“The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold! The virgin will conceive and will bring forth a son; and she shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14
This ancient prophesy, given as a sign to King Ahaz of the coming judgments upon his enemies, Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel, points some 700-plus years beyond the immediate threats against the kingdom of Judah to the birth of Messiah Jesus.
This sign which the LORD gave was far greater than any normal human event, for a virgin would conceive and bear a son – something not humanly possible, but “nothing shall be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37).
And this virgin-born Child would be called Immanuel, which means God with us. The promised Child would be God Himself in human flesh, the God-man Savior promised since the beginning of time when God said to the serpent of old, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15).
This Child is the promised Seed of Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 22:18), the Shiloh promised by the mouth of Jacob (Genesis 48:10).
God Himself tells us of the fulfillment of these ancient promises through the words of the angel of the Lord who appeared to Joseph (Matthew 1:20-23): “And as he was thinking about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord was seen by him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For that in her is fathered by the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And all this happened so that might be fulfilled that spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ‘Behold! The virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son, and they will call His name Emmanuel’ (which translated is, God with us).”
The ancient words were fulfilled in the conception and birth of the Messiah Jesus. As the Lord had promised, the Holy Spirit caused the virgin Mary to conceive in her womb and give birth to the Son of the Most High, the Son of God (cf. Luke 1:26-38).
And this Child, Messiah Jesus, came into this world to save His people from their sins. This He did by keeping God’s commandments in mankind’s place and suffering and dying upon the cross to pay in full the just penalty for the sins of the whole world.
The Bible says (Galatians 4:4-5): “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, having come into being out of a woman, having come under Law, that He might redeem the ones under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”
As we once again prepare to celebrate the Christmas season, remember that we celebrate no ordinary event. We celebrate the greatest event in human history, an event promised since the beginning of the world and fulfilled in the birth of the Christ Child – God Himself, Emmanuel in human flesh, come into this world to redeem us and open for us the gates of everlasting life in heaven!
O LORD God, eternal Father, thank You for Your ancient words of promise which give hope to thousands looking to You for life and salvation. Thank You for fulfilling those ancient words and sending Your only-begotten Son into this world a true man, born of the virgin, that He might redeem us by shedding His blood for us upon the cross and then rising again. Grant us faith to believe Your ancient words and place our hope and trust in Messiah Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer. In His name we pray. Amen.
From the Lutheran Confessions
Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration
IX. Christ’s Descent To Hell
1] And since even in the ancient Christian teachers of the Church, as well as in some among our teachers, dissimilar explanations of the article concerning the descent of Christ to hell are found, we abide in like manner by the simplicity of our Christian faith [comprised in the Creed], to which Dr. Luther in his sermon, which was delivered in the castle at Torgau in the year 1533, concerning the descent of Christ to hell, has pointed us, where we confess: I believe in the Lord Christ, God’s Son, our Lord, dead, buried, and descended into hell. For in this [Confession] the burial and descent of Christ to hell are distinguished as different articles; 2] and we simply believe that the entire person, God and man, after the burial descended into hell, conquered the devil, destroyed the power of hell, and took from the devil all his might. 3] We should not, however, trouble ourselves with high and acute thoughts as to how this occurred; for with our reason and our five senses this article can be comprehended as little as the preceding one, how Christ is placed at the right hand of the almighty power and majesty of God; but we are simply to believe it and adhere to the Word [in such mysteries of faith]. Thus we retain the substance [sound doctrine] and [true] consolation that neither hell nor the devil can take captive or injure us and all who believe in Christ.
Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday
Scripture Readings for Sunday are: Psalm 2; Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-12; and John 1:1-18. Please read them in their context as you prepare for worship on Sunday.
The Adult Bible Class will consider the Christmas accounts in Matthew 1 and Luke 2.
Remember to Pray
Remember to pray for our church and for all our members, that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom but that all continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word. We pray for God’s healing and strengthening of our congregation, as well as for God’s help with our church’s financial needs. We continue to pray for all who have been sick or who are suffering among us – for Sam Rusch who has been sick and hospitalized numerous times; for Bonnie Hawes, who is recovering from heart surgery; for Robert and Dawn Hiebert, and for Dixie and Georgia, who are recovering from injuries in a traffice accident; for those who have been absent from us, for our extended families and for believers who are alone and have no congregation. Continue to pray for Lutheran congregations and believers around the world who are persecuted or suffering for their faith in Christ Jesus.
Events and Announcements
Christmas Eve Worship will be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 24. Christmas Day Bible Study and Worship will be at the usual Sunday times of 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. New Year’s Eve Worship (with Holy Communion) will be at 7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 31. New Year’s Day worship and Bible Study will be at their usual Sunday morning times.
On-line video of worship services can be found at: http://goodshepherdrogers.org/blog/worship-service-video.
Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by email at pastor@goodshepherdrogers.org.
Pastor and Lonnie Moll wish the members and friends of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church a blessed and joyous Christmas as we celebrate the gift of God’s Son and the salvation He won for all.
New Website
In addition to our church website at www.goodshepherdrogers.org, a new website has been started as an outreach site for people to send in questions about life issues for Bible-based answers at www.life-issues.org. The site is especially designed to answer questions for today’s young people, but questions of all kinds are welcome.
Psalm 18
To the chief musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of Jehovah, who spoke the words of this song to Jehovah in the day that Jehovah delivered him from the hand of all his foes, and from the hand of Saul. And he said:
1 I love You, O Jehovah, my strength. 2 Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my Rock; I seek refuge in Him; He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. 3 I will call on Jehovah, who is to be praised; and I shall be saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death hemmed me in; yea, the floods of ungodly men overwhelmed me; 5 cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called on Jehovah and I cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry went before Him, into His ears. 7 Then the earth shook and trembled; and the foundations of the mountains moved and were shaken, because it angered Him. 8 A smoke went up out of His nostrils, and fire devoured out of His mouth; coals were kindled from it. 9 He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under His feet; 10 and He rode on a cherub, and He flew; yea He soared on the wings of the wind; 11 He made darkness His covering, His pavilion all around Him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. 12 Out of the brightness before Him, His dark clouds passed through, hailstones and coals of fire. 13 Jehovah also thundered in the heavens; and the Highest uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. 14 Yea, He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He shot out lightnings and confounded them. 15 Then the stream beds of waters were seen, and the foundations of the earth were bared at Your rebuke, O Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. 16 He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters; 17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from my haters; for they were stronger than I. 18 They went before my face in my day of calamity, but Jehovah was my support. 19 And He brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me; 20 Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands, He has repaid me. 21 For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all His judgments were before me, and I did not turn away His statutes from me. 23 For I was upright with Him, and kept myself from my guilt. 24 And Jehovah has returned to me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes. 25 With the merciful, You reveal Yourself as merciful; with an upright man, You reveal yourself as upright; 26 with the pure, You reveal Yourself as pure; and with the crooked, You appear perverse; 27 for You will save an afflicted people, but will bring down haughty eyes. 28 For You will light my lamp; Jehovah my God will make my darkness light. 29 For through You I can run through a troop; and through my God I have leaped over a wall. 30 As for God, His way is perfect; the word of Jehovah is purified; He is a shield to all who seek refuge in Him. 31 For who is God besides Jehovah? Or who is a Rock except our God? 32 It is God who girds me with strength and gives my way to be perfect; 33 setting my feet like the deer, and making me stand on my high places; 34 teaching my hands to war, so that a bow of bronze is bent by my arms. 35 You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; and Your right hand holds me up; and Your condescension has made me great. 36 You have made a wide place under me for my steps, so that my ankles have not slipped. 37 I have pursued my enemies and have overtaken them; nor did I turn till they were consumed. 38 I have shattered them, and they cannot rise up; they fell under my feet. 39 And You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have bowed under me those rising against me. 40 And you have given me the neck of my enemies, that I might cut off my haters. 41 They cried, but no one is there to save; to Jehovah, but He did not answer them. 42 And I crushed them like the dust before the wind; I emptied them out like the mire of the streets. 43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; You have made me head of the nations; a people I have not known shall serve me. 44 At the hearing of the ear they listen to me; the sons of foreigners shall bow down to me. 45 The sons of foreigners shall faint and come trembling out of their strongholds. 46 Jehovah lives! And blessed be my Rock! And let the God of my salvation be exalted! 47 He is the God who avenges me, and speaks to people under me. 48 He delivers me from my enemies; yea, You lift me up from among those rising up against me. You have delivered me from the violent man. 49 On account of this I will extol You, O Jehovah, among the nations. and I will sing praises to Your name, 50 magnifying salvations to His king, and working mercy to His anointed, to David and to his seed forever.
[Scripture taken from Green's Literal Translation (LITV), Copyright 1993 by Jay P. Green Sr., All rights reserved.]