Heaven & Nature Sing

Thank you for listening to this message from the Ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

Were kings worshipped as deities in the ancient world? Okay, that's true.

That is true. Here's one difference, though. This king actually was deity.

Some will say, yeah, but they didn't necessarily know the extent of it. Well, I don't know.

I actually think they did. So maybe there are some theologians who want to downplay this.

Here's another thing I know. The thing that really sets it apart is the star. The star.

I just have to point this out, that the wise men, when they come to Jerusalem, who do they go and talk to?

And they're asking questions of who? Herod. Who was the king, right?

Herod was the king. They didn't worship Herod. I just want to point that out.

Look at verse 9. When they heard the king, that is Herod, they departed and behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.

Normal stars don't do that, okay? But this isn't a normal star. This is not a normal king.

None of this was a normal situation. Verse 10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him.

And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, potentially representing the three great offices of Christ, prophet, priest, and king.

But it says, then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Here's the point. They knew. They knew this was not just the birth of another

Jewish king. This was the birth of the king.

Now let's turn to Psalm chapter 2. Psalm 2. Hopefully, at this point, you're starting to see some of the broader, the wider implications of Christ's birth.

Unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called

Wonderful. The Hebrew word pele translated wonderful means to stand in awe of, to marvel, something that's hard to understand.

And the birth of Jesus is exactly that. The idea that God entered into His own creation born of a virgin, born as this little baby boy was

God incarnate. This is what the Apostle Paul says. He says, great is the mystery, right?

Great is the mystery of godliness, that God was manifested in the flesh. 1

Timothy 3 .16. And His name will be called Wonderful. It's wondrous.

We can't understand it. It's so amazing. We marvel. Now, most commentators put a comma in between Wonderful and Counselor.

So it's either His name will be called Wonderful, that's one thing, and then Counselor. Or you can look at it,

He's the Wonderful Counselor. That's kind of the way I see it. Either way, though.

And then He's called the Mighty God. The Mighty God. In the book of Revelation, Jesus is essentially called this.

He's called God Almighty, the One who is, who was, and who is to come.

So God Almighty can be applied to Jesus just as much as it can be applied to God the

Father. So if Jesus is the King of Kings and He is the Mighty God, how far -reaching is

His authority? Well, it's obvious. We all know the answer to that, right?

And we see that in Psalm chapter 2. Write this down. If you take notes, write this down.

Write it down. Mark it down. Believe it. And this is one of the messages the

Christian church has to proclaim to the world, that every government on earth is called to submit to and recognize the

Lordship of Christ. Now, is that happening? No. Will it happen one day?

Yes, because the Scripture says, in every knee will thou. Look at Psalm chapter 2. The psalmist writes,

Why do the nations rage? Or as the King James Version puts it, Why do the heathen rage?

I kind of prefer that translation myself. But why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing?

And the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the

Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us.

People have been rebelling against God for a long time. It's about the least original thing a person can do.

You know, we live in a time, and again, this is probably always true, people say, I'm going to be a rebel and, you know, and do these rebellious.

Everybody, you're not being a rebel. Everybody does that. People have been rebelling against God basically since the beginning.

And that's what he's talking about here. Who's this referring to, though? The Lord and His anointed.

Well, the immediate context of Psalm chapter 2 is referring to God, the

Lord, and His anointed would be in that immediate context would be

David. David is the anointed one, the anointed King of Israel.

But obviously, this points ahead to an even greater reality, speaking of God, the

Father, and His Christ, the Lord Jesus, right? Because in Greek, Christ means what?

Anointed, right? The Messiah and Christ mean the anointed of God. So why do the heathen rage?

Why do the nations rage? Because the rulers of this world have set themselves against God, the

Father, and against the Lord Jesus Christ. The rulers of this age want to break free.

They want to break free from God. They want to break free from the

Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is the King and the rulers of this world want basically to lead an insurrection against the

Lord. They want to break free from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Isn't this what we see all around us?

It's consistent. They're basically saying, we will not have this man to rule over us.

We do not want the government on his shoulder. And look at the divine response.

He who sits in the heavens shall do what? Laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision.

And he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my

King on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree.

The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you.

Ask of me and I will give you the what? The nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possessions.

So what is the Bible teaching? Again, Jesus is not just the King of the

Jews. He is the King of Kings. That's the implication for the world.

Not just that a Jewish King was born. The King of glory was born.

The King of all the nations was born. He will not only take the throne of his father,

David, his throne is an everlasting throne. It is a worldwide, you could even say universe wide dominion.

You know, that's a weighty message, isn't it? It goes far beyond that cute little baby in a manger.

So let's all eat cookies and drink eggnog and sing songs and exchange gifts. I mean, that's all great.

I like that, but this is way deeper. It's way more significant.

And if it's true, and it is, but if it's true, it changes everything.

It changes everything. And wouldn't you know, since Jesus was born 2000 years ago, his birth has changed the world.

It's undeniable right now on this Lord's day, hundreds of millions of people are proclaiming

Christ Lordship in every country and in every continent on the earth.

Psalm two verse eight, God, the father gives Christ the nations as his inheritance.

The ends of the earth are his possession. At this moment, he rules from heaven.

All authority, as we said, has been given to him, but the scripture says that he's coming back.

You know, on the 25th, we celebrate his first advent, but really we should be looking forward to his second advent when he comes as King of Kings.

Revelation two translates this next verse this way, that he will rule the nations with a rod of iron.

So based on this, if you're still in Psalm two, look at verse 10. Based on all of this, therefore, here's

God's advice. Here's the message the church can proclaim. Now, therefore be wise,

O Kings, be instructed you judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled, but a little, but blessed are all those who put their trust in him.

I know it's easy to get discouraged and you look around and you say, you know, it seems like, it seems like the

Lord's losing. It seems like his enemies are winning. You know, that maybe that's the way it seems to you.

That's not, that's not true. That's not true. So this idea from Isaiah nine, six, the government will be upon his shoulder.

This should be completely in focus by now. So all of that to say this

Christmas is not just the celebration of the baby Jesus who is to grow up to be

King, but you know, Israel rejected him. So now we just have to have him rule and reign in our hearts.

That's going to have to be good enough. Wrong, wrong. He is coming again and he will rule this world with grace and truth.

Every true believer understands that. So before we close,

I just want to go over a few verses from the hymn that we're going to sing, because I'm going through this and this is what

I'm thinking the whole time. This, this great hymn of the faith, joy to the world, right? And it's ironic.

We always sing it around Christmas time, but if you look at the words, it's not talking about the first advent. It's talking about the second advent.

It's talking about all the things we've been discussing. It's a song about his second advent when he returns in glory.

Here's some of the words. I just want you to think about them and hopefully it might even have some new meaning.

You know, when you, when you sing the song joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing.

No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground.

They're infesting the ground right now. It couldn't have been talking about the first advent. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love.

For unto us, a child is born unto us, a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder.

Let's pray. Heavenly father, we so look forward to the day and we know the day is approaching when the trumpet shall sound and Christ will return.

Lord, when he returns to this earth, he will rule with grace and truth, making the nations prove

Lord. I pray that each and every governor, each and every judge, each and every

King president, prime minister would recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

And Lord, if there's any person here this morning who has never put their full trust in what

Jesus did on the cross, dying for our sins, rising again, the third day,

I pray they would submit to Jesus as King, as Lord and as savior.