Sermon notes

INTRODUCTION

Our Christmas carols are often sentimental and inaccurate.  The church has done far better with Advent hymns, which highlight what the prophets highlight: The promise that the Lord will restore Zion, and so bring light to the Gentiles.

THE TEXTS

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness . . . .” (Isaiah 61:10-62:12); “Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it . . . .” (Galatians 3:15-29); “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . .” (John 1:1-18).

ZION THE BRIDE

At the end of his prophecy, Isaiah foresees the restoration of Israel from exile, and the glorification of Zion.  She will be robed like a garlanded bridegroom and like a jeweled bride (61:10).  Her righteousness will spring up and turn Zion into a garden, a restored Eden (61:11).  The city known as “Forsaken” and “Desolate” will be married (62:4, 12), and Yahweh will rejoice over the city like a man over his bride (62:5).  Yahweh will put down Zion’s enemies, so she can enjoy the fruits of her labor (62:8-9).  A key aspect of this vision is the role of the nations.  Zion’s restoration makes international headlines, and nations will stream to the city (61:11; 62:2, 7).  By restoring Zion, Yahweh does far more than restore Zion: He fills the whole earth with the brightness of her righteousness (62:1).

TO YOUR SEED

This had always been the plan.  When He first comes to Abram, Yahweh promises that he will be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:1-3), and, as Paul says, the intervention of the law doesn’t change anything.  Yahweh promises Abram a “seed,” a people, and Paul insists that this seed is singular; it is not divided into Israel and the nations, but is the one people of the one God (Galatians 3:16, 20).  Moses and the law separates Israel from the rest of the nations, so that Moses was not the mediator of the one people (v. 20).  Yet, the law plays a crucial role in the fulfillment of the promise to Abram by being a “schoolmaster” that guides and protects Israel during her childhood (3:23-25; 4:1-7).  But Christ has come, and He is the mediator of the “one,” the one seed marked by faith and baptism, the Abrahamic people in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female (3:26-29).

CHILDREN OF GOD

John says that the same Word that came to Abram has now become flesh and “tabernacled” among us (1:1, 14).  He has life in Himself, and His life is light to the world (1:4-5).  He is the light that shines through Zion to the nations.  He shines in the darkness, and the darkness tries, unsuccessfully, to put out the light (v. 5).  He comes to His own, to His bride, but His bride will not receive Him (1:9-11).  Yet, at the center of the John’s prologue is the promise that those who receive Him become children of God (v. 12), the sons of Abraham, heirs to the promise.  What matters is not bloodline or ethnicity, or our works.  All who receive the incarnate Word are born anew, born of God.