Advent, it's good for us. If you didn't grow up celebrating Advent, it's a time for us to slow down, reflect, and prepare our hearts for the significance of the coming of Jesus. That's what Advent means, coming. This Advent, we're walking through four vignettes from the Gospel of Luke in a series entitled, The Greatness of Christmas. From Chicago, welcome to The Moody Church Hour with Pastor Philip Miller. Stay with us for a time of worship and teaching as we begin an Advent series that leads us to the celebration of Christmas. In Luke's Gospel, chapter 1, we'll look at great expectations, thoughts on the coming of Jesus at Bethlehem.
Here now is Pastor Philip and worship leader, Tim Stafford. Well, good morning, everybody. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. I hope wherever you are this morning, whether you're online or on the radio or right here in the room, that you're looking forward to this Advent season.
And we are beginning today looking at great expectations as Mary finds out she is with child and discovers who he will be. And so this is the Savior we need. Amen? So let's pray together. Father, we thank you that you sent us, Jesus, in the fullness of time, in your great love to rescue and redeem us.
He is the Savior of the world, the King of Israel, the Son of the living God. And so we gather in his name and for his glory, come and meet us here, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Let me encourage you, think about the season of Advent, which is put this off a little bit about all the fun and jingle bells and stuff, and just hold tight a little bit, right?
And also, in our minds, it's cluttered with things. We need to slow down and think about what's happening now. This is the beginning of the church year of the Christian calendar, the season of Advent. And just like the Israelites did in the Old Testament, we're waiting for the coming of Messiah, waiting for this day, they had the prophecies. We are also waiting like they are, not for the birth of Messiah, we know that that happened, but for the second coming.
So we relate. We know that there's something yet future for us who wait in this day. And so we need to prepare our lives for his coming just like they did. And so there's this double coming that we're talking about with the season of Advent. We place ourselves back in time to where they were waiting, and we know that today we are still waiting, holding to the promises of God. Hope that helps you think about Advent. Today we light the first candle, the candle of hope. And so we'll be looking back at the prophecies about Jesus. Would you stand as we begin today. Lord, we come into your presence today, acknowledging our great need of you.
This is not just something to say, but reality. We are lost. We are in darkness.
This world is a dark place. May we look to the light of your word and come to you afresh during this Christmas season. O come, O come, Emmanuel! And ransom captive Israel! O come, O come, Emmanuel! That mourns in lonely exile here. Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, Emmanuel! Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, O come, Emmanuel! That mourns in lonely exile here. Until the Son of God appear. O come, O come, Emmanuel!
That mourns in lonely exile here. Until the Son of God appear. Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel! Shall come to thee, O Israel! O come, thou me of day and sun, And open wide our heavenly home.
Take safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel! Shall come to thee, O Israel! O come, thou day's dream come, All that shear, Our spirits by thine enmity.
Distress the gloomy clouds of night, And cast our shadows high. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel! Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, thou midst of God on high, And order all things high. Rejoice, rejoice, And the Father show, And cause us in her ways to love. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel! Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, these are our gracious light, All people's in the light. Rejoice, rejoice, In his strife and sorrows too, Help the world in vanity. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel! Shall come to thee, O Israel! Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel!
Shall come to thee, O Israel! Our God is with us, and his love is with us. Who could stand against us? Our God is with us, Emmanuel! Emmanuel! Our God is with us, and his love is with us.
Who could stand against us? Our God is with us, Emmanuel! Let's listen to the word of God, read to us by our next chapter in class. These are the words of the prophets of old. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, in those days, and at that time, I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
There shall come forth a shoot from Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a sign, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay, and obtained the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what we see? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. On this first Sunday in Advent, we light the candle of hope.
It reveals us. Let us find our rest in Thee. Israel, strength and consolation, hope of all, the earth above. Spirit, desire of every nation, joy of every one in all.
Lord, I'm evil to delay them, for a child can never be. Joy to faith in us forever, now thy patience brings them free. High, high, low, we trust the Spirit, who in all our hearts allure. High, high, low, whose conviction bled, raise us to thy wondrous door. High, high, low, sufficient, bled, raise us to thy glorious door. Through the Sundays imagine and pray, this is the wonderment of Jesus. Bringing aside His power and glory, come, may He enter the world. Chose the path of freedom's birth, stand on the virgin earth.
Hold and rejoice, here lies the hope of the world. All this the praise of our God the Father, sure in the face of the trees. With the wake of humanity, all He can ever be. Christ the Holy, in the sand, took our sin and punishment. Fullness of God, despised and rejected, crushed for the sins of the world. Fullness of hope in Christ we are calling, fullness of God in Jesus. Through His obedience we are forgiven, holding the flood against the heavens. Hold our hopes and dreams we bring, worthy as an offering. Fullness of life and joy of freedom, God's gift of love to the Lord. Lord, we praise You for this amazing, amazing gift. Our hope is renewed because You have come.
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Every year, Christmas tends to rush by. With all the shopping and events and family commitments, and the long list of to-do's, that frantic pace often leaves us barely catching our breaths, doesn't it? Today, Advent is so good for our hearts. If you didn't grow up celebrating Advent, just to kind of prepare you for it, it's a time to slow down. It's a time to focus in, to reflect, to prepare our hearts for the significance of the coming of Jesus. That's what Advent means, coming.
And we take these four weeks in leading up to Christmas here to slow down, to attend to the meaning and significance, the magnitude of Christmas. And this Advent, what we're going to do is walk through four vignettes from the Gospel of Luke that surround Jesus' coming in a series we're entitling, The Greatness of Christmas. We're going to look today at the angelic announcement to Mary when she finds out she will be the mother of Jesus. Next week, we'll look at Mary's visit with Elizabeth, who is her relative, who's experiencing her very own miraculous pregnancy with what will be John the Baptist. Then we'll look at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and the shepherds that come to visit that night. And then finally, we'll look at the dedication of Jesus at the temple. And Simeon and Hannah, these two folks who have been waiting all these years for that very day when they see Jesus. So four vignettes, four opportunities to pause and let the wonder in, to reflect on the greatness of Christmas. Now, the first message here we've titled Great Expectations, which is, of course, a nod to Charles Dickens, for those of you who are fans.
It's a bit of a pun, of course, because Mary is expecting the greatest child the world has ever known. And so grab your Bibles. We're going to be in Luke chapter one and we're going to pick it up in verses 26 down to 38. Luke chapter one, 26 to 38.
You'll find that reading in the Pew Bible on page 855, wrapping around to 856. The conversation we're going to look at this morning is one that changed Mary's life forever and, of course, changed all of history forever as well. So as we turn to God's word now, would you pray with me and let's ask the Lord to be our teacher. Heavenly Father, we gather here ready to tune our hearts to what you are doing in this magnificent moment where your Son breaks into history to change and redeem the world. Father, it's hard to go back and to imagine a world without Jesus, the longing, the unfulfilled promises, the expectations, the darkness waiting for light.
And yet bring us back there. Help us to see this afresh, to pause and let the wonder in. We pray this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.
Amen. Luke chapter one, verse 26. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
Now just pause for a moment. Luke timestamps this angelic visit in the sixth month, he says, sixth month. Now when we look at the preceding context, we will quickly realize that this is the sixth month, not of the year, but of Mary's relative Elizabeth's pregnancy.
The stories are being intertwined here. Elizabeth is entering her third trimester of her own miraculous pregnancy of who will be one day John the baptizer. You can read more of that story in verses five to 25 of chapter one here. And then at the end, verses 57 down to 80. Luke is weaving these stories, these pregnancy stories together in terms of narration because John the baptizer is the one who will introduce Jesus to the world.
And so these stories are coming together. And so he timestamps Mary's own conception in the time span of Elizabeth's own pregnancy here. So the angel appears to Mary. His name is Gabriel.
Gabriel. Now it's unfortunate that whenever we hear the word angel, we tend to think of pudgy winged babies practicing archery or harp playing, robe wearing, pale faced creatures, which of course are nothing like the biblical descriptions of angels. The angels are mighty heavenly warriors, fearsome agents of light, divine messengers dispatched on elite missions from God.
And the most normal response to seeing them is not to make a greeting card out of them. It is fear and trembling. Gabriel shows up here and his name means God is my strength. And he is dispatched now by God to the northern part of Israel, to the region of Galilee, and to the rural city of Nazareth. City is kind of the wrong word. It's more of a village. The estimated population was about 400 to 1000. So small town.
Some of you grew up in small towns and can picture what a small town that must be. Gabriel is sent to one person in particular to Mary. Mary is, we're told here, a virgin, which means she is chaste.
She's betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David, the ancient great king of the glory days of Israel. And first century betrothal was something we're not really familiar with, but it was something a little bit more serious than our version of engagement. Betrothal took place about a year before the actual wedding ceremony.
It was a legally binding arrangement. And from that moment on, the bride and groom were considered husband and wife, though they live separately in their parents' homes. Then after the betrothal period would come the wedding, which would last up to a month. And then the groom would take his bride home and the marriage would be complete. So Mary is in this betrothal year awaiting her wedding day. She's legally pledged to Joseph, but she's still living at home with her parents and she is keeping herself pure for Joseph. And on a day that must have been like any other day, she gets up in the morning, eats breakfast, does her hair, goes out, does some chores, saw maybe a few friends, ran some errands.
Gabriel shows up and everything changes. Verse 28, and he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. The normal Jewish greeting, of course, is Shalom, peace be with you. But this greeting is a lot more formal, isn't it?
It's a lot more personal. Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. And so Mary's wondering, what is going on? Who is this guy? Where did he come from? Why is he talking to me? What did I do?
Why is he singling me out? Who is it that has found favor with me? Gabriel senses her trepidation and her questions. Verse 30, the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. Mary, you have nothing to fear. It is God himself who has found favor with you. He delights in you and he has chosen you specifically, especially Mary, you're about to become pregnant. Now just pause for a moment.
Forget your over familiarity with this text, okay? This is nuts. What's happening here? Who goes up to someone almost at random and says, hey, I want to let you know you're about to become pregnant.
This is awkward on so many levels, isn't it? And by the way, you can forget about the gender reveal party. It's going to be a boy.
And don't even bother getting a baby name book. You're going to call him Jesus. Mary, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to become the mother to a very special child, a child like none other. And then he gives us three clues, three clues here of who this child will be.
First, the first one's in the name itself. The name Jesus comes from the Hebrew word Yeshua, which means God saves or savior. It was the name given to Joshua. Remember Joshua who came after Moses in the Old Testament? Joshua, the one who led God's people with courage, who delivered them from their enemies, who ushered them safely into the land of promise, that Joshua.
Now the same name, Yeshua, is given to Jesus now in the New Testament. He is the savior of the world, the savior of the world. Jesus will be the true and greater Joshua. He will lead God's people with even greater courage. He will teach us to walk in his ways with final authority and total authenticity. He will deliver us from even greater enemies, sin, death, and Satan. He will usher us to safety in the true and greater promised land, where we will be finally at home in our Father's house forever. Friends, Jesus is the savior of the world. He will lay down his life on the cross. He will die in our place and for our sake. He will bear all of our sin and shame, and in exchange he will give us his perfect righteousness so that we might be right with God.
He will fill us with his spirit and one day he will take us home to glory. Jesus is the savior of the world. That's why you shall call his name Jesus. Jesus.
But that's not all. He goes on, verse 32. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end. He will be great, Gabriel says. He will be excellent, prominent among men. He will be called the Son of the Most High, not just Jesus, savior, but Son of the Most High.
This is regal language, divine language. He is the royal son with the rights to rule on the throne forever. And the Lord God, Gabriel says, will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.
Mary, your son will restore the throne, the ancient throne of David himself. He will reign over the house of Jacob. Jacob who is the father of the 12 tribes of Israel and his kingdom will never end. His rule will endure.
And here we have the second clue as to the identity of this child. He is the king of Israel. The king of Israel. He is the Messiah. He is the one who will inherit the promises, the covenants that were made with the house of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the 12 tribes of Israel. He is the one who will fill the covenant and promises made with Israel's greatest king, David himself.
Remember, in 2 Samuel 7 verses 12 and 16, the covenant that God made with David, it says, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your kingdom shall be established forever. David, God says, after you die, one of your descendants will be king forever.
Your dynasty will endure always. And of course, at first people thought maybe one of David's immediate heirs would fulfill this promise. But then the kingdom was divided and eventually the line of kings was broken. Foreign overlords took control, hopes crumbled, dreams were shattered and the return of the king seemed lost. But Gabriel arrives now at the turning of the tide.
There's no mistaking this announcement. Mary, your son will bring the return of the king, will be the returning king. He is the Messiah. He is the anointed one.
He is the son of promise. He is the king foretold and he will take up his rightful throne. This time, his reign will be unending. This time, his rule will endure. This time, his kingdom will be established forever. For Jesus is the king of Israel. Amen? Now, Gabriel's on quite a roll here.
You can see it. He's bursting about greatness and kingdom and throne and dominion and Mary's stuck on one of his first statements. She stopped listening it.
Behold, you will conceive. She's like, wait. But she's polite. So she doesn't interrupt. She waits till there's a pause. And then she asked, verse 34, Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I'm a virgin?
I've got a little question here. She may be inexperienced, but she's not uninformed. She knows this is impossible given her commitment to purity.
How will this be? Verse 35. And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God.
And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. Mary, you want to know how this will take place?
God will create life in your womb miraculously outside of all the normal processes. The imagery here is of the Holy Spirit coming upon her, the power of God overshadowing her. It's reminiscent of Genesis chapter one, isn't it? When God's Spirit is hovering over the waters, the deep face of the waters from which all of creation comes.
In Genesis, God brings life out of nothing, circumventing all the normal processes of reproduction. He speaks, let there be and there was. And once again, God speaks. The Spirit hovers and the incarnate son is born. He will be called holy. He will be uniquely set apart as the divine son of God for nothing, nothing is impossible with God. If God can override Elizabeth's barren aged womb, and she's in her third trimester right now, he can speak life into your virgin womb. This is no big deal for the creator of the universe.
But did you catch the third clue buried in here? Not only will this child be the savior of the world and the king of Israel, he is the son of God, the son of God. He will be called holy.
He will be uniquely set apart from all other children, every other birth. He will be the son of God himself. God incarnate, God come to dwell amongst us, Emmanuel, God with us. As Paul says in Colossians 1 19, for in him, Jesus, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. John 1 14 and the word Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John 1 18 for no one has ever seen God, but the only God who is at the father's side. He has made him known.
John 14 nine, Jesus says, whoever has seen me has seen the father. Oh, this child, he will be like Joshua, only a lot greater. He'll be like David, only a lot greater and yet he will be unlike anyone who has ever been born. He will be divine.
He will be God's only son. Mary, you have found favor with God. He's handpicked you for the most precious assignment in all of world history to bear greatness beyond your wildest imaginations, to have the divine son of God enter into this broken world through you. This is your mission should you choose to accept it. Verse 38 and Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.
And the angel departed from her. I wonder what thoughts ran through Mary's mind right before she said this. How am I ever going to explain this to Joseph? How am I going to bring this up with my mom and my dad, my friends?
Will they ever believe me? Will Joseph still marry me? He's going to think I just fooled around. Is he going to break off the patrol?
Will he quit on me when I need him most? Even if he does marry me, everyone's going to talk about this. They're going to just assume the baby's ours.
The gossip will run wild. I don't know if I'll ever live this down. I'm going to be pregnant at my wedding.
The dress is not going to fit. I'm going to be pregnant on my honeymoon. My life is never going to be the same. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Such bravery, such humility, such sacrifice, dependency, trust.
This is amazing. So three quick takeaways as we wrap things up this morning. Three questions to help us pause and let the wonder in. What must God be like that He would choose such confinement? What must God be like that He would choose such confinement? He's the Son of God, friends, and He chooses confinement not just to become human, but an infant. Do you know how frustrating it would be to be trapped in your fully grown body in the body of a child?
You can't do anything for yourself. The Son of God, who is infinite in grandeur and power and honor and majesty and authority, confines Himself to the frail limitations of human infancy. That's like an emperor becoming a llama.
Some of you will catch that reference. It's like a dolphin becoming a goldfish or Alpha Centauri becoming a tealight. It's like the genie in Aladdin, right?
Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space, right? And do you realize, friends, that when God became man, He forever bound Himself to our fate? Jesus took on humanity forever, forever embodied. He binds Himself to human confines forever. He wraps His destiny around the destiny of humanity.
This is the point of no return. He's one of us now and forever. Friends, what must God be like that He would choose such confinement? This is amazing. Secondly, what must God be like that He would slip in incognito? What must God be like that He would slip in incognito? He's the King and He shows up in utter obscurity. God picked.
This is amazing. God picked. Not a queen, not a social influencer, not an upwardly mobile person with social connections. He picks a country girl in the sticks of a one-horse town who doesn't have the opportunity of advanced schooling, who is from a blue-collar family, most likely, and engaged to a construction worker. And God says, that's the one.
That's the one. And then Jesus shows up without fanfare. Quietly, He slips in unnoticed, unexpected, subtle, discreet, meek. Oh, He reveals just enough of Himself to be found by those who are willing to seek Him, but concealed enough that He's never in danger of crashing anyone's party.
He's present, but not pushy. He's honorable, but humble. He's majestic and meek. What must God be like that He would slip in incognito like this?
This is amazing. Thirdly, what must God be like that He would arrive amidst scandal? What must God be like that He would arrive amidst scandal?
He's the Savior, born with shame and scandal. I'm sure many people never believe Mary's story. They never believed it. You probably assumed Mary and Joseph just fooled around.
And in a small town, some of you grew up in small towns, you know how people talk in small towns. There are no secrets. The stigma would have been with them forever. In fact, there's one place in John 8 where the Pharisees look at Jesus, and they're sneering at Him and they say, we weren't born of sexual immorality. There's probably a jab at the rumor surrounding His origins. It's not our story.
It's yours. Why would God allow His Son to bear shame that was not rightfully His? Why would God allow His Son to be tainted by sins of which He was innocent? Why would God let His Son be treated like a scapegoat like this? What must God be like that He would arrive amidst scandal?
Don't you see, friends? He's the Savior of the world who bears our sin and shame that we might be righteous in Him forever. He's the King of Israel who lays down His honor that we might share forever in His glory. He's the Son of God confined to human form that humanity might break our limits of humanity and be sons and daughters of God. What must God be like that all of this, of all stories, is His story?
What must God be like? Let's pause and let the wonder in this Christmas. Would you bow your heads and pray with me? For the first time in history, hope is dawning. A Savior has been born. The Messiah is here.
The Son of God has taken human flesh. If this were a movie, this would be the moment when we realize it's going to be okay. Because in this moment, hope dawns.
The hero is on the horizon and the victory is almost at hand. Into the darkness you have spoken light, Father. You have sent your word into the silence. You have sent hope into all the hopeless corners of this earth.
You have broken in to history. And this moment means it's going to be okay. Jesus has come. Help us pause this Christmas and let the wonder in.
To slow down and attend to what is real. To be struck anew with the glory and the greatness of Christmas. For Jesus' sake, we pray. Amen. I want to close our time with the benediction here.
Famous verses from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 down to verse 7. For unto us a child is born. To us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom.
To establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this. On today's Moody Church Hour we heard Pastor Philip Miller telling us about Great Expectations. This has been the first of four vignettes from the Gospel of Luke on the coming of Jesus into the world. Next week we relive the reaction of Mary to the announcement that she would give birth to the Son of God.
Don't miss Great Things How Mary Processed this Astounding News. The Moody Church Hour is a listener supported ministry. We count on the ongoing financial support of listeners like you. Together we share solid biblical teaching that transforms lives across America and around the world. You can call us at 1-800-215-5001.
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