I know it's been said a dozen times, but Merry Christmas again. There we go. Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 3. Our sermon text will be Genesis 3 found in the fall. A promise of hope to a desperate people. Let's read it together. Just for the sake of context, what the Lord says to the serpent. He says to the serpent in verse 14, because you have done this, the deception, right? Lying to Adam and Eve. Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go. On dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." This is the Word of the Lord. Let's bow our heads together and ask for help at this time as we exposit His Word. Please bow your head with me. Heavenly Father, what a precious text this should be to all of us. an ancient text, an ancient promise. Really, a declaration of war. Although it may not be seen that way, I hope today to explain that carefully from Your Word, that it was a declaration on war, a determined end that You would carry out providentially in history. A promise to end evil. A promise to destroy it. A promise to destroy death. the very product of sin. It is in this passage we find the first gospel, the first declaration of the good news of hope that were to come, but it would come through a long and arduous historical war. A war that we have with our great enemy, sin and the serpent and his progeny. Lord, I pray You bless our time together in the exposition of Your Word, and that You would be honored in it. In Jesus' name, Amen. So the title of this sermon is, War and Peace in Christmas. I imagine those who hear that would go, well, wait a minute. This is supposed to be a happy, joyous occasion. We're celebrating the birth of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. What in the world does that have to do with war? You might be asking. Well, interesting enough and unplanned, last night in our Christmas Eve celebration, Andrew did a wonderful job of explaining just that and sort of teed up this. So if you were joining us last night, You'll appreciate this much more. And unfortunately, we did not record it, so I bid you to ask your brother Andrew to explain to you what exactly I'm talking about and what he shared last night in our Christmas Eve celebration. War is real in Scripture. And Genesis 3.15, I believe, is a very clear declaration of war. If you consider the photo up here, this was just shared recently by a brother, Andrew Sandlin, on Facebook. And I'd never seen this picture before and I thought, what? That is amazing. Just consider all the symbology here that is represented. You have Eve on the left in the brown there. And you have Mary on the right in the garden. Even her shame, having just eaten the fruit. And around her leg is wrapped a serpent. And interesting enough, what is Mary doing? Stomping on its head. That, my friends, is a perfect depiction of what is represented in Genesis 3.15. And exactly what it is that we are celebrating today. This day of Christ's birth. So we're not talking about war and peace in the sense of Leo Tolstoy's version. We're talking about war and peace according to Scripture. The moment Eve and Adam decided to partake of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil, they themselves declared war on the heavens. They joined in the serpent's war effort. You might think, well, wait a minute. What do you mean they join in his war effort? Well, he was at war, as described later in Scripture, with God. Rebelling against God caused angels, a great amount of angels, a third of the heavens to fall with him. The stars fell with him. They were rebelling against God. Eve and Adam at that point decided to join forces with the serpent. Interesting enough in this passage, this declaration of war, God would pronounce it here in Genesis 3.15, and I believe to historically unfold it in history before our very eyes throughout Scripture. If anybody has spent time and actually read through Scripture in its entirety, spent time in the Torah particularly, the first five books of the Bible, and actually just read through the narrative or even listened to it, you would see providentially how God was at work in unfolding this promise to Adam and Eve. but not perfectly by any means in the sense of a full realization. Interesting enough, this is something that has been worked out throughout history over thousands of years. This is an ancient promise that God would put enmity between you, the serpent, and the woman. And between your offspring, that is the serpent's offspring, and her offspring. He, that is the serpent, would bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." That is the promised seed. I believe this is exactly the text and passage that Jesus is referencing in Matthew 13 in discussion about the parable of the wheats and tares. If you look at the parable of the wheat and tares, and you do a word study, which I would encourage you to do, You'll note that the seed that is referenced, his planted seed versus the enemy's planted seed, is progeny. It's not the Greek word for plant seed, you know, from a botanist standpoint, a botany standpoint. It's actually progeny, seminal, a person, someone's heritage, their family. And interesting if you know, it's the Lord himself in this text that says, I will put enmity. I'm going to create war between you two groups of people. Look how Jesus describes it in the parable of the wheat and sares. What happens? He plants his seed in the world, which is his kingdom. And what ends up happening? An enemy comes along. by cloak of night, undercover, and secretly plants his progeny, his people. You can trace these people groups. There are two primary people groups. As I've been discussing for those who have joined us in our Ecclesiastes study together, there are two primary groups of people in the world. There are the wicked and there are God fears. The wicked are the progeny of the enemy. It's this very group of people that God is talking about here in Genesis 315. The God fears are the Lord's progeny. The genealogy, if you will, of the promised seed. The promised seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, as referenced later in the New Testament. Let's take a look at this word enmity. Remember, it's God at work doing this. God has basically declared war with the serpent and his progeny. It could be an enemy of. It could be A striving struggle against two family groups like brothers or sisters. Anybody had an issue with brothers or sisters in their family and have fought vehemently with them, viciously with them? It could be like that. It could be a description of enemies or a struggle between two nations. The case here is quite literally war language. You will be at war from the point of the fall until God reconciles all things once and for all in the conclusion of history. You will be mortal enemies. You will work to destroy one another. And one will ultimately have victory in the end. One will be aggressive and antagonistic. They'll avoid and reject one another. They'll be hostile. bitter brooding and strong prejudice towards one another. And that is something God has placed in between these two groups of people. So how, you might ask, how does this impact in any way, shape, or form the messianic expectation and hope in Christ in his first advent? Well, there's an interesting text that comes later on in Genesis, Genesis 49.10, and many know it, might be familiar with that in this room. In Genesis 49.10, Jacob gives a promise and he says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Now that's one version of it, and that's the ESV version. The NASB and another version, it talks about Shiloh, or he comes, or until he comes to whom it belongs. So think about this language. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, this family, this line, okay, this line of rulers, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet. He will rule and he will govern until he comes to him who it belongs. That's what Shiloh means in Hebrew. Until it comes to he who it belongs. What happened to Israel historically prior to Christ's advent. We're gonna take a look at that today. We're gonna do a little history research so that we can better understand what it would have meant to the Jewish people when Jesus showed up on the scene, when his birth came about, okay? But I want you to think about war for a brief moment before we enter into this study. All throughout history, we can look and find all sorts of different types of wars. We can find, again, families, tribes at war with one another, families at war with one another, nations at war with one another. And typically, there's one common theme that war is attempting to bring. See, war is really, for the most part, trying to accomplish, interesting enough, peace. Now many people might go, wait a minute, how could war possibly accomplish peace? Think about it. For one particular group of people, they are fighting another group of people so that they no longer have to fight them anymore. Biblically, we understand exactly why that's happening. Again, to use the Ecclesiastes example, there's two different groups of people, life under the sun and a heavenly perspective. We understand, from a heavenly biblical perspective, exactly why people are at war with one another. They're at war with themselves, they're at war with God. And by virtue of those two things, they're at war with one another. Peace will never come about. And people go to war in order to pursue peace. We want to fight with you until you stop fighting with us. We want to put you in check, for lack of better terms. Right? Just think of all the wars in history. We want to put on a particular front a stance. We're going to take a stand. until you realize and recognize and acknowledge and have maybe an appropriate fear of us so that there's now peace between us. Then you have brokered agreements, you have allies and other types of things, but all wars really in the end are working towards one common goal, is to put one other group in subjection to the other in order to find peace and to pursue peace. There was a war anticipated Starting back in Genesis 3.15 with evil. All the way back to Genesis 3.15. It was carried about and promised through Noah. God being at war with evil. What did he do? He wiped out the entire world by flood. and then restored it through one person, one family group, Noah's. Then he gave a promise to Abraham. Abraham was at war with various tribes, kings of different nations. Then came Babel. God separated the people and not allowed them to unify. They were now at war with one another, tribes and nations, because of their various tongues. Then what happened as time progressed, right? More, and we find conquests. The destruction of certain nations and the rising of others. Then we find the rising of others and the fall of others. There was an anticipation when Israel had been taken captive by various nations that God used in Rose up to judge them. Nations are at war with Israel. Israel's at war with other nations, right? In Daniel 9, God gave a promise to a captive Israel in Babylon. Daniel says here, in verses 24 through 27, he says, 70 weeks have been decreed for your people in your holy city. Your people, speaking of the Israelites, in your holy city. Where was that at this time? Where were those people? Put that into perspective for a moment, think about it. They're captive in Babylon, They weren't even recognized and acknowledged as a people. They had been assumed in the Babylonian Empire. Right, so they might have identified as Israelites, but in the Babylonian captivity, they may as well, they were even given different names. We know that Daniel had different names. Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego had different names. They were actually given Babylonian titles and names. They were assumed into the Babylonian civilization and culture. Captive and conquered people. And Daniel says, God has a plan for you and your holy city. To finish the transgression. To make an end of sin. To make atonement for iniquity. To bring in everlasting righteousness. To seal up vision and prophecy. And to anoint the most holy place. Really? in the midst of this captivity as a conquered people. He goes on to say, so you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks. It will be built again with a plaza and a moat, even in times of distress. He promised that Israel would once again be restored, that their city would be rebuilt. What does Jesus say to the Samaritan women? You know, there's a dispute over the two cities. The Assyrian Empire had overthrown and conquered the Samaritans, right? They had capitulated and given over to pagan worship, and so God rose up prior to the Babylonian captivity, the destruction of the northern ten tribes of Israel, and preserved two, the southern tribes. Jesus is having a conversation with this woman down the line when this has been restored again. Here they are, the Samaritan people, worshipping on their own hill. Jews are worshipping in Israel, a restored people, so to speak, back to their homeland, right? What did he say? Salvation is of the Jews. Woman, you have no idea what you're talking about. You're not going to worship that hill that you're worshipping on? is useless, it's meaningless. And by the way, even this hill over here that the Jews worship in here, will in the future be meaningless as well. Why? Because there's going to come a time when people are going to worship everywhere, and they're going to do so in spirit and in truth. That is a future glimpse of ultimately what is promised here. It was promised to the Samaritans that they would be restored, The ten tribes of Israel, and it was promised here to the southern tribes that they would be restored. Israel would ultimately be restored. And it was going to be done in the times of distress. He said, then after 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood. Even to the end, there will be a war. Desolations are determined. So in that text, it's quite simple. Messiah is cut off. He will have nothing. And eventually the people will come and destroy this holy city again. It's going to be rebuilt. Messiah will come. What will happen? There will be atonement for iniquity, everlasting righteousness, a sealing up of the vision and prophecy, and anointing the most holy place. Messiah comes in his first advent. He will be cut off from the people. And that place will be destroyed. And it says in the end here, he will make a firm covenant with many for one week. But the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, it is poured out on the one who makes desolate. I would say, That is a clear description of the messianic hope and promise. You can do the calculations of those 70 weeks. And you will come to find out that that is exactly when Jesus Christ was born and he walked the earth in his ministry. Messiah was cut off. He did make a sacrifice, ultimately paid the ultimate price for sins. He was cut off from his people, he had nothing. He rose again from the dead, and then after that fact, what ended up happening? Israel was wiped off the face of the map in destruction. I believe that's exactly what Revelation is describing. the destruction of Israel in 70 AD. And a final end. It's what the author of Hebrews writes about. A final end being put to the old system. A past system. So you might ask, well, wait a second, why do you bring this up in light of war and peace and Jesus Christ being born today, right? Or this day we celebrate Christ's birth. Well, let's look at the context that Israel had experienced leading up into this very point. What happened from this point in Daniel's prophecy? A captive people who had been promised that their holy place would be restored, Messiah, the anointed one, would show up, but then it would be destroyed after the fact. What was the context? Well, it says, this is, by the way, coming from James Jeffers, the Greco-Roman world, the New Testament era, exploring the background of early Christianity. So in this, I'm heavily dependent upon his work in trying to describe this for you. Listen, he says, aside from the traditional and theologically rich world of the Jews and its evolving New Testament Christian movement, from Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth, there's nothing more crucial to grasp than the contemporary socio-political economic environment of the Gospels. They were deeply immersed in Rome's rule. One comes into contact with really every class, every walk of life in Israel, where the faithful eagerly had anticipated the fulfillment of its messianic hope. When Jesus came by virgin birth, right? There was an incredible anticipation based on what Daniel and others had prophesied. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they had all prophesied this hope and anticipation. And at the same time, Rome was in the prime of its power. To set the stage for that, in 63 BC, Roman general Pompey successfully conquered the remnants of the Seleucid Empire, turning it into a Roman province of Syria. He then turned his eyes towards Judea. Unwilling to resist, Judea voluntarily allied itself with Rome, becoming a semi-independent client state, and then later a Roman province. So the overarching goal of Rome's conquest, according to Julius Caesar, was to establish an empire-wide governance so that they could be free from internal disturbances. So they would adopt laws and its judicial procedures and would cease to fear external enemies, meaning they had to accept that this wars, these wars in a way to end all wars, was to establish a province that was safely protected and would be peaceful. It had to have laws and judicial procedures and a defense that would cease them fearing their external enemies. An important fact must be noted here as well. Everything in that time was dominated by the Greek language. Predominantly a Greek audience and the expansion of the Roman governance led to a widespread general use of Greek language over those of the East. and Latin also in the Roman colonies, as well as Aramaic, Hebrew, and Palestine. Why do I bring that up? Their dominance was so great, their empire so vast, that the majority of the world spoke one common language, Greek, even though Latin, Aramaic, and Hebrew were still being used, among others, Arabic as well. So Jeffers further provides helpful insights into the nature of the imperial provinces under the empire. Among them was Judea, the most basic unit of administration. It was autonomously governed for one-year terms by military-empowered, or the imperium, legates and procouncils, proprietors and procurators, depending on its stature and importance. So from what Jeffers describes, their primary role was to ensure peace and loyalty to Rome and also to collect its taxes, all by force. when that was, in his words, short of extreme cruelty when deemed necessary. It seems that Roman's governmental structure was designed more for financial and military self-preservation than upholding justice, which Jeffers argues led to widespread internal corruption from the lowest military ranks through the governing authorities up to Caesar at the top. Indeed, it makes sense why the system was loathed by all that it controlled, particularly those not citizens of Rome. Among those provinces, there were many types of cities, the Roman colony, the municipality, the temple city, and the traditional Hellenistic city. So because Rome acknowledged the fusion of state and religion, listen to this, this is important. Because Rome acknowledged the fusion of state and religion, Jerusalem was given a unique status as a temple city. The status granted them some immunity to Roman law, such as a freedom from military service, since this would inevitably conflict with the observance of the Sabbath, for example, among many others. Emperor worship, they were also exempt from that, inasmuch as they offered sacrifices on his behalf and promised to revere him. And they also had exemption from participating in Rome's pagan religious rituals. So those rites premised in the continuance of temple worship, observation of festivals and safeguarding of the scriptures. It allowed Israel to uphold sacred laws even, up to capital punishment for desecrating the temple. That would be very rare though, because it required special permission from Rome. And in most circumstances, Rome alone reserved the right to execute capital punishment in its profidences. Secondly, Rome appointed and held tight grip on membership and loyalty of the city's primary policymakers, their aristocrats, that is, the client kings and the tetrarchs, and their religious leaders, even the high priest. So much so, listen to this, they kept custody of the high priestly garments, only to be released to them the few times a year they were deemed necessary for their religious observation. So despite the unfavorable and even hostile disposition of the lower class and revolutionary plans of the zealots, Israel was really married to Rome. And I think that's exactly what we find in examples, particularly in Revelation. I believe that's exactly what Revelation, what John's writing about them. Even amid times of civil unrest, Jepper notes here to conclude, the priests and Sadducees seemed content to collaborate with the Roman authorities. So they had something to benefit and gain from the Roman control. It wasn't as though they were these religious zealots who were vehemently standing in opposition to the Roman Empire. They actually benefited from Rome's rule. Which is interesting enough, I remember recalling when I did this research, that historically speaking, if we didn't have the scriptures in Josephus' writings, Really, we would have known nothing of Jesus Christ, these uprisings or anything, because for the most part, during the prime of Rome's rule, Israel was a pretty peaceful place. Oftentimes, it's portrayed as if it was this horrible place, and Rome was these really evil people constantly oppressing them and constantly pushing them around. Really, they weren't. Actually, for the most part, Israel was off the radar when it came to Rome's conquest. They just wanted to be peaceful. They were mostly concerned about, you know, uprisings, civil unrest. So it would have been completely off the radar in most historians' book, if not for writers like Josephus and the biblical writers, which is really interesting. So in light of that, the text we read in Genesis, the scepter really had long departed from Judah, okay? So much to the extent that in Luke chapter two, right after the birth of Christ, what happened? It says, in those days, verses one through three, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. And this was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria and all went to be registered each in his own town. A census was declared. What does a census represent? Well, it plays a critical role in the administration of peoples of an expanding Roman empire. It was used to determine taxes, military enrollment, and so on. It provided a register of citizens their property from which duties and privileges could be listed. Really, it was a recognition that Rome had exercised and regularly its power and influence over a conquered people. Those people were ruled, conquered, and governed by Rome and demanded to provide an account for their families and their property and they were to be taxed for the furtherance of the Roman Empire. Just to give an idea, Caesar Augustus nearly doubled the size of Rome. His influence effectively stretched from Great Britain to India, Italy, Greece, Spain, Gaul, North Africa, Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Near East. They were all solidly apart of the Roman Empire proper. Rome dominated everywhere that bordered on the Mediterranean and beyond. And that comes from Elissa Rowe, why there was a Roman census at the time of Jesus' birth. So the days of the kings of Israel and Judah were long gone. The last monarch of Judah was blinded and carted off by Babylon conquerors in 586 BC. Many of the Jews were taken into exile into Babylon. Some returned under the edict of King Cyrus of Persia in 538 BC, and that allowed them to rebuild Jerusalem. But Israel would remain under the rule of Persia, then Greece, and then the Seleucids. and with a brief period of relative freedom under the Maccabees before they were conquered by Rome in 63 BC. We're talking hundreds of years under the subjugation of various empires, various nations. They did not rule themselves. So in the Jews' mind, they're like, we're waiting for a deliverer. Think about the song, for example, Come, O Come, Emmanuel. Read those words and look what they're pleading. Think about Mary's song of praise when she was told who she would birth. What did she say? She freaked out. We're finally going to be delivered. The time has come. She probably didn't go woohoo, but it was probably pretty close. It was probably very exciting for her. But in the same sense, think about what that would have meant to the Jewish people Let me give you an example of what was happening in Israel at the time, just to kind of put it into perspective. So when the apostles were arrested later in the book of Acts, listen to what Gamaliel says when they were on trial, okay? He was a teacher of the law. He held an honor by all people. This is in Acts 5, 34 through 39. He stood up and gave the orders to put the men outside for a little while, because they were ready to kill these guys. They were ready to imprison them, charge them for blasphemy, because they would not stop preaching when they were told to stop preaching, if you remember the story. And it's that whole story, everybody loves the quote, better to obey God than men. Well, then Gamaliel stands up and says, hang on a second, put him outside for a minute. Let's work through this together. He says, for before these days, Theodos rose up, claiming to be somebody. And a number of men, about 400, joined him. What happened to him? He was killed. And all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. Why were men following Theodos? Because there were men literally claiming that they were the Messiah. They were the Anointed One. They were the King of Israel rising up to overthrow the Roman government, to cast out all the corrupt leaders, and they wanted to follow them in the battle. Many of them were part of what's called the zealot, the group of zealots. As a matter of fact, Judas Iscariot was a zealot. After him, Judas, the Galilean, rose up. And we know from Scripture that there was a promise given that the Messiah would rise up from Galilee. He would preach in Galilee. He would actually go to Galilee of the Gentiles first. I believe that's in Isaiah, if I'm not mistaken. So Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census, same date that we just read in Luke chapter two, the census of Augustus. He rose up in the day of the census and he drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered. So the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan is undertaken, if it is man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God. And they let them go. But that will give you an idea of what that expectation looked like. The Jews were anticipating a king to rise up from among them during that period of time. There were some falsely claiming to be such, or a supporter of such, gathering men around them to overthrow and conquer in hopes that God would honor their work, that God would honor their efforts, and give them freedom from their enemies. So this act of war that was promised to Adam and Eve, we find in Scripture fulfilled in Christ, Think about what the birth of John the Baptist represented. This is really interesting. When you go read the passages about John the Baptist, I think these things come to light. In Luke 1.13-17, take a look at that in your Bibles. It says, But the angel said to Zachariah, Don't be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard. And your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice in his birth. For he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink of wine or strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb." Called, separated from his mother's womb. And what will he do? He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before them in the spirit and power of Elijah. Turn their hearts to their fathers, to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and make ready for the Lord a people prepared. So he had a prophetic calling on his life from birth, and interesting. Do some research for yourself. Look at what it meant to come in the spirit and the power of Elijah. Well, first of all, Elijah's name means my God is Yahweh. This is my God, and I represent him. He stood against Kings Ahab and Ahaziah and Queen Jezebel, 450 prophets of Baal. He prayed fervently for the God of Israel to reveal Himself powerfully to turn the people's heart back to true worship of God, stopping storms, calling fire from the heavens to consume halters. He was an advocate for the lowly and sought to uphold justice in the land. He prayed and people were risen again back to life. This was the kind of man John was to be. And he was going to turn the people back to the Lord, ready for Him and prepared. Zechariah's prophecy says this, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel in chapter 1, 67 through 80. For He has visited and redeemed His people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. He has spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us. To show the mercy he promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham. To grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear. in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days, and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the Lord and prepare His ways to give knowledge of salvation to His people and the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel." Not to mention, Tabut, his mother was barren prior to his birth. You have this miraculous birth. Again, going back, think of the picture. God is using something that could never be imagined in history Someone brought up the other day, I forgot who brought this up, but they talked about all these women in Christ's lineage being either barren or an unlikely type to be in Christ's lineage. God loves using the unlikely all throughout history. to bring about His promises to His people. And here you have it, thousands of years removed from Genesis 3.15, really what the first advent of the Lord comes to a barren woman and then a virgin birth, right? Think of the birth of Christ. We read Mary's song of praise. that was acknowledging God's upholding of His promises, but look particularly in that promise in 1.46-55. What does she say? He has shown strength with His arm. Anybody knows and is familiar with studies of the anthropomorphic descriptions, the symbolic descriptions of God? What does His arm represent? His power. His strength. His might. His rule. His authority. He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. In remembrance of His mercy, He has spoken to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. God will fulfill His promises. Now think about it. This is a teenage girl just conveyed to her what God was going to do with her. And look at the way she responded. Not with doubt, like Zachariah, right? But with, wow, Lord, I can't believe you would do this with me, a woman of lowly, humble estate. I magnify the Lord's name. I worship him. Well, she wasn't alone. There was an angelic revelation to Joseph. It says here in Matthew 1.18-25, it says, Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from this Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and willing to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife. For that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. For you will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, what we read today in our scripture reading, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God is with us. When Joseph woke from his sleep, He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to the son, and he called his name Jesus. Remember the royal descriptions in Isaiah 9. Recall to mind who Christ was represented to be and what was just acknowledged by this angel to Joseph. The government would be on his shoulders. His name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end, and the throne of David over His kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forevermore. The zeal of the Lord, of Hos, will do this. And as Andrew brought up very helpfully last night, Hos is synonymous with armies. The Lord of the armies the angelic armies, the heavenly hosts, will accomplish this. It was the host of heaven that declared to the shepherds, the armies of heaven, who Jesus was to those lowly shepherds. Listen to what they said. The glory of the Lord shone all around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the peoples. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, the Messiah, the Anointed One, and Lord. This will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths laying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those whom he is pleased." So now that we have that in perspective, We see what was going on in Israel. We have a kind of an understanding of the history leading up to this. You have a declaration of war that's thousands of years old. You have people rising up thinking, no, we'll do this. Thaddeus and Judas. And they were what? Brought to no end. But what did Gamaliel say? If this is of God, there's nothing you could do. Will you be found fighting against the living God? And not knowing so, he had prophesied over, really, the nation of Israel at that time. not realizing what he had said. How did the rulers respond in Israel? In Matthew 2, 1-8 it says, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east of Jerusalem were saying, Where is he who has been born, the king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and we have come to worship him. Imagine. We'll go into a little, maybe try to better understand why Herod would have reacted the way he did. But look at what these men said. And by the way, Gentile, aristocrats, rulers, we don't know much about the three wise men. If there were three, there may have been a lot more. There may have been one. But men, I guess, was plural, right? Point being is, These were in some way, shape or form aware of the prophecies. They may very well have been around during Babylon. It could have been as old or even older than the Babylonian captivity. Knowing of the prophecies of the promised one to come, knowing of Daniel's words, knowing of Jeremiah's words, Ezekiel, Isaiah, they could have been very familiar. They knew that there was a king born and they came to what? They came to worship him. So when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ was to be born. They told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it was written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent to them in Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word so that I might come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold, the star they had seen when it rose before them until it came to rest over a place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw a child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being worn in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise and take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt to remain there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son. And then Herod, when he had saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the region who were two years of age and under. According to the time that had been ascertained from the wise men, then was fulfilled that was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in loud lamentation. Rachel, weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted because they are no more." The war is in full effect. Herod, the king at the time, Herod the Great, discovers that another king of Israel is going to possibly challenge his position on the throne. that he had worked so hard for and accomplished by friendship with Rome, wasn't about to let that happen, and worked to do what? Destroy him. As a matter of fact, Andrew brought up an excellent example. If you go and look in Revelation 12 and even through 13, there's a very clear example given there about the waging war of the serpent with the woman wanting to devour the child. Very interesting. So why did Herod respond this way? Well, his rise to power, look at this. Herod was born in 70s BC. His family was, I do mean, Herod, his father, Antiper, were both loyal to Rome, and Antipater was an advisor to Hyrcanus II, I think that's how you pronounce it. He was a high priest in the first century who was also loyal to Rome. The family's loyalty and connections to Rome allowed Herod to receive a governorship in Galilee at the age of 25. He set out improving relations with the Jews, spreading Hellenism very slowly. He also established a military composed of foreign soldiers, centralized his bureaucracy, and began building projects throughout the region after his father's assassination. Herod fled the land in 40 BC. He returned to Rome and was officially crowned the king of Judea. Returning in 39 BC, Herod eventually regained control of the land from the Parthians around 37 BC, and he ruled for the next 33 years. So he had a lot of prominence. He had a ton of building projects as well, built a fortress and everything. Well, listen to this. Why was he so paranoid and tyrannical? Well, he became a paranoid tyrant, worried that he would lose his kingdom. The fortress he built reflected his paranoia, as they provided refuge when he felt threatened. Josephus recorded Herod's execution of his two sons due to rumors of mutiny. He also, quoting Josephus, sent his sons to Sebas, a city not far from Caesarea, and ordered them there to be strangled. And this was the end of Alexander and Aristobulus, according to Josephus. coming from Melton Winstead on Herod the Great. So think about that. Here's a man who really wanted to do everything that he could to befriend Rome. Rome gave him the ability. They incubated his leadership. They allowed for him to arise to prominence. And he was finally installed as a king in Israel. But he was no friend to Israel. Why would religious leaders in Israel be concerned about the birth of Christ? Uprisings and revolutions threatened the increasingly fragile Pax Romana of Rome, which allowed for free travel, commerce, and Israel's protected religious practices within the empire as a temple city. Christ-expanding ministry was perceived as a threat to their freedom and power. knowing the Romans would, with haste and without mercy, crush any opposition to Pax Romana. Arguably, the influence of the Jews in the Palestinian government is what put Jesus on the radar, which ultimately led to Rome being used as a tool for his public execution. So think about that. What do you have predominantly concern for? The Roman rulers at the time cared about the peace of Rome. Any uprising that would come, they would immediately squelch it, and they would expect guys like Herod and Pontius Pilate and others, the procurator at the time, to immediately destroy it. Do not allow any uprising. Why? Because it impacted what? Their money, their power, and their influence, their ability to trade. Jesus, John the Baptist, were both perceived as a threat to that, as we later read in the scriptures. And then finally, listen to this presentation of Jesus at the temple, okay? When he's a little older. It says, when the time came for the purification according to the law of Moses, this is in Luke 2, 22 through 28. They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord. Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Notably, this is the least of all the sacrifices that could be made outside of begging for those things, for money to buy those things. These are the least amount of sacrifices, of the sacrifice offerings that they could make. So they were poor. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. He's lifting up a child and saying this about him. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed him and said to his mother, Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. There was a prophetess also, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84. Scriptures rarely ever mention women, by the way, and then also prophetess. I think this is a very rare sighting here. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Why do I bring that up? Well, you had people who were highly anticipating a king. A king to rise to power. A king to deliver the people. It's what we've been singing all morning in all of the songs. It's how we worship. We proclaim Him as king. We ascribe that value to Him. We expect that that has a certain value to us in the sense of what He has accomplished on our behalf. That was the earnest expectation for all the people showing up to that point. You have people at the temple. You have people in the life. You have angelic hosts. You have shepherds. You have all this happening. And then He was born a child. Men are rising up. Men are being scattered because they're being killed. But God was at work. not forgetting his promises to Israel. Some were recognizing it, some didn't. Even when Jesus rose again from the dead later, what does he say to the men on the road to Emmaus? Fools for not believing all that was taught in the word. It's the word, as he later says, right, in the law, the prophets, and in the writings that speak of me. Have I not been with you so long that you do not know me? Think of all the things that Jesus said and that what Jesus was conveying about himself. They wanted to believe it, but Jesus was doing things in such a way, all the way to his birth, having humbled himself, Paul says in Philippians, as a child coming to us in the form of a baby, growing up just like you and I, being aware and familiar with all our weaknesses and frailties, just like us. all the way through the end, His life, to take upon our sins on the cross on Himself, to bear the wrath of God, and to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. It was so unlikely at this time. You can imagine what it would have been like walking with Him on the road to Emmaus. You can imagine what it would have been like, no different from any other uprising at the time. That as you looked to Him and you said, well, wait a minute, there He is on the cross. all of my hope was just shattered on the cross. We too would have been scattered just like them apart from His resurrection. So as promised, the seat of Satan would maintain its enmity with the seat of the woman to the bitter end. The promised seat fulfilled in the birth of Christ has indeed crushed the head of the serpent and continues to do so, as Paul says in Romans 16, under our feet. The exposure in the end of the serpent's power and influence and rule is done. The strongman is bound, his house is being plundered, and his gates, the gates of Hades, will not prevail. The exposure in the end of the serpent's tyrannical enslavement of us through sin is destroyed in the perfect work of Christ, according to 2 Timothy 2.26, that we have escaped by the word of the power of the gospel from the enslavement, having been taken captive to do His will. There's an end of the serpent's line, according to Revelation 12 and 13. And it started with God who humbled Himself to take on flesh as a baby delivered to a poor family has now delivered us from our enemies. God, in the form of a helpless child who nursed and learned how to walk, has provided salvation from our lawlessness. God's light has been revealed in a child growing in wisdom and stature, confounding the wisest of all around him, is now meeting out justice and judgment to the ends of the earth by virtue of proclamation of His everlasting Word, the two-edged sword of the Spirit, through His church. The man of Christ, the fullness of deity, the true image of God is standing in the Father's right hand as a conquering king who has delivered us from death, reconciled us to God by the blood of his cross, and has adopted us into his family, and is transforming the world to once restore heaven on earth, where he will be our God and we will be his people. As we see each other, so we will see him. Although we might see dimly in a mirror today, we'll see Him exactly as it is, as the Scriptures promise. In light of that, I want you to think about what the apostles accomplished, what was said of the apostles in Acts, particularly in Acts 17. I want you to think about this passage as we close today. Now when they, speaking of Paul and Silas, had passed through Amphipolis and Apollyona, They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for Christ to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, this Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous. And taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find him, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, Jesus Christ is not quite a king yet. He'll return one day at any given moment. He is not in rule and authority over the present world as it stands. We can't wait, hope, Marathon to come because everything is going down like hell in a handbasket. No sense in rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. One day Christ will make all things new. No, that's not what they said. These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also. And Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. and the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they had heard these things. We have a King who presently reigns and rules, who is just like us, made a man, but is divine through and through and stands at the right hand of the throne. We too, like Him, like Jason, like Paul, like Silas and all the brothers, need to faithfully proclaim Jesus Christ as King. Although it was rarely emphasized, war in the heavenly and the earthly realms are a necessary aspect of the Christmas story. We, as Andrew carefully lined out last night, are at war. We're to armor up. Consider all of the wars throughout history and what they sought to accomplish. They sought to bring peace, but we know all have failed miserably. Yet, as we know, our king has not failed. Our king will not fail. Our king will be, as described in Revelation, victorious in history. Christ will ultimately have brought all things to consummation. There will not be one left behind. The gospel will ultimately prevail. Those who follow him here are but a small example of his continued success. Merry Christmas, let's pray. Heavenly Father. Thank you for this wonderful gift, your son. The fulfillment of your promises. Although thousands of years there to you, but moment. In eternity. You've called us to be patient. Waiting, expecting. Anticipating. Hoping. Although we look around and see evil in some ways prevailing, we look at our nation's leadership, we look at the world leadership, we see wars, we see people trying to and attempt to bring peace by their own means. You are the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Apart from the gospel, men will not find peace. It is not a peace that this world offers, but it's only a peace that can be found in Your Son, Father. I pray for those today who have heard this message, they be encouraged, emboldened, empowered to recognize how beautiful the Christmas story really is. That they would be sobered in the recognition and the reality of the war that we are in. That we not grow tired, that we not grow faint in fighting, that we not grow sleepy or dull. That we would continue to entrust ourselves to Your Word. And for those who have heard this message and may in their minds be mocking and in their hearts, of disbelief, rejecting the reality of who you are, Jesus Christ, we pray for their salvation. We pray that you would draw them in to your fold today. I pray that you would bless my brothers and sisters on this wonderful Christmas day. In Jesus' name.