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| The Annunciation, by Norma A. Boeckler |
Mid-Week Advent Service,
December 2, 2020, 7 PM Central
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
https://video.ibm.com/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship
The Psalmody Psalm 14 p. 124
The Lection
Sermon Hymn # 410 Jesus Lead Thou On
The Lection
Sermon Hymn # 410 Jesus Lead Thou On
God in the Flesh - God Incarnate
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect for Peace p. 45
The Benediction p. 45
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.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Announcements and Prayers
- Luther's Galatians is in print, full color, at Lulu. I will be sending them out at my cost. Thank you Norma Boeckler, Alec Satin, and Janie Sullivan.
- Walther, the American Calvin is next. Then Creation Flowers, then the Bible text and translations.
- In treatment - Christina Jackson, Mary Howell, Rush Limbaugh.
- Doctor's care - Pastor Shrader, Randy Anderson.
- Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Our media ministries - Alec Satin, Norma Boeckler, Travis and Lauren Cartee, Pastor Jordan Palangyos.
God in the Flesh - God Incarnate
One Way To Hear the Scriptures
There are only two ways to read and understand the Scriptures. One is to see them as God's direct speaking to man through the Holy Spirit, the Bible being His actual Word, full of power, clarity, mercy, and forgiveness, but also full of wrath for those who reject its truth.
The Alternative Way To Hear Them
The other way to read the Scriptures is to see them as a collection of documents about God (not by God through His Spirit). They are interesting in some respects but not normative since they are ancient and from other cultures. However, they are a good specialty for those academics who lost their faith or never had any. All Biblical scholarship today (with almost no exceptions) is done from a purely rationalistic perspective, even to the point of ignoring the obvious harmony of the Bible and its external and internal proofs. External proofs match the Scriptures with documentation showing the truth of the passage, such as the title of the mayor of a town. Internal proofs are the unity of the books from so many sources and the power of the Word itself.
This alternative view is often the result of those who hold their authority to be greater than that of the Word of God. They may say all the right things about inerrancy, infallibility, and other terms - not just inspired but plenary inspiration - and yet land on the rationalistic side because the authority or tradition comes first. Notice that in the name of science, the Virgin Birth of Christ is denied as a mark of scientific purity, ignoring the context alone and denying the Word in the name of the false god science.
Modern, eloquent but rationalistic theologians will treat the Virgin Birth as symbolic. Once they consign everything to symbols, they can talk or write about them all day.
God Became Man - The Great Miracle
We should never grow weary of thinking about Jesus as both God and man, Two Natures united in One Person. When people distort the Isaiah passages, they are really saying, "Jesus was just a man, a good man, an exceptional teacher, maybe even a revolutionary, or labor organizer, but just a man."
This is a mystery or wonder revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Word, not something we can figure out from our rather puny perspective. But that perspective should help us see how great this is, that God would live among us, suffer, and die for us, and rise from the dead.
Their effort to turn the passage into a "young woman will conceive" is foolish. This sign from God is unlike our weak modern version. "My lucky number is 15, so when the Buddhist priest showed me the secret number, I knew it was a sign from God." (Actual quotation, Eastern Religion Class. Tricksters elicit information then used it later to prove divinity. My wife and I heard this done with a medium.)
God is angry with the hypocrite Ahaz for rejecting a miracle from God. In His anger, God directly reveals that His miracle will be a Virgin giving birth to a son. The rationalists have this as a young woman giving birth. (First edition of the RSV, now a footnote, just as bad in many modern versions. NIV - Isaiah 7:14 Or young woman).
Where is the miracle? Those who deny miracles, of course, like this young woman interpretation, which leads them into Unitarianism and Atheism. I have known clergy who followed that path, from Church Growth to aggressive Atheism.
The Star alerted all of Jerusalem and the Wise Men that something divine was at work, and the Wise Men visited. This was the marker, like many such markers today, only far more celestial. The Name of this Son was already in the Hebrew Scriptures, God with Us.
9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom...
Isaiah 9 also predicts the work of the Messiah, using titles to fill in the meaning of this Virgin Birth. They take us back to Genesis, where God promised that Abraham's descendants would be like the stars in the sky. That is impossible in human history, but it is true of the Kingdom established by his line, which led to Christ.
This is a good example of the internal proof of the Scriptures, because the narrative begins at Creation and continues into the Roman Empire, with that tiny Kingdom transformed into millions and spreading across the earth.
1. O Jesus Christ,
Thy manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
For there, O Lord,
Doth lie the Word
Made flesh for us; herein Thy grace forth shineth.
2. He whom the sea
And wind obey
Doth come to serve the sinner in great meekness.
Thou, God's own Son,
With us art one,
Dost join us and our children in our weakness.
3. Thy light and grace
Our guilt efface,
Thy heavenly riches all our loss retrieving.
Immanuel,
Thy birth doth quell
The power of hell and Satan's bold deceiving.
4. Thou Christian heart,
Whoe'er thou art,
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!
For God's own Child,
In mercy mild,
Joins thee to Him; - how greatly God must love thee!
5. Remember thou
What glory now
The Lord prepared thee for all earthly sadness.
The angel host
Can never boast
Of greater glory, greater bliss or gladness.
6. The world may hold
Her wealth and gold;
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.
To Him hold fast
Until at last
A crown be thine and honor in full measure.
Thy manger is
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.
For there, O Lord,
Doth lie the Word
Made flesh for us; herein Thy grace forth shineth.
2. He whom the sea
And wind obey
Doth come to serve the sinner in great meekness.
Thou, God's own Son,
With us art one,
Dost join us and our children in our weakness.
3. Thy light and grace
Our guilt efface,
Thy heavenly riches all our loss retrieving.
Immanuel,
Thy birth doth quell
The power of hell and Satan's bold deceiving.
4. Thou Christian heart,
Whoe'er thou art,
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!
For God's own Child,
In mercy mild,
Joins thee to Him; - how greatly God must love thee!
5. Remember thou
What glory now
The Lord prepared thee for all earthly sadness.
The angel host
Can never boast
Of greater glory, greater bliss or gladness.
6. The world may hold
Her wealth and gold;
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.
To Him hold fast
Until at last
A crown be thine and honor in full measure.
The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #81
