The Bear Preaches on the Incarnation

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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What you're about to watch is a sermon, a message from Apologia Church's worship service. And again, I want to thank you all so much for watching, for liking, for commenting, for sharing the sermon itself.

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Though I'd love to be, I am not your pastor. And it's very important as you're watching this, you know that it's

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. Merry Christmas Everybody.

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We played that, Elliot played that song on request for me. Thank you Elliot. So everyone here

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I think knows that we get very excited for Christmas. Maybe even a little too excited.

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Like maybe six months in advance too excited. But I'll admit it.

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I'm one of the weirdos that started listening to Christmas music November 1st. Which would be the day after Halloween.

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As soon as Halloween was ended, it was Christmas music in our house. And I know for a fact that there are people here that are even more weird than that.

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That probably start sometime in the summer. I won't mention any names. And I'm not going to judge you.

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I leave that to people like Elliot. But do we get too excited too early?

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I actually recently read a quote from our good friend Doug Wilson in his book God Rest Ye Merry.

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And he said, From advent through Pentecost, we commemorate the life of Christ our

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Lord, marking his arrival in our midst, his life, his death, and resurrection, his ascension into heaven, and his outpouring of the

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Holy Spirit upon his people. Our observance of these days takes up half the year.

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And then he continues on to say we live our lives in the light of the triune God walking in his ways building on the foundation of the historical events we have marked.

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And commemorated. So in other words, Christmas really should be the advent of the new year.

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Not the end of the current year that we are now living in. So in preparing for this message,

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I really wanted to teach on something Christmassy. We are now nine days away from Christmas.

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And so I wanted to pick something that would prepare us for Christmas. And I wanted to pick and I wanted to do something that I thought would be both fun and also theologically rigorous.

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But more so I pray that it prepares our hearts and minds for the celebration of the birth of our

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Messiah. And what better way to do that than to explore the lyrics of the theologically rich Christmas hymn,

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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, which we just sang. And that brings me to the passage today that I want to focus on.

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Well, we're going to look at a lot of scripture. But the key passage, of course, is Matthew 123, which says,

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Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means

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God with us. Sorry, my computer just freaked out on me.

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There we go. Quickly, I want to quote from Piper and then we'll pray. Piper said he had a really good article on the song, by the way.

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But he said the common tune linked with these lyrics in 1861 by Thomas Hellmore captures the plaintive mood of longing.

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It is not the same as the exuberant joy to the world the Lord has come or the vigorous and bounding hark the herald angels sing glory to the newborn king.

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It is an excellent musical match to the mood of the song, longing, aching, yearning, hoping.

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The Christian life oscillates between these two poles, the overflowing joy of the already redeemed and the tearful yearning of the not yet redeemed.

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Not that we ever leave the one or the other in this life. We are sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.

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It is good to have Christmas carols that capture both dimensions of life. My guess is that as we move towards Christmas, most

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Christians experience sadness and excitement. We must never let the sadness ruin the simple joy of the children.

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Most of them have not lived long enough to suffer. Let them see as much brightness as they can in Jesus.

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But let's not think that Advent must be all jolly and jingle bells. Before we get into the message, let's pray.

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Lord, I'm thankful for this opportunity to be here to bring the word today.

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And we're thankful for Christ and his coming to human flesh,

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Lord. And to be born as a baby, Lord. And to live and suffer and die for the sins of his people.

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And just ask that you would speak through me now, Lord. And that we would come away from this message edified.

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And that we'd have a better understanding of who you are, Lord. And ask that you'd be glorified in Christ.

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Let me pray. Amen. So I know Jeff, he says a lot how awesome it is when we hit the

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Christmas season. Everywhere you go, everybody's playing Christmas music. Everybody is singing our theology and praising our

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Savior. Well, mostly. We now have songs like Baby, It's Cold Outside and Rudolph the Red -Nosed

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Reindeer that are being attacked by the SJWs of the world. And of course, I'd also songs like Santa Claus is

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Coming to Town with lyrics telling our children that Santa knows when they're sleeping or awake or whether they've been bad or good.

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This song should have been directed towards heretics. He's making a list and checking it twice.

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Gonna find out if your theology is nice. If I was a heretic, and I'm not, and knew

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Santa was coming to town, I would definitely be afraid. I digress. However, Have Yourself a

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Merry Little Christmas, another song. I just, I don't know if I ever noticed it until this year, but there's lyrics in there that says, through the years we all will be together if the fates allow.

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I mean, what kind of agnostic, fatalistic garbage is that? Regardless, many, many

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Christian songs are distinctly about Jesus. And not just the songs we sing. Many of the traditions associated with Christmas also point to Christ.

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For example, I'll give you a few. Evergreen trees represent eternal life. The ornaments we hang on the trees represent the blessings from God, and they're placed on the tree pointing upwards towards God as the giver of these blessings.

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Candles are the picture of Christ as light of the world. The bells are associated with the ringing out of the good news of the birth of the

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Messiah. Candy canes, if you hold it one way, it's a J. It can represent Jesus.

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The other way, upside down, could be a shepherd's staff. The white represents Christ's purity, while the red represents the blood that he shed for the sins of his people.

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Some even say that the peppermint represents the hyssop given to him on the cross. The gifts, of course, represent the gifts brought to baby

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Jesus by the Magi. And, of course, Christ is also the ultimate gift from God.

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And then, of course, Santa Claus. Literally, Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas.

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Even jolly old Saint Nick was actually a generous, caring bishop from Turkey. He was a real guy.

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He used to leave money in socks on doorways to free slaves. He also hated heresy, and would let you know.

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All this, though, leads me to prepare this message. I recently saw the new Grinch movie.

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I don't know if anybody else in here saw it. I actually thought it was pretty good, and I was pleasantly surprised by a few things.

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Early on in the film, I noticed the Who's were singing Silent Night and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

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Kind of caught me by surprise. But again, I was pleasantly surprised. But specifically, they sang,

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Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray.

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I thought, how odd for that line to be in a major film nowadays.

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But this sent me looking for a theologically rich hymn to dissect for this message.

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Specifically, one that is soaked in Trinitarian language. Sadly, I fear that modern churches have watered theology down so much that many, if not most

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Christians, sing these songs without truly recognizing or even understanding the significance of the lyrics or the theology behind them.

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Naturally, this brought me to O Come, O Come Emmanuel, which is steeped in opulent

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Trinitarian theology. Quick history lesson on the song. The version we're going to go through today that we sing, well, actually, there's several different versions.

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I even noticed the one we sang tonight was a little bit different than the one I'm gonna go over. But the one we're gonna talk about was actually an 1861 translation by Thomas Helmer.

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And there's even debate whether or not he was the guy that did it or not. But it's a translation of a Latin hymn,

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Veni, Veni Emmanuel, which is a metrical paraphrase of the

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O antiphons, which were 4th century Gregorian chants used at Vespers during the last seven days of Advent.

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So it actually has a pretty deep history. And as I was preparing this, I discovered, again, that there's multiple versions of the song, or at least instances of artists possibly intentionally leaving out specific verses, which

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I will get to in a little bit. But as we dig into each verse of the song, I want to look at the historical and the scriptural context of the lyrics.

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And at the end, I want to apply what we've discussed through our daily lives. So right into the song, verse one.

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O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the

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Son of God appear. So we all know the passage we read earlier in Matthew 18, or I'm sorry,

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Matthew 1, 18 through 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother

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Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

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So we all know, I'm not gonna get into details on this, but she was a virgin. And Jesus actually came from the

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Holy Spirit, not from his adopted father, Joseph. So verse 19, and her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

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So he, loving her, didn't want to shame her. And so his plan then was just to divorce her quietly and not make a big deal out of it.

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But then in verse 20, it says, but as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

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Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the

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Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

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So the angel of the Lord here was probably Gabriel, but the name Jesus, they call him as Iesus, and it's in the

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Greek, but that's where we get in Hebrew, Joshua or Yeshua, and literally means the

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Lord is salvation. Verse 22, all this took place to fulfill what the

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Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name

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Emmanuel, which means God with us. So here we learn specifically that Emmanuel literally means

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God with us. And as John 1 14 teaches us, God, the word became flesh and literally tabernacled or camped among us.

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But what's the prophecy being fulfilled here? What prophet said this? This of course is from Isaiah 7.

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But before we move there, let's continue in the passage. Verse 24, when Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the

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Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son and he called his name

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Jesus. So let's look at the prophecy then. Isaiah 7 10 through 16. If you guys wanna turn there quickly.

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Starting in verse 10, again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ask a sign of the Lord your God, let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.

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But Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said, here then, O house of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my

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God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name

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Emmanuel. So this of course is the verse we're all familiar with.

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This was clearly fulfilled then in Matthew chapter one. But wait, there's more. I think we'd stop there.

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Usually we don't look at the rest of the prophecy here. But in verse 15, he says, he shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

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This then indicates that the divine child would actually be born into poverty. In verse 16, for before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

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So then we also learn that before the boy would come, sometime before that, there would be desertion of these two dreaded kings.

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But before moving on, let's quickly look at Isaiah nine, six through seven. Actually, we'll move down a couple chapters. Again, this is another passage that we're all familiar with, especially at this time of year.

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Starting in verse six, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

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On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with the justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. So of course, we all know from 1

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Corinthians 15, 25, it says, for he must reign until he's put all enemies under his feet.

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So that goes with, there's gonna be no end. And then subsequently from Psalm 110, 1, which

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Jeff mentions a lot, which is a good thing. I'm not complaining. It says, the

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Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So when were these prophecies uttered?

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Actually 700 years, approximately before Christ was born. Again, this was during the reign of King Ahaz, which brings me then to the rest of the stanza from the song.

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It says, in ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

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So from that point on, until the birth of Christ, national Israel had a history of bondage and of captivity and of exile.

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And roughly 300 years after Isaiah, the prophet Malachi gave the last prophetic words until the time of Christ's birth.

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So Malachi 4, four through six says, remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all

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Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the

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Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.

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So this was given approximately 400 years before the Messiah was born in a lowly stable.

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At this point, I wanna quote quickly Alec Montier, who by the way has an excellent book on, a commentary actually on the book of Isaiah.

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He said, from the time of Ahaz, there was never again a house of David in the true sense, but only a line of puppet pretend kings under alien domination until at the exile, even they disappeared into the sand of history, never to reemerge.

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The name of the overlord power would change from Assyria to Babylon to Persia to Greece and finally to Rome before Emmanuel would be born.

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But when he was born, it was to share the poverty of his people, to inherit a non -existent throne and to feel the full weight of the oppressor.

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So even though Israel waited all those years for national freedom and ultimately is still looking for a political savior, the arrival of Emmanuel was much more than a political revolution.

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He came to pay the spiritual ransom for the souls of his chosen people. And ever since the garden, they have not just been physically exiled, but also spiritually exiled from a right relationship with their creator.

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So the Messiah came then to set the captives free and the son of God truly already has appeared.

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So that brings us to verse two of the song. O come, O come, thou Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai's height in ancient times didst give the law and cloud and majesty and awe.

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So this is the verse I mentioned that it seems like most people that have a version of this song leave out.

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It made me sad because I actually really like this verse. So I started digging into it and I realized, I think maybe the reason people left it out because it was not necessarily direct language in scripture linking the song to God's word.

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So I actually contemplated skipping it. I didn't want to avoid Joel Osteening it.

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That is a verb, I believe. But this is where the benefit of having a scholar in residence comes in handy.

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I actually reached out to Dr. White and I was like, hey, what do you think? Well, should I skip it? Should I do it? And his advice was to absolutely discuss it as it's an absolutely valid truth.

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It just requires a little bit of digging, a little bit of explanation. And forgive me, Dr. White, I'm actually gonna quote what you said to me here because I thought it was really good.

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He said, fact is when hymns like that were written, the hymn writer could assume a significantly higher theological knowledge of the average churchgoer than we can today, especially when we speak of Trinitarian theology.

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What I love about Christmas hymns is that they are so rich in Trinitarian theology. I could not agree more on that.

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So before looking in to this verse where the law was given at Sinai, let's quickly look at Exodus 3, 1 through 6.

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Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father -in -law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

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And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

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He looked and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.

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When the Lord, this is Yahweh, said that he turned aside, or saw that he turned aside to see

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God Elohim called to him out of the bush. Moses, Moses, and he said, here am

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I. Then he said, do not come near, take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

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And he said, I am the Elohim of your father, the Elohim of Abraham, the

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Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at Elohim.

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So I think we all know here this is actually an instance of a Christophany and scripture or of Christ appearing pre -incarnate as the angel of the

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Lord. But you'll notice here we have two different terms. We have Yahweh and Elohim talking of the same person in this bush.

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And then of course, go down a little bit further to verse 13 to 14, where it says, then Moses said to Elohim, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the

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Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me, what is his name?

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What shall I say to them? Elohim said to Moses, I am who I am. And he said, say this to the people of Israel.

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I am has sent me to you. So this of course is the Hebrew word, which means the self -existent one.

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And for sake of time, I'm not gonna go into great detail on this. And actually Dr. White just did a really great message about three or four weeks ago on this subject and how it relates to the gospel of John.

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If you haven't seen it, it's on YouTube and it's excellent. I encourage you to check it out. But the point I want us to see here is we can clearly deduce from these passages along with the whole of scripture that Emmanuel is

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Yahweh and Yahweh is Elohim. And that Emmanuel is

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Elohim with us. So now to Sinai. Let's go Exodus 19, nine through 20.

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And the Lord Yahweh said to Moses, behold, I'm coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear what

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I speak with you and may also believe you forever. When Moses told the words of the prophet to Yahweh, Yahweh said to Moses, go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day.

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For on the third day, Yahweh will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people and you shall set limits for the people all around saying, take care not to go up into the mountain or to touch the edge of it.

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For whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch it that he shall be stoned or shot whether beast or man, he shall not live.

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When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and he consecrated the people and they washed their garments and he said to the people, be ready for the third day.

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Do not go near a woman. On the morning of the third day, there was thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast.

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So to all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet

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Elohim and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because Yahweh had descended on it in fire.

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The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder,

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Moses spoke and Elohim answered him in thunder. Then Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountains and Yahweh called

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Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. So at this point, we all know that shortly after this,

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God gave Moses the Ten Commandments or the first and second tables of the law.

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So to tie this in then to the verse of the song, it says, or we see that the

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Lord of might in ancient times on Sinai's height gave his tribes a law and cloud and majesty and awe.

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So that brings us to verse three then. It says, O come thou rod of Jesse, free thine own from Satan's tyranny, from depths of hell thy people save and give them victory over the grave.

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So the passage I wanna look at here is Isaiah 11, one through five. And it says,

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There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

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So the word shoot here literally is a new growth and that's where we get the word rod from. So it's not like a rod you would use to beat somebody with, right?

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It's a shoot out of the stump. And so it grows from the roots of the stump of Jesse. So this once tall tree of Jesse has been cut down, but this branch shall bear fruit.

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And then verse two it says, 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 the fear of the

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Lord and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

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Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

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So this shoot of Jesse will be a wise, righteous and faithful judge and he will set his own people free from Satan's tyranny.

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He will save them from the depths of hell and give them victory over the grave.

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Earlier we read in 1 Corinthians 15, 25 that the Messiah must reign until all enemies are put under his feet.

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And in verse 26 here, we learn that the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

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And a little further down in verses 54 to 55, it says death is swallowed up in victory.

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Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? So as a side note, we see a little bit further down in Isaiah then back to chapter 11 in verse 10.

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It says in that day, the root of Jesse who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him shall the nations inquire and his resting place shall be glorious.

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I don't wanna get sidetracked on eschatology so I'll just leave that there as a little nugget. But we'll move on to the next verse of the song then which is in verse four, it says, oh, come thou day spring come and cheer our spirits by thine advent here disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight.

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So the passage I wanna look at here is Luke 1, 67 through 79. I'll go quickly, but the background is

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John the Baptist is just born. So then it says in verse 67, and his father Zechariah was filled with the

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Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant,

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David. Quickly, this is a reference to 2

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Samuel 22 verses two through three and talking about David, or I'm sorry, this is David to Yahweh.

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And he says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock and whom

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I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior, you save me from violence.

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So that's where we get the, that's where Zechariah gets the horn of salvation from. But back to Luke then in verse 70, he says, it says, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.

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Verse 73, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

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And you, child, speaking to John, will be called the prophet of the most high and you will go before the

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Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our

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God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

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So day spring here then in the song is just an older term for sunrise and that's where we get this name for Jesus.

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So the advent or the arrival of a notable person that's what advent means. The advent of the sunrise will bring cheer to the souls of his people.

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He will give light and disperse the gloomy clouds of night to those who sit in darkness and he will cause the dark shadows of death to put to flight.

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Verse five of the song then, O come thou key of David, come and open wide our heavenly home, make safe the way that leads on high, close the path to misery.

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So this then is a reference to Isaiah 22, 20 through 23 and as you all are starting to see,

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Isaiah is full of prophecies of Jesus. So starting verse 20,

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In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe and will bind your sash on him and will commit your authority to his hand and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah and I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.

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He shall open and none shall shut and he shall shut and none shall open.

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So here we see then that it says, the Adonai Yahweh of hosts, that's who's speaking, his servant

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Eliakim, which literally means God establishes, is given the keys to the house of David as the father of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of Judah.

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At this point, Matthew said he's given the authority to legislate and to make binding decisions.

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So only he is able to open and shut, here in verse 23 it says, and will fasten him like a peg in a secure place and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house and they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house.

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The offspring and issue every small vessel from the cups to all the flagons.

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So we see here in the next portion that Eliakim will be what they call, what he calls a secure peg and he will be a throne of honor to his father's house.

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Matthew Henry here says, our Lord Jesus having the key of the house of David is as a nail in a sure place and all the glory of his father's house hangs upon him, is derived from him and depends upon him.

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Even the meanest that belong to his church are welcomed to him and he is able to bear the stress of them all.

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That soul cannot perish nor that concern fall to the ground though ever so weighty that is by faith hung upon Christ.

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So here we see that the key of David has the only authority to open wide our heavenly home and he will make safe the way that leads to him.

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And he will close the path to misery. Verse six of the song,

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O come thou wisdom from on high and order all things far and nigh to us the path of knowledge show and cause us in her ways to go.

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So the scripture here then is Jeremiah 51 verses 14 through 19. It says the

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Lord of hosts is sworn by himself. Surely I will fill you with men as many as locusts and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.

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It is he who made the earth by his power who established the world by his wisdom and by the understanding stretched out the heavens.

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So in this passage then who made the earth by his power? It's Yahweh of hosts.

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Verse 16 then it says when he utters his voice there's a tumult of waters in the heavens and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.

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He makes lightning for the rain and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. So in comparison then to Yahweh of hosts it compares man.

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So in verse 17 every man is stupid and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols for his images are false and there is no breath in them.

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They are worthless, a work of delusion. At the time of their punishment they shall perish.

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So then again that's man compared to Yahweh of hosts and then it goes back to the creator. Verse 19, not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob for he is the one who formed all things and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.

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The Lord of hosts is his name. So the portion of Jacob then has formed all things and his name is the

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Lord of hosts. Here Matthew Henry says the portion of Jacob is not like them. The God who speaks this and will do it is the former of all things and the

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Lord of all hosts. Therefore can do what he will and there is a near relation between him and his people for he is their portion and they are his.

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They put a confidence in him as their portion and he is pleased to take a complacency in them and a particular care of them as a lot of his inheritance and therefore he will do what is best for them.

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So then I want to move on then quickly to Psalm 104 24 which says oh Lord how manifold are your works and wisdom have you made them all.

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The earth is full of your creatures. So again we see that Yahweh has made all things in his wisdom.

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So moving to the New Testament then and speaking of Christ we see of course in Colossians 1 15 through 20 it says he is the image of the invisible

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God the firstborn of all creation for by him again speaking of Christ all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together and he is the head of the body of the church he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead then everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross.

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So here's the point of the stanza I want to see from the song Emmanuel is the wisdom from on high he has ordered all things far and nigh and he has shown us the path of knowledge and caused us to go that way.

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Verse 7 then this is the last verse of the song it says oh come desire of nations bind in one the hearts of all mankind bid thou our sad division cease and be thyself our king of peace so the passage

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I want to look at here is Haggai 2 1 through 9 and it says in the seventh month on the 21st day of the month the word of the

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Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet so this was actually written in 520 BC and this was after the return from captivity and Babylon and it's the

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Lord is speaking to Haggai to encourage the people in the rebuilding of the temple so verse 2 it says speaking out to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and I don't know if I pronounced that right forgive me governor of Judah and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest and to all the remnants of the people and say who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory how do you see it now is it not as nothing in your eyes yet now be strong oh

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Zerubbabel declares the Lord be strong oh Zerubbabel oh Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest be strong all you people in the land declares

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Yahweh work for I am with you declares Yahweh of hosts according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt my spirit remains in your midst fear not for thus says

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Yahweh of hosts yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in and I will fill the house with glory says

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Yahweh of hosts the silver is mine and the gold is mine declares Yahweh of hosts the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former says

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Yahweh of hosts and in this place I will give peace declares Yahweh of hosts so we see here that all nations will come and therefore the

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Messiah will be the desire of nations his glory will be far greater than the former and he will bind the hearts of all mankind in one and he will put an end to all sad divisions he will be for his people their king of peace so that's that's the all the verses of the song so now

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I want to try to apply some of this what we've talked about so the first point I said is just rejoice because Emmanuel has come to thee oh

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Israel so my question for you here today has Emmanuel ransomed you?

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are you still captive to your sin? do you mourn over the loneliness of being exiled from a right relationship with your creator?

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has the rod of Jesse set you free from Satan's tyranny? has he saved you from the depths of hell?

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has he given you victory over the grave? has the key of David opened wide the door to your heavenly home?

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has he made safe the way that leads to him and closed the path to misery? the only way to know for sure if God with us

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Emmanuel has paid that price to redeem you from captivity of course is by repenting of your rebellion towards him and placing your faith and trust in him as your lord as your

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Yahweh and savior I could not think of a better time to do this than now

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Charles Spurgeon always said if you have not done this do not move an inch from your seat until you do the next point then is do you love

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Emmanuel's law? do you fear breaking it? do you shudder at the idea of sinning against your maker?

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I love the imagery we saw at Mount Sinai it was covered in clouds and smoke there was thunder and there was lightning it was utterly terrifying and truly awe -inspiring and I fear that the modern -day church and our culture has lost this healthy fear and this healthy reverence for Yahweh his presence is so pure and so perfect and so holy that merely touching the mountain resulted in instant and sure death we know that his presence as the holy spirit now dwells in his people and is no longer restricted to the holy of holies you don't have to tie bells to your pastors to make sure that we're still alive or ropes to pull us out if our unworthiness violates

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God's presence causing us to die but I fear that we talk so much about Christian liberty which is a good thing that we've watered down just what it means to offend

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God is this the way you live? and are the choices you make truly offensive to Yahweh?

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do you truly strive to love God and to love others? we know that wisdom incarnate has created and he has ordered all things he has shown us the path of knowledge and taught us the way that he wants us to go but the question is will we follow?

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I pray that we have a holy fear of violating God's law next point maybe you're here today and you're struggling life is hard sin is rampant maybe you're hurting today allow the day spring to come and cheer your aching spirit here allow him to disperse the lonely and gloomy clouds of night and put the dark shadows of death to flight he truly is the dawn of a new day and lastly are you at peace?

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are you at peace with Yahweh? are you at peace with yourself? are you at peace with others?

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the desire of nations came to unite the hearts of all mankind he came to end our sad divisions and be our king of peace we're going to take communion in a few minutes and if there's someone here in this very room that you need to make peace with others before we take communion please do that so in closing

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God rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray oh tidings of comfort and joy let's pray

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Lord I'm just again thankful for this opportunity to bring the word today Lord I'm thankful for this song that's so rich in theology that so clearly displays who you are and Lord I ask that as we prepare to celebrate

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Christmas in a few days Lord to be prepared to celebrate the birth of the Messiah I pray that we would have a peaceful but healthy fear of you and of your law and that we would truly celebrate

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Christmas for what it is and not get caught up in what our culture makes it