Ryan Hale

Many years before God began His judgement of His people, Moses warned the Israelites that they must follow God or He will judge them.  He told the people:

You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.

Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.

Deuteronomy 28:62-65

So, even before they took possession of the land that God had promised them and given them, Moses knew that God wanted them to follow Him only and that disobedience to Him would result in a severe consequence, that they would be destroyed and scattered from one end of the earth to another.

And these warnings continued through many prophets after Moses, but the people would not submit to God and follow Him.  Instead, we see that the people rejected God’s covenant and decrees, followed idols, imitated other godless nations, and even practiced divination and sacrificed their sons and daughters into the fire for these so-called gods.  And of course, all of this angered God greatly!

And so around the year 740 BC, God started to move His judgment upon the northern 10 tribes of Israel as the Assyrian empire began to attack and exile the people:

So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria), who took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara and the river of Gozan, where they are to this day.

1 Chronicles 5:26

God had not only established the nation of Israel, but had expanded it greatly.  But now, God was lifting His protection and pronouncing judgment on the Israelites and, with the exception of about one 80 year period, they would be under the rule of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and finally, the Roman empire.

The domination and oppression of other empires had lasted for nearly 700 years, so I think we can understand why the Israelites would be looking for a Messiah, a king who would lead them out from underneath these other empires, back to the glory days of David and Solomon, when the Israelites ruled themselves.

But that wasn’t God’s plan.  In fact, he never really intended to set up a political kingdom.  God wanted a people who would follow Him as their King.  And so, with this as the historical backdrop and context, we see Jesus come into the picture as the Messiah and King of kings.

What’s in a name?

Shakespeare, speaking through Juliet in the play Romeo and Juliet, suggests that there is nothing in a name.  And maybe, if you are speaking of a rose as Juliet was, you could call that flower by many other names and it would still smell as sweet as if you were calling it simply a “rose”.

But as beautiful and sweet-smelling as a rose is, it is nothing compared to the amazing beauty and fragrance given off by the life that God gives in the life that He offers to us.  As a result, I have to take exception with Shakespeare on this issue.  As it turns out, there is quite a lot in a name.

I mentioned previously that I am working on a talk at our Italian church for Christmas Day 2016 and thinking about Elizabeth giving birth to John the Baptist and Mary giving birth to Jesus.  It is interesting that there are similar accounts in the way that God approaches both Zechariah and Mary through the angel Gabriel, but one of the specific things that I noticed is that it was God who actually names these babies.  Yes, the parents ultimately give the names to the children, but they are taking their direction from the message that has been given to them by God through Gabriel.

For most things in life, men have given objects their names, but I think if God specifically decides that He will give something a name, we had probably better pay attention to that name and its meaning.  So, let’s take a look:

The name John:  Elizabeth knew what her child’s name was to be, but her neighbors and relatives were pretty sure that they knew better than her.  Zechariah knew what he had heard from God though and stepped in to make sure that there would be no doubt.  Everyone was astonished, but the child’s name would be John.

According to Behind the Name, the meaning of the name John is “Yahweh is gracious”.  I think that meaning probably provides a clue to both the historical context of this time as well as God’s intent for the future.  Gabriel had said that John would make ready a people prepared for the Lord, so I think what we are seeing is that, even in the name given to him by God, there is an indication of how the people should understand God’s upcoming actions in the next child to be named by God in Jesus.

The name Jesus:  Like John, God gave Jesus his name through Gabriel’s direction, but this time in instructions to Mary.  Looking again at Behind the Name, we see that the name Jesus in Aramaic is actually a contracted form of the name Joshua, so looking at the meaning of Joshua, we see that the name Jesus means “Yahweh is salvation”.

From the naming of these two children – names given by God Himself – we can see that God has come to the conclusion that He wants to be gracious to His people, and that He will be, as He has always been, the salvation for His people.  God is getting ready to do something amazing through His people, something that even His people weren’t ready for and couldn’t fully understand but would alter the course of all of history.

This year, our Italian church asked me to speak at their Christmas service.  I find it a little interesting given that I have never considered myself to be much of a preacher.  In fact, I have only delivered two sermons in my life, certainly preferring a smaller group teaching situation.  But in any case, I’m now seriously starting to work on what I will say.

As I’ve been re-reading the Christmas story, I have been struck by the context of Jesus entering the world.  Most specifically, I have been thinking about the juxtoposition of Elizabeth and Mary, the mothers of John the Baptist and Jesus.

On the one hand, you see Elizabeth.  She is an older woman, married to Zechariah who is a priest, and they have not been able to have children.  We don’t exactly know what the problem is, but the scripture does say that Elizabeth has been barren and hasn’t carried a child.  So, the likelihood that she would be able to have children now is incredibly low.

On the other hand, you have Mary.  She is a virgin, so for her, not only is it not likely, it is not possible for her to have a child.  Biology just doesn’t allow it.

And so now we see God using both of these women.  He sends the angel Gabriel initially to speak to Zechariach, and subsequently to Mary, who announces that they will both have sons and that they will both be great.

So, I’m thinking that this is the focus of what I want to speak about on Christmas.  God is doing something amazing and something new, and I think that it is possible that Elizabeth and Mary are possibly even symbolic of what God is doing.  Elizabeth is an older woman, married to a priest of Israel, and from her will come one who will announce the coming of the Messiah, the King of both Israel and the whole world.  This seems symbolic to me of Israel’s role:  to point toward the King, both the One who already is and the One who is about to come.  But like Elizabeth, this is the older order of things.  Very soon, it won’t just be about pointing toward the King.  Instead, God will soon be with us as Emmanuel, God with us here on earth.

I think that Mary, in her young age and virginity, not only represents a miracle in the virgin birth, but represents something new that God is doing in sending His son, Jesus.  God seems to be demonstrating that He is moving on from the old things, the old covenant that had been broken many times over, the old priestly order and its sacrifices, and moving on to new things.  Moving on to God being directly amongst His people.  Not just one physical people group, but to a people who will follow and obey, and most of all love Him.