R572 Angels and Christmas

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilson and a message on angels and Christmas. As we open God's Word together, know that we're open for you on our website at www.tewonline.org. Whether it's the devotional for 2022 or the book about Dr. Billy Graham, it's all there at www.tewonline.org. And now, today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilson. The gospel according to Luke, and so it is we come to this time of Christmas. And your pastor immediately began to ask himself, what is it about angels and Christmas? What is it about them?

What do they teach us? I'd like us to read in God's Word this morning from Luke's gospel chapter one, and I'm going to begin reading at verse five. In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.

But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years. Once when Zachariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priesthood to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Now, if everybody would look at me for just a moment, I want to remind you how important this is. If you could just imagine in the Old Testament that this is the temple in the Old Testament. If this was the temple, you would not be in here because the people were not allowed into the temple. They could come into the temple courts, but not into the temple. The only people who would be allowed in here would be the ministers of this church. And if this was the temple, the ministers of the church, Steve Skinner and Britt Dillard and Eddie Robertson and on and on down the list, Seth Buckley, the ministers of the church would not be allowed any further than perhaps this area down in front of me. This here would be considered the holy of holies. And the only person who could go into the holy of holies was the high priest. For today's purpose, we'll call him the senior pastor. And so I'm standing at the moment, if we were to do a rough kind of comparison, which we cannot do, I would be standing here in the holy of holies.

Now there is something very important about this. We must remember, number one, that it was very exclusive. Only priests could come in here. Second of all, only the high priest, the senior pastor, could go into the holy of holies, but nobody was allowed to sit down.

In fact, all of us choir, you would be in violation right now of the sanctity of the temple in the Old Testament because we would not be allowed to be seated. That is why it is so significant that after Jesus died, what happened to him? He ascended to be seated.

Are you with me? He ascended to be seated at the right hand of God, the father in heaven. Now hold on here for a moment.

The way in which people had access to God, one of the ways was by virtue of the burning of incense. Now, I don't have time to get into detail this morning, but I think it's important for us to understand this. I want you to keep your finger in the book of Luke. Everybody go to Revelation chapter five just very quickly. Revelation chapter five, very, very quickly.

I'm going to show you something here that is remarkable. Revelation chapter five, we are looking at the throne of God in heaven just prior to the tribulation period. The Bible says in chapter five and verse one, then I saw him, listen, in the right hand of him. I saw in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne a scroll.

Watch what happens here. If we go on further down the road, we're going to discover in verse seven, he came. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came and he took the scroll from which hand of God?

You all see that there? The right hand of God. God was holding in his right hand a scroll. The Bible says Jesus sat down at the right hand of the father. The significance of Jesus sitting down first of all, secondly, that he was on the right hand side of God the father, third of all that God had in his right hand the scroll and he took from his right hand the scroll. Now let's go down. He came, took the right from the right hand of him who sat on the throne and when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb. Watch this. Everyone had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of what?

You see that there? They had in their hands golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. You ever ask this question, how did people in the Old Testament before Jesus Christ came to the cross? How did Old Testament saints gain access to God? Here the Bible tells us according to the Levitical law, the burning of incense, the smoke, the sacrifice, the sweet savor of the presence of God, Jehovah, here the Old Testament prophets and the Old Testament saints gained access and the Bible says here in the throne of God in heaven after the rapture of the church and pre-tribulation period here as we are waiting for that to unfold, God reminds us of this incredible covenant relationship that he has with his people, Israel.

Now folks, keep your seats. Go to Luke chapter one because this is important. Now we're talking about angels and Christmas.

There's something very interesting here. The Bible tells us Zachariah was chosen to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. Remember Jesus hadn't been born yet. Jesus hadn't even gone to the cross yet. By the way, what is the Lord's suffer all about?

What is communion all about? Jesus said, this is the New Testament in my blood. This is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Jesus became our high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus did away with the old covenant. The new covenant is Jesus Christ and Jesus said, I am the way. I am the truth.

I am the life. No man from now on can gain access to the father, but by me. That's the New Testament. No longer is the burning of incense of any value. No longer is the burning of candles of any value. No longer is any ritual of any value. No longer is any liturgy of any value.

What is a value is the shared blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I hear an amen this morning? Folks, that's shouting time at Christmas. I want you to know. Now I want to show you something that happens here. Where do angels come into this? Verse 11, verse 10, when the time came for the burning of incense, all the assembled worshipers were praying where?

Outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him. Here it is, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. Wow. There's Zechariah in the temple under all these Levitical restrictions, following the codes and the creeds of the Old Testament covenant, and all of a sudden, an angel appears, and an angel doesn't just appear anywhere. An angel appears, and the audacity of it, he's standing on the right side of the altar of God.

Wow. What is God saying? You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word, and you can hear this message and many more on our website anytime at TEWOnline.org. That's TEWOnline.org. While you're there, be sure and sign up for the daily devotion, and check out the wonderful leather-bound devotional for 2022. It's online at TEWOnline.org.

That's TEWOnline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don. No wonder when we read Zechariah was beside himself with fear. This was a learned man. This was a man of the priestly class. This was a man who understood the theological and spiritual significance of what Jesus did through the Abrahamic covenant. This was a man who began to take note because God was speaking from heaven. God was reaching down from the portals of heaven and saying something that defied human description.

Incredible. I'm not even going to read to you the rest of that passage. I'm going to pick up at verse 19. The angel of God comes to Elizabeth, and Zechariah says, you're going to have a baby, and she says, impossible.

I'm too old. Verse 19, the angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you there's good news.

And now you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day this happens because you did not believe my words, which come true at their proper time. Pick it up at verse 26. Listen, in the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel. Here comes Gabriel again. Gabriel was awfully busy at Christmas time, to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.

By the way, note all the connections. Elizabeth was connected to Aaron, who is connected to David, who is connected to Mary, who's connected to Joseph, who is of the line and lineage of the house of David, who is Jesus Christ, the Lord. The genealogy of the king, right throughout scripture, the Bible reiterates and reemphasizes time and time and time again who this baby boy is. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored the Lord is with you.

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be, but the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son and you ought to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

His kingdom will never end. How will this be, Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin, she said. The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the son of God.

Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age and she who was said to be barren is in her six months for nothing is impossible with God. I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May it be to me, as you have said, then the angel left her. Have you ever wondered about angels in Christmas? In just a moment, I want to say to our television audience, we're going to be going off the air and there's never a time that I like to go off the air in the middle of a message.

You know that. This message is critical to your life and mine. What is it that angels tell us about Christmas? Well, they tell us three things, going to give them to you very briefly and you can write them down.

I know I've still got some time left. Number one, at Christmas, angels are used to carry God's plan for the ages. Angels are used to carry out the plan of God. Number two, at Christmas, angels are used to carry the authority of God. And number three, the third thing we're going to look at this morning is that at Christmas time, angels are used to carry the message of God.

Now let's just look at this folk. This is incredible concerning angels and Christmas. Number one, at Christmas time, angels are used to carry the plan of God. Four things we need to note here when we talk about the plan of God. Number one, God has always had a plan.

Now I love that, don't you? I wish we could take a survey here today and say, I wonder if there's anyone worried about tomorrow. Well, there's a lot of concern about tomorrow.

I think even America over these past months since November the 7th, there was a lot of consternation and concern even about the election of our leader and we are a people who worry about tomorrow. Listen to me folks, God has always had a plan. Someone came up to me recently and they said to me, pastor, what do you think about the book of Genesis? I said, the book of Genesis? They said, yes. I said, well, number one, it's in the Bible and I believe it, every word from the beginning of Genesis to the end. But the reason why I believe every word from the beginning to the end of the book of Genesis and to the end of the book of Revelation is that the book of Genesis says, in the beginning God.

Any more questions? Can you feel it? There is a sense of capitulation at this point of the abdication of my own human genius at this juncture, in the beginning God. When was the beginning? I don't know.

If I had to think about it, I cannot do it. How far does the beginning go back? As far back as you and I could ever imagine. Back to the beginning. Well, where is the beginning?

I don't know. It's way back there. We can never get there.

The beginning is tied into the sovereign heart of a God who loves us and of a savior who died for us in the beginning, God. God has always had a plan. Well, when did that plan start? Always. When?

In the beginning. Any more questions? Number two, God has not changed his mind. Now we're going to understand angels and Christmas, we've got to understand God has not changed his mind.

He doesn't alter his opinion. God doesn't say, you know what I'm going to do? You Old Testament saints, you've struggled, you cannot handle it. All this thing is man, I'm going to send Jesus because God so loved the world. Listen, the fact that God so loved the world was not in a suggestion that God made.

It was not an option. It was not an opinion expressed. God in the beginning from before the foundation of time determined in the heart of a sovereign God that in the beginning, God, that is what means in the beginning and God determined as God determined because God is God and God hasn't changed his mind. God doesn't alter his opinion. God is not subject to an election that goes bad. God is not subject to the rise and fall of the stock market. God's giving is not based on anything that dictates to the human condition. God does what God does because God is God in the beginning and he always will be. God has got a plan. God has not changed his mind. Number three, God always delivers needless to say and number four, God controls the future. Romans 8 28 tells us that clearly, all things are working together for the good of those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. You and I cannot necessarily decipher that or determine that or try to figure it out in any kind of way.

We can put all kinds of scientific evaluation. We can bring all our philosophical existentialism to bear upon that. We can write books and we can get into theological treatises about it, but the word of God is absolutely certain at this point that if God is in the beginning, that God is already at the future. God is in control. And I've got an announcement to make at this Christmas time.

Here it is. Angels are used to carry out the plan of God. Just think about it. God loves us. His plan includes us. Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of his plan.

Herein lies the love of God. In Genesis 22 verse 12, God said to Abram, take Isaac, go and kill him. Abraham took him, walked up Mount Moriah. God stopped him and provided another way, the alternative. This is the picture of God's plan through the ages. God providing an alternative for the predicament of mankind. Isaiah chapter seven, go back into prophecy. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The Virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and we'll call him Immanuel.

If you go into Isaiah chapter nine, verses six through seven, you'll read a descriptive analysis of the very heartbeat and character of this one, the Christ child, Immanuel, God with us. Yes, at Christmas time, the angels are used to carry the plan of God. Number two, at Christmas time, angels are used to carry the authority of God. Now folks, we've got to listen carefully because this is tied into the altar, into incense, into their position.

It is a big subject. I know that I'm not doing justice to the subject today, but I want you to understand at Christmas time, the significance of what God teaches us through his angels. And if we're going to understand that, there are three critical things we must not forget. Number one, that angels are not a shortcut to God. They are not a shortcut to God. You cannot get to God through angels. Number two, angels are not a substitute for God. They cannot take God's place.

And number three, angels are not a safe haven from God. Of course, one of the things about Christmas time and its proper is that many people look for tax shelters. That's good.

Nothing wrong with that. We have that made available to us. I know there will be lots of people in our church who will be saying, you know, I need to give this major gift to the Lord's work at First Baptist Church because if I don't give it, it's going to go to Uncle Sam or it's going to be swallowed up in some kind of legal ramification and from a tax perspective, this is what I have at my disposal.

I've got tax shelters, I've got tax opportunities. The Bible teaches us that angels are not a safe haven from God. They don't protect us from God. In this study of angels, you can imagine all the reading I've done. I've read secular books and poetries and philosophers and all kinds of things as I've scrounged around in bookstores and picked up little bits here and there and it has just amazed me how many people write things about angels in which they are substantially saying that angels are a shortcut to God or angels are a substitute for God or angels are a safe haven from God and the Bible unequivocally says absolutely not. It is impossible and this is tied into the authority of God. Angels are not the authority.

God is the authority. Angels are simply the couriers or the carriers of that authority. You see my friends, we must remember that angels cannot convict us. Only the Spirit of God can do that. Angels cannot indwell us.

Only the Spirit of God can indwell us. Angels at God's bidding should God choose to do so. Angels are only dispatched at God's bidding one angel at a time on one assignment at a time if God chooses to do that. Angels are neither omnipresent, omnipotent or omniscient. Only the Holy Spirit of God is and if we're going to understand the authority that the angels have, we've got to understand it in terms of what they carry with them, not in terms of who they are.

Well let's look at it. The authority by which the angels speak here to Zachariah and to Mary is emphasized by three important reminders. Number one, by the fact that we are reminded that angels stand in the presence of God.

I've talked about that. Look at verse 19 of chapter 1. I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. Do we all know why the angels stand?

Why are they not sitting? Yes, we know that now. But the fact is that they were in the presence of God. The Bible says, folks, that when the angels stand in the presence of God, this is not just simply a hearsay little hello there, how are you doing?

There is something singularly significant about having God's permission to pitch camp in his presence permanently and eternally. And I'm going to submit to you today that if we're going to understand angels in Christmas, we've got to understand that there was something markedly significant about the fact that the angels stood and are standing in the presence of God Jehovah. Number two, we are reminded that they are sent to speak the good news of God. Tells us that in verse 19, I've been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. Number three, we are reminded that they stand on the right side of the altar of God, singularly significant. I've explained to you the dynamics involved in the altar of incense.

It is absolutely remarkable. There is a sense in which God, by virtue of these three things, has put his stamp of authority upon his angels at Christmas. No wonder an angel of God could come to someone like Elizabeth and Elizabeth could say, I'm dead scared. I don't understand this, and the angel said, don't fear. By what authority did he say don't fear?

The authority of God. No wonder that both Elizabeth and Mary said, wait a minute, Elizabeth said, I'm too old to have children. Mary said, I'm not even married.

It's impossible for me to have children. I'm an honorable lady. And the angel of God, by the authority of God, said to the older lady, you're going to have a baby and to the lady who wasn't married, you're going to have a baby and this is how it's going to happen. God spoke right there and then through an angel. Angels carry the plan of God.

They carry the authority of God, but there's a third thing. Angels carry the message of God. You know, the most wonderful thing about the Christmas message that the angels brought is that it hasn't changed not one iota.

God is just the same. The Lord Jesus loves us yesterday and today and forever. What a powerful message it is. You've heard Dr. Wilton preaching and teaching from the pulpit.

Now hear him as he shares from his heart here in the studio. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ? Why don't you pray this prayer with me right now? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner and I know that Jesus died for me on the cross. Today I repent of my sin and by faith I receive you into my heart. In Jesus' name, my friend, I welcome you today into the family of God.

This is exciting news. If you just gave your life to Christ or rededicated your life to Jesus, Dr. Wilton wants to share in your joy to pray for you and to give you some free resources if you'll call and let us know at 866-899-9673. That's 866-899-9673 or you can connect with us on our website as well at www.tewonline.org.

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