But sometimes the bad
guy pulls one over on the cops and it makes for a funny story as well. Authorities in Florida said that 30 year old Patrick Townsend was busted last week
with a large amount of meth and was taken to jail. There he confessed to the crime. He said he normally deals in a much larger
amount than what he had on him that day so he just confessed. The funny part is that after he confessed on
tape to a detective, Townsend asked to go to the bathroom. When he did he grabbed the tape recorder
without the detective noticing and went to the bathroom and flushed the whole
thing.
I understand he was
still convicted and even sentenced for tampering with evidence but I bet the
detective felt pretty dumb and doesn't let that happen again. Sometimes we confess things that we wish we
hadn't and sometimes we don't confess and wish we had. But confession doesn't always mean you did
something wrong. The definition includes
giving a word of affirmation, truth or significance. You may confess that God is good or confess
that Jesus is coming back soon.
I Tim. 6:13 says that Jesus made the good confession
before Pilate. And that confession that
Jesus made was that His Kingdom was not of this world. He was confessing to be God. For December, we are going to be looking at
some confessions of Christmas; confessions that Jesus is coming, that He is
going to be a blessing, how to find Him and what it means for us today.
Today we are going to
look at the confession of the angel Gabriel in Luke chapter 1. Gabriel is
mentioned in the Bible a few times. He
is mentioned in the Old Testament in Daniel as the man Gabriel who came to tell
Daniel he was highly favored. Then in
the New Testament he is mentioned in the passage just before the one we are
going to read today when he chastises Zechariah for not having enough faith in
what he was telling him about the coming Christ.
In chapter 1 verses
26-38, Gabriel comes to Mary with some incredible news. It is basically the same news he gives
Zechariah but he tells Mary that not only is the Messiah coming, but she is
going to be the mother. Let's read in Luke 1:26-38.
26
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man
named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel
went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with
you.”29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of
greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary;
you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son,
and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son
of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33
and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never
end.”34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”35 The
angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most
High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of
God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age,
and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no
word from God will ever fail.”38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May
your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Note
in verse 26 that Gabriel is
"sent". That word "sent" is the same root word we use
for the word "apostle" or
"one sent with a message". And the message he is sent with is very
similar in its beginning as the one he gave Daniel many years before.
"You are highly favored!"
Now, I don't care how favored I am, if Gabriel appears to me, I'm
afraid the "fight or flight"
reaction is going to kick in but Mary; young, sweet, innocent little Mary, who
was probably not much more than a child is only "greatly troubled". I'm sure that was very true. I would be greatly troubled if an angel
appeared to me and said anything.
But Gabriel continued
on with his message and actually confessed to Mary 6 different things about the
baby.
1. The first thing he confessed was in verse 31 that she would name Him
Jesus. This is the same thing that
Joseph was told in the dream recorded in Matthew: “You shall call His name
Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
2. “He will be great” (v. 32.) This concerns His
significance. No doubt, He is the most significant personality in human and
divine history. After all, He is God,
come in the flesh! And the work He was
to perform, the Atonement, would be the most meaningful in the history of
humanity.
3. “He . . . will be called the Son of the Highest” (v. 32). Recall that Psalm 2:7–8 tells us, “The Lord has
said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will
give you the nations for your inheritance and the end of the earth for your
possession.” What David wrote about in the Psalms, Gabriel announced to
Mary!
4. “The Lord God will give Him the the throne of His father David” (v. 32). This looks back to the prophetic
word from Isaiah, “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be
no end. Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and
establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever” (9:7).
5. “He will reign over the house of Jacob” (v. 33). In short, Jesus is Israel’s
promised Messiah! They need not look for, nor expect, another!
6.
“Of His kingdom there will be no end”
(v. 33). Many kingdoms over the
course of human history will come and go, but Christ’s kingdom will have no
end. Going back to the book of Daniel in
chapter 7:13, 14 it says, “In my vision at night I looked, and there
before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He
approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given
authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language
worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,
and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
So,
those are the 6 confessions of Gabriel to Mary in the book of Luke. I hope that is helpful in understanding Who
Jesus is. We will now be dismissed and
go have some lunch at Dos Chiles to start our celebration of Christmas.
But
now wait just a second. Before we start
celebrating Christmas, maybe we should figure out what this passage means for
us today. If we are truly going to
celebrate the real "reason for the
season" maybe we should think about how the advent of Jesus should
affect our lives some 2000-plus years later.
I don't exactly have to give a "spoiler
alert" when I tell you that everything Gabriel said absolutely came
true. We all know that so how should
this affect us today?
For
me, it brings great joy! It should bring
all of us great joy to know that what was prophesied so many years before in
the Old Testament came true with the birth of Jesus in the New Testament. If all of those prophesies came true then
that means all of the other prophesies that are still to come will come true as
well. And in the end (here's another
spoiler alert) we win! I'm tired of this
nasty old place called earth and if I thought this was all there was to life
then I would be pretty depressed but I know different and it brings me great
joy.
It
also brings me great peace to know that baby grew up to be a sinless man and
die on a cruel cross to pay for my sins.
He was then taken off that cross, a dead man buried in a tomb for 3 days
but then, because He is God, He rose again and I can have a relationship with
Him even today. And in that
relationship, He proves Himself to be trustworthy even when I am not. He proves Himself loving even when I am
not. And He proves Himself worthy even
when I do not. What a mess my life would
be without Him but with Him I have peace.
And
lastly, I have forgiveness. Thank you
Lord for your forgiveness! I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness.” I need to be purified and I have an idea you do
too. And because I have been purified by
the work of Jesus on the cross and not because of anything I have done, Jesus
promises me a place in Heaven with Him.
Joy,
peace, forgiveness and a place in heaven; man that's exciting! That's almost a little too exciting. I feel my blood sugar going down. Hang on just a second. This is the best chocolate. It's so creamy and good. The texture is just perfect. Just melts in my mouth. I think I better have a little more, you
know, for my blood sugar. Oh, wow! That's good!
I bet you wish you had some right about now. Should I share?
How
bad do you have to hate somebody not to share the most incredible thing you
have ever experienced?! If that
chocolate is the most incredible thing you have ever had in your life, don't
you want somebody else to have it too?
If that chocolate changed your life and brought you joy, peace and
forgiveness then wouldn't you go tell your neighbor about that goodness? Wouldn't you tell your family and co-workers
about the wonderful, dark, sugary goodness inside that foil wrapper?
But
the thing is that while that chocolate is incredible tasting, it will, like
everything else in this world, not last.
And people in our community are hungry and thirsty for the joy and peace
that lasts for eternity. And we have
it! It is time for all of us to start
confessing it.
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