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The Paradox of Christmas (Selected Scriptures) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

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  Speaker 1: We come now to our time for the study of
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  Speaker 1: the Word of God this morning on this Christmas Sunday.
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  Speaker 1: Our attention, of course, is drawn to Christmas. And as
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  Speaker 1: I was thinking about what I might share with you,
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  Speaker 1: I was struck again with the dichotomy between Christmas for
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  Speaker 1: the Christian and Christmas for the world. Sitting in my
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  Speaker 1: office and I was looking at two Christmas cards. One
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  Speaker 1: of them had a fat man with a white beard
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  Speaker 1: on it. and a couple of little elves and it said, ho, ho, ho.
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  Speaker 1: The other one had a manger with a star and
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  Speaker 1: a baby and it said, thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.
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  Speaker 1: And I began to think about the paradox of Christmas.
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  Speaker 1: What is Christmas? For some it is peace toward men
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  Speaker 1: of goodwill. For the world it is mass confusion, furious,
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  Speaker 1: rushing around, and a rising suicide rate. That lovely night 2,000
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  Speaker 1: years ago, one star lit the heaven and marked the
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  Speaker 1: spot where the Christ was born, where God was made flesh.
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  Speaker 1: And today, a million neon signs mark the spot where
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  Speaker 1: the sale begins or where you can throw away your
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  Speaker 1: money buying what isn't needed and doesn't fit anyway. The
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  Speaker 1: first Christmas was a poor one. manger, a stable. Our
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  Speaker 1: Christmas is a dazzling display of wealth beyond belief as
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  Speaker 1: millions of people spend millions of dollars to ignore the
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  Speaker 1: true meaning of Christmas. Once wise men came to worship
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  Speaker 1: Jesus and today fools have parties of wickedness, ignoring all
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  Speaker 1: that Jesus came to accomplish. The babe of Bethlehem was
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  Speaker 1: born a Savior to give to men all they need.
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  Speaker 1: He has been replaced by a huckster named Santa Claus
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  Speaker 1: who takes what's valuable and gives tinsel in return. That's
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  Speaker 1: the paradox of Christmas. Who does it belong to? And
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  Speaker 1: as I thought further about the paradox of Christmas, I
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  Speaker 1: thought about the great paradox of Christmas. Who is Jesus Christ?
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  Speaker 1: And I begin to look at some of the prophecies
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  Speaker 1: and I begin to say, now I wonder what prophecies
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  Speaker 1: might be exciting for us to study in the look
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  Speaker 1: at the birth of Christ. And I came across the
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  Speaker 1: idea of the paradoxical prophecies. Did you know that the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament is loaded with apparently contradictory prophecies about Christ?
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  Speaker 1: Did you know that? Did you know there is no
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  Speaker 1: way that Old Testament prophets could ever have understood the
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  Speaker 1: fullness of the coming Messiah just on the virtue of
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  Speaker 1: the apparent contradiction in their own prophecies? For example, a
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  Speaker 1: prophet would sit down and the Holy Spirit would inspire
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  Speaker 1: him and he would write that there was coming a
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  Speaker 1: conqueror who would rule the world, who would be the
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  Speaker 1: Savior and deliverer of men. The same prophet would sit
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  Speaker 1: down later and write about a man of sorrow who
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  Speaker 1: was lonely and rejected. The prophet would write about a
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  Speaker 1: King of glory, a King of heaven, eternal Savior, the
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  Speaker 1: desire of all nations, and then a prophet would sit
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  Speaker 1: down and write that there was no beauty, that men
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  Speaker 1: would desire Him, and that He was a servant, bloody, suffering, crucified,
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  Speaker 1: and dead. How do you resolve these things? The prophet
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  Speaker 1: would write that he would come in flaming fire to
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  Speaker 1: take vengeance on his enemies. The other prophet would write
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  Speaker 1: that he would come preaching peace. And so the prophets
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  Speaker 1: couldn't even understand what they themselves wrote about Christmas. It
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  Speaker 1: was a paradox to them. The last of all the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament prophets was trapped in the paradox. His name
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  Speaker 1: was John the Baptist. In fact, John was so confused.
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  Speaker 1: that when he was a prisoner, he sent some of
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  Speaker 1: his disciples to Jesus. And the record of that encounter
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  Speaker 1: is in the eleventh chapter of the gospel of Matthew.
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  Speaker 1: You see, everything that John had said about the Messiah,
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  Speaker 1: he received from God. Luke 3, 2 regarding John says,
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  Speaker 1: the Word of God came to John. So when John
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed the Messiah, it wasn't his opinion. It was revelation.
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  Speaker 1: And John was declaring the Messiah, and he was saying
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  Speaker 1: certain things about the Messiah. You say, well, what was
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  Speaker 1: he saying about the Messiah? Well, he was saying that
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah was going to be a judge. That when
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah came, terrible things would happen. And so John says,
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  Speaker 1: for example, in Luke 3, 7, O generation of snakes,
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  Speaker 1: who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
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  Speaker 1: Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. This was his message.
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  Speaker 1: John said there's coming a Messiah and He is going
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  Speaker 1: to be a terrifying judge. In Matthew 3, 7, He
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  Speaker 1: said the same thing. And in verse 10, He said,
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  Speaker 1: the axe is laid to the root of the trees,
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  Speaker 1: and every tree which brings forth evil fruit or doesn't
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  Speaker 1: bring forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into
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  Speaker 1: the fire. Verse 12, His fan is in His hand.
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  Speaker 1: He'll thoroughly purge the floor, gather the wheat and the granary,
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  Speaker 1: and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. That was John's
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  Speaker 1: message about the coming Messiah, foreboding. judgmental, damning. That's the
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  Speaker 1: Messiah that John anticipated. And then Jesus came. And you
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  Speaker 1: know what He did? Mostly deeds of mercy. He healed
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  Speaker 1: the sick. He gave sight to the blind and hearing
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  Speaker 1: to the deaf and voices to the dumb and life
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  Speaker 1: to the dead. And John didn't understand it. because John
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  Speaker 1: didn't understand that that was also part of the prophecy,
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  Speaker 1: or he had forgotten. And so he sends his disciples
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  Speaker 1: from his prison to inquire of Jesus. He was taken prisoner,
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  Speaker 1: you'll remember, by King Herod Antipas, locked in the gloomy
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  Speaker 1: fortress of Machaerus, which is Oh, about five miles east
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  Speaker 1: of the Dead Sea and 15 miles south of the
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  Speaker 1: northernmost tip. It's in the most bleak and desolate place imaginable.
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  Speaker 1: It was originally constructed as a Herodian fortress. And there
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  Speaker 1: was John. And it didn't seem to be going the
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  Speaker 1: way he had anticipated because Messiah was to come and
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  Speaker 1: to judge and set up His kingdom. And there wasn't
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  Speaker 1: any judgment and there wasn't any kingdom. And here He,
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  Speaker 1: the last of the great prophets and the greatest who
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  Speaker 1: ever lived, according to Matthew 11, 11, was in prison.
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  Speaker 1: Verse 1 of Matthew 11, came to pass when Jesus
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  Speaker 1: had ceased commanding His twelve disciples, He departed from there
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  Speaker 1: to teach and preach in their cities. When John had
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  Speaker 1: heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent
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  Speaker 1: two of his disciples and said to him,' Art thou
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  Speaker 1: he that should come, or do we look for another?'
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  Speaker 1: John says,' Are there two Messiahs?' When John heard the
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  Speaker 1: things that Jesus did, he couldn't justify those with what
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  Speaker 1: he had said Jesus would do. John was trapped in
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  Speaker 1: the paradox of prophecy. He was confused. His faith was
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  Speaker 1: growing thin. He failed to see how the resolution of
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  Speaker 1: such a conflict existed. And notice the reply of Jesus
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  Speaker 1: to these messengers from John. Jesus answered and said to them,
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  Speaker 1: go and show John again those things which you do
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  Speaker 1: hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk,
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  Speaker 1: the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
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  Speaker 1: raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
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  Speaker 1: Now why did He do that? Why didn't He give
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  Speaker 1: John some more specific answer? Why did He say, you
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  Speaker 1: go remind him of those? Now watch, because in the
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  Speaker 1: words that He used of verse 5, they are really
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  Speaker 1: a paraphrase of Isaiah 35, 5 and 6, and Isaiah 61, 1.
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  Speaker 1: He's saying, you go back and remind John of some
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  Speaker 1: other prophecies that I have to fulfill first. The problem
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  Speaker 1: that John had was the problem that all the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament prophets had. They didn't see any distinction between the
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  Speaker 1: first coming and what? The second. So he says to
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  Speaker 1: these messengers, you tell him to hang in there. I've
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  Speaker 1: got some other things to do that are also recorded prophetically.
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  Speaker 1: And the very words that he gave were just almost
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  Speaker 1: right out of Isaiah. And verse 6 is a gentle rebuke.
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  Speaker 1: And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in
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  Speaker 1: me or shall not stumble because of what I am doing.
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  Speaker 1: What is he saying? Hey, blessed is the man who
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  Speaker 1: trusts me. You haven't seen it all yet. Trust me.
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  Speaker 1: So you see, John had that problem. There is no
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  Speaker 1: way that an Old Testament prophet could ever understand all
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  Speaker 1: of the resolution of these things. The New Testament commentary
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  Speaker 1: makes sense out of all the paradox. One of the
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  Speaker 1: greatest verifications of the Christian faith, I think, are the
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  Speaker 1: diverse and apparently contradictory prophecies. You see, they could never
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  Speaker 1: be reproduced. They could never be counterfeited. They could never
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  Speaker 1: be falsified. Such amazing prophecies prevent wicked men or overzealous
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  Speaker 1: disciples from falsely fulfilling them. Look at 1 Peter 1.10.
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  Speaker 1: It says there, Of which salvation, and of course this
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  Speaker 1: is the salvation that Christ brought, of which salvation the
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  Speaker 1: prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the
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  Speaker 1: grace that should come unto you, searching what person, you
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  Speaker 1: should write that in probably if it isn't there, Searching
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  Speaker 1: what person or what manner of time the Spirit of
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  Speaker 1: Christ who was in them did signify when He testified
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  Speaker 1: beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
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  Speaker 1: Now notice this. It says in verse 10, the prophets
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  Speaker 1: inquired and the prophets searched diligently. It says in verse 11,
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  Speaker 1: the prophets searched. What were they searching? They were searching
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  Speaker 1: the things they prophesied in verse 10 and the things
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  Speaker 1: they testified of in verse 11 from the Holy Spirit.
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  Speaker 1: They were searching their own writings to figure them out.
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  Speaker 1: The paradoxes were so obvious that even they couldn't resolve
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  Speaker 1: the sufferings of Christ with the glory that should follow.
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  Speaker 1: They couldn't figure out what person or what time these
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  Speaker 1: things could come together. What person could fulfill all this?
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  Speaker 1: And in what time could this be done? And so
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  Speaker 1: they searched diligently for a clear understanding of the very
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  Speaker 1: things which they themselves had written down under the inspiration
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. You see, there is no way
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  Speaker 1: to falsify such things. One of the great proofs that
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  Speaker 1: they didn't write their own minds but that they wrote
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  Speaker 1: the mind of God was the contradictions which they wrote.
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  Speaker 1: Men wouldn't do that. God did it because He knew
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  Speaker 1: the resolution would come in Christ. They couldn't see that.
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  Speaker 1: Not even John understood it. And John thought there must
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  Speaker 1: be two Messiahs. In Matthew 13, 17, Jesus said, Verily
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  Speaker 1: I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men
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  Speaker 1: have desired to see the things which you see and
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  Speaker 1: haven't seen them, and to hear the things which you
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  Speaker 1: hear and haven't heard them. Backing to verse 16, Blessed
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  Speaker 1: are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for
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  Speaker 1: they hear. Why, you have the benefit of knowing the
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  Speaker 1: things they desperately wanted to see resolved. Let's look at
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  Speaker 1: some of the paradoxes. What are they? What are the
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  Speaker 1: paradoxes the prophets had a hard time with? The first
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  Speaker 1: one is the paradox of the God-man. Point one, the
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  Speaker 1: paradox of the God-man. I want to show you two
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  Speaker 1: passages in Isaiah to begin with. Isaiah 7, 14 is
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  Speaker 1: the first. Here's the prophecy. Therefore, the Lord Himself, I
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  Speaker 1: like that, that means of His own volition, unasked, The
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  Speaker 1: Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Now, mark it, friends.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord is going to do something unusual. When it
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  Speaker 1: says the Lord is going to give you a sign,
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  Speaker 1: that's going to be something supernatural, right? It has to be. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: it wouldn't be a sign from God. If the Lord said,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to show you a sign, it's going to
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  Speaker 1: rain tomorrow. Well, it may or may not be. You
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  Speaker 1: could say, well, I mean, that's, you know, maybe the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's got a better view of the cloud structure. But
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  Speaker 1: if the Lord says, I'm going to give you a sign,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be something supernatural. So watch. Behold, the
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  Speaker 1: virgin shall conceive. Now, friends, you don't have to know
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  Speaker 1: much to know that's supernatural. A child born without a father,
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  Speaker 1: a virgin shall conceive. You say, Alma can mean young woman.
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  Speaker 1: And some of the liberal translations translate it that way. No,
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  Speaker 1: Alma may mean young woman, yes. In the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: Alma is always used a virgin. The Septuagint uses it
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  Speaker 1: a virgin. The New Testament comment is quoting this, uses
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  Speaker 1: the word virgin. And could you imagine that it says this?
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  Speaker 1: The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a
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  Speaker 1: woman will have a baby. That isn't a sign. That's
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  Speaker 1: going on all the time. The very language indicates the supernatural.
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  Speaker 1: The virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Now here
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  Speaker 1: is amazing. And his name shall be called Immanuel. You say,
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  Speaker 1: what's so important about that? I know somebody named Immanuel.
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you what's important about that. That only became
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  Speaker 1: a name because of that verse. El. Those two letters, E-L,
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  Speaker 1: that's God. El Shaddai. El Makadishkim, El Elyon, Bethel is
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  Speaker 1: the house of God. Those two letters mean God. Immanu
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  Speaker 1: dash El means God with us. Notice, you have a paradox.
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  Speaker 1: A son who is God. Now wait a minute. How
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  Speaker 1: can that be? A child born of a woman who
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  Speaker 1: is God? Look at Isaiah 9. And you know Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: had problems with this. Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us
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  Speaker 1: a child is born, unto us a son is given.
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  Speaker 1: I can handle that. The government shall be upon His shoulder.
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  Speaker 1: His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God,
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  Speaker 1: the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace. How could
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  Speaker 1: a child be born who is the Mighty God? There's
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  Speaker 1: the paradox. How could a child be born in time
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  Speaker 1: who is the Father of eternity? The paradox is clear.
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  Speaker 1: There's a child. He is human. He is God. A
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  Speaker 1: woman will bring forth a son who made the woman
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  Speaker 1: who brought forth the Son. Could it be? If Scripture
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  Speaker 1: is true, it better be. I draw you to Luke
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  Speaker 1: chapter 1, verse 30. And the angel said to her,'
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  Speaker 1: Fear not, Mary.' For thou hast found favor with God.
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  Speaker 1: And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring
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  Speaker 1: forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He
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  Speaker 1: shall be great. He shall be called the Son of
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  Speaker 1: the Highest. There's none higher. The Lord God shall give
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  Speaker 1: unto him the throne of his father David, and he
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  Speaker 1: shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of
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  Speaker 1: his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary had
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  Speaker 1: the same problem the prophets did. Then said Mary unto
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  Speaker 1: the angel, How shall this be? Seeing I know not
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  Speaker 1: a man, never had a relationship with a man, how
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  Speaker 1: could I have a baby? The angel answered and said
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  Speaker 1: to her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee. The
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  Speaker 1: power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that
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  Speaker 1: holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
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  Speaker 1: called the Son of God. Now you see, the prophecy
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  Speaker 1: was Mary, you'll have a baby, but it won't be
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  Speaker 1: just an ordinary baby, it will be a holy thing.
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  Speaker 1: Is any baby ever born into the world holy? No.
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  Speaker 1: This is unusual. And the Son of God, Son not
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  Speaker 1: in the sense of offspring, Son in the sense of
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  Speaker 1: incarnate servitude, He is God, He is man. and the
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  Speaker 1: Word became flesh and dwell among us. Listen, Jesus the
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  Speaker 1: man is the Jehovah God of the Old Testament. I
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  Speaker 1: was reading a book this week that just clearly outlined that,
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  Speaker 1: just to compare a couple of things that were most fascinating.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah 6, 3, you remember the vision that Isaiah had?
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  Speaker 1: In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also
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  Speaker 1: the Lord high and lifted up, and His train filled
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  Speaker 1: the temple. And the word Lord all through here is Jehovah.
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  Speaker 1: You can always tell the word Lord is Jehovah. It
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  Speaker 1: is capitalized in verse 3, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah
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  Speaker 1: of hosts. Now here Isaiah is having a vision of Jehovah, God.
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  Speaker 1: Now I want you to notice John 12, 39. Listen.
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  Speaker 1: Here a quoting from Isaiah is our Lord. Therefore they
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  Speaker 1: could not believe because Isaiah said, He's blinded their eyes,
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  Speaker 1: hardened their hearts. They should not see with their eyes,
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  Speaker 1: understand with their heart, be converted, and I should heal them.
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  Speaker 1: These things said Isaiah when he saw His glory and
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  Speaker 1: spoke of Him. Of whom? of Christ. Notice, the antecedent
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  Speaker 1: to His and the antecedent to Him in 41 is Christ. Now,
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  Speaker 1: what does that say? The passage, Isaiah 6, I saw Jehovah,
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  Speaker 1: is referred to Christ in John 12. Jesus is Jehovah.
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  Speaker 1: In Isaiah 40, you have amazing prediction regarding the work
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  Speaker 1: of John the Baptist. And I want to show you
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  Speaker 1: just this illustration. Verse 1,' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
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  Speaker 1: saith your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Cry unto her
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  Speaker 1: that her warfare is accomplished, her iniquities pardoned. She hath
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  Speaker 1: received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.'
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  Speaker 1: The voice of Him that cries in the wilderness, prepare
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  Speaker 1: ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the
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  Speaker 1: desert a highway for our God. Hmm, prepare ye the
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  Speaker 1: way of the Lord, capital letters again, Jehovah. Prepare ye
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  Speaker 1: the way of Jehovah. Matthew chapter 3, here came John
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  Speaker 1: fulfilling the prophecy, preaching. Verse 3, Matthew 3, for this
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  Speaker 1: is He, and He's preaching about Christ. This is he
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  Speaker 1: that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
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  Speaker 1: the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye
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  Speaker 1: the way of the Lord. Who is the Lord that
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  Speaker 1: is the Jehovah of Isaiah 40? It is the Jesus
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  Speaker 1: of the gospels. Jesus is Jehovah. Leviticus 19.3, keep my Sabbaths.
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  Speaker 1: I am the Jehovah, your God. Matthew 12, 8, Jesus said,
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  Speaker 1: for the Son of Man is Jehovah of the Sabbath.
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  Speaker 1: He is the Jehovah, the Old Testament. Joel 2, 32,
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  Speaker 1: it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on
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  Speaker 1: the name of the Lord shall be saved on the
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  Speaker 1: name of Jehovah. Romans 10, 13, Paul points to Jesus
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  Speaker 1: and says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord shall be saved. And he applies that passage to Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: He is Jehovah. There's the paradox. He is God. He
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  Speaker 1: is man. Think about it. Think about what the prophets wrote.
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  Speaker 1: Genesis 3.15, the Messiah would be the seed of the woman.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel 7.13, he would be the son of man. Psalm 2.7,
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  Speaker 1: he would be the son of God. Genesis 22.18, the
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  Speaker 1: seed of Abraham. How could one person be all of that?
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  Speaker 1: The seed of the woman, the son of man, the
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  Speaker 1: son of God, the son of Abraham, and the son
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  Speaker 1: of David. The amazing complex of paradoxical prophecies. How can
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: God be man and man be God and yet be
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the son of man and the son of God? How
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: can one be the son of man and yet have
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: no human father and be born the seed of a
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: woman when a woman has no seed and be the
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: creator of that woman at the same time? No wonder
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the prophets wondered. God did it so there couldn't be
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a counterfeit. Jesus was all of these. He was God
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and He was man, the Word made flesh. He was
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the seed of the woman, virgin born without a human father.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Galatians 4, 4 says He was born of a woman.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: He was the Son of Man. He said Himself in
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Luke 19, 10, The Son of Man has come to
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: seek and to save that which was lost. He is
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: the Son of God. Read Hebrews 1, verse 2 and
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: verse 5. Matthew 1.1 said He is the seed of
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Abraham and the seed of David. He was everything, and
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: all the paradox resolves in Him. Boy, when you start
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: getting into the nature of Jesus Christ and His person,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: it becomes the most amazing complex of fulfilled prophecy imaginable.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Listen to Matthew 22. Jesus absolutely nailed the Pharisees to
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the wall in this particular passage. Matthew 22.41, the Pharisees
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: were always asking Him questions, and so He thought He'd
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: ask them one. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: asked them, Matthew 22, 41, saying, what think ye of Christ?
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Whose son is He? People have come to me many
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: times and said, I don't understand how Christ can be
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: God and the Son of God. Don't worry about it.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I don't understand it either. I just believe it. But
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: you know, no one really understands it, and Christ knew
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: it was a difficult problem, and He posed it here.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: Whose son is He? They said to Him, the Son
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: of David. He said unto them, How then doth David
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in the spirit call him Lord? Saying in Psalm 110,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. If
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: he is the son of David, how come David calls
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: him his Lord in Psalm 110? If David call him Lord,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: how is he his son? Jesus said. You know what
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: their reaction was? And no man was able to answer
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Him a word, neither dared any man from that day
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: forth ask Him any more questions. How can He be
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: the Son of David and the God of David? He is.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: That passage proves that Jesus is saying He is both
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Son of David, human, He is God of David, divine.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: It is absolute satanic blasphemy to say that Jesus is
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: anything less. And Paul prayed in Colossians 2, 2 and
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: 3 that Christians would have all the riches of a
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: full assurance and understanding of the mystery. What was the
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: mystery of God? Even the Father and Christ. How can
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: God be both and yet He is? I don't know
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: how He's both. I don't care how He is. I
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: just believe He is. He can solve that problem. I
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: can't handle it. But I know Jesus said this, John 14, 9,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: He that hath seen Me, what? Has seen the Father.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: That's a paradox, friends. That's the paradox of Christmas. The
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: babe was God. Let me give you another one. The
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: paradox of the line of Judah. This is fascinating. Go
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: back to Genesis 49.10. The paradox of the line of Judah.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: You know, as far back as Genesis, the prophet Moses
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: makes the statement that the Messiah will come from the
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: tribe of Judah. That's a problem, as we'll see. Genesis 49.10.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: There's 50 chapters, so it's near the end. The scepter
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: shall not depart from Judah. The scepter was the symbol
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: of a king, the right to rule. The scepter will
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: not depart from Judah. In other words, there'll be no
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: king outside the line of Judah, nor a lawgiver from
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: between his feet. Very vivid picture of progeny there. Until
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Shiloh come. Shiloh means the one to whom it belongs
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: or the one whose right it is. And unto him
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: shall all the gathering of the people be. Now watch.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Whoever this king is, he's going to come from what tribe? Judah.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: And no other tribe is going to have a king. Now,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: He took the 12 tribes of Israel and narrowed it
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: down to one tribe and said He'll come from Judah.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Shiloh means the one whose right it is, the coming king,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the ruler. So you say, what's so paradoxical about that?
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, Moses wrote that down. Well, listen, Moses wrote
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: a few other things, too, that must have confused it.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Go back to chapter 38, and I'll show you one
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: of the most interesting incidents in Genesis. Judah. Now, remember it.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Messiah is going to come from Judah's line. Judah was
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: an evil man. And he found that he was going
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: along there thinking probably evil thoughts. And his son had
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: died and left him a daughter-in-law. His daughter-in-law covered herself up.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: went out where Judah was going to come and apparently
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: he was in the market for a prostitute and she
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: played the part. She seduced by harlotry Judah into committing
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: relationships with her and apparently he never even took her
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: veil off to see who she was. And so Judah,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: through whom was to come the godly line, David and Christ.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: had committed adultery with his own daughter-in-law. Look what happens
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: in chapter 38, verse 24. But he didn't know it.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: It came to pass after three months. That's about how
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: long it takes to tell whether anything's resulted from the relationship.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: And it was told Judah, saying, Tamar, thy daughter-in-law has
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: played the harlot. And also, behold, she is with child
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: by harlotry. These are bastard children, illegitimate. And Judah said,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: bring her forth and let her be burned. Oh, that's self-righteous. Pride,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: a double standard. You know, according to Deuteronomy 22, you
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: stoned people for that. Burning is mentioned in Leviticus 20, 14,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and 21, 9, only in cases of excessive crime. He
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: was really playing self-righteous. And when she was brought forth...
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: She said to her father-in-law, saying, By the man whose
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: these are am I with child. And she said, Discern,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: I pray thee, whose are these, the signet and bracelets
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: and staff? And when she seduced him, she took those
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: things from him in order that she might come back
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: at him with them. Whose are these, Judah? And it
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: dawned on her, horrible things. Judah acknowledged them and said,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: She hath been more righteous than I. because that I
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: gave her not to Shelah my son. You see, when
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: a Jewish son died, if there was an eligible son left,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: his wife was handed over to that eligible son. He
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: didn't do that. And he knew her again no more.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: He ceased from the sin. It came to pass in
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: the time of her travail, twins were in her womb.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: It came to pass when she travailed that the one
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: put out his hand. This is interesting. The midwife took
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: and bound on his hand a scarlet thread saying, this
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: came out first. He started to come out and she
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: wrapped that thing around, but he pulled his hand back
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: and his brother came out, 29. Must have been a
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: little hassle in there. What are you doing here? You see,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the breach is upon you and his name was called Perez.
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: And afterward came out his brother, had the scarlet thread
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: upon his hand, his name was called Zerah. So out
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: of Judah's sin were born twins, Perez and Zerah. You say,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: what's so significant about this? Moses wrote that. Moses wrote
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: that Judah, by harlotry, had illegitimate children. Moses also wrote
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: that the Messiah's line would not cease from the tribe
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: of Judah. But Moses also wrote this, Deuteronomy 23, 2,'
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: A bastard shall not enter the congregation of the Lord.'
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: He shall not, again he says in verse 2, enter
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: the congregation of the Lord. Twice in one verse. If
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the offspring of Judah is an illegitimate, cursed line, how
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: could David ever reign? And if David never reigned, then
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Messiah could never be the son of the king. He
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: could never inherit David's throne. Well, Moses must have scratched
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: his head and said, how can it be in Judah
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: when Judah is an illegitimate offspring? And how can Messiah
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: come from such illegitimacy? Ah, but Moses also wrote this
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: in Deuteronomy 23, 2. A bastard shall not enter the
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: congregation of the Lord even to the tenth generation. Up
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: to the tenth generation. At the tenth generation, the curse
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: was removed. I draw your attention to Matthew chapter 1.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: And I want to show you something. It's fantastic. Verse 3.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: You say, are there anything in these genealogies of interest? Oh, fabulous.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brother. And
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: how we come to Judah in verse 3. And Judah
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: illegitimately begot Perez and Zerah of Tamar. Now notice this.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Perez begot Hezron. And that's two. Hezron begot Ram, three.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Ram begot Abinadab, four. Abinadab begot Nashon, five. Nashon, Solomon, six. Solomon, Boaz, seven. Boaz, Obed, eight. Obed, Jesse, nine.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Jesse begot David, how many? The curse was removed at David.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: You see, God does things exactly and precisely according to
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: His Word so that when David was born as the
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: tenth generation from the sin, the curse was what? eliminated,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: and David had every right to enter the congregation of
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and the Messianic line was purified. That's how
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: accurate God's Word is. The prophet could never have known
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: that when he wrote. David wasn't born. Ten generations later,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: clean and pure. I want you to notice that God's
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: a forgiving God. Did you know there are only four
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: women mentioned in this genealogy up to Mary? Four women,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: three prostitutes and an idolatress. That's right. Don't tell me
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: God isn't a God of grace when He includes three
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: prostitutes and an idol worshiper in His messianic line. People say,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: there's no grace in the Old Testament. Don't you believe it?
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Rahab the harlot became actually the wife of Solomon and
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: begot Boaz. Boaz married the idolatrous Ruth and she was
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: the grandmother of David. And ten generations after that seductress
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Tamar died. The purification of the line took place. God
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: is a God of grace. Paradox is resolved in Christ.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Let me give you another one. Thirdly, the paradox of
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Messiah's home. You know, Micah 5 too, don't look it up, says,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: though thou be little among the sons of Judah, Bethlehem, Ephrata,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: out of these shall he come forth who is to
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: be ruler over my people. Where was Jesus to come from,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: said Micah? Bethlehem. Bethlehem. Hosea came along and said in
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Hosea 11.1, out of Egypt have I called my son.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: The prophet must have scratched his head and said, Micah,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: says Bethlehem. Hosea says Egypt. But just to make it worse,
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Isaiah said something. What did Isaiah say? Chapter 11, verse 1,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: only this was a veiled statement. There shall come forth
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: a rod out of the stem of Jesse. And a
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: nazer shall grow out of his roots. Nazer means sprout.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: That's interesting. Because there was a town in the New
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Testament known as Nazareth, sprout town. That's what it means.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: There will be a shoot out of sprout town. Sort
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: of like a hick from Hicksville. So the prophet says, Bethlehem.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: The prophet again says, Egypt. And a third says, Sprout Town, Nazareth.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Well how can they resolve these things? Again I say
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: to you, men didn't write the Bible or they never
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: would have written that. Look at Matthew 2. Absolute fulfillment.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Matthew 2.1. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: came wise men from the east. And why did they come?
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: Verse 5. Because they said in Bethlehem of Judea, for
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: thus it is written by the prophet, Thou Bethlehem in
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the land of Judah art not the least among the
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: governor that shall rule my people Israel. He was born
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: in Bethlehem because that's what the prophet said. So what
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: about Egypt? Oh, what about Egypt? Look at verse 13.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: And when they were departed, behold, an angel of the
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Arise
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: and take the young child and his mother and flee
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: into Egypt. And be thou there until I bring thee word,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: When he arose, he took the young child, his mother,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: by night, departed to Egypt, and was there until the
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which is
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: spoken by the Lord to the prophet, saying, Out of
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: Egypt have I called my son. There's Hosea 11.1 fulfilled.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing that God even orders the political situation
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: of the Herods to force the issues to fulfill prophecy?
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: He makes the wrath of men to praise Him. You say,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: what about Nazareth? Well, that's in verse 23. He came
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: be called a Nazarene or a sprout. Why didn't he
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: settle in Judah? Why did he settle in Nazareth? I'll
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: tell you why. In a fit of anger, Herod, who
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: was always changing his will. He had a problem with
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: his will. He was always changing it. In a fit
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: of anger, he changed his will shortly before his death
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: and put Archelaus, the worst of all of his living sons,
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: in charge of Judea, and he moved Antipas to rule
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: in Galilee and Perea. When he did that, he imposed
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: upon Judea the worst possible ruler. In fact, Archelaus had
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: slaughtered 3,000 Jews at one time in a particular execution.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: And do you know why? Joseph didn't go there. Verse
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: 21 says, He arose, took the young child, his mother,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and came to the land of Israel. But when he
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: heard Archelaus did reign in Judea in the place of
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. If
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Archelaus doesn't take over Judea, Joseph goes there and Jesus
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: is not from Nazareth. Do you get it? God has
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: ordered every event in history to fulfill His prophecies. There
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: is no way that Isaiah knew what was going to
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: go on hundreds of years later. And by some whim,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Herod changes his will and orders what he orders, and
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: it fulfills absolutely the Word of God. All the paradoxes
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: are beautifully resolved. Let me give you another one. Four,
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: the paradox of the right to the thrones. The Messiah
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: was to be a king. It was clear in the prophecies.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: That's what the word Messiah means, the anointed one. He
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: was to inherit David's throne. He was to take the
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: scepter that he really had the right to. Now in
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: the New Testament genealogy, if you're looking at Matthew 1,
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: you're in the right spot. The legal right to the
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: throne is passed through Solomon to Joseph. I want you
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: to notice, if there was a king in Israel, and
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: there wasn't a legitimate king, if there was a legitimate
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: ruling king in Israel, it would have been Joseph, the
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: father of Jesus. because he came in the kingly line.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: Now David had many descendants, mark it. David had many descendants,
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: but which descendant received the kingly right? The firstborn. So
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: it was through Solomon that the kingly right came. The
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: other descendants of David had royal blood and there was
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: a royal line, but the kingly right went to the firstborn.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: So from the firstborn came the kingly line. Now notice,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: here we go in verse 17. 6, Matthew 1, Jesse
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: begot David the king, and David the king begot Solomon
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: of her that had been the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Solomon begot, here comes all the list of the kings
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: of Judah. Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, Abijah begot Asa, Asa
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, Joram begot Uzziah, Uzziah begot Jotham,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: Jotham begot Ahaz, Ahaz begot Hezekiah, Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: begot Ammon, Ammon begot Josiah, Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brother,
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: and about the time they were carried away to Babylon.
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: Now note, Jeconiah is the last king. There has never
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: been a king in Israel since Jeconiah, never. Jeconiah's son
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: tried and failed. The Babylonian captivity ended the ruling of
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: Israel's own kings. And after they were brought to Babylon,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: then Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel begot Abad,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: Abad begot Eliakim, and on and on it goes. But
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: no kings. No kings. But still the kingly line. But
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: nobody reigns. Just the kingly line. Because this time, you know,
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: it's the times of the Gentiles, right? After the Babylonian captivity,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: the Gentiles took over the land and their ruling. But Jacob,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: verse 16, begot Joseph. The husband of Mary of whom
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: was born Jesus who is called Christ. You see, the
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: right to become king came through Joseph. Mary didn't descend
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: from Jeconiah's line, no. Mary didn't come through Solomon, you
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: can read in Luke 3. Mary's line came through Nathan,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: another son of David. She was royal and she was
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: David's line and she had to be right to be
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: the mother of Messiah, had to be a son of David.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: But if he had only been born of the son
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: of Mary, he couldn't have inherited the kingly right because
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: that had to come through Joseph. There was only one
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: man in all Israel who had to be his father.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: A man named Joseph. The only man who could be.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: The firstborn of Jacob who had the right to rule.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: But he couldn't exercise the right. There weren't any kings
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: in those times. You say, well, why couldn't there be
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: a king? Go back to Jeremiah 22. I'll show you.
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: Fascinating prophecy. Now, just imagine. Here's the prophet saying, Messiah
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: will be king. Messiah will be king. Messiah will be
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: the seed of David. Messiah will be the seed of David.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: He will reign. Now, watch. Imagine saying that over and
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: over again and then prophesying this. Jeremiah 22, verse 29. Well, 30.
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Let's look at 30. Thus saith the Lord, write this
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: man childless. What man? Verse 28, Coniah. Now that's Jeconiah,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: same man. Sometimes called Jehoiakim, others Jeconiah, Coniah, same person.
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  Speaker 1: And you can study the passage. It's definitely the same man.
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  Speaker 1: Thus saith the Lord, write this man childless. Now that
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  Speaker 1: doesn't mean he'll never have children. It means that a
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  Speaker 1: man shall not prosper in his days. No man of
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  Speaker 1: his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David
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  Speaker 1: and ruling any more in Judah. Now watch this. Here
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  Speaker 1: is a prophet saying, Messiah will be a king. He
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  Speaker 1: will come from Judah. He will come through the line
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  Speaker 1: of David. You go down the line of David, you
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  Speaker 1: come to Jeconiah. The prophet says, no offspring of Jeconiah
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  Speaker 1: will ever rule. Now, how in the world can you
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  Speaker 1: resolve the prophecies for a king through David and the
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  Speaker 1: prophecy that no son of Jeconiah will ever rule? How
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  Speaker 1: can it be? Go back to Matthew 1. Look at
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  Speaker 1: verse 16. And Jacob begot Joseph. Now watch. The husband
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  Speaker 1: of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. Did you know
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  Speaker 1: that it says, and so and so begot, and so
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  Speaker 1: and so begot, and so and so begot, and so
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  Speaker 1: and so begot, and Jacob begot Joseph, and Joseph begot Jesus?
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  Speaker 1: Is that what it said? I don't know. Because if
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  Speaker 1: Joseph had begotten Jesus, Jesus would have inherited the curse
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  Speaker 1: of Jeconiah and never been able to reign, though He
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  Speaker 1: had the right, He would have inherited the physical curse.
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  Speaker 1: So watch, Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: whom in the Greek, beloved, that is a feminine construction. Feminine,
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  Speaker 1: watch this, singular. Isn't that something? Feminine, you don't have
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  Speaker 1: children in the singular. Feminine singular. Of whom was born Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus had to be born of David's line. He was
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  Speaker 1: born of Mary. He had to inherit the right to
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  Speaker 1: the throne without the curse. So Joseph had to be
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  Speaker 1: his legal father but couldn't be his earthly father. Do
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  Speaker 1: you see it? Absolute fulfillment. Jesus has the right to
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  Speaker 1: reign through Joseph without the curse of Jeconiah passed on. Listen, beloved,
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  Speaker 1: when God writes history, He writes it right. So the
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  Speaker 1: paradox of God-man, the paradox of the line of Judah,
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  Speaker 1: the paradox of the Messiah's home, and the paradox of
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: the right to rule. Let me give you the last one.
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  Speaker 1: Paradox of the stone. When you think about Christmas, you
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  Speaker 1: think about a baby. Drop that, would you, for a
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  Speaker 1: minute and think about a stone. Think about a rock.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing could be further to the opposite end of things,
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: but think of it that way. Because the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: presents the coming Messiah as a stone. And interestingly enough,
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  Speaker 1: in Isaiah, you have two views of the stone. Isaiah 8, 14,'
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  Speaker 1: And He shall be for a sanctuary, but,' watch this,'
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  Speaker 1: for a stone of stumbling, for a rock of a
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  Speaker 1: fence to both the houses of Israel, for a trap
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  Speaker 1: and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.' Now here
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  Speaker 1: is coming the Messiah is going to be a stumbling
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  Speaker 1: stone and a rock of a fence. Not a very
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  Speaker 1: inviting picture. Later on, Isaiah says this, 28, 16. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: I lay in Zion a foundation, a stone, a tested stone,
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  Speaker 1: a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Isaiah must be scratching
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  Speaker 1: his head saying, I don't understand, God. He is a
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  Speaker 1: stumbling stone. He is a rock of offense. And then
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, he is precious. How could a
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: stumbling stone and a rock of offense be a precious cornerstone?
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  Speaker 1: Psalm 118.22 says, The stone which the builders rejected has
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  Speaker 1: become the head of the corner. And there you have
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  Speaker 1: the idea of the cornerstone. How could one person be
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  Speaker 1: stumbling stone, rock of offense, cornerstone, precious stone, tested stone,
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: sure foundation, and then Daniel throws in, just to make
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: it extremely difficult, a smiting stone? How could one be
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  Speaker 1: all of those? Jesus was. Listen to 1 Peter 2,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: verse 6. And here Peter quotes Isaiah 8, Isaiah 28,
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  Speaker 1: and Psalm 118, the three I just read. He quotes
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  Speaker 1: them all in one passage. Wherefore, also it is contained
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: in the Scripture, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
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  Speaker 1: elect and precious. He that believes on him shall not
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  Speaker 1: be confounded. Unto you, therefore, who believe he is precious
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  Speaker 1: unto them who are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
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  Speaker 1: the same is made the head of the corner, and
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  Speaker 1: a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to
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  Speaker 1: them who stumble at the word, being disobedient whereunder they
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  Speaker 1: were appointed. Notice, Peter says, yes, He is all of
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  Speaker 1: these stones. The difference is this, He is precious to
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: you who what? Who believe. He is offensive to you
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: who do not. Listen, Christmas is not a good place
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: to play tokenism with God. The birth of Christ was
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  Speaker 1: either the most glorious event in the world or it
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: is the damnation of a man's life and his destiny.
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  Speaker 1: You don't play around with the birth of Christ. You
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  Speaker 1: can celebrate it with joy only if you believe and
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  Speaker 1: that stone is precious because if you do not, Christ
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  Speaker 1: is a stumbling stone. He is a rock of offense.
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  Speaker 1: And the word offense in the Greek is skandalon. It
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: is the crooked stick that is used in a trap.
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: The bait is placed. When the bait is grabbed, the
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: stick snaps the trap and kills the victim. That's Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: He is deadly or He is precious. But tokenism in
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: the middle is a disaster. The rock of offense, the
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: word Petra, pictures a huge rock bed against which men
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  Speaker 1: smash themselves. What is this Christ to you this Christmas?
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  Speaker 1: Is He precious? Is He the cornerstone on which you
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  Speaker 1: build your life? Is He a sure foundation? Or is
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  Speaker 1: He a stumbling stone, a rock of offense set to
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  Speaker 1: ensnare and trap you. Don't let Satan hustle you into
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  Speaker 1: believing that you can pay tokenous homage to Jesus and
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  Speaker 1: get by. He is either to you precious or he
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  Speaker 1: is a smiting, crushing stone. Let's pray. Father, we know
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  Speaker 1: that the resolution of Isaiah's paradox of the stone is
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  Speaker 1: simply faith, that we who believe in You as Lord
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  Speaker 1: and Savior To us, thou art precious indeed, a precious
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  Speaker 1: cornerstone upon which to build our lives. And for those
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  Speaker 1: who do not, Father, we pray the convicting work of
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit would draw them to Christ, even this day,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: that they might believe, commit their life to that belief.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: We pray in his wonderful name. Amen. You've been listening
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: to John MacArthur, Bible teacher with Grace To You. For
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: free access to all of John's lessons and a listing
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: of study Bibles and books available for sale, visit Grace
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: To You's website at gty.org. John MacArthur and Grace To
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: You reserve all copyright protection under applicable law. Our copyright
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: policy is available to you at gty.org, and it includes
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: instructions for and limitations on duplicating this digital file.