Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Responding to His Birth
Liar, Lunatic, or Lord? C.S. Lewis summed up the options well, the only option that isn't available is as a good teacher of morality, why? The bold, audacious claims of the God-Man Jesus Christ leave no other options, and it all hinges on the uniqueness of who He is at birth; and therefore our response is critical.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas.
Speaker 2:Here's a hint of what's to come. The point is, we want to try to understand how it is that Christ avoided these three sin problems.
Speaker 1:Have you ever told a website to remember your username and password and then you come back a couple of days later and it has forgotten who you are and you have to sign back in again? Why does something like this so quickly and easily forget? The answer is pretty simple because humans programmed it and we forget. Therefore, the things that we program, plan, build, kind of carry our characteristics. They can be forgetful, not intentionally, sometimes rather unintentionally. How does this relate to the Bible lesson today?
Speaker 1:Well, when the Lord of Glory showed up in human form in Jerusalem to be dedicated as a young child, the people marveled. And when he taught in the temple at age 12, the people were amazed. And yet by the time he had come to be an adult man and to begin his ministry, they had completely forgotten the amazing things they had seen of him and heard of him and knew of him. We are frail humans and we forget, which is why it's so important to be involved in regular Bible study and fellowship at a local church. Because we are forgetful local church, because we are forgetful. Today we look at the virgin birth of Christ and what that means for who he is and therefore what we get to benefit from and we get to be involved in in salvation the virgin birth, the cornerstone of who Jesus, the Son of man, is.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, well, in the New Testament framework, again, we go through the various events. There's going to be four events in the life of Christ. They're easy to remember the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death of Christ and the resurrection. We've been working on the first event, which deals with the virgin birth and specifically why there had to be a virgin birth. I've been giving various reasons, but as we go through these, remember we're trying to work ourselves to this very rich, complicated statement that was developed through church history as people thought about Christ, through church history, as people thought about Christ, what the New Testament says about Christ, and various ideas or differences arose through church history, such as people like the Docetists or those who were monarchians, modal monarchians, modalism and stuff like that. Maybe not familiar with all these things, but you are familiar with groups like Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons who have alternate views of Christ, and these views, like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism, are just really modern expressions of ancient Arianism. So these ideas aren't really new. They just keep cropping up under new names and so they are still with us today. But these things went on in church history and so the church had to wrestle with the person of Christ, and this is essentially the statement that they came up with that Jesus Christ is undiminished deity, united with true humanity in one person, without confusion or separation, forever. There's a whole lot packed into this statement that by the time we finish the birth event. We will take some time to go into this doctrine, which is called the hypostatic union and one of the more complicated doctrines, but it's built on doctrines from the Old Testament. So if we're clear on doctrines like who God is and who man is, that will help us when we think about the person who is both God and man, emmanuel, and so that will help us develop a proper understanding of who Christ is. So we're working our way toward this and as we do so, we work through three aspects of each event the event itself, which now we're discussing, the virgin birth.
Speaker 2:Then secondly, the response to the event. We're going to start this today. We've been working with the event itself, talking about the various necessities of the virgin birth, why this is not something that's just a side truth, a peripheral, but why it's an essential, why it was called at the early in 1909, there was a book published called the Fundamentals, and this book had as one of its fundamentals, the virgin birth. Because at that time the virgin birth was being challenged by liberal theologians through various denominations, and so they set forth the fundamentals, one of which is the virgin birth. So we want to talk about we've been talking about the necessity for this belief. We want to talk today some about the responses to this event. I'll look at it from the side of the Jews as well as from the side of the Gentiles and then, lastly, as we go along here in the next couple weeks, as we deal with the responses, we'll also talk about what's the proper response, how people should have responded to the virgin birth. So three reasons for the virgin birth. We'll finish this up today.
Speaker 2:We've already looked at the prophetic. If God is God, then God can tell the future, and if he's not God, he doesn't know what is going to happen. And the God of the Bible insists throughout the Old Testament and Isaiah, and through all the prophets, of course, that he indeed does know the future, and when prophecy is fulfilled, we see, in fact, confirmation that he is the one true God. So there are passages that foreshadow the virgin birth, like Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman. Women don't have seed, you know. Isaiah 7.14, a virgin will be with child. Women don't have seed. You know, isaiah 7.14, a virgin will be with child. Jeremiah 22,. He can't be of this line of natural descent, the line of Coniah that came to Joseph. So he must somehow avoid being the son of David in a natural biological sense but yet be adopted by him to get throne rights. And all this is confirmed in Matthew 1, that God indeed does tell the future, and one of the things that he told was the virgin birth and that it did take place.
Speaker 2:The legal reasons which we discussed last week, and this relates to the sin problem, actually both B and C here, the legal and spiritual necessities relate to sin. The legal one relates primarily to one of the types of sin and that is imputed sin. I mean, everybody knows about personal sin, right? Hopefully you don't know too much about it, but we all know about this, right? We all know about personal sin. That's what most people think of when they think of sin. You know something in thought, word or deed. Some people may even think it's just deeds. Thought, word or deed. Some people may even think it's just deeds. It doesn't have anything to do with what I think, but it certainly does have to do with what we think, and so sin is anything contrary to the perfect righteousness or holiness of God, anything that does not conform to that, and so that's the common way of thinking about sin. But there's two other categories of sin imputed, and this is a legal term. It refers to an imputation or crediting of sin to every individual who is in Adam.
Speaker 2:Romans 5.12 is the key passage. It says you know that. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so death spread to all men. And then it says because all sin. And you say well, how did we sin? I wasn't there, I didn't eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And yet, as I explained, we were in Adam. The whole human race was in Adam, including Eve, who was made out of Adam, and this creates in the human race a solitary origin. We were all in one individual, and that individual is named Adam or Adama, which means not just man but mankind. He was, in all truth, all of mankind, and we sinned in him, although, as Romans 5 also says, not in the likeness of him, meaning we weren't consciously, personally there to say, oh, thank you, eve.
Speaker 2:I would love to try this, but, as I say to people, you would have done the same thing. Don't try to excuse yourself, but God sets everything up and he imputes or credits that sin to all of us who were in Adam. So it's a direct transmission from Adam to us. This is pointing out our problem, right, all three types of sin. We have a serious sin problem. That's not all.
Speaker 2:We have a third type of sin that I want to discuss a little bit more today, and that's inherited sin. This is the biological inheriting of sin, and the transmission here is indirect, whereas with imputed it's direct. It's from Adam to each of us. Because we're in Adam, this one is transmitted. Because we're in Adam, this one is transmitted indirectly from Adam to his offspring, meaning Abel and Cain and other sons and daughters that Adam is said to have had all the way down through the whole chain of the human race, to you and to me, from our parents, okay. So this is transferred to us at conception Psalm 51.5, where David says in sin, my mother conceived me. It doesn't mean that the act of procreation is sinful. It means that at conception, when the joining of the egg and the sperm took place, there was a transmission of sin to the offspring, that is, david. This is what results in acquiring a sin nature or a flesh, and obviously the Bible has a lot to say about the flesh. You know, we should walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh, and everybody knows this type of terminology. The flesh is an inclination or disposition to sin. It's part of who we are, from conception.
Speaker 2:People will then, of course, come with a question, and this is a brief aside. Well then, what about babies, who are infants, or those in the womb, let's say, who are spontaneously aborted or die in the womb? Let's say who are spontaneously aborted or die, you know, in the womb for some reason, if they have sin, you know, won't sin separate us from God? Yes, sin separates us from God. All sin separates us from God. They don't have any personal sin, maybe, but they have inherited sin, they have imputed sin. So this is going to separate them from God.
Speaker 2:So how does God resolve these problems? Well, the first thing I'd say about that is it's not a problem for God, it's just a problem for you and me maybe, but I've always held the position that there's a little book on this that I really like, by Bob Leitner Robert Leitner, it's called. What is the name of that book? Anyway, the book basically goes through the idea that if a person and we would say there's a full personhood in the womb if there's a person who cannot meet the requirement for eternal life, and that requirement is to believe, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, right? Well, obviously, a baby in the womb or a young baby or someone who is mentally retarded cannot understand the gospel message. If a person cannot meet the requirement to believe that message, then God in his grace, through the unlimited atonement of Christ, provides salvation for them. This seems fitting and consistent with the nature of our God and His grace. But the point is I'm just trying to make is that even in the womb we have inherited sin, we have a flesh.
Speaker 2:Now let's turn to Romans 8.3, because the the point is we want to try to understand how it is that Christ avoided these three sin problems. Obviously, the personal sin problem. We know that, the temptations. You can look at the passages about his temptations and you see he's overcoming the temptation to personal sin. But how did he overcome imputed sin? We discussed that last week. And how did he overcome inherited sin? Well, the virgin birth is the answer, in some way or another, to all these questions. So Romans 8, verse 3 says something very interesting about him. So we understand that he was without a sin nature or flesh.
Speaker 2:Romans 8 3 for what the law could not do, speaking of the law of moses, weak as it was, through the flesh. In other words, the law basically caused the human sinful flesh to want to rebel. Rebel, you know. You tell a kid don't eat those cookies while I'm gone. All they want to do now is try to see how they can get a cookie, because what you've done is the flesh. You've given a standard, but the flesh uses the standard as a base to push off of, to exert itself, and so they want to break the law. And that's what he's saying the law, the law of Moses, weak as it was, through the flesh, meaning causing people to stumble and get into sin. Well, it couldn't do this, but God did. It's sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Speaker 2:In the likeness of sinful flesh. Note the key word, obviously, likeness. He looked like sinful flesh in the sense that he looked like you, he looked like me, he had a true human body, he had a true human spirit and he was a true human soul. So he had a physical appearance, he was real, he wasn't just a phantom. He had a true human spirit, which means he had personality, he had conscience, he had all the things that are aspects of our immaterial being, and he was a true human soul. That's why we say he's true humanity, he's 100% a true human being. Okay, but he wasn't sinful flesh, was he? According to this verse, he came in the likeness of sinful flesh, so he didn't have one like you have and like I have, and that's the point of bringing this verse up. He was unique in this sense. He avoided it.
Speaker 2:How did he avoid it? He avoided this inherited sin because his? Well, two points. First of all, because the transmission is direct through the male. We looked at that last week Hebrews 7, 1 through 10. And since he's born of Mary alone and not Mary and Joseph, but Mary alone, then he avoids the transmission. Because the transmission is through the male, okay. And secondly, jesus avoids it by the work of the Spirit upon Mary at the virgin conception, because he's the one who was involved in the conception. If Joseph wasn't, who was? Well, the Holy Spirit provided that aspect of his humanity. So that's how he avoids inherited sin. And this is interesting Now, since he has none of the three kinds of sin right. He avoided the temptations tempted in all things as we. Yet without sin, he avoids imputed sin by the over, by the overpowering work of the father, this barrier that was put up, luke 135, and he avoids the inherited sin because the holy Spirit, not Joseph, conceived the child within her.
Speaker 2:Then this means something unique. It means that Jesus didn't have to die physically. Doesn't it mean that? In other words, here's what I'm saying If Jesus had wanted to continue living in this world, could he still be here today? Yes, because he has no cause of death residing within him. Sin is the cause of death, sin is the cause of sickness, it's the root cause of all these things. If he doesn't have sin, the root cause, then he can't die physically, and that's why he'll say things in the Gospels that well, quite frankly, they sound amazing. Like who could say that? He'll say something like no one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord, meaning, if I'm going to die, it's because I'm going to willingly give my life up, but I'm not just going to die. I can't just die.
Speaker 2:The great story at Nazareth where he says a prophet is not welcome in his own town. It's a village, really, it's a very small place. They ran him out of town to an edge and they were going to push him off the cliff. And you've got to imagine there's got to be several dozen people here at least. They're going to shove him off the cliff. And then the text says and he went through them and they could no longer find him. You're like what, how could you miss the guy? I mean there's 30, 40, who knows how many people there and he just goes through the midst of you and Well, he couldn't die. He could not until he and when. He chose to die for us. So he says these unique things and they're arising out of the fact that he didn't have any sin, so no cause of death residing within him. He could still be with us today. He'd be about 2,030 years old, if my math is right, as far as the birth.
Speaker 2:Lastly, well, why didn't we go to John 10, 14 through 18? We might as well look at it John 10, we're here. John 10, 14 through 18. A lot of this stuff in the Gospel of John, because the Gospel of John is theological. It was written later than the other Gospels. The other Gospels give us narratives, they tell us the stories, they're giving us the facts, okay, but John gives us a theological reflection on the facts. So John 10, 14 through 18.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wanted to discuss this passage. Jesus says I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me, even as the father knows me and I know the father. I lay down my life for the sheep. See, that's what I'm saying. Nobody could kill him. He had to lay down his life, notice. He says I lay down my life for the sheep. Now, some people say, well, that means he's just dying for certain people. He doesn't die for all people, he only dies for some people. The people say well, that means he's just dying for certain people. He doesn't die for all people, he only dies for some people, the people that are called his sheep. That's one way people approach this passage and they believe in limited atonement, that Jesus only came to die for a limited group of people, not all people. Now, I don't think that's the case. Let's read on and I'll explain.
Speaker 2:He says I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice and they will become one flock with one shepherd. Now, so there's other sheep, he says, but not of this fold, right, but they will become one flock with one shepherd. What Is anybody theologically acute enough to know, first of all, who his sheep are? At the end of verse 15? My father knows me. I know the father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
Speaker 2:Who's he talking to? That would be the first question. Who is the audience? Israel? If you go back earlier, you see, in verse 40 of the previous chapter, those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Are we blind too? Okay, he goes on and on. So through this, if you go back and read all this, you'll see he's talking to the Jews, to Jewish people, including the Pharisees. The ones that are his sheep are Israel. That's Israel.
Speaker 2:But then he says in verse 16, I have other sheep, not of this fold, meaning not of Israel, so they're going to be Gentiles. This is not that hard. I must bring them also and they will hear my voice and they will become one flock with one shepherd. One flock with one shepherd. So he's looking forward to the church, right when you've got Jew and Gentile in one body or one flock. So this isn't saying he only dies for the sheep. There's a limited atonement. He doesn't die for all men. It's saying he died for Israel, but he also died for Gentiles and he's going to make them all one flock, as he's prophesying here of the future church which began on the day of Pentecost.
Speaker 2:So verse 17,. For this reason the Father loves me. Why? Because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. I lay down my life, see. He had to give his life for us. Nobody could take it from him. He says no one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down of my own initiative. I have authority to lay it and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from my Father.
Speaker 2:Now, can anyone say that, except the Lord Jesus Christ? In fact, as you're going to see, some of his statements lead you to this idea that CS Lewis discussed in his book Mere Christianity, which is commonly described as Jesus is either a liar, he's a lunatic or he's Lord. This type of statement, see, I mean, are you crazy? You lay down your life and you take it up again. What are you taught? Nobody can do that. In fact, what did the Jews say in verse 19 after he said this? It says a division occurred again among the Jews because of these words, and many of them were saying he has a demon and is insane, he's a lunatic. See, and that's all that Lewis and Clive Staples Lewis was pointing out, right? And that's all that Lewis in Clive Staples' Lewis was pointing out, right, that if you're honest, when you read the Gospels, you think this guy is either the biggest liar in all of history or he's a total lunatic, or he's Lord of everything. And so read this and be honest, be honest. I mean, can you really just conclude that Jesus was a good teacher if you read this? Well, and no, he's. If he's a liar, he's immoral. You know, it's just not a possibility that he'd be just a good teacher. He's far more than that. Or he's just not a possibility that he'd be just a good teacher. He's far more than that, or he's just crazy.
Speaker 2:So we have these types of passages in John 10, 14 through 18. Now let's look at John 1, 14 and 3, 16, which you already know, because we want to show that Jesus was entirely unique. I mean we've already started to show that. But John 1.14,. This is talking about the virgin birth, because it's an incarnation passage, verse 14,. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, meaning he's a true human right and he dwelt among true humans. And John says and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. We saw his glory. Now, who shares glory with the Father? I don't share His glory, you don't share His glory, nobody shares His glory, but the Lord Jesus Christ shared glory with the Father. This is something unique. It also says as the only begotten right. Glory, as of the only begotten right, glory as of the only begotten. In other words, this is the reason he can actually share in the glory of the father is because he's the only begotten. Now this is also used in john 3, 16 right for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Speaker 2:That Greek word that I guess in our language to many people. They think well, that means he was born. It's talking about the birth of Jesus, or something like that and therefore, as the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses will say, these verses prove that he's not God, but he's less than God. That's not what this word means. This word is monogenes. One word, monogenes.
Speaker 2:The word means unique, one of a kind. That's why I'll say something like the only begotten, because the only one is a one of a kind. He's a one of a kind person. What is it that makes him? You know, you can just translate it. I often translate it unique. I'll say John 3, 16 that way. I won't quote it with only begotten, because people start thinking about babies and stuff. It's not really talking about him being born or something like that. It's talking about his unique son. Not really talking about him being born or something like that. It's talking about his uniqueness, for God so loved the world that he gave his unique son, the unique one. He's unique because he's God and man in one person. As the Old Testament predicted right, he shall be called Emmanuel, which means God with us, and that's what John 1.14 is saying. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. He dwelt with us see, and we saw his glory. This was something totally unique.
Speaker 2:How does Hebrews 1 begin? Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 3, begins with a statement. I'm going to go back to John 1, so don't lose John 1. But Hebrews 1, which I'm going to go back to John 1, so don't lose John 1. But Hebrews, chapter 1, which I just want to read.
Speaker 2:God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets so that's the Old Testament he spoke to them in many portions and in many ways you know, dreams, visions and so forth In these last days has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things. Okay, okay, so he's the heir of the world, through whom also he made the world. So the father, through the son, the book of genesis, whenever god said let there be something, this is the father creating through the agency of the son, okay, and that is why john 1 1 begins with in the agency of the Son. Okay, and that is why John 1.1 begins with in the beginning was the Word speech, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. It's speaking of the first two members of the Trinity.
Speaker 2:And God, the Father, as the source of creation, did it through the agent, the Son, and he's spoken to us in His Son, and verse 3 says he is the radiance of His glory and this us in his son. And verse 3 says he is the radiance of his glory, and this is a stunning phrase. He is the exact representation of his nature. He is the exact representation of his nature. In other words, if you had been here on earth during the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and you saw him standing on the Sea of Galilee shore or something like that, ask you a question Were you seeing God? Yes, you were seeing God in the flesh. He is the exact expression, the exact representation of god.
Speaker 2:Now so back to john 1. Okay, this uniqueness having the glory of the father. Sharing this, in verse 15, john testified about him and cried out saying this was he of whom I said. He who comes after me has a higher rank than I. Why? Because he existed before me. The preexistence of the Messiah Verse 16,. For of his fullness we have all received. And grace upon grace, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:And then he says something else interesting no one has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, which means in the care of, in the lap, being taken care of by the Father. He has exegeted him. That is the Greek word for exegete, exegeo, which we mean. When you study the Bible, we always say you are to read out. Ex means out, right Like exodus, exit. There's a sign there that says exit. If you don't know where the exits are, here they are. That's the way out if you don't like what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:And exegel means to lead or to draw out. So what do we do when we study the Bible? We lead or draw out what is in the text. We do not eisegete. Eis means in, To lead or read in. We don't want to read our idea into the words of the Bible. We want to draw out what is there.
Speaker 2:And so what this is saying about the son is that he drew out who the father was. If we had been here, we would have seen him, because if you see me, he said, you have seen the Father. I and the Father are one. And he goes on to say crazy things like I only do the will of my Father. What human can say that they've only and always done the will of God? Again, these are unique expressions. They're saying that he is a totally unique and different type of person, even though he would have looked like a human being.
Speaker 2:John 8.29. Flip over there, john 8.29. John 8.29. This is this is one of those statements that cs lewis is referring to. I mean, you're either lying or you're a total lunatic, or he's lord of all. Verse 29 he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. I mean, give me a break, really. I mean, think if someone said that to you, you'd be like this is the most arrogant person on the planet, right, or they're actually who they claim to be and you have to make a decision how you're going to deal with them. So here's what Lewis actually said in Mere Christianity.
Speaker 2:I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him, that is Christ. That quote. I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. Lewis says that's one thing we must not say. A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic on level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else he's a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool. That's what the Pharisees did. They said he's insane. You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that option open to us. He did not intend to.
Speaker 2:Now, that said, I want to turn. We're going to see this theme continue in the Gospels as we go through his life and his death and resurrection. We want to start looking at the responses that the Jews and the Gentiles had to the virgin birth. So first of all, we'll look at the Jews, then we'll look at the Gentiles, and this is a very interesting story. So let's turn to Luke, chapter 2. This is a story, you know, of the shepherds in the field. You know, keeping their flocks by night Luke, chapter 2. There's obviously initial excitement. You've heard this story. You know they get excited, right. So let's look at this excitement and also, as we read this, ask yourself, as we progress through this, how should people have responded to, how should the Jews have responded to these claims of the birth and this actual birth?
Speaker 2:So 2.8, in the same region. The region is Bethlehem, verse 4. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night. We don't know who these shepherds were. Some people say, well, they're just normal shepherds. These were basically the lowest people in society. Other people say no, these were priestly shepherds who were watching over the temple flock, the flock that was destined for sacrifice. Either way, they're out in these fields, very close to Jerusalem, around Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem, and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly afraid. But the angel said to them do not be afraid. Behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people, the people of Israel, for today, in the city of David, there's been born for you a Savior linking us to the Davidic covenant, the city of David, a Savior who is Messiah, right, the Lord, that is God. This will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a manger. So it's a sign of which child is the Messiah.
Speaker 2:In verse 13,. Suddenly there appeared, with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men, with whom he is well pleased. And when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another let us go straightway to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. See the excitement. Let's just go straightway Now. You're going to leave your flock. Yes, they're going to leave the flock. You, you don't ever leave the flock as a shepherd, but if the true shepherd, the true shepherd, has just been born, let's go and see. See, let's go and see the thing that the lord has made known. So verse 16.
Speaker 2:They came in a hurry and they found their way to mary and joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. And when they had seen this, they made known. So did they go tell other people, according to verse 17. Yes, they went and they made known this statement and everything that was told to them about this child, the Savior, this one who's a descendant of David the Messiah. He's been born and all who heard it verse 18 they wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. They were astonished. This word thalmadzo for wonder, astonishment, awe. They were in awe at the things which were told them by the shepherds. This is the great hope of israel, right that god sent the messiah. And then mary. She treasures all these things, she. She's pondering them, sumbalo, throwing them together. The Old Testament prophecies is what it's talking about. She's trying to understand what has transpired in her heart.
Speaker 2:And the shepherds went back to their flocks glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. Now you would think, okay, you have this virgin birth. They go, they see the child. It seen just as had been told them. Now you would think, okay, you have this virgin birth. They go, they see the child. It's just as the angel said. They tell everybody about this. You would think, well, how should the Jews respond? What are they going to do? Are they going to follow? I mean, what should they do? Shouldn't they follow the career of this baby with great interest? Wouldn't you follow the career of this child with great interest. Let's read on. Some people did have a good response, as we'll see here.
Speaker 2:Verse 21 and following when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and offer a sacrifice, according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. So Mary and Joseph, after the days of purification, are going down to the temple right in Jerusalem. They're taking the baby up. And verse 25,.
Speaker 2:There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout. He was looking for the consolation of Israel. Well, let me ask you a question. Who's the consolation of Israel, by the way? Oh, the Messiah. That's who he's waiting for. 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. We've got two people early on, before John the Baptist comes along and has his ministry. We have two people that the Lord has spoken to, simeon and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Both of these. So you see God starting to speak again. We said during the intertestamental times. It's sometimes called the period of silence 400 years of silence. He's starting to speak again. Zechariah is now Simeon. Simeon's been told he's not going to see death before he's seen the Lord's Messiah Verse 27,.
Speaker 2:He came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, he took him into his arms. Now you're Mary, okay, you got the baby Jesus. This guy comes along and just sweeps him out of your arms. That's the picture, because that's what happened and the grammar is deliberately moving the narrative along quickly. So we think of someone swiftly taking a baby out of your arms. And he blessed God and he said now, lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace. In other words, I can go now, I can die According to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of your people.
Speaker 2:Israel and his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him. See, they're just trying to piece all this together. You can imagine if you were a husband or wife with your first baby and these things have been said about your child. All these strange, unique things have occurred around the conception and the birth. And so Simeon blesses them and he says in verse 34, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed. And a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. That is one of my favorite verses because obviously the sword piercing through her own soul is looking to his horrible crucifixion that will eventually take place. But also the end of that crucifixion is that thoughts from many hearts are revealed, because it's looking at one's response to the crucifixion. That's why the third part of what we're doing here is always or. The second part is how did they respond? How did the people respond? And the last section is what is the proper response? Right, and they're both right here at the end of verse 35. So that's Simeon. Good response, right, jew? Good response.
Speaker 2:Another good response verse 36, the prophetess Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She's advanced in years. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then as a widow. So he died. She lived to the age of 84. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers hyperbole meaning she was always there.
Speaker 2:At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God. So this is right after Simeon, she comes up, she begins giving thanks to God. She continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel. See, there were people who were looking for the redemption of Israel. There were people looking for the consolation of Israel, there were people looking for the Savior, there were people looking for the Messiah, and all this is very close to the virgin birth. So there is this initial excitement. There's Simeon, there's the shepherds, there's Anna, the prophetess, and then we come to verse 36. I'm sorry, 39. 36. I'm sorry, 39. Let's go to 41. Now look, that's the last story you hear about in all the Gospels, about Jesus. It's all about his birth, about that time period. You don't hear anything else until verse 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover, and when he became 12, what what when he became 12?
Speaker 2:what happened to one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven? We're talking, you know, 11 times, or 12 times, 365 days. That's a lot of days that you don't read anything. The word went out from the shepherds and the prophetess was telling people what's the proper response again, wouldn't you want to track the career of this uniquely wrought child? But they didn't. They forgot. We have this now. He's 12 years old. They go up according to the custom of the feast, verse 43. As they're returning, they went in caravans with people from Nazareth After spending the full number of days. The boy, jesus, stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents weren't aware of it.
Speaker 1:People today say wow, what in the?
Speaker 2:world, these irresponsible parents. You know these kids would just play. It was a large caravan. They'd play all the time. I mean, if you don't see your kid all day, that's because he's playing with so-and-so else's kids. We all live in the same village of Nazareth. This is no big deal, right? They supposed him to be in the caravan. They went a day's journey. They began looking for him. Okay, at the end of the day yeah, where is he Among their relatives and acquaintances? Verse 45,. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for him. After three days they found him in the temple.
Speaker 2:I mean, I can only imagine the stress, right, sitting in the midst of the teachers. These are the most brilliant minds in Judaism, right? He's both listening to them and he's asking them questions. He's 12 years old and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. You're amazed at a 12-year-old. You're amazed at the understanding of a 12-year-old. You're amazed at his answers to your questions, that you, as the great teachers of the law. You have questions he's able to answer. He's able to ask questions that you're probably not able to answer. He's giving answers to questions that you don't have the answers for or you still are curious about. What do we say?
Speaker 2:We read in Isaiah 50, verse 4 a couple weeks ago, morning by morning, the Father would awake the Messiah and teach him, and teach him In his true humanity. He had to learn the Word of God. Here he is, at 12 years old. Don't think children can't learn the Word of God. Jesus didn't get to cheat. Okay, he didn't get to cheat.
Speaker 2:I've seen some pretty brilliant 12, 13-year-olds in my life. Some of these people have gone off to places like Cambridge or Yale when they're like 12 or 13 years old. How do they do that? I mean, they're smart people, way smarter than me, probably way smarter than anybody in this room. I don't know, some of you may be super geniuses off the Mensa scale, but Jesus applied himself and he listened to his father's teaching and he learned the word of God to the point that the great teachers of the law are astonished at this kid, verse 48,. When they saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him son, why have you treated us like this? And you know the rest of the story. You know, didn't? You know? I had to be in my father's house. They didn't understand the statement. A 12-year-old understood it, but they didn't understand it. Is he not unique? But see, the point is here the Jews really kind of forgot.
Speaker 2:They're not really tracing his career with great interest. They're not really tracing his career with great interest if at this point, I was one of those great teachers and I recognized I'm a seminary professor. So if I recognize in some student who's 18, 20, 25 years old, even today, great potential, I don't you know that I will be basically following this person's career and I will be like investing in them as much as I possibly can. I've had some students who are that way, like John Miles. I was like, okay, this guy's kind of off the charts. I mean, you should be teaching the class, not me. So follow his career with great interest. Personally I do, but they didn't do that. It's the wrong response. You'd think after this you'd learn something about when he was 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, how he's teaching in synagogue at 17, 18, 19. You don't read any of that. There's nothing there. There's nothing there until John comes along and he's baptizing and he comes to the Jordan right Now.
Speaker 2:That was the Jews and you see this declining interest and then animosity during the gospels, right when it's during his life and his leads to the death. Let's go to the gentiles. This one is amazing. Okay, matthew, I don't have time to go through the whole book of matthew, but isn't it interesting that in matthew, chapter 2, the first chapter after we've got the birth of the king, we have the genealogy of j Joseph and then you have the virgin birth. Then you come to this really strange chapter that nobody else in any other gospel writers records, right? It's a story about the wise men right from the east. These were really astronomers from Babylon. Now let's just read a little of it. This is a Gentile response to the birth, right? That's why we're looking at this now.
Speaker 2:After jesus was born in bethlehem of judea, in the days of herod, the king magi from the east arrived in jerusalem saying where is he? Who has been born? King of the jews? Now, first of all, they came from the east, okay, and babylon is to the. This is where they were from. It was 800 miles away. They didn't have cars, they didn't have trains, they didn't have airplanes. They had to walk or go in a caravan, on whatever type of animal transportation they might have used 800 miles. I don't know any woman who would do that today. I don't know many woman who would do that today. I don't know many guys that would do that. Here they've come.
Speaker 2:These are more royal type people, higher class, and they ask where has he been born, the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east. We're talking about Numbers 24, the prediction of a star in association with the Messiah. He says and we've come to worship him. Gentiles, come to worship a Jewish king. Is that not interesting, this response? They were probably descended from the people that Daniel in his days in Babylon. Daniel became the head of the school of astronomy at the end of Daniel, chapter 2. Because he interpreted dreams, remember, he saved the lives of all the other people who were in the school. Remember, because Ariok was going around, the commander, he was killing them all. Because Nebuchadnezzar realized you guys are a bunch of sham, you don't know what my dreams are about. And Daniel, god revealed to him the dream and he went into the king and he told him the explanation and the king was pleased and recognized this is from God and he stopped slaying the rest of the Gentile, soothsayers and sorcerers and so forth. I think these people became converted under Daniel, who became head of that school. And now we are five, six. There's six, centuries later and there's still a line of people in Babylon who are looking for this Jewish king and they come 800 miles to worship him.
Speaker 2:Now that's an interesting story that this is plugged in right here in Matthew chapter two. But go now to Matthew chapter eight. Matthew chapter Matthew is doing something. Matthew, periodically as he goes along. It's all this stuff about Jews. And then all of a sudden there's a story about a Gentile. We just saw the first one, and not without purpose, is it right there at the birth? But we come down now into his life, into his ministry, in Matthew chapter 8 and verse 5, and we meet a centurion Also, of course, gentile. So verse 5,.
Speaker 2:When Jesus entered Capernaum, this was Peter's hometown, this was where Peter lived, his mother lived here and a centurion came to him. So he's a Roman centurion. He's over about a hundred men right and he's imploring him and saying Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, fearfully, tormented. And Jesus said to him I will come and heal him. But the centurion said, lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word and my servant will be healed. And then he explained. He says for I'm also a man under authority, soldiers under me, and I say to this one, you go. And he goes. And I said to another, you come, and he comes into my slave. I say, do this, and he does it.
Speaker 2:Now, when jesus heard this, he marveled. Do you know? He only marvels like two or three times in the gospels only two or three times. Has he ever marveled? This whole thing made him marvel. This astonished him and he said to those who were following truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. Nobody, nobody In all Israel, but a Roman and Korean could see it. He could see his authority. You don't have to come, just say the word. You command everything, you're the commander of the universe. That is great faith. That is great faith.
Speaker 2:Now, well, let's just read the rest of the story. It's too good. Verse 11 I say to you that many will come from east and west and recline at the table with abraham, isaac and jacob in the kingdom of heaven. He's talking about gentiles coming with jews in the kingdom. But the sons of the kingdom, that's, the natural recipients of the kingdom, the Jewish people, will be cast into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. See, the Jewish people weren't responding correctly. See, they were not responding correctly to his birth, they weren't responding correctly to his life and to his miracles. And here's a Roman centurion, and he is. And so he concludes in verse 13,. And Jesus said to the centurion Go, it shall be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed that moment.
Speaker 2:The last one is chapter 15, matthew 15. What is Matthew doing? He is showing through his gospel, which is basically chronological, an increasing rejection by the Jewish people and an increasing reception by Gentiles. An increasing rejection by the Jewish people and an increasing reception by Gentiles. Here's the Syrophoenician woman, another great story that you'll all recognize, beginning in verse 21. So Jesus went away from there and withdrew into the districts of Tyre and Sidon. That's kind of Gentile territory, right? That's not Jewish territory, that's pagan, unclean territory. And a Canaanite woman I mean, are you kidding A Canaanite woman? They were polytheistic.
Speaker 2:Nasty people from that region came out and began to cry out saying have mercy on me, lord, son of David. She recognizes the Davidic covenant. She recognizes David in this line my daughter is cruelly demon possessed. But he did not answer her a word. People oh he's big meanie and his disciples came and implored him, saying send her away. She's just annoying us, she's shouting just get this woman out of here. But he answered and he said I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of israel.
Speaker 2:Later, what does he say? Go into all nations, but right now the mission is Israel, the mission is Israel, the mission is Israel. Later, when Israel says we're done with you, we'll have no king but Caesar, then the door of salvation, the floodgates, will open to Gentiles. But at this time the house of Israel Even said in Matthew 10, 5 and 6, he says to them do not go in the way of the Gentiles. But at this time, the house of Israel Even said in Matthew 10, 5 and 6, he says to them do not go in the way of the Gentiles, do not even get on the road that goes to Samaria. He says but go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Remember that that's because the mission was to Israel. He doesn't even answer.
Speaker 2:This woman just totally ignores her. Verse 25,. But she came and she began to bow down before him saying Lord, help me. But she came and she began to bow down before him saying Lord, help me. And he answered and said it's not good to take the children's bread that's Israel, their bread and throw it to the dogs. Now we may not like that so much, because we're Gentiles and most of us Not all of us and most of us, not all of us, but dogs in Jewish culture were considered unclean animals.
Speaker 2:They didn't have dogs as pets running around their house. No, remember, there were dogs that ate up Jezebel in the Old Testament after she was thrown out a window. These were not pets in their thinking, they were unclean animals. And because Gentiles were non-Jews, they were considered unclean. And so dogs is a metaphor for an unclean people. It's not good to take the bread that belongs to Israel and throw it to unclean people, to Israel and throw it to unclean people. But she said yes, lord, even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from the master's table. So she agreed with him yes, this is the bread that belongs to the children, but even the unclean Gentiles, see, we feed on these crumbs that fall on the floor from your table, master. And he said oh woman, your faith is great, it shall be done for you. And her daughter was healed.
Speaker 2:Okay, that said again, how did the Jews respond to the birth and then later, the life, increasing rejection. There's some excitement, but they just basically forgot. And there's more and more rejection, but along the way, matthew says and, by the way, there are these gentiles who have this response and guess what? They're paving the way for more. There's going to be more. There's going to be more, and jesus has hinted at this. He said things like many will come from east to west and sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and feast in the kingdom. So there's a ton of Gentiles that are to come in.
Speaker 2:Now, gentiles just keep gaining interest. If you go into the book of Acts, acts 13,. Now, gentiles just keep gaining interest If you go into the book of Acts, acts 13,. Well, let's go to 1427. 1427, I think, is my favorite one here and I don't want to keep you all day unless you want to stay and just keep learning the Bible. 1427,. Here it is. You've seen it in 11.1,. That's Cornelius and his household, acts 13.48,. Paul says we're turning to the Gentiles. You Jews don't like it. You consider yourselves unworthy. I'll go to the Gentiles. 14.27,.
Speaker 2:When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. Gentiles, see, like the Jews are starting to realize gosh. There's a lot of Gentiles who are responding to the by grace alone, through faith alone, message of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and they spent a long time with the disciples. Romans 11.25,. We'll close with this, romans 11.25.
Speaker 2:Romans 9 through 11 recounts basically God's program for Israel and Gentiles and he's commenting in this section on what Jesus said in John 10 about I have many sheep in this fold. You know, I'm going to bring in this other flock and I'm going to make them all one flock into the shepherd, talking about the church, jew and gentile in one body. And he comes down to romans, chapter 11, verse 25, after he's talked about jew and gentile and they're both branches in this one olive tree and enjoying the spiritual blessings from that tree during this time, what we call the church. And in romans 11, verse 25, he says I don't want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery so that you will not be wise in your own estimation that a partial hardening has happened to israel until the fullness of the gentiles has come in. There's this partial hardening that happened to is Israel because they were initially excited and all that, but they forgot and they eventually just became hateful toward him and they finally just totally rejected him and had him crucified right At the hands of Pontius Pilate and so forth. But at the same time, all that was happening, this door of salvation was opening to the Gentiles, and so there's this fullness of Gent was opening to the Gentiles, and so there's this fullness of Gentiles that have to come in Now. After all that see, god's not done with Israel.
Speaker 2:That's one of the big questions about Romans 9 through 11. Paul's answering is God done with Israel? Has God cast Israel away forever because they rejected their Messiah? Well, romans 11.26 answers it with great finality Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. Yeah, all Israel, meaning the nation Israel, will eventually be saved.
Speaker 2:And he goes on to describe passages about the new covenant which will be fulfilled to Israel. So the responses weren't so great from the Jews. They forgot. The Gentiles are interested, and their interest just keeps gaining. And this is going to go on until there's a fullness of Gentiles is reached, and then the church will be complete, the rapture will take place, and then issues with Israel transpire and the end of that will be all Israel will be saved.
Speaker 2:See, okay, next week, what I'm going to start to do is I'm going to detail out why the Jews rejected him. I'm going to give you about eight to ten reasons about why they rejected him and we'll go into the Gospels again and just look what was it that they didn't like so much? Why did they hate him so much? Issues like the Sabbath, issues like the temple, issues like the law Okay, like the Sabbath, issues like the temple, issues like the law okay, All these things add up to their turning against him in his life and eventually his death. But God raised him from the dead right, so that here we all are today.
Speaker 2:If you're not saved if you hey, it's just a free gift, nobody's forcing it down your throat If you believe that Jesus came and died for your sins and you are convinced of that truth, that he came and died for you, guess what? You are saved, because that's what has to happen. You hear and you understand what he's done for you and you're convinced you are persuaded, you have believed you receive this. At that moment, he gives you everlasting, are persuaded, you have believed you receive this. At that moment, he gives you everlasting life. If you have everlasting life, let me ask you a question can you lose it? It's not everlasting. If you could lose it.
Speaker 2:And Jesus didn't come to promise temporary life, he came to promise eternal life. He says he who believes in me has everlasting life. You have it right now, and so you have nothing to fear. We have peace with God. Romans 5.1. These are all great promises of God. You can relax and relax and you can live life just to his glory, out of your gratitude for what he has done for you and in anticipation of what he's going to come and do in the future. And in anticipation of what he's going to come and do in the future.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.