Jesus was an expected gift that people have been looking forward to for all of human history, all the way back to Abraham!
God is always on time. He fulfills His promises. He is never late. He is always faithful.
Jesus was SENT and BORN to REDEEM so we would RECEIVE.
1.) Sent
“The Time” is the promise, the anticipation, the prophecies that everyone has been hearing about. Generations upon generations of hearing prophets announcing about this king, this prophet, this high priest…
But then 400 years of no prophets (people chosen by God to speak for God)No prophecies (message from God), yet they still anticipate.The page that separates the Old and New Testament is the 400 years.
And in the silence, God was working something to completion. And God sent his Son.
Jesus was sent because Christmas is about Covenant
If Jesus was sent because Christmas is about Covenant, what was God’s promise?
Let’s read 2 Samuel. This is Nathan, a prophet, talking to King David.
2. Born
The Son of Man must be born as a man, to live under the law, in order to fulfill the covenant God established with man.
Let’s read another prophecy, and remember, a prophecy is a message from God announced from a prophet to the people of Israel.
-Micah 5:2
Who do we know that was born in Bethlehem? This and 2 Samuel prophecies were 2 fulfilled through Jesus. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies from Scripture!!
God is always on time. He fulfills His promises. He is never late. He is always faithful.
3. Redeem
What was loss?
=Our direct connection and being in the family of God"
The incident at the Garden of Eden showed that we THINK we know what we WANT instead of God KNOWING what we NEED.
The goal of the Laws Moses wrote from God was for Israel to keep the covenant, to be a kingdom of priests, a holy (set apart) nation from the rest of the world so that all the families of the earth would be blessed.
The Son of Man must be born as a man, to live under the law, in order to fulfill the covenant God established with man.
People were still hoping on the LAW to redeem them, but the LAW revealed we COULDN’T KEEP ALL THE RULES.
This is a key issue Paul was bringing up in his letter to the Galatian Church.
It is not the Law AND Jesus that saves you. It is Jesus and ONLY Jesus.
Jesus paid our price, He REDEEMED us, on the cross to SET US FREE.
We have been purchased by Jesus. Not to make us slaves but to adopt us as sons.
4. Receive
This is the gift we receive when we turn away from our sins and trust everything in Jesus: we are adopted as sons of God. Paul is Threading the Old Testament and Roman culture.
When a Roman adopts a son, that son becomes an heir to the family wealth.
