Not for Ladies - Just for Men
Bill Gorman is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Margate, Florida.
One of the clearest references to the deity of Christ is found right here. “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:22-23) Matthew gives us the Hebrew word, which being interpreted is “God with us,” clearly, signifying the deity of Christ and also the presence of God with in the lives of those who are saved. John one says the word was made flesh and dwelled among us. Clearly, that is what the name Emmanuel is, a designation of God with us. Look back a verse. “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) Jesus is Saviour. Jesus is deity “God with us, and we see a lot of that in the book of Isaiah, talking about who the Saviour would be. But clearly if you want a verse to show the deity of Christ, it is right there, and in Luke. You can use that to show people that Jesus Christ is definitely deity, God the Son, and we believe in the Trinity clearly, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in the Bible. When you study your Bible, and think, “That sounds like the Trinity,” mark it down, study it, and look up verses that talk about the Trinity. Study it out and compare scripture with scripture, and you will find a lot of teaching about the Trinity. Baptists ought to know what you believe, but this is a good verse right there about the doctrine of the Trinity. The prophecy was this. “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 7:14) Now, we have here the birth of Immanuel, prophesied in Isaiah, which is Jesus Christ in the New Testament. We know that because we came after the cross. They looked forward to Immanuel, to the Lamb of God who would be slain, but a lot of Israel didn’t get it. Isaiah talked about it a lot. Sometimes you read through Isaiah, and think, “A lot of this is like the New Testament.” You find things that pertain to your Christian life very closely, because no matter what time period it is, believers were believers. We have more revelation, but they looked forward to Immanuel. They look forward to God with us; whereas we look back to Christ and the cross. We know who Immanuel is literally from Matthew chapter one on, the birth of Christ, and here in Isaiah 7:14, it was still prophecy. This is several hundred years before Christ was born, and that was going to be the sign, that He would be born of a virgin. Some versions try to say the word means ‘young woman.’ It doesn’t. Even the Greek word used in the New Testament means ‘virgin,’ so the New Testament always clarifies the Old Testament. It is all the word of God. Don’t misunderstand. Some of you people borrow from messianic Jews, and that will confuse you. You are going backwards. We are not trying to be back under the law. The New Testament has to be our light to illuminate the Old Testament. A lot of people got this weird idea that Israel knew better than us, they knew God better. “No, no, no!” When Jesus came, He clarified a whole lot of things for them, however, believers were always believers, looking forward or looking back to His shed blood for us. The good thing for us is that we have more light than they did in Old Testament times. We are in a different part of history, but we have a lot more light now since we have all 66 books of the Bible, whereas they did not have all of scripture available to them. Here we learn the birth of Immanuel, God with us, would be a sign. It was just a young virgin girl, which required His birth to be a miracle, and we know from the New Testament that her name was Mary. Again, Matthew and Luke clarify that for us. The New Testament clarifies that it is the miracle of the virgin birth. So, here in Isaiah, we have the coming or the birth of Immanuel. We already had, back in Isaiah chapter 6, some visions of what John said, where Isaiah saw His glory and was talking about Jesus. In chapter 6, we have a vision of the Lord upon his throne, and what John 9 says is that Isaiah saw his glory and spake of Him. We already have Immanuel in the vision seen there. In Isaiah chapter 7, we have Immanuel coming in the incarnation, God with us. It is no mistake in Isaiah that “Jehovah” the LORD is the Saviour. The Lord is salvation. He is the only Saviour. There is no other. He is one Person of the Trinity, but He is the Lord, the Saviour. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which was in the bosom of the Father, He had declared Him. The only way to know the Father is through the Son, so we have this incarnation. It is verified in the New Testament by Matthew, by Luke, and all throughout where we learn of His virgin birth and sinless life. If you go over to Isaiah 8, you have the offense, some teaching about Immanuel. One of the most central themes in the book of Isaiah is Immanuel. There is a lot of narrative and other topics and a lot about the kingdom and the restoration of Israel, and the last days. Ezekiel shows us clearly that it will be in unbelief initially, and then they will believe in the Lord. “Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.” (Isaiah 8:13-15) That became a snare unto them, a trap. They ensnared themselves. God wanted them to believe but they rejected, that is the offense of Jesus Christ, the offense of the cross. We have Emmanuel being born of a virgin in the book of Isaiah. We have the offense of Emmanuel, for Israel. They are going to reject him, and we know that, not just by history itself, but by the Bible, of course. It is very clearly taught in the Bible that they would reject Him. “And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.” (I Peter 2:8) The Rock is always Jesus Christ, by the way. He is the Rock, not Peter. Jesus Christ is the Rock. They stumbled at the word by not believing, they trapped themselves by not believing, and it became a stone of stumbling, Jesus, Himself. Emmanuel became a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed. They were not forced to reject the Lord. When you reject the Lord, like the Bible says that false prophets were appointed unto destruction, but what that means is that God said false prophets would go to Hell because they are not saved. There was no predestination to Hell. That is not what it is about. Some people claim weird teaching that God has made some people to be false prophets and they have no chance of getting saved. That is not true. Did you know they went out from us, but they are not of us. If they were of us, they no doubt would have continued with us, but they could get saved. They have the same choice you and I have. Their entrapment that they laid for themselves was the rejection of “The Rock,” Jesus Christ, and it became a stone of stumbling, the rejection of the Word of God. Peter is referring back to what Isaiah said, very clearly referring to Emmanuel, the One that would come, born of a virgin, and He would become a stone of stumbling, verse 14, and would be rejected. As the chief cornerstone, He would be rejected by the builders, and we know that is Jesus Christ, obviously. We have the virgin birth, the birth of Emmanuel in Isaiah 7:14. We have the offense of Emmanuel. “This man shall not reign over us.” They rejected Him. John one says He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. Then, in verse 16 we see the miracles of Emmanuel and His disciples. “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.” (Isaiah 8:16-17) Emmanuel will be a rock of offense, but He will have disciples. That is what it says right here. We know that He is giving them responsibility that will be rejected, not just by Israel, but by the world at large, rejection of the word of God. “Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.” (Isaiah 8:18) Emmanuel, the Messiah, God with us, He will be rejected among Israel, and He will perform genuine miracles. Isaiah 61, and all throughout the book of Isaiah it is repeated several times. Messiah will be doing specific miracles so that they would know His authority is from God, and very specifically here in this passage we see that Emmanuel, God with us, although he would be an offense to Jacob, to Israel, He would have disciples like we see in the Gospels and the beginning of His church. Someone may ask if there are churches in the Old Testament. No, Jesus said, “I will (future) build my church...” but I do think the concept is often there. In the Book of Psalms, it says that He will sing in the congregation, and that was a prophecy repeated in the book of Hebrews. Even though it was a mystery in the Old Testament, Christ sang in the church. In the Old Testament, they didn’t really know how to put it together, but I think there are little glimpses of the church there in the Old Testament, and clearly, the power of the mystery taught in the New Testament. But He is going to do miracles. It is obvious here that that is going to take place. Part of His ministry is going to be defending the word of God and revealing the truth against false teaching. Verse 19 His teaching will come from the law and the testimony. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Verse 20) What word? Well, really the word of Emmanuel, but also the word of the law and the testimony, the Old Testament. That is this 66 books of the Bible. If they don’t speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, they are not saved. He is going to reveal false teachings in verse 19. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 9, and again, Emmanuel is introduced really in chapter 6, and He is called Emmanuel in chapter 7. We get a lot of New Testament light here. I just love reading through Isaiah and I feel like I am reading the New Testament in a lot of ways. Although, He is called Emmanuel, you know it is still Jesus being spoken of. There is a lot of good, good teaching about Jesus Christ here in the book of Isaiah. I mean, you’ve just got to read it for yourself. There is a lot more than I can give you tonight, but this will just be like the tip of the iceberg. Then we had the ministry of Emmanuel. “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.” (Isaiah 9:1) I mentioned that this morning, and here is a good prophecy about Jesus having a ministry in Galilee. “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isaiah 9:2) This is quoted in the New Testament, Matthew 4, that the Messiah, Emmanuel, God with Us would have ministry here, and in our Bible study, we call it the Galilean earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. It is named here in Isaiah. Why is it called Galilee of the nations? Well, because there was a lot of Gentile influence in the area, around the Sea of Galilee. Jesus did many miracles around there, and a lot of people got saved, but that was prophesized here in the Old Testament. Again, verse two is used in the New Testament, and part of verse one as well. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Who is that? The light of the world, Jesus Christ. Emmanuel. He is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, and His ministry was in Galilee influencing not only Jews, but also Gentiles. They that sat in darkness had seen a great light. There was a lot of evil and demonic activity around the Sea of Galilee, a lot of things going on around there, but Jesus had a strong ministry in that area. Now, Nazareth was a little bit different in that there He couldn’t do many great miracles there because of their unbelief, and I believe that was a lesson for them. “A prophet is not without honor save in his own country.” Nonetheless, He did minister quite a bit even in Nazareth, but it is all prophesied. Who are they talking about? Emmanuel. Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23) Now, who is Jesus? “Never man spake like this man.” Jesus had authority over the invisible, demonic realm. Angels ministered unto Him. He had power over nature; He calmed the sea and stilled the storm. He could do that. He could walk on the water. Peter tried, but only through Jesus’ permission. We can do things through Jesus’s grace and power, but it is only God that can allow us to do things like that. God gets all the glory. Jesus is the One that all true miracles point to, and if they don’t, they are not true miracles. The false prophet will do miracles to point to the antichrist, and he is against Christ; therefore, you don’t believe miracles that are out of whack, or so-called miracles. We don’t accept that. Years ago, there was a girl in our school who had a bad leg and hip from an injury, and our school was not what it should have been then. There were some charismatics in the school at that time, some bad influence on our kids. I was preaching them out little by little, (but probably bigger than they wanted me to.) The father of one of the students said he could heal this girl, and they kept it secret from me. I believe at the time, I was assistant pastor, and he kept it from the pastor as well. Nonetheless, we didn’t know anything about it. So, I get a phone call, saying our whole church is going to change now. I said, “What are you talking about?” “This girl was healed tonight. We had a secret meeting. We prayed over her, and this man healed her.” I said, “First of all, the man didn’t heal anybody. Only God heals. If you give a man the glory, something is wrong right there. That happens all over the place in the charismatic movement. They took her crutches away, and said you don’t need crutches anymore. Walk out to the car, and you will be fine. About that time, they got some courage and called me up and said she was healed. Now when you have bad teaching going around, even in a good church, there is going to be an undercurrent, and it will deceive people. That is why a pastor has to be vigilant and preach the right things and preach against the wrong things, because the devil wants to sneak in. I said, “I don’t believe that man. If she got healed, it was God, and it wasn’t him. I know that guy. I know he’s not even saved, so he didn’t heal anybody.” He didn’t believe in the King James Bible. He believed in women preachers. He believed you can lose your salvation. He said she was healed. I called her mother, and her mother said, “We took her to the hospital because she’s worse now after they made her walk to the car without her crutches.” Nobody is paying attention to that. Everybody was like, “A miracle happened! She walked to her car without crutches.” If there are miracles, so called, that glorify man or they are out of whack with the scripture, they are not real miracles, or they are a deception by demonic power. The same kind of tongues they speak in are what voodoo people speak in. It’s demonic. You don’t even have to prove it, you just stick with the Bible. I am just warning you because people are influenced by this kind of thing. Real miracles will always glorify the Lord. Real miracles will always lift up Jesus Christ very clearly and show His authority. A little further in chapter 9, you know this verse very well. “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.” (Isaiah 9:6) Listen, there is never going to be an ideal government until we have the government of Emmanuel, the government of Jesus Christ. That is the kingdom. Much government is corrupt, of course, they are not saved. So what do you think is going to happen? We can pray for what is good, helping America, and more people getting saved. Some of our nation’s founding documents are the best the world has ever seen, because the influence of the Bible had a lot to do America’s beginnings. There were a lot more saved people back then. There were a lot of people that were genuinely saved, and they may not have been Baptist because Baptists were too busy preaching and getting people saved, starting churches and going to church services. Back then alot of denominational churches (believe it or not) preached the Gospel and had saved people in them, and they influenced our country in a good way. Some of the pioneers were believers, saved people, and they had Christian homes. They read the Bible every day, and tried to do the right thing. All that stuff influenced the history of our country, but a lot of that has gone out the window now. However, there is going to be an ideal government, but that is only when Jesus comes. America is the greatest country in the world by far, even though some people point out flaws and problems. You know what, there are more churches in America that believe the Bible than anywhere else in the world. We send out more missionaries to take the Gospel to other countries than any nation in the world, from the United States of America. There have been more people witnessed to and given the Gospel and given tracts, multiple millions of gospel tracts given out, not only in America but all around the world. People used to say that America feeds the world. That is important, but more important is missionaries, churches, preachers, Gospel literature. I don’t know what you think, but I believe God has brought good churches and ministries to America that have affected, not only America, but the world, and there is something special about that. What I preach this morning, in some countries you can get arrested for saying that, but I am going to keep preaching it anyway. In America, we can preach and spread the message of the Gospel. I think that is pretty good. One Nation Under God, that came from Christians. That came from prayer and Bible-preaching churches. That didn’t come from the people trying to deceive us. “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” You just keep trusting in God, and keep learning about that, and you will have power over false things that come your way. You will have the power of God upon your life, because Emmanuel is bigger and stronger. “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.” (Isaiah 9:6) It is wonderful to be saved and know Jesus Christ. Wonderful. Counsellor, that means he is going to show you what to do. The mighty God. Is He deity? That is what it says. The Everlasting Father. That is His authority over all things that God His Father gave Him. We looked at Jesus Christ as Jehovah God and the Trinity. You can’t come to the Father except through the Son. His designation has not taken anything away from God the Father. He is the Everlasting Father. He is somebody that we can go to as God. He is equal with God. He is the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. There are always going to be wars and hatred and violence in the world. We don’t like it. It is only through through the reign of Jesus Christ that there will be peace on earth and good will toward man. It can’t be through a government or a socialistic system. It can’t be through philosophy. It is only possible through Jesus Christ, Emmanuel. That is who the Bible is talking about here. He is the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Emmanuel is going to set up an everlasting kingdom that will last forever because it is God’s kingdom. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. You ought to be zealous for God because Jesus Christ was zealous for God. Jesus Christ even quoted that He would be zealous for the house of God, and you ought to be zealous for the things of God, as well. The King. This is the real kingdom. There is never going to be an ideal government until the King comes back, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His government. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:1) It goes on to say here this stem of Jesse, this branch who is Emmanuel, will set up His kingdom, and the Spirit of the Lord will be upon Him and work through Him. He is going to set up that everlasting kingdom. “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” (Isaiah 11:9-10) He talks about the remnant of Israel, the gathering of Israel in verse 12, and the Gentiles, how is that going to happen? Mainly through churches. That is how the Gentiles are going to hear the Gospel and believe. His government, as mentioned in Isaiah 25:8. “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:8-10) He has got to bring salvation first, before He is King over all. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zachariah 9:9) When He entered into Jerusalem in His earthly ministry, He brings salvation. Yes, He is going to be rejected, but He had to come as a man to go to the cross to purchase salvation. This says the same thing. “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9) God is the Saviour to bring salvation, exactly who they had been waiting for. Who is God? God with us, Emmanuel. It is a Man. He is the Son of God talked about all throughout the book of Isaiah. We get a good picture over in Matthew chapter 1, and then we see all about Him when we read through the Gospel accounts and the New Testament. He indeed is the Word of God. He is the central theme of the whole Bible. When you read through Isaiah with Jesus Christ before your eyes, and you will be amazed. You will say, “Wow!!!!.” We are just looking at some of them. No wonder the New Testament quotes Isaiah so much. The New Testament quotes the all the Old Testament because it all points to Jesus Christ. Jesus, the incarnation, according to Phillipians 2, He took upon Himself the form of a servant, for what reason? To be obedient, live a perfect life even unto the cross. Now we have the cross, the crucifixion, the cross of Emmanuel. The crucifixion is mentioned many times throughout Isaiah, here and there. “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.” (Isaiah 52:13) Who is the Man they have talked about all throughout Isaiah? He is Emmanuel, God with us. He is going to die for our sins. He is going to set up His kingdom eventually, but before that, He must be crucified. This is a picture of the cross way before there was any kind of cross. It says here that his “...visage was so marred more than any man.” In Matthew 27, they spit upon Him, whipped Him, and they crucified Him with the nails in His hands and feet, and the Bible says here that He was marred more than any man. I don’t think pictures do justice to that. People talk about the passion or suffering of Christ, and you know anything out of Hollywood isn’t likely to be scriptural. We’ve got it in the Bible, so you don’t need a movie. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed... ” (Psalm 2:1-2) Yes, they are against the Lord and it is apparent, they want to have power. They want to be King. But Jesus, Emmanuel, is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They are going to shut their mouths at Him, so we’ve got to open our mouths and let the whole world know Jesus is the Son of God who brought salvation. He goes on to say, “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:1) People say He must have been beautiful. We don’t know what He looked like. We go just by the Bible no matter what pictures people come up with from their imagination. We’ve got to go by the Bible. There is no beauty that we should desire Him. What attracts us to Christ is who He is. It is His message, the word of God. He had an earthly ministry, but you know what, you try to tell about Jesus being a perfect man as far as having big muscles, you are going to fall way short. You don’t know what you are dealing with. He didn’t float through the air. No, He was a man. One-Hundred percent man, one-hundred percent God. He had a body that got thirsty and hungry. He felt pain. He was tired, and had to sleep on the boat. He was 100% man, and yet 100% God. Emmanuel “God with us.” He took upon Himself the form of a servant so that He could die for our sins and shed his blood on the cross. Look at verse 3. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 55:3-5) They didn’t by force take Him. He laid down his life for us. He could have come down from the cross. He could have destroyed the soldiers. He could have stopped it all, but He gave himself, and that is what this is all about. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes, His blood, we are healed. We like sheep keep going astray. We are all sinners. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity, the sin, of us all. He bore it, carried it to the cross in His body. We need to understand it is the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus bore our sin in His body on the tree, Peter said. Here it is verified as well. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:7-12) Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, is going to be born of a virgin. He is going to be an offense to Israel and to the world because of who He is. He is going to do miracles and have disciples, and He is going to set up a kingdom that will have no end. But before He does that, here in chapters 52 and 53 He is going to live a sinless life. He is going to be the Lamb of God, and be crucified for all of us, and also be resurrected. Where is that? In the New Testament? Yes, but we see it in Isaiah as well. I have used especially chapter 53 to deal with Jewish people. They never read Isaiah 53. The Rabbis are afraid of Zechariah 9:9 we read. They don’t understand how he could be lowly. How could He do that? Isaiah 53 gives details of the crucifixion, a view of the servant who is Emmanuel. God with us. It is easy to find it through the whole book of Isaiah. You will see it all the way through. This is the theme, not only of the New Testament, of course it is clear there, but of the Old Testament, too. Emmanuel, God with us. Isaiah 7:14 pointing back to Emmanuel in the book of Isaiah, we see Christ’s deity. He is going to live a sinless life, have disciples, minister in Galilee. It is all right there. It started with preexistence and the virgin birth. It goes on to describe Jesus, and the death that He suffered in our place at Calvary. I think it is okay to enjoy the Christmas season. Jeremiah 10 is not talking about a Christmas tree, though some people think it is. It is talking about making an idol. But it is okay to enjoy Christmas and enjoy family. These are good things. God has given us richly all things to enjoy, and we ought to enjoy family. We ought to celebrate the fact that Emmanuel came to deliver us from our sin and an eternal destiny in Hell. We ought to enjoy the Bible and the things of God. We ought to delight ourselves also in the Lord Himself, and enjoy a daily fellowship with Emmanuel, God with us. We ought to take advantage of this opportunity when even lost people are singing Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels Sing to give them the message of the Gospel and remind them why He came, so that they could trust in Him and be saved. Not only should we know about God, but we need to know God. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit. The don’t understand until they get saved. They think they’ve got to party and drink, but we know what it Christmas is really all about. We can study the book of Isaiah, and all we learn in the New Testament. It shouldn’t take the world celebrating Christmas for us to go to the Bible, and read the true account of Mary and Joseph, and God sending His Son to be that Baby born to be our Saviour and pay for our sin. We’ve got the Bible, and we should enjoy this Gift every day. We should enjoy Christmas all the time because we have Jesus, Emanuel, God with us, all the time. Let us enjoy Christmas, but do it God’s way. |
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