A Tale Of 3 Cities

I call this this morning, in this concluding message from Matthew's gospel, a tale of three cities, and in actuality we'll be talking about two cities and a country.

But I'm reading to this morning from Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1 through 12.

Matthew 2:1–12

Matthew 2, 1 through 12.

Would you mind standing with me as I read the Word of God And let's honor the Lord this morning?

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

When Herod the King heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and, assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.

And you, o Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, israel.

Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying go and search diligently for the child And when you have found him, bring me word that I may too may, come and worship him.

After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Father, we thank you again to be able to read this Christmas story.

We never tire of hearing it because it is how you design that your son should come into this earth.

And then the season that we remember the birth of the king help us to never lose its power, its grandeur and glory, and we pray this morning that the Son of God might be birthed in hearts.

As the gospel is preached in this room to the glory of God, we ask it in Jesus' name and everyone said amen.

We are looking at the most wonderful event in human history the birth of the Jewish Messiah, jesus of Nazareth.

When we left the story last week, the holy couple were living as husband and wife in the city of Nazareth in Galilee.

A young Jewish maiden, miriam Mary, was a spouse to be married to Joseph, who was of the royal line of David, when suddenly he discovered that his wife, who had returned from Judea, was pregnant and carrying a child.

When Joseph learned that Mary, his espoused wife, was pregnant, he decided to divorce her in a very private manner, which was an option open to Jews at that time to gather two or three witnesses to give her a rid of divorcement and to put her away quietly so as to not put her to shame.

But it was then that the angel of the Lord and we're not told in Matthew who it was, but I have a suspicion it was Gabriel, the one who had given Daniel the exact count of years when Messiah would come and who had come to an aged priest before Mary and then come to Mary herself to give her the news that in her womb the Messiah would be conceived.

It was then that the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream and assured him that Mary had not been unfaithful, as he had supposed, but rather the Holy Spirit of God had done what he had never done before in human history impregnated a woman so that the child born to her would be the son of the living God.

And the angel instructed Joseph not only to marry Mary, but to name the child a derivative of the Hebrew word, joshua, yeshua, the Lord saves, because that's what he would come into the world for, to be the Savior.

And all of this we saw last week was to fulfill the ancient prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, who told us in chapter 9, i'm sorry, chapter 7 of his book that a virgin will conceive and bear a son and will call his name Immanuel.

God with us.

And Joseph obeyed the angel, married Mary, his espoused wife, and together they awaited the birth of their firstborn son.

But if you remember where we left it, they are living in Nazareth.

And that presents us with a problem, because the ancient prophecy, which Jews in the first century knew and unfortunately don't today, was that Bethlehem of Judea, not Nazareth, would be the birthplace of the Jewish Messiah.

700 years before the event, the prophet Micah, contemporary of Isaiah, spoke clearly in prophetic Scripture and said But you, bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you, bethlehem, shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, israel.

I have showed that to my Jewish friends and Jewish relatives over the years.

What do you do with this?

Because we've been waiting for Messiah to rent the heavens and come down, and here the prophet clearly said that the ruler of Judah would come from Bethlehem.

And this is many years after David.

It can't be a reference to David, who was also born at Bethlehem.

So the question becomes in our story and it becomes important to this message.

How, then, will Joseph and Mary get to Bethlehem in time for her son to be born when they are living in Nazareth?

Matthew tells us nothing about how it happens.

For that we are dependent on Luke.

It is Luke who supplies us with that needed part of the story.

God will use a heathen king, the ruler of Rome, caesar Augustus, to issue a decree that the entire Roman Empire be registered for the purpose of taxation, and everybody would require to travel to their ancestral home.

The question this morning I want to pose to you Can God, in His sovereignty, use a heathen king to move two peasants to Bethlehem in time to fulfill an ancient prophecy?

And the answer, conclusively, is yes.

In fact, one preacher said it best.

Listen to this Quote.

Two sovereigns appear in Luke 2.

One is visible, one is invisible.

One has limited power, the other unlimited power.

One is the most powerful man in the world, but his days are numbered.

His reign will end in less than 20 years and, like all other men, he will die.

The other is the most powerful in the universe and his reign is eternal.

His kingdom will never end.

Luke begins with the earthly sovereign.

His name was Caesar Augustus.

Caesar was his title.

He was dictator.

Caesar may have been given little thought to his decree, but the other sovereign of Luke 2 does.

For you see, caesar's decrees is God's decree.

God's sovereignty knows no limits.

He foreordains whatever comes to pass.

Caesar may issue a decree with little forethought, but God's decree is not conceived on the spur of the moment.

It emerges from his eternal counsel, determined before the foundation of the world.

Caesar does not know God, but God knows Caesar.

Caesar thinks he rules by his own skill and cunning, but the truth is he rules only by God's design.

Caesar makes a name for himself, but when is the last time you joined an assembly to praise Caesar.

No, god, not Caesar will get the glory.

Not the name of Caesar, but the name of God will be praised.

Caesar seeks to advance his own interests, but it is God's interest that triumph, hallelujah.

The only bad thing about that quote is I didn't say it, man.

Maybe a simpler way to remember is a statement in Proverbs.

Good old Solomon said it this way the king's heart is a stream of water in the hands of the Lord.

He turns it wherever he will.

So God now moves on a heathen king to register his entire empire, and it will be that that the king of hosts will use to move Mary and Joseph in time to the city of Bethlehem, to fulfill the prophetic word that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

And according to this census, all people were to be registered in their own city, which meant the town to which their village was attached.

In those days, every Jew had essentially three identification markers Number one, the tribe to which you belonged.

Number two, the family or clan in that tribe to which you belonged.

And finally, the house of your fathers.

And Joseph and Mary were both of the tribe of Judah and the house of David, so it was natural for them to go to Bethlehem, the birthplace of David, who was of course the Lion, the king of the tribe of Judah.

So Mary and Joseph begin to travel southward to Bethlehem And when you read the account at first you get the impression again that Caesar Augustus is the really important person in the drama and the two peasants, joseph and Mary, are sort of insignificant.

But exactly the opposite is the truth.

And that is the insignificant person in the story is Caesar, while the woman and the babe in her womb rule.

And it just so happens this is another how shall I say, divine coincidence that while Mary is at Bethlehem to be registered for the census with her husband, she is ready to give birth to her child Apparently.

Many people had come to Bethlehem for the same purpose And there was no place available for them, even in the inn, which was not a hotel but a structure whereby you could spend the night and get water for your animals and be cared for, and there was not even room there.

Tradition says and Scripture says the only place available for Joseph and Mary was a stable or manger, and tradition actually says it was actually a cave.

One of the things we don't know because in the ancient world of the first century, mangers were often actually found within homes, so it isn't inconceivable that the manger was in a home.

We just don't know.

But what we do know is the Messiah of Israel, the Son of the living God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, was born in the most humble circumstances No palace, no dwelling place, no room in the inn, but in the lowliest of surroundings.

Now the next part of our story is important, though you may not know why.

Who are the first ones on this planet to receive news that a Savior, messiah, was born?

The answer, of course, is shepherds.

But why?

Why shepherds?

Why do they get the news first?

Why not kings or prophets?

Why shepherds?

Well, jewish tradition actually taught that the Messiah would not only be born in Bethlehem, but he would be revealed from what is called in Hebrew the migdal a'idar, which is the tower of the flock, and many believe that this was an indication.

There was actually a flock of lambs that were raised in the vicinity of Bethlehem, ephrata, and these lambs were specifically raised for one purpose for Passover sacrifice, and according to Jewish tradition, it was temple-appointed shepherds that watched over this unique flock of lambs for Passover sacrifice.

I am convinced though I can't prove it that the shepherds got the news first, because Messiah would have everything to do with Passover and they were the first ones to receive the grand, great Mary news that a Savior was aborn.

But what is amazing about the story is the shepherds get it in technicolor and, aside from the shepherds, no one else takes notice.

Isaac Williams, in his book The Nativity, wrote this quote the unfathomable depths of the divine councils were moved, the foundations of the great deep were broken up, the healing of the nations was issuing forth, but nothing was seen on the surface of human society, but this slight rippling of the water.

A few shepherds get the news.

But what the shepherds get is amazing.

The shekhinah, the glory of the Lord, suddenly shone around them.

Isn't that interesting?

The glory of the Lord is in Caesar's temple or palace, because not in the temple?

in Jerusalem, shepherds are visited by the shekhinah.

With this announcement, there is born to you this day, in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and from the get-go, from the moment he was announced, it is that title, savior, that is front and center.

It is the very reason he slipped into the earth.

G Campbell Morgan, in one of his commentaries made this statement about this announcement that born to you in the city of David, a Savior, he said, quote the world did not want an advisor.

The world had advised itself into hell.

The world did not ask for a speculator.

One man could do has been done, and men sat in the darkness of their own wisdom.

The world did not want a reformer, a man who could change his outward and transient relations.

The world wanted a Savior.

Savior is not an official title, it is not an image you could bow down before on account of its majesty and haughtiness.

Savior is an angel with tears in his eyes, arms mighty as the lightening of God, but a heart all tenderness.

Well, after the birth of the Messiah, eight days passed and, in keeping with the Abrahamic covenant, that all male Israelites be circumcised on the eighth day of their birth, joseph kept that ordinance And you remember also in the book of Exodus there was this prescription for Israelite women After an Israelite woman gave birth to a son, she was to wait 33 days after his circumcision to be purified And then, when her days were fulfilled, she must present her son before the Lord at the temple and bring the appropriate sacrifices a year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or dove for a sin offering.

If the woman was poor and couldn't afford either of those, she was allowed to bring two young doves or two young pigeons.

And that's exactly what Luke tells us Joseph and Mary had to bring as the offering to God in the temple, which alerts us that they were obviously from the poorer end of society.

They couldn't afford a year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or dove.

They brought two doves or two young pigeons, You remember, while they are in the temple fulfilling this ordinance according to the law that a man swept into the temple named Simeon.

I love this story.

It's my favorite part of this story.

Simeon takes up the child.

Remember Simeon.

He's older now And when he was younger, the Holy Spirit gave him a revelation.

You remember the revelation?

The Holy Spirit told Simeon that he would not see death, he would not die before his own eyes would see and behold the Jewish Messiah.

I've wondered about Simeon.

Think about it for a moment.

He's a Jew, he knows his history and he's been personally told by revelation that he will not die before he sees with his own eyes, in the flesh, the Messiah.

I often wonder and I don't think I'm stretching it What would Simeon think would happen the moment he laid his eyes on the Messiah?

I mean it's not a stretch, because you know his whole history.

When God inaugurated the law on Mount Sinai, it was with explosions and angels and lightnings.

When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, there was fire that fell from heaven.

It was a stretch for Simeon to suppose that they were a shadow, that when the Messiah comes, when I see Him, this is going to be the most spectacular event ever to be beheld.

But the truth is, all Simeon got to do was hold in his arms a baby.

And when he took up that baby in his arms, he said these words And now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, israel.

He held in his hands the embodiment of reality and he said I'm ready to die.

It's enough.

You know it's amazing when I read this I actually alluded to it weeks ago.

The Hebrew word for consecration literally means to fill the hands.

If you go back into the Old Testament, when the priests of Israel were ordained by Moses in Leviticus 8, the moment of ordination comes when Moses puts a basket in the hands of Aaron and his sons and that is called the moment of consecration.

Their hands are filled and it's called consecration.

And if you look at that basket, everything in it typifies one thing the lovely person of the Lord Jesus.

So when the priests are standing there and their hands are filled with shadows of the one who was to come, they are consecrated.

And Simeon, that day, 2,000 years ago, took up a baby in his hands.

No bombastic, no lightnings, no thunders, no voice from heaven, no fire falling, just holding a baby.

And he was content.

And, brothers and sisters, i say that to say that is, in essence, revival, to have your hands filled with Jesus Christ.

It is enough.

While Simeon is there holding the child, another woman, an old woman, anna of the tribe of Asher, who had been fasting and praying.

She's 84 years old, she's been waiting for Messiah she also beholds Him and begins to speak to Him, of Him, to all who are looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

Now, when Mary and Joseph fulfill these obligations, please note that they return to Bethlehem, not to Nazareth.

Luke tells us little about that.

We are dependent on Matthew for that, and while they're in a house, they are now living in Bethlehem.

Likely they're no longer in the manger, they're in a home in Bethlehem.

Matthew picks up the story and tells us some strange men from the east show up in Jerusalem.

They are called, in the Greek text of the New Testament, magi.

Who were these Magi or wise men, and how is it possible that heathen, wise men from some eastern region, were led by a star to the Jewish Messiah?

What does this have to do?

It's a very important part of the story.

Most scholars and Bible commentators believe that the Magi were a cast of sage priests from Arabia who specialized in astrology.

Now you need to remember something before you turn me off and say astrology, that's demonic.

Remember before Satan perverted astrology.

When God created the stellar universe and put the stars and the sun and the moon in the sky, he said specifically that these lights in the heavens should be for signs and for seasons.

Particularly, he designated that they would be for prophetic signs.

So is it possible?

the question is that Arabian sage priests knew about the coming of the Jewish Messiah by observing the stellar universe, and the answer is yes for more than one reason.

Do you remember the Old Testament prophet?

He was actually a false prophet whose name was Balim, who was rebuked by his own donkey.

That's pretty bad when you won't listen to God.

If your dog ever rebukes you, you've really hardened your heart.

But even though Balim was a false prophet, he gave true prophetic words and one of them was this as he beheld Israel from a high, lofty mountain overlooking the valley in Moab, and he said this I see him, but not now.

I behold him, but not near.

A star will come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.

That prophecy a star will come out of Jacob.

In Numbers, chapter 24, associated Messiah with a star forever.

Numbers 24 · chapter mention

In fact, jewish tradition embellished this and actually said that two years before the Messiah is born, a certain star would appear to give evidence that he was in fact born.

And what we seem to be reading here in Matthew 2 is that while the sage priests from Arabia, these magi, were observing the stellar universe and looking at the constellations, they noticed a star which they understood from the prophecy was an indicator that the Jewish Messiah had been born.

The question I want to ask and answer is do we have any record in history of such a star appearing in the first century, basically around the time that the Jewish Messiah was born?

What do you think?

the answer is There was a Jewish believer from the 19th century named Alfred Edershine.

He was a scholar.

Anybody that wants to understand the Jewish background of the gospels, you should read Edershine's life and times of Jesus the Messiah.

But don't read it after 9 pm unless you want to sleep.

It's not easy reading but it's fascinating.

And listen to what he said.

And this is not Edershine alone.

This is factual, astronomically speaking and without controversy.

There can be no doubt that the most remarkable conjunction of planets, that of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces, which occurs only once in 800 years, did take place no less than three times in the year or two years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

This conjunction is admitted by all astronomers.

It was not only extraordinary, but presented the most brilliant spectacle in the night sky, such as could not but attract the attention of all who observe the heavens, but, as a special, those who busy themselves with astrology In the year following, mars joined the conjunction.

Of this there is not and cannot be absolute certainty.

But if so, this may very well be the star of the Magi in its rising, because it came at the exact time Jewish people had predicted.

Now it was natural that the Magi come first to Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem, because they didn't know the prophecy yet about his birth in Bethlehem.

So they came to the capital of Judaism asking a question where is he who was born king of the Jews?

for we've seen his star and we've come to worship him.

And when Herod heard it Herod, the Great king of Judea he was troubled deeply.

We know much about this Herod outside of Scripture, and the fact that he was troubled by an announcement that a king was born in Judea is in keeping with everything we knew.

We know about Herod, who had his own family members killed when he suspected any anarchy.

And when Herod heard it, herod said I have to stamp this out.

So he gathered the Jewish scribes of the law in Jerusalem and asked them the question where's the Messiah, the king of the Jews, where's he to be born?

And of course, the scribes knew the Bible.

They took him to Micah 5, 2,.

But you, bethlehem, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, it's Bethlehem that Messiah would be born.

And once again, the star appears to the Magi and leads them to the town of Bethlehem and leads them exactly to the mother with the child.

And, by the way, i hate to be the bearer, i didn't want to do this.

I struggled with this because I don't want you to go home and tear up your manger scene.

But Jesus was probably about two years old when the Magi visited him in Bethlehem.

They did not visit him when he was a little baby.

He was growing, he was almost two, if not two, and they are now, and not in a manger, they are living in a house in Bethlehem And, by the way, there's no record it was three wise men.

People assume, because there were three types of gifts that were given out of their treasures, that there were three wise men.

They were given gold, frankincense and myrrh, but there is no evidence that it was only three and likely it was many more.

But they came to the house in Bethlehem and saw the Jewish Messiah, the one the stars had led them to.

And then they are warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, because Herod had sent them saying oh, he's going to be born in Bethlehem.

Oh, why don't you go and find him?

Bring me word, i want to worship him also.

But God again appears to the Magi in a dream and tells them not to return to Herod, but to go back to their own land another way.

And it is then that the angel of the Lord once again and it's incredible how supernatural this story is appears to Joseph in a dream, this time telling him to take the child and flee to Egypt and stay in Egypt until Herod is dead.

And all of a sudden, if we read that, we should really be thinking about our Bibles, because we are immediately meant to think when Joseph and Mary take Jesus into Egypt, we naturally think of another time in redemptive history when another king was trying to kill a future deliverer who was destined to lead his people out of Egypt.

In fact, matthew quotes the prophet Hosea, chapter 11, verse 1.

Hosea 11:1

When Israel was a youth, i loved him.

Out of Egypt, i called him to be my son.

Now, when you read that, if you know this prophecy, you know it's talking about the book of Exodus and the Exodus from Egypt.

It reads that way When Israel was a child, i loved him.

Out of Egypt, i called my son.

This is what Hosea is referring back to the Exodus, when God called his son Israel out of bondage in Egypt.

But now Matthew quotes it and says it was really fulfilled when Jesus went to Egypt and then later came out of Egypt.

You see, it's what I said last week.

There's two aspects to prophecy.

One is the predictive part, which is true, but remember, hosea is not just referring back, he's making a statement, because I said this to you last week, prophecy is not just fulfilled, but in Jesus it is filled full.

We look at Jesus and his history and then we cast that history back into the Old Testament When Israel came out of Egypt in the Exodus.

That was part of this.

But the real filling full of this prophecy is when the true Son of God, the eternal Son of God, was taken out of Egypt by Mary and Joseph.

That's why, by the way, i want to take you through the Old Testament and begin to look at all of this history in the light of the coming of the Messiah We now live after He has come.

We look back at Scripture and we interpret it in the light of a story which we know now, and this is what Matthew is doing.

Matthew is saying Jesus is the sum, the substance of all prophecy.

And the same thing holds true when Herod realizes that the Magi had tricked him and we're not coming back to Jerusalem to tell him where the child was in Bethlehem, and he is enraged and Herod sends his troops.

The proof that Jesus was two is Herod, it says, had ascertained from the wise men the time when they had first seen the star, and it was two years.

And so he went to Bethlehem and had all the male children two years old and younger annihilated.

And Matthew says this fulfills what was spoken by Jeremiah.

And when you read that prophecy, if you know your Bible, you'll know it's really a reference to the Babylonian captivity And Rachel, who stands for Israel, but she grew up near Bethlehem, rachel weeping for her children who are being carried captive to Babylon.

But Matthew says it fulfills this story because, again, jesus fills full all of the stories.

All of these stories, all of them are to be interpreted now in the light of the coming of Jesus, not just as historical events.

And Matthew says the women crying in Bethlehem for the loss of their children fulfills this prophecy of Jeremiah.

Well, it is why Joseph and Mary are remaining in Egypt.

We're not told how long they were there, but it wasn't long, because Herod the king dies And we have an account of his death, and it was a horrid death.

And now the angel of the Lord appears again to Joseph and tells him to leave Egypt and bring the child back to the land of Israel.

And this time Joseph again tries to bring Jesus to Bethlehem, to live again in Bethlehem.

But when he heard that Herod's son, arkelis, was ruling in the place of his father, he was worse than Herod.

And so Joseph and Mary, warned by God not to go to Judea.

Take the child back to Nazareth, where both of them are from originally.

And in doing so we are told by Matthew that in taking Jesus to Nazareth the prophecy was fulfilled that he shall be called a Nazarene.

He shall be called a Nazarene.

It closes chapter 2 of Matthew.

Now you will search in your Bibles in vain when Matthew says this fulfills the prophecy that he shall be called a Nazarene.

You'll never find that in the prophets.

I searched for years for a prophecy that says Messiah will be called these words he shall be called a Nazarene.

You won't find that statement per se, but you need to learn a little bit about a word here from which the town Nazareth is derived.

The term Nazareth, the town where Jesus grows up, is probably derived from the Hebrew word Netzer, n-e-t-z-e-r.

Netzer, and it is used in Isaiah 11.

How many have ever seen this prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 11?

It says there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch Netzer from his roots shall bear fruit.

The word branch there is the Hebrew word Netzer, from which likely the town Nazareth derived its meaning.

The picture here, by the way, in Isaiah is this that Israel is presented as a tree and God is a lumberjack with an ax in his hand and he fells the tree so the whole tree tumbles.

This is the Babylonian captivity.

This is the destruction of this mighty nation.

The tree was felled.

There was nothing left but a stump.

I mean, we're talking about the messianic promise being fulfilled to two peasants instead of the mighty kingdom of David.

The tree was felled.

The glory of Israel and Judah had fallen.

But God says look at that stump carefully, see that little shoot.

You got that picture in your mind.

Imagine you're in a forest and you fell a tree, and then you look at the stump that's left and you see just a little shoot springing up.

God says the glory of Israel has been felled.

But that little stump springing up, that's my kingdom.

And he goes on to say he's a branch, he's a netzer, and that's a very lowly thing.

But that's who Messiah is.

By the way, the prophecy I didn't read at all.

It goes on to say the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon this branch, the spirit of counsel and might, wisdom, knowledge and understanding he will be.

And what God is saying is being part of Israel in the natural doesn't make you part of the people of God.

That is felled, that is over.

Now.

If you are part of the people of God, it's because you are part of this branch, the netzer.

In fact, jeremiah later goes on to say in those days and at that time will I cause a branch netzer of righteousness to grow up unto David?

So when Matthew says he shall be called a Nazarene, he's not referring just to the town, he's referring to the fact that the town was named the branch netzer.

And that is why Jesus grew up in this branch town.

It was fulfilling Jeremiah and Isaiah's prophecies that he would be the branch of the Lord.

And if you carry that into the New Testament, you remember John 15, i am the Lord, you are the branches, i am the vine.

Rather, you are the branches.

And Jesus carries it in John 15 into a parable about life in him and says you will never bear fruit just because you're in Israelite.

You have to be alive in the branch.

And for 30 years Jesus grew up in this lowly town of Nazareth, this obscure place which he would forever be associated with Jesus of Nazareth.

They were 30 years of virtual obscurity, but Isaiah's prophecy was about to come to pass when he stepped out of obscurity at 30 years old and the spirit of the Lord fell upon him.

The branch of the Lord now began to bear fruit.

And so it is that the Jewish Messiah had his genesis on this planet.

And it's interesting that it ends here in Matthew 2 with he shall be called a branch.

Because if you're in Christ this morning, you're a branch And you've been put into the vine.

And I love those statements of Jesus I am the vine, you are the branches.

Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine.

No more can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Without me you can do nothing.

How many branches are in the room this morning?

Jesus made it very plain and clear how it is.

We bear fruit, the same way he did, plugged into the vine, resting its faith and trusting in what God in Christ has done.

And as I draw from Emmanuel, as the branch built into a vine, there's that organic union.

It is in the epistles, described in two words being in Christ, being in Christ.

That's not just an airy phrase, it's not just, you know, a nice positional statement and it has no bearing on my life.

Everything God's doing in your life is drawn from those words you're in Christ.

So true is that.

The Ephesians says where Christ is, we died with Him, we rose with Him, we were resurrected with Him.

And Ephesians 2 says we're seated with Him in heavenly places.

Why is it that we always say I got to get near, i got to bridge some geography?

Brothers and sisters, if you're a branch, you're seated with Christ in heavenly places.

Or we say I got to get into the holy of holies, you don't have to get in, you were born there.

It's the new covenant, it's the reality of life in Christ.

I walked through an orange grove, an orange tree grove in Florida.

Once I knew they were Christian oranges because I could hear them striving to produce oranges I said look, a Christian orange grove, stand with me This morning.

If you're in Christ, do you know what that means?

Are you drawing from your union with Christ all the riches of grace for every need you will ever have, for every predicament you will ever enter?

What Jesus said, or what Isaiah said was true of the branch, the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him is now available to all who are in Christ, for, as you see, paul's.

I'm sorry, yeah, paul, in 1 Corinthians 1 will say but of God who initiates it?

you are in Christ, who was made unto us wisdom and sanctification and redemption, just as He said let him who glories glory in the Lord.

And when the branch was revealed, here's what Isaiah said of him 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 the fear of the Lord.

And if you're in Christ, those things are yours.

Perhaps you're here this morning and you're not a branch.

Religion to you is a way of performing and trying to attain or balance out your life.

It's futile.

This morning, may God bring you to Christ.

And if your heart's being drawn this morning and what I've shared this morning excites you and you realize I'm not a branch, i invite you to come, as I close in prayer and pray with one of these team members and ask them to bring you to give you knowledge of how you, through faith in Jesus Christ, can be part of the vine.

Father, this morning, as we close this service and our study of the nativity, our deepest desire for Christmas is that Jesus would be born into hearts in this room.

So draw them this morning by the power of the Spirit, with cords of love to trust your Son And Lord.

I pray this morning for those who are storm-tossed, those who are depressed, those who are despondent, whatever the need is this morning, those who need healing, thank you.

thank you that what is true of the vine flows into the branches.

Father, we release your people to a blessed Christmas season and make yourself known to every family here as Prince of Peace, in Jesus' name.