WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.919 Luke chapter 2, just the next page over, verses 22 to 35. 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:13.320 And so if you have the Bible, you're a copy of God's word, please do turn there and we'll 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:17.240 look at this text together for a few minutes this morning. 00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:26.480 Luke 2, 22 to 35, the story of Simeon and Christ's purification. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:31.000 And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:34.600 him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:38.920 As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called 00:00:38.920 --> 00:00:41.000 holy to the Lord. 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:45.079 And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a paraturtle 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:48.320 doves or two young pigeons. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:52.240 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was righteous and 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:57.920 devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:01.960 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:04.560 he had seen the Lord's Christ. 00:01:04.560 --> 00:01:10.200 And he came in the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:15.079 to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and he blessed 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:21.040 God and he said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:22.160 your word. 00:01:22.160 --> 00:01:27.440 For my eyes have seen your salvation that you've prepared in the presence of all peoples a 00:01:27.440 --> 00:01:32.480 light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:37.719 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:43.920 and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:50.120 of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your heart 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:55.359 also so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:56.359 Let's pray together. 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.560 God, we give thanks for your word. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:04.719 We give thanks this Christmas day as we celebrate the festival of the birth of Jesus. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.560 We give thanks for the fact of the word in flesh. 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:10.080 Lord, your word has been inscripturated for us. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.560 Your word has come to us as man, Jesus Christ. 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:18.120 And so we come to that today with hearts of thanksgiving and we come today asking that 00:02:18.120 --> 00:02:24.000 for a few minutes you would quiet our hearts so that we could be changed. 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:29.960 So Holy Spirit of Christ come and meet with us now and help us to understand this story 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:33.920 from the account of Simeon and Jesus. 00:02:33.920 --> 00:02:37.159 And we ask for help in Jesus' name. 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:38.159 Amen. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:44.680 Well, we just read this story of Simeon and his encounter with Christ at the temple. 00:02:44.680 --> 00:02:50.000 This is 40 days old on this day in this story. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:51.080 And this is a Christmas story. 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:55.400 This is part of the Christmas narrative, but it's a very unfamiliar Christmas story. 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:59.439 It's not one that gets as much attention as the others usually at Christmas time. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:04.879 And you know, there are all sorts of annunciation texts, announcement texts where the angels 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:09.840 come and announce the coming of John the Baptist and the coming of Christ. 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:16.000 And this is another annunciation text, it's Simeon announcing saying, behold, everybody 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:22.280 in the temple that's standing around, listen in, this child has come. 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:27.319 And this is an annunciation unlike any of the other annunciations because what Simeon says 00:03:27.319 --> 00:03:30.240 is a very unusual pronouncement. 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:33.920 He says, behold, there's the tagline of the past. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:42.319 And this boy has come for the falling and the rising of many and to be opposed. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:48.359 And so in this annunciation, it's different because Simeon is saying Christmas has something 00:03:48.359 --> 00:03:49.879 to do with conflict. 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:55.519 Jesus is coming to the world for conflict, that he's come for the falling and the rising 00:03:55.519 --> 00:03:56.519 of many. 00:03:56.519 --> 00:03:59.239 So let's just think about that for a few minutes together. 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:06.400 First how Christ makes us fall and then how Christ makes us raise, how he raises us up. 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:10.120 So first how Christ makes us fall. 00:04:10.120 --> 00:04:11.640 So Jesus is a newborn baby. 00:04:11.640 --> 00:04:17.560 He's 40 days old and it's the custom, the law of Israel that a 40 day old baby has to 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:21.879 be brought to the temple, the firstborn to be dedicated to God. 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:29.040 And at the same time, a mother would be pronounced clean by the priest in this 40 day ceremony. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:33.160 And at the same time, the Holy Spirit has come and met with this man, Simeon. 00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:34.879 He's an old man. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:37.160 We don't know anything else about him. 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:43.640 And the Holy Spirit has said, you will not die before you see the Lord's Christ, the 00:04:43.640 --> 00:04:45.640 Messiah. 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:51.240 And when Simeon sees this baby, he knows that this is the moment. 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:56.400 And the Holy Spirit reveals that to him and he pronounces out loud, this child has come 00:04:56.400 --> 00:04:58.240 for the consolation of Israel. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:01.079 Now that's the key word. 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:05.480 He says that the child has come for the consolation of Israel. 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:06.480 What does he mean by that? 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.240 What does the word consolation mean? 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:14.840 And actually, this word consolation here is the exact same word in the Greek text that 00:05:14.840 --> 00:05:21.319 stands behind our translation for the word that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit. 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:22.759 The pericle has come. 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:24.400 The consolation has come. 00:05:24.400 --> 00:05:26.480 It literally just means comfort. 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:27.480 The comfort has come. 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:32.800 And Simeon is saying that because he's pronouncing a prophecy that's being fulfilled. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.640 And the prophecy is very clear. 00:05:34.640 --> 00:05:37.160 It comes to us from Isaiah chapter 40. 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:44.080 And in Isaiah 40, God had said through Isaiah comfort, consolation, consolation, comfort, 00:05:44.080 --> 00:05:47.160 comfort, my people, pericle, pericle. 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:51.360 I'm looking, the people of Israel at that time were in exile. 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.360 And Isaiah was talking about that. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:54.759 And they had lost their lands. 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:56.720 They had lost their livelihoods. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:05:59.480 They had lost many their children in their lives. 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:01.720 And they were under captivity. 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:06.640 And they were crying out and saying, Lord, comfort, comfort, consolation, consolation, 00:06:06.640 --> 00:06:08.400 be upon us. 00:06:08.400 --> 00:06:15.440 They were saying that we are awaiting the Lord's Christ, the Davidic Messiah, the one who would 00:06:15.440 --> 00:06:20.040 come in the line of David to be the comfort, comfort of Israel. 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.360 And now Simeon is standing here with a 40-day-old little baby. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:28.240 And he looks at that little baby and he says, there's Isaiah 40 fulfilled. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:31.120 Consolation has come to the people of God. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.240 Comfort, comfort has fallen upon the people of God. 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:38.280 And literally what happens here in verses 29 to 32, if you have a Bible, you'll see 00:06:38.280 --> 00:06:45.319 that it should be in poetic structure because the way it begins is that he, Simeon, this 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:48.680 old man takes Mary's baby into his arms. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:49.680 They don't know each other. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:56.639 He takes the baby and the text literally says that he eulogized God. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.160 The word there is eulogized. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:00.680 He blessed to eulogize this to bless. 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:02.240 He eulogized God. 00:07:02.240 --> 00:07:09.360 And what we get here in 29 to 32 is this beautiful Christology, kind of this very fool. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:10.360 I mean, everything's here. 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:12.160 You could write a whole book around it. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:13.160 Just listen to what he says. 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:18.600 He says, now that I've seen the baby, I can die in peace. 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:23.640 In other words, he's saying, if I can see Jesus Christ, I can even face death without 00:07:23.640 --> 00:07:25.640 fear. 00:07:25.640 --> 00:07:30.680 And he goes on from there and he says, seeing Jesus Christ, putting my eyes on Jesus, that's 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:32.480 salvation. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:37.600 And that's the hope of salvation for anybody, seeing Jesus Christ in the end of history. 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:43.640 And he says, Jesus means, this baby means God has fulfilled his word. 00:07:43.640 --> 00:07:47.160 Now I can say that all the prophecies of the Old Testament have come to fruition. 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:54.120 And then he says, this Messiah is in the presence of all people for everybody, Jew and Gentile, 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:57.560 the fullest revelation of God, light in the midst of darkness. 00:07:57.560 --> 00:07:58.560 And that's it. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:07:59.840 I mean, that's everything. 00:07:59.840 --> 00:08:05.280 It's a very full account of all that Jesus is and has come for. 00:08:05.280 --> 00:08:10.920 And we put lights out at Christmastime in the midst of the darkest season of the year 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:13.000 because of what Simeon said. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:16.520 Jesus Christ is the light that's come into the darkness. 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:20.560 And those lights we put out are signs of the light that's come into the darkness. 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.399 Now, so far so good. 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:24.839 This is a beautiful passage. 00:08:24.839 --> 00:08:29.519 It's a passage actually that people would sing in the early church. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:34.120 It was a hymn that was written from Simeon's words here. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:40.360 And then Simeon turns to Mary and there's a but, a yet. 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:46.120 And it's this, this baby, this baby, this child will cause many to fall. 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:52.519 And he will be, and he will cause conflict and people will oppose him. 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:56.360 And let me think about that with you for just a minute. 00:08:56.360 --> 00:09:01.919 Literally what Simeon says is this child will cause the ruin of many is the very literal 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:02.919 word there. 00:09:02.919 --> 00:09:05.679 He will make many to be ruined. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:12.519 And at the heart of Christmas, Simeon is saying there, there is a conflict of sorts. 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:17.079 And Jesus Christ, the Christmas child has come into the world for that conflict. 00:09:17.079 --> 00:09:20.679 And just listen to a couple of the other passages in the gospels that spell this out. 00:09:20.679 --> 00:09:26.279 There's almost a back and forth, a seeming contradiction, a paradox in the gospels. 00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:27.879 Because listen, it's Matthew 10. 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:29.879 Do not think I've come to bring peace. 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:32.199 I've come to bring a sword. 00:09:32.199 --> 00:09:37.799 But then you've got a text like 9, Mark 950 that says I've come so that you may, you may 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:39.960 be at peace with one another. 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.320 Or Luke 12, do you think that I've come to give peace on earth? 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.120 No, I tell you I've come to bring division. 00:09:46.120 --> 00:09:49.600 And then John 14, peace I leave with you. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:53.200 He says I've come to bring peace and I've come to divide. 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:56.200 And there's almost a schizophrenia going on. 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:57.320 What is it Jesus? 00:09:57.320 --> 00:09:59.000 What have you come to do? 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:05.560 And the answer I think that Simeon's giving us here is that Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ 00:10:05.559 --> 00:10:14.439 came to a lost world bathed in sin, death, and disaster to bring peace by way of conflict. 00:10:14.439 --> 00:10:18.879 Jesus Christ would bring peace, but to do it, he had to come and bring conflict. 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:21.399 He had to come and wage war. 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:22.919 He had to come and he had to divide. 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:27.159 Now let's just close this point by asking what exactly does that mean? 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:31.279 And commentators talk about this a lot and they'll say all sorts of things. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:36.919 But one of the ideas I think that Simeon is thinking of is the idea of the stumbling 00:10:36.919 --> 00:10:39.839 stone from the Old Testament. 00:10:39.839 --> 00:10:45.679 And it comes to us in Isaiah 8 verse 14 and it says this, he will become a sanctuary and 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:51.799 a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both the houses of Israel, a trap and a 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:54.199 snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 00:10:54.199 --> 00:10:59.839 So there it's talking about the Messiah and he will come and be a rock of offense to all 00:10:59.840 --> 00:11:01.759 of Israel. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:07.120 And when it says in this text, when Simeon says many will fall, that many there is sort 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:08.320 of an idiom. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:10.560 It's like saying everybody. 00:11:10.560 --> 00:11:15.720 He's going to, it's not just saying some, it's saying all of Israel, anybody that sees 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:17.560 him has got to fall. 00:11:17.560 --> 00:11:21.200 Has got literally to be ruined before him. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:28.600 And I was in Frankfurt and Stuttgart in Germany in 2017 doing a research trip. 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:34.399 And I was walking down the sidewalk and I tripped and I looked down and was with a friend and 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:39.200 I complained to my friend because I said, you know, what in the world are all these little 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:45.399 cobblestones doing in the middle of the sidewalk that are sticking up two inches from the normal 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:46.399 pavement? 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:51.560 It was every, you know, human, health officers biggest nightmare. 00:11:51.560 --> 00:11:55.480 They were sticking up everywhere and as we went along, we kept seeing them and maybe 00:11:55.480 --> 00:12:00.600 you've been to Germany and seen these, they're called the Stolpersteine, literally the stumbling 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:01.600 stones. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:03.000 And it's a biblical idea and what are they there for? 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:08.240 They're there, they were put there starting in 1996 as a memorial. 00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:13.759 And I looked down and I saw on these stones, they were written in both German and Hebrew, 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:15.600 something about an individual person. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:21.399 And they're put in front of houses where it was known that Jewish men and women and children 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:25.959 were dragged out to be taken to concentration camps or murdered. 00:12:25.959 --> 00:12:31.600 And they're there so that the German people and any tourist would trip over them and fall. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:38.079 And the Stolpersteine, the Stolpersteine are there because you're supposed to fall when 00:12:38.079 --> 00:12:39.519 you walk over them. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:44.000 And you're supposed to fall because you realize when you're walking through those streets 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:49.759 that even in the so-called modern ideal of human progress, of things getting better and 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:54.679 better, great evil is never very far from any of us. 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:55.879 And it can arise at any time. 00:12:55.879 --> 00:13:00.879 And they're there just to do exactly what Jesus came into the world to do. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:05.600 He makes all, everybody who encounters him actually to trip and to fall. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.319 And let me just close by giving you three, close this point by giving you three reasons 00:13:09.319 --> 00:13:10.319 for that. 00:13:10.319 --> 00:13:16.519 The first reason is that Jesus makes us fall because his claims are extreme. 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:22.519 He says, I am the way, the truth, the life, and you can never see God except through me. 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:24.079 His claims are so extreme. 00:13:24.079 --> 00:13:27.879 And then secondly, his actions were so disrupted. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:32.879 He came into a culture and completely disrupted it. 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:36.240 He ate with the people he was not supposed to eat with. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:39.480 He spoke to the Samaritan woman and drank from her bucket. 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:42.799 He was not supposed to touch. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:47.439 Everything he did was so disruptive, but then finally, and this is most important, when 00:13:47.439 --> 00:13:53.039 you encounter the real Jesus, the gospels tell us, when you encounter the real Jesus, 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.159 he makes us fall because he exposes us. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:01.519 You look at him and we're meant to see in all of our hearts exactly what we are and 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.000 exactly what we're like. 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.399 He came to the religious and says, you think you're great. 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.279 You think you followed the Ten Commandments. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:12.679 But let me show you that unless your motivations have been righteous from top to bottom, you 00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:15.679 haven't ever obeyed the Ten Commandments. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:17.439 And he does that for every single person. 00:14:17.439 --> 00:14:18.439 He exposes us. 00:14:18.439 --> 00:14:21.239 And so we're forced to trip over him. 00:14:21.239 --> 00:14:26.000 And Simeon is saying at the beginning of his life, this little Christmas baby came 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:27.159 for a conflict. 00:14:27.159 --> 00:14:32.120 He actually came to wage war against a part of you. 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.479 He came to come and to expose you. 00:14:34.479 --> 00:14:36.879 He came to make you trip over him. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:41.599 That means that the fact of the incarnation today is first actually a pronouncement of 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:43.200 judgment. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:47.560 Jesus Christ came into the world because humanity was never going to be what it was 00:14:47.560 --> 00:14:50.600 made to be apart from him. 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:53.240 He came to the world because something is wrong with us. 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:54.960 And so we're exposed before him. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:15:01.159 And that means today, you know, that means that this Christmas child does not ask merely 00:15:01.159 --> 00:15:08.960 to be respected or liked or given one day a week, a Sunday. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:12.120 He says, I don't just want your Christmas morning. 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:13.120 I want all of you. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:14.920 I want every bit of what you are from top to bottom. 00:15:14.920 --> 00:15:19.000 Now that leads us then finally to what Simeon says. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:20.000 Secondly, he says. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:23.920 Secondly, that he came to raise us up. 00:15:23.920 --> 00:15:27.320 He came also to bring us peace. 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:31.360 And let's just think about that for a couple of minutes, what that means in verse 35 is 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:36.120 really helpful when he turns to Mary to understand what it that means that he not only makes 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:42.720 us trip, he raises us up and he turns to Mary and he says, Mary, even a sword is going 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.519 to pierce you your heart as well. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:50.679 So this is how we know that he's talking about everybody because he turns and says to Mary, 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:57.879 you're even going to trip Mary, the mother of God, the virgin who birthed this Messiah, 00:15:57.879 --> 00:16:00.159 you too will be pierced. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:01.879 Your sword will pierce your heart as well. 00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:03.279 Now, what does that mean? 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.480 Why does he say that to her? 00:16:05.480 --> 00:16:10.879 And the commentators will say, well, you know, he's going to cause her so much pain throughout 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:11.879 her life. 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:14.279 She's going to watch a nation rise up against him. 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:16.759 She's going to watch him crucified and murdered. 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:22.240 You know, she's she's going to suffer and it's going to he is going to crush her heart when 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:23.360 she sees him die. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:25.480 And I do think that's part of it. 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:29.240 But we also know that Mary is going to trip over him too. 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:32.279 There's going to be a moment in the gospels where we see Mary not know what to do with 00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:35.519 him and get embarrassed by him. 00:16:35.519 --> 00:16:37.279 You know, she too will trip. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.639 She too will be exposed by him. 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:41.279 But even more than that, what is this? 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.399 What is this saying? 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:45.000 And this is it. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.519 When you go, if you go back and you were able to see the Greek word that stands behind this 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:56.639 word to raise the rising of many, actually, it's the word that is normally translated 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:00.679 most of the time in your Bible as resurrection. 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:06.480 And so when he says he says he will he will cause everybody to be ruined, but he will 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:11.960 also call the cause the resurrection of many at the same time. 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:18.079 And that means that Samians not only thinking of Isaiah eight, but Isaiah 28 as well. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.480 Isaiah eight says he will come to be the stumbling stone. 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:27.639 And Isaiah 28 says this, see, I will lay in a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:34.160 cornerstone for a sure foundation, the one who relies on it will never be stricken. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:39.840 In other words, in the saying, Jesus Christ, this baby is the stumbling stone for sinners, 00:17:39.840 --> 00:17:43.400 but he can also be your resurrection stone. 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:45.960 And that's exactly what he's he's saying here to Mary. 00:17:45.960 --> 00:17:48.080 He's the stumbling stone and he's the resurrection stone. 00:17:48.080 --> 00:17:50.040 And this is for you to to Mary. 00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:53.640 And that means Mary are going to trip over him and he's going to cut you in the heart 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:55.520 with a sword. 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:00.559 What we have to see as we close is this, that this sword, you know, we think of the sword, 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:02.720 it's judicial. 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:07.879 Is he is how is he's going to judge her to he's going to stab her to. 00:18:07.879 --> 00:18:13.960 But he can't merely be talking about the sword of ultimate judgment here. 00:18:13.960 --> 00:18:16.519 This is not just the sort of ultimate judgment. 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:22.920 But because of the fact of resurrection, this means that Mary is actually going to get the 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:27.160 surgeon's scalpel, not the sort of judgment, but the surgeon's scalpel. 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:30.200 You know, he's saying, he's going to cut you, Mary. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:31.560 He's going to stab you. 00:18:31.560 --> 00:18:34.120 You will fall before him, but he will stab you. 00:18:34.120 --> 00:18:36.480 In other words, he will make you rise up. 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.279 He will cut you in just the right way. 00:18:38.279 --> 00:18:40.519 He's going to give you the surgeon's scalpel. 00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:41.519 The surgeon's scalpel. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:42.519 What does it do? 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:43.519 It cuts you. 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:51.160 It goes down to the tumor, to the place that's that's most diseased and it cuts it out. 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:53.560 And that's exactly Jesus came for a conflict. 00:18:53.560 --> 00:18:59.440 He came, he came to stab, he came to judge, but he came to judge in order to heal. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:04.080 He came to be both the stumbling stone and the resurrection stone at the very same time. 00:19:04.080 --> 00:19:05.920 And so the last word is this, and I'll close with this. 00:19:05.920 --> 00:19:06.920 How is it? 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:08.560 How does he do it? 00:19:08.560 --> 00:19:11.400 And let me just show you one little thing from verse 23 at the very beginning of the 00:19:11.400 --> 00:19:13.960 passage and we'll close. 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:20.400 He's being consecrated on the 40th day of his life, which was commanded in the Old Testament. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:26.040 And Mary also had to be purified on this day. 00:19:26.040 --> 00:19:30.360 The firstborn child had to undergo a specific ride and you'll see there that it said you 00:19:30.360 --> 00:19:36.519 could bring either a pair of turtle doves or two pigeons as the sacrifice. 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:39.960 And here we're told that they bring two young pigeons. 00:19:39.960 --> 00:19:44.320 And that was the, that was in the Torah in the Old Testament. 00:19:44.320 --> 00:19:48.120 You would bring two young pigeons only if you were poor. 00:19:48.120 --> 00:19:49.120 And that's exactly what they bring. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:54.239 And what we learn here is that Jesus Christ on the 40th day of his life, he is poor. 00:19:54.239 --> 00:19:56.759 His family cannot afford the turtle doves. 00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:57.839 They have to bring the pigeons. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:59.719 And that really means something. 00:19:59.719 --> 00:20:05.279 It really means something because the life of poverty he will lead is only one of the 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:08.679 ways that he will be ultimately humiliated. 00:20:08.679 --> 00:20:13.359 It's a sign, it's a mark of his ultimate humiliation, of his humiliation from the beginning of his 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:14.959 life to the end of his life. 00:20:14.959 --> 00:20:17.759 And here's the whole story of his humiliation. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:22.440 He is born this day to take the sort of judgment that we deserve so that you could get the 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.400 surgeon's scalpel this Christmas day. 00:20:25.400 --> 00:20:29.680 That his, his life of humiliation, he got the sort of judgment so we wouldn't have to. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:32.920 The incarnation is all about the cross. 00:20:32.920 --> 00:20:34.160 That's what we're learning today. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:37.319 We are judged in his judgment. 00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:40.000 And so how do you rise up with Christ this morning? 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:46.000 You rise up with Christ by getting the painful surgery we all need today, which is the surgery 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:47.000 of repentance. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:51.680 Now there's, there's nothing we need on Christmas day more than repentance in our lives. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.480 And repentance is the, is the scalpel we need. 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:58.240 It's, it says that I fall today before King Jesus. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:05.400 I give myself once more to him so that in trust he will raise me up in resurrection. 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:11.200 Repentance before Christ is today the daily pathway to renewal in 2022. 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.440 So let's pray together and turn our hearts towards God. 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:20.360 Father, we come today with hearts of repentance and we ask that you would give us this heart 00:21:20.360 --> 00:21:23.080 of repentance and renewal for this coming year. 00:21:23.080 --> 00:21:27.559 We give thanks for the Christmas child and we ask Holy Spirit that you would lift up 00:21:27.559 --> 00:21:29.200 our hearts to him. 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:30.600 In Christ's name we pray. 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:46.679 Amen.