In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God." (Luke 1:26-35)
 
This is where it all begins in the New Testament. An angel appears to a lowly, unsuspecting virgin in Galilee, named Mary. From the perspective of the world, she was a nobody from nowhere, so why her? Throughout the Old Testament God is fond of using the most insignificant people through whom to perform his great works—Abraham, a pagan worshipper, Moses, a murderer with a speech impediment, David, a lowly shepherd boy, and Mary, a young girl from Galilee. But what this angel says would have been mind-boggling to Mary for several reasons.
 
First, the angel tells her she will have a son and call his name Jesus.  Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, which literally means Yahweh saves or salvation is from Yahweh. Yahweh is the holy and sacred name of God in the Old Testament. Thus, Jesus is literally named ‘salvation is from Yahweh!’
 
Second, God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. He is the fulfillment of the promise given to King David one-thousand years earlier, the long-awaited Messiah, the One who would deliver God’s people from their enemies.
 
Third, Mary, a virgin, has found favor with God and so she will conceive in her womb and give birth to a son. This peculiar fact is not lost on Mary, for the first words out of her mouth are, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” ‘Surely, there’s been some sort of mistake, some sort of mix-up.’ She may not be well-educated but she’s smart enough to understand how women become pregnant. The angel responds by saying, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” This will be a miracle of the highest order. This child will not be any ordinary child, so it is only fitting that he will not be born in any ordinary way. The circumstances surrounding the birth of Christ immediately distinguishes him from the birth of every other human on the planet in world history.
 
But fourth, and most significantly, the angel says that “the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Jesus is born of a virgin because Jesus is not the physical product of a man and a woman--Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the second Adam (1 Cor 15:45). Just as Adam had no earthly father but came directly from God, so also Jesus has no earthly father but comes directly from God. As the second Adam, Jesus came into the world to do what the first Adam failed to do—live in perfect obedience to God’s laws—and be the new head of a new humanity who are all sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Advent is about celebrating Christ coming into the world to do and accomplish what the first Adam failed to do!

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Jeremiah is a prophet who lives and ministers during the fall of the southern kingdom of Israel to the Babylonians during the 6th century BC as God’s punishment upon them for their sins. The northern kingdom of Israel has already fallen to the Assyrians about two-hundred years earlier because of their disobedience to God. Thus, things are looking pretty bleak for the nation of Israel. It appears that God has forsaken them entirely. But this is where Jeremiah 31 comes in as a glimmer of hope. God has not entirely forsaken his people. He tells them through Jeremiah the prophet that there will come a day when he “will make a new covenant” with his people and that this new covenant will be unlike any covenant he has made with them before in at least three ways.

First, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” The laws of God will be internalized, rather than written on tablets of stone. When the new covenant is established, God’s people will have this internal natural desire to live in obedience to God’s word. The Law will no longer be seen as a burden by God’s people, but as a joy and a delight.

Second, “they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” When this new covenant is established, all those within the covenant community of God will have a personal saving relationship with Him. This is different from the Old Testament where all those inside the covenant community did not have a saving relationship with God. This is why the prophets were constantly telling their fellow Jews to stop worshipping Baal and false gods and “know the Lord.”

Third, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” When this new covenant is established, those within the covenant, those who have been brought into a saving relationship with God, will have their sins forever forgiven. No longer will there be a need for daily, monthly, yearly sacrifices.

In the instituting of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus says, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Lk. 22:20). Christ was born into the world and died on the cross in order to establish the new covenant with God’s people, prophesied about nearly six-hundred years earlier, so that those brought into this new covenant will have God’s laws impressed upon their hearts, will have a desire to live in obedience to God’s word, will have a personal saving relationship with Christ, and will have their sins completely and forever forgiven. Christ came into the world to establish a new covenant with a new people, comprised of Jews and Gentiles. All glory be to God! This is what we celebrate during Advent!

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:3-5)

There is a story I once heard of a king who lived a long time ago who ruled over a kingdom during a time of great drought and famine. To prevent crime from rising, the king passed a law requiring that anyone caught stealing food or water would be flogged with one-hundred lashes. Before long, the first criminal was caught and brought before the king so that the flogging might be carried out. But when the criminal was brought before the king, to his shock--it was his mother!

The king did not want to dismiss her, lest he appear to the people as unjust, but neither could he bring himself to flog his own dear mother. Thus, after a few moments of thought, the king stepped down from his throne, laid aside his robe, stretched himself across his mother’s back, and then proclaimed: “Let the flogging begin!”

This time of year, we love taking in all the wonderful sights and sounds of the holiday season. We love the wonder and magic of the Christmas spirit, making s’mores by the fire and sipping on hot chocolate. We enjoy hanging our stockings by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon will appear. We love snuggling in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads. Through it all, it can be easy to forget what Christmas is really all about. Yet, on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane with great stress, he prayed to his Father, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come” (John 12:27). Jesus was born in Bethlehem, lain in a manger, nursed at Mary’s breast, and raised as the son of a carpenter, for the very purpose of being beaten, flogged, crucified, and driven through with a Roman spear.

But why? As Isaiah states it: “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” The Bible makes clear that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s holy and righteous standard (Rom 3:23). Not one of us can honestly say we have all perfectly kept every one of the Ten Commandments. Who has not lied? Who has never disrespected or disobeyed their parents? Who has never used God’s name in vain? Yet, we are told in scripture that the wages of sin is eternal death in hell (Rom 6:23). In other words, because of our sins, because we have committed cosmic treason against our Creator, we deserve to be sent to hell eternally. This is what sin earns us, these are our wages, our just dessert.

Then how does anyone get to heaven and avoid hell. The Bible tells us that “God made him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus, who was perfectly sinless, stood in the place of sinners and absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf, on behalf of those who place their faith in Christ. Jesus allowed himself to be treated and punished by God the Father as though he were sinful, even though he was not, so that we would be treated by God the Father as though we are righteous even though we are not. Jesus was “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities,” and through his suffering “brought us peace” with God. Jesus stepped down from his throne, set aside his robe, laid across the backs of his people and exclaimed: “Let the flogging begin!” This is what we celebrate during Advent.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)
 
In the previous chapter (Isaiah 8), God warns both the king of Israel and the king of Judah that he will bring an Assyrian invasion upon them because of their sin and disobedience (8:5-8). But God promises he will not fully nor utterly abandon his people. “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish” (9:1). God promises to someday send someone to deliver his people from all their greatest enemies, and that this deliverance will come through the birth of a child. And that when this child is born “the government shall be upon his shoulder.” That is, he shall be King over all kings and Lord over all lords. He will rule over all nations, “and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Do not miss the significance of some of these titles--Mighty God, Everlasting Father.  This is what every false religion gets wrong. Jesus is not just a great prophet. Jesus is not just the Son of God. When Mary held Jesus in her arms, she was holding God Himself—the very One who spoke all things into existence by the power of His word (Genesis 1). The angels themselves echo the words of Isaiah 9 when proclaiming the birth of Christ to the shepherds. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6; Lk. 2:11).  This is the point the apostle John makes in the opening words of his gospel when he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). The Word, who is God, became flesh and dwelt among us. Advent is not just about God sending someone into the world to save us from our sins. Advent is about God Himself stepping into our world to deliver us from the power of sin, Satan, and death, to fix what humanity had ruined. 

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:10-14)
 
In this context, King Ahaz of Judah is terrified because Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel have joined forces together against the southern kingdom of Judah (7:1-2). Judah is very small in comparison and Ahaz knows that by itself Judah doesn’t stand a chance. Thus, God sends Isaiah to encourage King Ahaz and let him know that God stands with Judah and will come to her aid. He should not fear the kings of Syria and Israel (vv.3-4). To bolster Ahaz’s faith, God commands him to ask for a sign, any sign, and God will cause it to happen to assure King Ahaz that God is faithful and will not abandon Judah (v.10). Ahaz, however, does not ask for sign, saying, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” Ahaz believes he is being humble in not asking God for a sign; however, when God commands someone to ask for a sign, to not do so is not humility but disobedience. God takes it as an afront to his authority and power and so says to Ahaz, “Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?” In other words, do you think God is not able to do whatever sign you might ask? Nonetheless, God will give Ahaz a sign anyway. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is the sign God will give to show that he is ever faithful to his promises, that he is ever faithful to his people. A virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel. This name in the Hebrew literally means “God is with us” (immanu = with us + El = God).
 
Seven hundred years later, an angel will appear to a Jewish carpenter in Nazareth through a dream saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." The apostle Matthew then adds, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus” (Matt. 1:20-25). In the birth of Christ, we celebrate not just the birth of a king, not just the birth of God’s son; we celebrate the incarnation of God himself--Immanu El—God with us. In the birth of Christ, God takes on human form and is born in Bethlehem in order to redeem a people to himself, to fix what Adam and Eve had ruined. This is what Advent is all about.