Wings (Matthew 1:18-25)
Gary McManus, 12/24/2023Part of the Christmas series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
December 24, 2023 Matthew 1:18-25
“Wings”
Bible Verse of the Week
"All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had SPOKEN
through the prophet. . ." --Matthew 1:22
We turn our eyes to the angels--the messengers of our God.
The ancients did not have
-- an ancient Facebook (Meta) page
--twitter /the platform formerly known as twitter
--Tik Tok videos
--Instagram.
--even newspapers
The ancients only had human speech, the use of language.
Everyone used speech. So did our Lord God use speech.
The word of God in the Bible repeated by the messengers of God.
messenger = angel
“Angel of the Lord” -some 70-80 times in the Bible
Messengers of the King run from the King’s throne room with
the word of the King--news, treaties, alliances, invasions, etc.
Our God also used dreams and visions, but still with words.
Joseph dreamt of an angel of the Lord. How did Joseph know?
Did the angel have wings? Do angels HAVE wings?
Or is that just an ancient idea. Today we have jet packs
aqd anti-gravity rooms/ zero gravity rooms.
wings = “travel” from God to man/earth; spiritual physical
Matthew 1, verse 20 makes perfect sense to Pastor;
Joseph just knew at the appearance of the angel in the dream
that it was an angel of the Lord.
The angel of the Lord was communicating the will of God,
the plans of God, the actions that God wanted Joseph to take. . .
Joseph, son of David? Matthew 1:16: Joseph’s dad was Jacob.
Son of David is a Messiah title.
The time had come for God’s promise fulfillment.
Isaiah 7:14
Having heard this before, y’all know the whole story.
Verse 14. . . a child, “a son, will be born, Immanuel”
God is fulfilling God’s promise, but what will Joseph do?
(See the prophet Jeremiah chapters 42 and 43.)
Joseph would, by marriage, make that boy Jesus another
generation of a son of David. (in fulfillment of Isaiah 11:1).
As mentioned earlier this season, the Christian faith and the
Jewish faith are REVEALED religions. Not every religion
in the world is a revealed religion.
God is revealing Himself, His plans, His love, His gift of
salvation to us--those God will save.
The Christian faith and the Jewish faith are exclusive.
The Bible is the ONLY written revelation of God to humanity.
Everything else is a wrong direction. . .nothing else can lead
you into a relationship with the one true God who HAS
revealed himself.
Why are there angels in your manger scene?
The only way that you are going to understand why Jesus’ birth
is special BEFORE is to hear it from God’s own mouth.
We keep reading the Bible to be remaindered about what Jesus
said plainly and clearly and what God claims plainly and
clearly. . . --before the Lord died for you on the cross,
the Lord came to earth to get you and be in a relationship with
us all.
Our hope is not that God will fix everyone around us.
Our hope is that our Lord is going to save US--and God is
making the offer an open offer.
God is revealing God’s will. You and I CAN be saved.
God has willed it. We only have to say yes to God’s gift.
It is a reason to celebrate.
The angels cried out, shouted or sang, Hallelujah.
(Revelation 19:1) Amen.
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