Gtcotr/ss121519
The
Christmas story reminds us that there is always a lot more going on behind the
scenes than we may realize.
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Waiting on God is never wasting time.
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While we are waiting, God is working.
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What we do while we wait can affect how long we wait.
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God has a plan, He will succeed, and life is our chance to
participate.
Before
we focus on Matthew’s account of the Christmas story, allow me to share a
little history that will tie into today’s message. Let’s look at:
1 Chronicles 1 NKJV
1 ¶ Adam, Seth, Enosh,
2 Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared,
3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth.
24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,
25 Eber, Peleg, Reu,
26 Serug, Nahor, Terah,
27 and Abram, who is
Abraham.
28 ¶ The sons of Abraham were
Isaac and Ishmael.
34 And Abraham begot Isaac.
The sons of Isaac were Esau and Israel.
2 Chronicles 2
1 ¶ These were the
sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin,
Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
4 And Tamar, his
daughter-in-law, bore him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were
five.
From Perez came: Hezron; Ram; Amminidab; and Nashon …
The
Chronicles begins with a detailed genealogy of the Patriarchs and fathers of
our faith. This genealogy follows the main Covenant Partners of God in order to
establish the lineage of King David and validate him as God’s evident choice.
David was not just a man after God’s own heart. David was a man whose life,
lineage, and legacy were crafted and guided by the hand of God. Believe me when I
tell you that there are no accidents in God’s plan.
Ok,
but why do the genealogical records matter? Well evidently, they matter to God.
God likes to keep things in order, and He makes sure all the dots are connected
in such a way that every prophecy and each facet of His plan is fulfilled to
the letter, just as He designed it.
Take
Abraham, for example. The name Abraham means father. God promised Abraham that
he would be the father of many nations and that in him all nations would be
blessed. In the book of Chronicles, in the first chapter, right in the middle
of the genealogies, after recording the well-known fact that Abraham had two
sons, Isaac and Ishmael, God includes some lesser known players who were also
important to His overall plan.
Many
people are familiar with Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael but they are not familiar
with the other sons of Abraham. These sons, blessed by God through the covenant
their father had with God, are almost forgotten but are yet very important to
the story of the birth of Jesus.
Let’s
look back at 1 Chronicles 1 for just a moment before moving forward with the
Christmas Story.
1 Chronicles 1 NKJV
32 Now the sons born to
Keturah, Abraham’s concubine, were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian,
Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan were Sheba and Dedan.
33 The sons of Midian were
Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
When
Abraham was 140 years old, he procured Rebecca from his brother’s family who lived
in the east. After Isaac and Rebecca were married, Abraham married a younger
woman named Keturah. Little is known about her except that she was the woman
through which God fulfilled His promise to Abraham in a natural way, to make
him the father of many nations. Keturah bore six sons to Abraham in his old age,
allowing Abraham to see his family populate that part of the earth, from the
Mediterranean Sea to the to the mountains of Ararat to the Persian Gulf. It was
through Keturah that Abraham became the father of many nations.
And
remember, each one of these sons was born under a covenant promise from God.
Each one blessed and each one a blessing to the nations and to the peoples they
impacted. Traces of their names are still frequent, stretching far into the
eastern and southern Arabian Peninsula. Many records exist documenting the
lineage and genealogical connection to them and the man we also know as our Father
of Faith, Father Abraham.
But,
what difference does this make to the Christmas Story? Glad you asked …
Let’s
turn our attention to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1.
Matthew 2 NKJV
1 ¶ Now after Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the
East came to Jerusalem,
These wise men were renown men of the East, Persian, or Arabian magi … those gifted with wisdom and the art of counsel; special men
educated in philosophy, astronomy, religion, and world affairs; well respected men
for their proven abilities to interpret dreams and see into the future, taking
after the spirit of Daniel and his captive companions. They were much sought
after counselors for kings and noblemen who desired guidance and knowledge of
things hidden from common view.
Jewish scholars have long taught that the Eastern
magi were the descendants of Abraham through his wife Keturah. The covenant of
God rested upon them and the promise of God the He would bless Abraham and make
him and his descendants a blessing to all nations was fulfilled in them.
Of course we know that we who believe upon
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ are the spiritual children of Abraham. However,
the Bible says that the spiritual fulfillment of God’s Word will not precede
the natural fulfillment. First the natural and then the spiritual. God first
made Abraham the father of many nations and blessed the whole earth in a
natural fulfillment through Isaac, Ishmael, and the six sons of Keturah. Now God
is fulfilling that promise in the spirit realm through Jesus Christ and those
who have been born-again. I can easily see these wise men under the natural
covenant of their father Abraham through Keturah, destined to be the blessing
Joseph and Mary needed to sustain them on their journey and the time they spent
in Egypt, protecting Jesus from those who wished to do Him harm and then
helping them bring Jesus to the whole world.
Let us read on in this Christmas Story …
Matthew 2 NKJV
1 ¶ Now after Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the
East came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, “Where is He who
has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have
come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this,
he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered
all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them
where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In
Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in
the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you
shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
9 ¶ When they heard the king,
they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before
them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
10 When they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
11 And when they had come
into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down
and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented
gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
If
God has given you a dream or a word of prophecy or you have had a vision of
God’s plan for your life or something He is going to do through your life,
don’t despair just because you haven’t see it happen yet and don’t imagine that
God has forgotten it or that somehow you’ve messed it up.
The
Bible tells us that the prophet Daniel set his heart to seek the Lord and he
prayed for 3 weeks before the angel Gabriel arrived with the answer. Gabriel
told Daniel that his prayers were heard from the very first day and that the
answer was sent at that time but hindered from arriving by the devil and his high-ranking
demons. Nonetheless, Gabriel and Michael were more than a match for the powers
of darkness and Gabriel broke through with Daniel’s breakthrough.
Zacharias
the priest was visited by the same angel Gabriel in the temple at Jerusalem one
summer day. Gabriel told Zacharias that God had heard his and his wife,
Elizabeth’s, prayers and that they were going to have a baby. There is no
telling how long it had been since Zacharias and Elizabeth had prayed that
prayer. It is evident from the account that they were now old and no longer
considered it a possible and perhaps did not even have a desire to have a son.
Nonetheless, Gabriel told Zacharias that God had a plan and that he was not
going to mess it up. Now you prayed for a son and you’re gonna have one, and
that was it.
·
Waiting
on God is never wasting time.
·
While
we are waiting, God is working.
o He is connecting all
the dots just like He wants them.
o He puts all things in
order according to His plan.
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What
can we do while we wait on God, so we won’t be the ones who are causing the
delay?
You
may consider yourself a lesser known player in the plan of God. However, there
is a lot more going on behind the scenes than you might imagine. God has a plan
for your life and like the magi, you were created to worship Jesus in this
generation.
One
of the most wonderful things about the Christmas Story is that it reminds us we
are now the wise men and women of God; spiritual children of Abraham sent out
into all the world. From Texas to Taiwan, Kansas to Korea, Village Mills to
Vietnam, Beaumont to Bangladesh, from Mid-county to Midway, and from Port
Arthur to Port-au-Prince, we are all destined to bring presents to Jesus. What
He needs … lost souls. Jesus has invested so much in your life. Will you bring
someone else to Him this Christmas?
·
God
has a plan, He will succeed, and life is our chance to participate.
