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Advent

Advent

Advent comes from the Latin word, “adventus,” which means, “coming” or “arrival.”

Of course, we’re talking about the arrival of Jesus. This is the promised Messiah, the One Who would take a way the sins of the world (Jn 1:29).

Matthew, as a the writer or the book that bears his name, is getting ready to put pen to paper and kick off his gospel.

Given the various literary tools he has at his disposal, you would think he would begin with something epic that would draw his readers into the more detailed content he would document later.

Instead, Matthew chooses to start with a Family Tree.

At first glance, you can’t help but question Matthew’s logic. Why would you want to raise the curtain on the story of the Messiah and accompany it with something so utterly exhausting.

But Matthew is writing to the Jews in the city of Antioch (Antioch on the Orentes [there were 16 different cities named, “Antioch” in the ancient world]). Jews identified an individual according to their genealogy. It was their “genesis” (Greek word for “genealogy”) that validated their heritage and calling. By tracing Christ’s heritage in manner that demonstrated He was a son of David and a son of Abraham, Matthew establishes in the mind of his Jewish audience Who Jesus was and why His birth, life, death and resurrection could be processed as the fulfillment of Scripture.

While there are several kings listed in Christ’s lineage, only one is referred to as “king” and you see that in verse 6: “…and Jesse the father or King David.” This is significant because while all the other monarchs are worthy of recognition, it’s David’s monarchy that is the priority because of the prophecy associated with his kingdom.

Fact is, Matthew choice of starting with Christ’s genealogy is completely on point, especially when you take the time to appreciate all of the nuances that communicate what a first century Jew would need to hear in order to truly believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Let’s take a look…

A Son of David

In Matthew 1:1, Matthew starts by saying:

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: (Matt 1:1)

By specifying Christ as a son of David, Matthew was referring back to the promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel:

The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (2 Sam 7:11-13)

God is talking to David and in addition some specifics about the Temple, God also tells David that from among his offspring there would be a king that would reign forever.

You see it again in Isaiah 9:7:

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Is 9:7 [see also Dan 2:44])

This was the “Davidic Covenant” – a promise that the Jewish nation knew to mean that a ruler would come from the house of David and establish a kingdom that would never end.

A Son of Abraham

Gematria  is the practice of assigning numerical value to letters to derive meaning from words, names and phrases.

In Hebrew, there are no vowels. So, the name “David” is actually spelled “DVD.” When you look at the numerical value of each letter in Hebrew, you have 4-6-4 which is 14. In Matthew’s genealogy, David is the only one referenced as “King David.” The three sets of 14 correspond to the three different sections of Christ’s genealogy: The Origin of the Davidic Kingdom (Abraham to David), The Decay and Downfall of the Davidic Kingdom (David to Exile), The Restoration of the Davidic Kingdom (Exile to Messiah). Jesus was the fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant to the Jews.

Matthew also underscores the fact that Jesus was a son of Abraham. This is important because God said that it would be through Abraham that all the nations of the Lord would be blessed:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:2-3)

Matthew reinforces this by doing something that wasn’t typical of the way in which genealogies were typically documented in that Matthew included women.

And what’s even more unique is that, if you were to include women in one’s genealogy, you would highlight the matriarchs, but you don’t see them anywhere.  Matthew doesn’t include Sarah, the wife of Abraham or Rebekah, the wife of Isaac. But instead he references Tamar, who was the mother of Judah who was a Canaanite. Rahab was the prostitute that sheltered Joshua’s detachment who were tasked with spying out the Promised Land. Ruth was from Moab and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, may very well have been a Hittite. Not only are all these women Gentiles, in some cases they were guilty of sexual impropriety.

The message that’s being communicated here is that Christ is a Messiah for all people, regardless of race or whatever skeletons you may have in your closet.

While Shepherds Kept Their Flocks Nearby

In Luke 2:8, you see a verse that’s very recognizable given the way it’s often repeated in Christmas programs every year:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. (Lk 2:8)

Jewish Law prohibited sheep from being pastured anywhere near Israel, except for those sheet that were unblemished and thus suitable for Temple services.

The NIV Text note says,

living out in the fields. Possibly in the spring, when the baby animals were born. The flocks reserved for temple sacrifice were kept in the fields near Bethlehem throughout the year.1

The shepherds were watching over sheep that were unblemished and could therefore qualify as Passover Lambs.

Isn’t it ironic that among the first to see the baby Jesus were shepherds who were responsible for the Passover Lambs – and they were now able to see the perfect Passover Lamb that God was now offering as a permanent sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin for all of mankind (1 Cor 5:7)?

It’s the fact that Christ came to save us through His sacrifice that makes Christmas the happy holiday that it is. He’s here to “…ransom captive Israel.” We were, “…in sin and error pining, ‘Till He appeared and the soul felt it’s worth.”

Maybe it isn’t ironic that the first to see the Christ child were those who could appreciate the necessity of an unblemished lamb in light of its ceremonial role for the atonement of sin.

We don’t welcome a Noble Teacher or a Divine Guidance Counselor on Christmas Day, we herald the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, the Messiah Who is the Savior of the World.

That is Advent, that is the Gospel and He is Immanuel.

 

1. The Holy Bible, New International Version, 1985, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2020, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, p1763

Christmas: Pointlessly Pagan or Especially Sacred?

9506c52e1b62c7638fa9a90034f1eaddSo, the question on the table is:

Christmas: A celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, or is it a pagan holiday as some others suggest?

Emperor Constantine

In the aftermath of Constantine’s conversion, persecution of Christians came to a halt and dates set aside to honor pagan deities were “retooled” and made into “holy days” (holidays [click here for more information]). This campaign would contribute to what we now know as Christmas Day, celebrated on the 25th of December. Initially, it was a pagan celebration, but in the end, it’s a date. What matters is what’s being focused on today in the context of “Christ’s Mass.”

Corrupt Clergy

Some get distracted by the way both clergy and laypeople alike, supposedly acting on behalf of Christ, have been revealed as being more focused on their own agenda than they were on the gospel. Dickens refers to this dynamic via the Ghost of Christmas Present who responds to one of Scrooge’s sarcastic remarks about corrupt clergy and the established church by saying:

There are some upon this earth of yours,” returned the Spirit, “who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.

It’s true. But while it’s easy to be distracted by whatever corruption or distortion has clouded the purity and the profound nature of the Christmas holiday, you don’t ever want to evaluate a system according to the way its abused. Yet, that’s the foundation upon which most of the cynicism directed towards Christmas and Christianity in general is based.

Medal of Honor Winners and Comic Book Characters

It’s sad the way the significance of Christmas gets lost. Instead of a reverent celebration of the arrival of Immanuel, some sneer and even spit, convinced that it’s a hold over from some ancient con designed to intimidate the less enlightened. They say Christ is nothing more than a random member of a fairly large club of fictitious religious figures and the narrative of Jesus is more nostalgic than it is profound.

But to compare Christ to a mythological figure is like comparing a Medal of Honor winner to a comic book character. How many revival meetings have been scheduled to promote Odin or when was the last fund raising campaign scheduled to raise funds for a new building dedicated to the worship of Zeus? And it’s not that Christ is more popular as much as it’s the distinctive nature and the substance of the Gospel.

Seriously?

Have you ever really considered what Christianity would look like if it was the sham that some insist it truly is? Why make your hero an unemployed carpenter who is neither rich nor especially smart, given the way he goes on and on about the fact that he’s a god? In the mind of Rome, he’s a traitor. In the mind of the established religious infrastructure, he’s a heretic. Either way, he’s dead and so is anyone foolish enough to side with him. It gets even ludicrous when he says he’s going to be killed, but then he’s going to rise from the grave. He could’ve just as easily said that he was going to rise “spiritually” and people would’ve embraced it. Instead, he said he was going to rise bodily. How are you going to pull that off? Even his closest followers tried to reason with him and talk him off the ledge (Matt 16:23). They didn’t get it and they certainly didn’t believe it (Lk 18:33).

In the aftermath of the crucifixion, though, they were right where you would expect them to be. They knew their Champion would rise and they were willing to brave the Sanhedrin and the Roman government and be there to greet Christ as He emerged victorious from the tomb…

Makes for a great brochure, doesn’t it?

A Divine Solution

But the Bible isn’t a promotional piece. The disciples were hiding, doing their best to stay out of sight, knowing full well that their association with Christ represented a huge liability. They deserted their Teacher and silenced all former proclamations of His Messianic Identity (Mk 14:31, 50; 14:71; Jn 20:19).

But then the next thing you know, there they are in the middle of a crowd, taking their lives into their own hands, telling the masses that they had crucified their King, but it was all part of a greater Plan (Acts 2:23-24). He did die, but He is risen which means that the human experience has just been revamped. No longer are we pursuing significance in the context of things that are destined to die, quit and change. No more do we reach for our Creator, knowing full well that we are forever separated by a debt measured in eternal terms that we are incapable of satisfying. It’s all good, because it’s all God and it’s all done!

Do you smell that? That’s the aroma of a Divine Solution that only God could engineer and while the Ultimate Exclamation Point was the empty tomb, the beginning of the sentence was…

…a teenage virgin giving birth to her first born in a barn.

Hark, the herald angels sing
Glory to the new born King
Peace on Earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled

Don’t make the mistake of dismissing Christmas as a pointless reinvention of an ancient, pagan ritual. Regardless of the all-to-human heritage associated with the day, in the end, it’s not the date on the calendar that matters, as much as it’s the Event that’s being acknowledged.

And it is an Event. It’s not a stained glass fiction or a sanctified tradition that borrows from ancient superstition. It’s the best news the human race has ever heard and the best decision a man could ever make is to accept the gift that’s represented by that baby in the manger.

Merry Christmas!