1. Jesus Doll
Chuck Swindoll writes of a commercial venture by one of the largest department stores in the nation. It proved to be disastrously unsuccessful. Their idea was a doll in the form of baby Jesus. It was advertised as being unbreakable, washable and cuddly. It was packaged in straw with a satin crib and plastic surroundings, and appropriate biblical texts added here and there to make the scene complete.
It did not sell. The manager of one of the stores panicked. He carried out a last ditch promotion to get rid of these dolls. He hung a huge sign outside his store that read:
JESUS CHRIST -- MARKED DOWN 50%; GET HIM WHILE YOU CAN!
It seems a little strange that the greatest individual who ever graced this earth should be packaged and offered at clearance prices. Perhaps potential purchasers compared the bed of straw to the deluxe cribs of other dolls and passed by the opportunity to own Jesus. Maybe would-be buyers looked at his tattered clothes and thought the other dolls looked cuter in their fuzzy sleepers. At first glance, Jesus probably wasn't the best doll on the shelf. He lacks the eye-catching qualities that we find so appealing.
But it's the very lack of pretense and privilege accompanying Jesus birth that makes him even more attractive as you get to know him. [I wonder if Mary saw her baby on the cross
2. Signs of the Messiah included:
* Healing Lepers
* Feeding People
* Casting out deaf, mute, blind demon
* Resurrection from Mt. of Olives
* Other signs from Isaiah as seen in Matthew 11.2-6
3. John's Declaration -- John 1.29
a. He knew his hometown was right -- Micah 5.2
b. He had the correct experience -- John 1.32-34
32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."
4. An Overlooked sign -- Micah 4.1-8
I. Imagery of the Lamb
A. The Sacrifice of God = "Lamb of God" (idiom)
B. Numerous Sacrifices Used Lambs -- Passover was a special use of Lambs
1. Exodus from Egypt and the tenth plague
2. Significance of the unblemished Lamb's blood for each household
3. Looked forward to Jesus
II. Inclusion of the Watchtower
A. Jacob Knew the Watchtower -- Genesis 35.21
1. Following the death of Rachel on the way to Bethlehem
2. Jacob remains near Bethlehem (Grief?)
3. "Migdal Eder"
a. Traditionally 1000 paces outside of Bethlehem
b. A two story tower in the grazing land of Bethlehem
B. Purposes in the Tower
1. Protect from Robbers and Animal Predators
2. Assist in the birth of lambs
C. An Application for Us, Roles of Elders for us -- Acts 20.28
III. Involvement of the Shepherds
A. Traditional View of Shepherds in Luke 2
a. The Humble
b. The Lowly and Ordinary
B. Possibly Shepherd-Priests
1. There was a need for MANY lambs
a. At the dedication of the temple 120,000 lambs were sacrificed (1 Kings 8.63)
b. Passover -- Population in David's Time -- 250K-300K lambs needed; Pilgrim feast
c. Daily sacrifices would require numerous lambs -- Numbers 28-29
d. Priests took over the fields and flocks in Bethlehem by the first century
a. For the purpose of ceremonial purity
b. For the purpose of financial reward
SOME THINGS MONEY CAN'T BUY
The story is told of a professor was gave a big test one day to his students. He handed out all of the tests and went back to his desk to wait. Once the test was over, the students all handed the tests back in.
The professor noticed that one of the students had attached a $100 bill to his test with a note saying "A dollar per point."
The next class the professor handed the tests back out. This student got back his test score and $64 change.
We live in a world where virtually anything can be bought with money. It's important to be reminded every now and then that there are some things that money can't buy.
"Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (I Peter 1:17b-19)
2. Lambs needed to be without Blemish
a. Shepherds brought ewes who were to give birth into the first floor of the tower
b. Wrapped lambs in swaddling cloths made from old undergarments of priests
c. To keep from being bruised/blemished or being trampled by larger adult sheep
3. The Sign for the Shepherds at the Birth of Jesus -- Luke 2.8-12
a. Baby in swaddling cloths; in manger -- Lamb of God
b. Rejoicing of Shepherds -- Luke 2.20
IV. Identification of the Lambs
A. Lamb Differentiation
1. Selection of Lambs 5 days before Passover -- Exodus 12.3, 6
Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.// 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
2. Jesus' "triumphal entry" -- Announcement of God's Lamb
B. Lamb Distinction
1. Families placed ID tags with family names around the neck of the lamb to be sacrificed
2. Purpose -- Get back the Lamb you selected and cared for
3. Reminder of the high cost of sin and redemption
C. God's Declaration of His Lamb
1. Criminals' Inscriptions -- a record of charges -- Colossians 2.13-14
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
a. Paying a "debt to society"
b. All of us owe. . .
2. Inscription on Jesus' Cross -- John 19.17-22
17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."
a. Three languages -- Greek; Latin; Hebrew
b. In Hebrew: Yeshua HaNatzri V'Melech HaYehudim
c. Acronym -- YHVH -- Ineffable Name of God given to Moses at the Burning Bush
1. Bethlehem -- Key in the plan of God
a. Rachel
b. Ruth
c. David
d. God's Lamb
2. The Place of God's Lamb who takes away the sins of the world -- General and specific
3. It is Finished
The word tetelestai is unfamiliar to us, but it was used by various people in everyday life in those days.
* A servant would use it when reporting to his or her master, "I have completed the work assigned to me" (see: I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. John 17.4; 19.30).
* When a priest examined an animal sacrifice and found it faultless, this word would apply. Jesus, of course, is the perfect Lamb of God, without spot or blemish.
* When an artist completed a picture, or a writer a manuscript, he or she might say, "It is finished!" The death of Jesus on the cross "completes the picture" that God had been painting, the story that He had been writing, for centuries. Because of the cross, we understand the ceremonies and prophecies in the Old Testament.
