planted two of them this fall, and every time we have a thaw after a hard freeze, the plant greens up and grows again. Not even the mints are doing that. This has to be design rather than random chance. And it can be multiplied thousands of times over in anyone's yard.
Is Jesus the Son of God? His resurrection has never been refuted, and the greatest skeptics have to agree. Of course we can always find some so blind they have to deny everything. But this has withstood the attacks of the rationalists, whose reasoning falls apart with only a little research.
In a way, the attacks were good, because they made many researches go back to the sources to show the wise guys were wrong - about the Star of Bethlehem, about the early date and great reliability of the Fourth Gospel.
What began as a mystery - Creation - and continued as a mystery - the Promise of a Savior, God in the flesh, the Virgin Birth - culminated in Christ dying for the sins of the world - the Atonement.
Parser link
Lenski, p. 382:
The sum and substance of true religion is fellowship with God. Hence any number of men claim to have such fellowship, in particular the heretics who deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that his blood alone places us into and maintains us in fellowship with God. That is true to this day. John's encyclical rightly lays the circle of facts centering on fellowship with God upon the great fact that Jesus Christ is the Logos of the Life, the Son of God, to which fact the apostles are witnesses. The presentation is simple, clear as crystal, complete as a unit. John ranges the facts that are pertinent to fellowship with God together so that the readers may at once see that they are truly in this essential fellowship and may also note who is and who is not in it. The presentation of this group of facts is an assurance to the readers and at the same time strikes at the liars who deny the deity of Jesus and the power of his blood.
2 τεκνια μου ταυτα γραφω υμιν ινα μη αμαρτητε, και εαν τις αμαρτη, παρακλητον εχομεν προς τον πατερα ιησουν χριστον δικαιον
Very basic simple Greek. Why? In a metro area, many know Greek but some only basic Greek for trade.
2 και αυτος ιλασμος εστιν περι των αμαρτιων ημων ου περι των ημετερων δε μονον αλλα και περι ολου του κοσμου
propitiation? - ιλασμος - by placing the Greek word in Google and adding Strong, we get an instant list of occurrences and possible meanings.
3 και εν τουτω γινωσκομεν οτι εγνωκαμεν αυτον εαν τας εντολας αυτου τηρωμεν
obey commands or guard/observe them? The verb is used in the sense of guarding a jail cell.
kappa is often the sign of the perfect tense.
4 ο λεγων εγνωκα αυτον, και τας εντολας αυτου μη τηρων, ψευστης εστιν και εν τουτω η αληθεια ουκ εστιν
The positive and the negative statements are basic to the Christian Faith. Note that the UOJists do not admit, "We are against JBFA," but say "We excommunicate those who deny our precious UOJ." That is dishonest and cowardly.
5 ος δ αν τηρη αυτου τον λογον, αληθως εν τουτω η αγαπη του θεου τετελειωται; εν τουτω γινωσκομεν οτι εν αυτω εσμεν
The Greeks had the brains, but we have the punctuation.
6 ο λεγων εν αυτω μενειν οφειλει - καθως Eκεινος περιεπατησεν - και αυτος ουτως περιπατειν
The second infinitive finishes the thought. The one saying ought to remain (John 15) - just like Jesus - that man ought to walk thusly. Jesus is the bracketed thought, the ideal or pattern.
7 αδελφοι ουκ εντολην καινην γραφω υμιν, αλλ εντολην παλαιαν ην ειχετε απ αρχης; η εντολη η παλαια εστιν ο λογος ον ηκουσατε απ αρχης
Paleontology.
8 παλιν εντολην καινην γραφω υμιν, ο εστιν αληθες εν αυτω και εν υμιν, οτι η σκοτια παραγεται και το φως το αληθινον ηδη φαινει
9 ο λεγων εν τω φωτι ειναι - και τον αδελφον αυτου μισων - εν τη σκοτια εστιν εως αρτι
John is addressing those fooled by the false teachers, who claim to be with the light and are in darkness and hate.
10 ο αγαπων τον αδελφον αυτου εν τω φωτι μενει και σκανδαλον εν αυτω ουκ εστιν
Strong Thayer for σκανδαλον. The term meant the trigger of a snare trap.
11 ο δε μισων τον αδελφον αυτου εν τη σκοτια εστιν και εν τη σκοτια περιπατει και ουκ οιδεν που υπαγει οτι η σκοτια ετυφλωσεν τους οφθαλμους αυτου
12 γραφω υμιν τεκνια οτι αφεωνται υμιν αι αμαρτιαι δια το ονομα αυτου
