Title Hebrews 01:1-9 Immanuel (Christmas celebration)
Contents
Hebrews 1:1-9 “Immanuel” (Christmas)
Today, we celebrated Christmas, the greatest holiday of mankind, rejoicing not only for us believers but also for non-believers.
The word “Christmas” is originally a combination of the words Christ and Mass. So it's Christmas.
I and you must celebrate Christmas so that it can be a reverent Christmas that truly welcomes and worships Jesus Christ.
We are familiar with Matthew 1:23. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and he shall call his name Immanuel.” This is where the word Immanuel comes from.
What does this mean? It means "God is with us". God's presence with us is no different from the past or the present.
However, people did not acknowledge and believe in God even though He was with us. Therefore, they could not fully worship and depend on God.
We find the greatest trace of God's presence with the Israelites in the Exodus event. When they left Egypt, God led their liberation.
He opened the way for them.
① When the Red Sea was blocked, He made the Red Sea parting and passing through the middle.
② When there was no water, he made water come out of the rock.
③ When he was hungry, he fed him with manna and quail.
④ When it was cold or hot, he protected and guided me with a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud.
⑤ When there is a war, God personally wraps it up for those who have neither weapons nor the skills of war, so that they win.
⑥ Yet, the people of Israel did not realize that God was with His amazing power.
⑦So when Moses was going up from Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments for 40 days, Aaron and the leaders of the people got together and made a golden calf.
Why did you make it?
Where is God? The gods of other countries cannot speak or move, but what does God look like? is to do
So they made a golden calf and said, "This is the god who brought us out of Egypt" and worshiped the calf.
There is an old saying, "百聞 is not good enough. God was with them and gave them food and drink, but because they were invisible, the Israelites did not discover the true meaning of manna.
They did not discover the true meaning of the rock. That is why God took special measures, and that is the work of allowing our Jesus to come in a human body.
The Word became flesh and came to this earth.
Now take a look at verse 1.
God sent several prophets and spoke through them. But they did not understand the words of the prophets and did not listen to them.
However, God has sent Jesus Christ, who is now spoken of, to this earth, and He has spoken through His Son. The Israelites were slaughtering and sacrificing sheep, but did not understand the true meaning of the sheep.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The Israelites could see a God whom Abraham did not see, Moses did not see, Aaron did not see, and Samuel did not see.
That is Immanuel, the blessing of Christmas. Then, what is the meaning and lesson of the birth of Jesus?
First, it is God
1. It means that you have been kind to human beings.
To be more specific about this
1) First, it refers to human restoration, or human liberation.
God created man, but he created it to be pleasing to the eye. However, man fell and turned his back on God.
Therefore, all human beings have become unable to go to God by their own strength. All humans have no choice but to go to hell.
If left as it is, there is no hope of salvation at all. So, it is Christmas that God specially intervened. According to Romans 3:10, there is none righteous, not even one.
Therefore, all people are 罪人 and eventually go to hell. However, God's will is not that all people will go to hell and God alone will be in heaven.
You want to be saved. However, since all humans are sinners, they cannot be sent to heaven. So, what God has envisioned is the holy poem.
It is a way of God's special pardon.
It was to send Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, to this earth as a human being, and to be nailed to the cross in the place of sinners.
Therefore, Jesus came to this earth to die for me and your sins. Even if it is diagnosed as an incurable disease, from that moment on, there are people whose heart is weakened and they become like a dead person, and then return without reaching the end of their life. Jesus came to die from the beginning.
Its purpose was to liberate humans from evil.
After Adam's transgression, man fell and sinned, losing the image of God.
Human beings who have lost the image of God are only evil in thinking and speaking.
If left alone, the thing that could never be restored was the fallen human being. So, God intervened in a special way and gave us freedom from sin by carrying the cross.
He has set us free from sin and the law. This is the true meaning of Christmas and the cross. Jesus, who came as Emmanuel, promised, “I will always be with you, even to the end of the world” as he ascended into heaven.
I hope that everyone who attends today will be the possessor of Jesus of Immanuel.
Now we are going to look at the blessings of those who possess the God of Immanuel.
2. Blessed people who possessed the God of Immanuel
1) Abraham, the father of faith
Abraham is said to be the father of faith, but when he was first called, Abraham's condition was not much different from ours.
However, because God called and was with him, Abraham enjoyed the blessing of prosperity wherever he went. In fact, Abraham received all the blessings of God in advance in Genesis 12.
However, Abraham's state of faith at that time did not give him a score that was acceptable to God.
What happens in the 12th chapter of Genesis, where we were immediately blessed?
Abraham goes down to Egypt because of a famine. They left the promised land of God. Moreover, when he went down to Egypt, he lied in front of Pharaoh and deceived his wife to be his sister.
Because of this, Abraham's deception is exposed and he is put to shame. But on whom did God's calamity fall? God's calamity fell upon Pharaoh and his family.
Because Abraham first lied and said that Sarah was his sister, he gave Abraham a lot of gifts and tried to take Sarah as his wife, but God's calamity fell on Pharaoh, not on the lying Abraham.
What does this mean?
Even if those who believe in Jesus sin unconditionally, this does not mean that all disasters will fall on unbelievers.
Because God loves His chosen people, like Abraham, He is on the side of those who believe in Jesus, and He is the God of Immanuel and takes care of us despite many mistakes and faults.
Abraham made the same mistakes and faults after that. However, in the midst of this, God appeared to Abraham as Immanuel and was always on Abraham's side and blessed him.
I hope that all of you who attended Christmas will enjoy the grace of Immanuel like Abraham.
2) Jacob
We know Jacob well. Jacob also lacks a lot. On the contrary, when Jacob was younger than his older brother, he acted as a more cunning and evil son.
But God loved Jacob and was always on Jacob's side.
When Jacob was running away from his brother and fell asleep, God appeared to Jacob as the God of Immanuel. And you made a promise.
He promised, "Wherever you go, I will be with you." Jacob deceived his older brother, deceived his father, and deceived his maternal uncle, but God was on Jacob's side.
Eventually, Jacob got a new name, and from that time on, he called it the name of his country.
Abraham is said to be the father of faith, but in reality, the ancestor of Israel was Jacob, or Israel, who became the father of Israel.
3) Joseph
And we know Joseph well. We know well how much suffering and persecution Joseph suffered. He was hated by his brothers.
It was sold to Egypt. became a slave. Unfortunately, I ended up in prison.
But every time, the God of Immanuel was with Joseph, so no matter how difficult the situation was, the victory was always Joseph's.
No matter how many times he falls, the God of Immanuel is on Joseph's side as he always stands up straight, so no matter how unfavorable the situation may be when he misses Joseph, he always becomes a victor and a successor.
I hope that the blessing of Immanuel who was with Joseph will be with everyone who attended this event.
4) Daniel
We also know Daniel well. God also became Immanuel to Daniel....Even if he was thrown into the lions' den, he became Immanuel...
5) Shadrach Meshach Abednego
Even if they were thrown into a furnace fire that was 7 times hotter than usual...there was the God of Immanuel...Three or four people (Isn't it like the image of the gods?)
6) David
God became Immanuel to David. (Saul is a king and a strong man who leads the army... David is a weak man who is being chased... But the God of God has departed from Saul, and the God of Immanuel is with David. I was driven out because of this, but the victory was David
6) Seniors of faith
Church figures...
1>World Church History
2> Korean church history.... We became victors by God's presence
In particular, Chapter 11 introduces many heroes of faith, and there is a particularly memorable verse at the end.
Hebrews 11:32-38 We conclude by reading 366 pages of the New Testament together.
May all of you who participated in the Lord's Christmas... possess the God of Immanuel.
In the long-awaited year of 2001 by owning the God of Immanuel as my God, I pray in the name of the Lord that you will become all the saints walking the path of blessing, no matter what they encounter, like the seniors of faith.
1> I hope that the door of salvation will be opened.
2>I hope the door of wish will be opened.
3> I hope that the door of recovery will be opened.
4> May the blessing of healing be with you.
5> I hope that all family problems will be resolved.