The Eternal King – Missed Connections Series

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

The Missed Connection Series: Luke Chapter 1

And this week, we're going to camp out a little bit in Luke chapter 1. And some of you are already familiar with its contents. And of course, Luke chapter 1 surrounds the story of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John, as well as Mary's pregnancy with Yeshua, as well as his birth in Luke chapter 2. And I do want to point out that the timing of this topic being reviewed during Christmas weekend was actually not intentional. I lost track of time, and when I was studying, the topic came up and I went with it. It felt like God laid it on my heart, so I started pursuing it, and I totally forgot. But as many of you know, the majority of Christian tradition honors and celebrates Yeshua's birth during this time, as well as in a few weeks in early January. So I guess it's kind of neat that we're reviewing this topic at this time as well.

So today we're going to dive into Luke chapter 1 and explore what Luke was trying to tell us.

Understanding the Author's Perspective

Now remember, when we read the biblical stories and the accounts of Yeshua as well as other accounts of events throughout the Bible, we sometimes make the mistake of thinking that we're watching video camera footage. In other words, we forget that this is an account written through the eyes of the author. There is no way that we have a 360-degree review of the story or events being written about because that would be impossible. We do not have every single angle of the story in detail covered. We have exactly what the author is specifically intending to tell us. And usually his perspective is motivated by some sort of an agenda that he wants us to grasp onto.

And I hope that makes sense. The things that Luke wrote, every little detail, every specific Greek word he chose to use instead of other Greek words, the way he sets up the story, isn't simply to review what happened, but rather to review what happened in the context of how he's showing it. And so we're going to read some of the clues that Luke gives us today and what passages from the Old Testament they link to in order to reveal Luke's perspective on Mary's pregnancy and Yeshua's birth and present to us, his audience, his view of Yeshua's divinity, the divine nature of Yeshua as the son of Yahweh. And we're going to look at the evidence that Luke is trying to show us that Jesus is not simply another man that later gets adopted by God to become the king of Israel. And that's historically how Israel's kings were inaugurated.

That was actually a pretty common practice in all of the ancient Near East, that a king would be viewed as just a mortal man, but when he entered into the throne room or his inauguration took place and he sat down on the throne as king over the nation, it was believed that the gods adopted the king. This is my son whom I have begotten. Psalm 2 language, right?

Not Adopted, But Born King

And we're going to see very clearly that Luke is presenting baby Yeshua as already being God's son, not simply adopted later by Yahweh, but the everlasting Lord, the eternal king from his birth. And before we get started, I have a few resources I would love to share with you today. And of course, with these types of subjects, Dr. Michael Heiser is a fantastic resource. He has a great website with a podcast, a great book, Unseen Realm, definitely recommend it. Another fantastic book is by Dr. Richard Hayes. It's called Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels. A fantastic book dealing with these types of misconnections. And then today, Heiser actually recommended this one, and I got to glance at it. It was Luke's Christology of Divine Identity by Dr. Nina Hendricks-Gilbert, Terence Zakova, I believe is her name, if I remember it. So just search that if you have things on Amazon, Luke's Christology of Divine Identity.

Luke the Skillful Evangelist

And so I'm really excited to dive into Luke because out of all of the biblical evangelists, the gospel account writers, Luke is by far the most intentional and most skillful evangelist on how he narrates the story of Yeshua in a way that seamlessly joins it to Israel's story in the Hebrew Bible. It's written as if it's meant to be read as the continuation of the biblical story and biblical history. Everything that has happened in the story of the Bible from Genesis 1 through the Exodus, through the rise and fall of Israel, up to the point where Israel is stuck in exile. I mean, will there ever be a kingdom of their own again? That's how the Hebrew Bible ends, is the people crying out, wondering, will we ever have a kingdom as our own again ruled by God?

And then the promises of God come forth that, yes, yes, I'm going to send another king. This kingdom will crash into creation. I will defeat all of your enemies, which ends up being sin in the New Testament, death and the powers of darkness. And these promises are made, and then the Old Testament just ends. It just ends. And the New Testament picks off with showing that God is not a liar. God keeps his promises. And so you have this, and you turn the page, and Luke specifically is saying that his account is the continuation of that story. And that story, the continuation, is only found in Yeshua. In Luke chapter 1 verse 4, he literally says that he seeks to provide you as the reader with assurance that Israel's story has come to its true consummation in the death and resurrection of Jesus and an outpouring of the spirit of the community of Yeshua followers.

And that these events that he writes about are characterized by Luke as, quote, the things that have been brought to fulfillment among us. Right? That's verse 1 of Luke. And I want you guys, my hope for this message is that you guys are edified today and encouraged about the level of beauty that you have in your Bibles, the energy it took the authors, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to craft the accounts in such a way. And again, these stories are not simply random facts-based accounts of memories of Jesus. They are carefully crafted works that intentionally have hyperlinks back to the Old Testament placed in them.

Shadows of Scripture in Luke's Gospel

And I have a quote from Dr. Richard Hayes and his explanation of Luke and the power of the skill that Luke displays that I'd like to start with here. And here's what he says: "To be sure, the opening two chapters of the gospel create a vivid expectation of the fulfillment of scriptural promise, and the concluding resurrection appearance stories assert forthrightly that Moses and the prophets and the Psalms are somehow fulfilled in Jesus. Yet in between these signposts, the narrative offers, for the most part, only elusive hints and reminisces of the Old Testament precursors. Luke ripples with intertextuality because it constantly folds Old Testament textual patterns into its story."

Wow, that's a quote, right? Dr. Hayes goes on to say that it's as if the gospel story, as it appears in Luke, is being played out on center stage with these bright footlights at the front of the stage. And the shadows being cast on the back of the stage are like this kaleidoscope series of flickering sepia-toned images from Israel's scripture, from Israel's story. And so as you see the story of Yeshua being played out, you get a sense of the flashes of the Old Testament flickering in the background behind him. And Luke is so subtle because unlike, say, Matthew, Luke will give the reader a hint, and about the time when you realize, like, wait, this is kind of a familiar pattern, a familiar story, Luke is already on to the next flicker in the familiar shadows in the background.

And so Luke's style is not trying to develop these sustained sequences like you would see in Matthew. No, he wants this to be a drama that encapsulates the audience and draws them into it. What may seem like two different stories when you read it, the story of Israel and the Hebrew Bible and the story of Yeshua in the New Testament, to the reader's surprise, they become blended in this live action stage production to be revealed as one and the same. And all this does in Luke's account is just increase this huge atmosphere of anticipation for what's going to happen next in the story, right?

Born King, Eternal Lord

In the early scene of the narrative of Luke, an angel appears, and we're told by this heavenly messenger, Gabriel, that Yeshua will be given the throne of David and that he will reign forever over the house of Jacob, right? Now, we're going to put a pin in that because we're going to visit it in just a few moments. It's an indicator, along with another verse here, that Yeshua was not simply a man later adopted by God to be king. He was born king. He was born with this divine status. His kingdom is not an earthly kingdom because he is not an earthly king. See, what Luke's telling you here through the account of Gabriel, a human king's kingdom will not last forever.

It may last, but here Luke wants us to know something special about this baby child. He is an eternal king. His kingdom will last forever. And what's verse one, right? Okay, Luke is pulling a Luke, right? These things are brought to fulfillment among us. So what do we expect to happen? What do we expect to happen when he tells us that? Let's pretend we haven't taken the gospel accounts for granted. Pretend that we aren't so familiar with them. Let's pretend Luke's messenger, who has just arrived, and he opens his letter, his account, and his messenger is reading it to our home church in the first century for the very first time.

This has been fulfilled? What has? What has been fulfilled? Jesus has been given David's throne and will rule over all of Jacob. So as the audience, you hear that right off the bat in verse 1. In verse 1 and in the angel's account, verse 30 and 33. And after you hear that, what's going to happen next? As the audience, what do you think is going to happen next? Well, the angel said Yeshua will be elevated to the throne of David. Not just that, he will reign forever and rule over Israel. So as the audience, we expect to see that happen fully, right? Yet the events of the gospel story do not obviously bear out this expectation, at least at first.

I mean, that's indicated by the fact that the apostles are still asking in the opening scene of Luke's second book in Acts, in Acts 1-6, right? They're still asking, Lord, is this going to be the time that you will restore the kingdom of Israel to us? Like, is this going to be it? Thus, as Dr. Hayes puts it, the biblical promises and allusions throughout the first book create a foreshadowing of things to come. As the associations between Jesus and Yeshua and the various Old Testament precursors accumulate throughout the gospel account, we find ourselves wondering ever more urgently when and how he's going to assume the role promised in the story's beginning, and whether his finally disclosed identity will integrate and fulfill the wide range of roles that have been suggested by these motifs surrounding the gospel.

And so, without further ado, let's jump in and turn with me to Luke. And we're going to turn over to Luke chapter 1 verse 26, which is where the annunciation story takes place, right? The angel Gabriel appears to Mary with a huge proclamation about a child that she is destined to bear. And it says in verses, let's see, 32 through 33: "This one will be great, and he 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 his kingdom there will be no end."

What Has Been Fulfilled? Now, if the reader here is familiar with Israel's story already, the shadow shooting up in the background instantly reminds them of the prophecy of the Lord given to David through his prophet Nathan, right? In these words, the reader who knows Israel's story will hear a strong echo of the Lord's promise to David in 2 Samuel 17, 12 through 14, right? And this is going to be through an eternal, everlasting kingdom ruled by a king who is both the son of David and the son of the one who gave the promise, the son of Yahweh. Another shadow that flickers in the background is the angel Gabriel. In common reading, we casually disregard its significance, right? Like, okay, it's Gabriel. That was the name of the angel. It could have been Bob the angel that day. It's not that significant of a detail. That's how I've always read it. Gabriel, maybe, it doesn't matter. It could have just been an angel. It could have just been a voice. But it's significant. Why is this so significant?

The Angel Gabriel's Shadow

Here's one of those misconnections I've missed for the longest time. I never paid attention to it. In the Old Testament, Gabriel only appears in the apocalyptic visions of Daniel, in Daniel 8 and Daniel 9. And when he does appear, he brings a word of divine assurance that the time of the people's persecution and suffering is coming to its end. His role in Daniel 9 is particularly significant. Remember, Gabriel appears in response to Daniel's fervent prayer of repentance on behalf of Israel's sin. And it's here where he begs God to forgive and to act for the sake of Jerusalem and the people who bear God's name.

And Gabriel appearing in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice—that's what it says. He declares that Daniel is greatly loved or greatly beloved, and that after many catastrophic events, there will be a decreed end to the power of the oppressive ruler who has desecrated the sanctuary. This is the message. So Luke is intentionally emphasizing the scene here with Gabriel. When Gabriel steps on the stage, the flicker of the shadows behind him is from the only other place he appears in the Bible. And all that goes along with that scenario is being fulfilled here, right? All around this scene.

Both Daniel and Luke symbolize this grand renewal of God's involvement among his people. And in both texts, Gabriel is the one that announces their impending rescue. He is this harbinger of hope and liberation for the people of Israel. That's why it's so significant that he appears here to announce the birth of Yeshua, right?

Something Magnificent Has Happened

And before the angel speaks of his eternal kingdom, notice how Mary questions the angel in verse 34. Are you guys familiar? What does Mary say in verse 34? And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? Everything Luke is emphasizing is important. Luke did not have to include this scene. He didn't. In fact, the entire virgin birth account didn't have to be recorded for everything else to be fulfilled. Mary and Joseph are going to get married anyway, and Jesus would have been born. This angel could have just said, hey, you're going to have a son, and he's going to be king, and he's going to be the king that restores God's people back to his kingdom.

Could have just left it at that. And later on, Yeshua could have just been adopted by Yahweh as king, at baptism or something, and Luke wants to make sure that you do not think Yeshua is simply another human that is going to be adopted later on as king. No, he is the divine son of Yahweh. Yes, Joseph will be the earthly father. But this status as the son of Yahweh, as the king of Israel, doesn't simply get added to him later in life. Luke wants to make sure you understand something magnificent has happened in this baby child that was born and placed in a manger. It is something worth celebrating with all of your heart.

God is acting in this child—born of this huge announcement by an angel, declared by the word of God through him —his reign will be forever. It's not something to ever be minimized. It's kind of a big deal for the story that the Bible is telling for us. And so when Mary asks that question, it emphasizes the significance: "I'm a virgin. How will this happen?" The angel says, yeah, about that. This is divine. This is not simply something on an earthly level. This is something bigger from the very start. And I love that, right? Again, Luke didn't have to include that detail, but he chose to for that reason.

And there are some that would intentionally, for whatever reason, minimize this story at the beginning of Luke and Matthew and what the inspired authors of the Bible were trying to tell us. And there are those who would like to make Yeshua just some other guy who happened to be chosen later in life to be king. I can't emphasize that enough. It's a dangerous trap. Yeah, Luke addresses that here as well as his recording of Elizabeth's response when Mary told her the news of Yeshua, right?

The Title of Lord

In Luke chapter 1 verse 43, this is Elizabeth talking and she says—What's beautiful about this verse is you don't even need to know Greek to understand what Elizabeth is saying here. Yeshua has not even been born yet and she declares him her Lord. Now, semi-apologetics, nerdy Bible moment here. And I'm going to take just a moment to discuss this because opponents to exalting Yeshua as king, as a divine king, who would choose to minimize his divinity and authority on earth, they would point out something in the Greek text in this verse, if you're interested. And the Greek word here for Lord is kurios, not curious, but kurios.

And within the New Testament text, it can be used for different things. It really just means master or king or lord. It was a title given to Caesar in the first century. It can mean God, it can mean king, and it can apply to anyone in heaven and earth with authority. And so if an opponent to the divine nature of Yeshua brings this up, they're right because the word is pretty generic in regard to who it can apply to. So is Elizabeth simply speaking of Yeshua being just a man that is going to sit on the Davidic throne one day? Well, Luke is the master craftsman of his own account, right? He is intentional in how he is presenting this very event.

And so let's see how he chooses to use the word Kyrios in the rest of the chapter. So here is a list of all the places where Luke chooses to use this Greek word that means Lord, Kyrios, in chapter 1. You have it in verse 6, verse 9, verse 11, 15, 16, 17, 25, 28, 32, 38, 43. That's when Elizabeth is speaking about Yeshua. 45, 46, 47. 58, 66, 68, and 76. Fifteen times he chooses to use this word in the first chapter. And out of the 15 times the word is used in Luke chapter 1, 14 of those times it is directly speaking about Yahweh, the God of Israel. And right here, right here, stuck in the very middle Luke chooses to emphasize Elizabeth calling Yeshua by this title—Lord—right there in the middle.

The only two people in chapter 1 that have this title are Yahweh and Yeshua, and it's an intentional binding together, if you will, interweaving. Would you believe me if I told you that Luke wants to hammer this point so hard that he does the same thing in chapter 2 during Yeshua's birth? Let's take a look. Chapter 2, the word curious, the Lord appears in verses 9, 11, 15, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 39, and there we go, nine times. Out of the nine times, kurios is used in chapter 2 of Luke. It is attributed to Yahweh eight times and once to Yeshua in verse 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. It's just neat to see the fingerprints that aren't so obvious of the authors, right?

Playing with the Shadows

So Luke continues to play with the shadows even more when he recounts what we call today as the Magnificat, or Mary's song, or Mary's prayer. It's a beautiful prayer of Mary recorded in Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 55. And this is Mary's response to Elizabeth proclaiming her unborn child to be her Lord. And it says that the child immediately began to jump as a response to Elizabeth's words.

So here is what Mary prays as a response to that. So Elizabeth says, this is my Lord, right? I'm meeting the mother of my Lord. And the baby affirms what she says because Mary hears it. And it's as if the baby heard it and the baby leaps with joy. And then Mary sees this whole thing going on. Imagine what's going through her brain. And here's what she prays as a response to that happening. Verse 46, Blessed be Mary, right? So right here, these last two verses that Mary has, the shadow flickering on the wall is the salvation of the downtrodden nation in exile of Israel. Israel's salvation on a national level from the stories of the prophets. But the entire prayer here is reminiscent of another prayer. It's actually shooting up another scene behind us, and it's very similar to another prayer by a woman who had a miraculous birth as well. Her name was Hannah. You guys remember Hannah's prayer way back in 1 Samuel 2, verses 1 through 10? It was a prayer about God's deliverance of the nation. And it's extremely similar to Mary's prayer. It actually uses some of the same words.

Hannah's Song and Mary's Prayer

Once again, however, Luke does not directly quote the precursor text. Rather, he subliminally invokes it so that the reader who knows 1 Samuel will hear Mary singing a harmonious discant to Hannah's song, Hannah's song of praise. Both of these hymns expand their praises beyond the immediate occasion of childbirth to celebrate God's vindication of the people as a whole. In Hannah's prayer, these are symbolized by images of the shattering of God's adversaries and the exaltation of God's anointed king. It is not merely coincidental that the language of Hannah's song reappears in Psalm 113, the first of the round of Hallel Psalms sung before the Passover Seder meal.

What does Passover celebrate? It celebrates God's powerful intervention to raise the poor from the dust and lift the needy from the ash heap, right? That's exactly what 1 Samuel 2.8 says. This happens by bringing Israel out of Egypt. And if the hearers of Luke's gospel understood this link between Hannah's hymn of deliverance and the Passover story, they might as well have understood that Mary's song too should be heard in the same tradition as a song celebrating the impending deliverance of Israel, this time through Mary's own offspring. At the same time, Mary sings of God's promise to Abraham and to his descendants forever in verse 55, alluding directly to the Genesis stories of God's election and call of Israel's forefather Abraham.

Another flickering story in the backdrop of this narrative is Elizabeth and Zechariah. And Luke tells us that Elizabeth was barren, and she and Zechariah were both advanced in days in Luke chapter 1, verse 7.

Echoes Flickering Behind the Scene

And as the text is displaying the scene, you cannot help but to see the shadows of Abraham and Sarah in the background. These echoes of the story of Abraham and Sarah, who were granted in old age the miraculous conception of Isaac, the heir through whom God's covenantal promise was realized. This recognizable scriptural pattern alerts the reader to expect connections between God's gracious, saving actions for Israel in the past and in the present. The same God who fulfilled his promise to Abraham is now at work again in the events of Luke's story. And these themes of God's promises to Israel are highlighted once again in the prophecy of Zechariah.

After the birth of John, Zechariah finds he can speak again, and he declares that Israel's God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, promising salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, right? To show us mercy along with our forefathers, to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear in complete holiness and righteousness before him all of his days. Abraham is once again invoked here in the text in verse 73, reminding us as the readers a second time to read Luke's account of Yeshua as the fruition of the Genesis narrative of election promise. Further, Zacharias' prophetic word also invokes this image of a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old. Thus, both the prayers of praise in Luke chapter 1, Mary's and Zacharias, link God's new saving work to the promises made to Abraham and David in Israel's story.

By the end of the first chapter of Luke's gospel account, Luke has given us, as the reader, overwhelming hyperlinks back to the Hebrew Bible. And the results are that these clues tell us that this story of Yeshua is meant to be read as the narrative continuation of Israel's story and as the liberating climax toward which that story has moved ever since.

The Way of Peace

The conclusion of Zechariah's prophecy declares that the trajectory of God's saving action will be to guide our feet into the way of peace, right? Verse 79. This prophetic vision of shalom is the goal of God's liberating action. Again, something we take for granted, right? Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled, right? Of course it's peace. But look at the echoes flickering behind the scene. Peace—God's trajectory is peace.

In Luke's overall composition and story, the emphasis on peace is a powerful implicit critique and contrast of other contemporary Jewish hopes for Israel's liberation through violence and war. The way of the Zealots, the way of the Maccabees, and even the Hasmoneans were to achieve liberation from their oppressors using violence and weapons of war. But here Luke is painting a story of God liberating his people through a small child who lay in a manger. Not through rockets and tanks and guns and armies, but through mercy and love that flow from this child, our Lord. That's the whole theme of Zacharias' prophecy, right? It sounds like a conquering militarydriven ballad until you get to verses 78 and 79. Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise—it's a key verse we're going to come back to—shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The Rising Sun

And who is this prophecy speaking about? It's actually a prophecy about John the Baptist going before the Lord, right? Paving the way for his victory over oppression. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. It's speaking about John. But who did John go before? He went before Yeshua. He went before Jesus and paved the way, right? It's that twist, that intertwining of Yahweh and Yeshua as his divine son that's being presented, which I just think is so neat. The biblical authors were not stupid. They were genius, and they allowed the Spirit to work through them to create great, amazing things, this message for us.

And so we'll explore another really cool echo about Yeshua since we're here. So in verses 78 and 79 that we just read, notice that Zechariah has a prophecy of a sunrise that will visit us from on high. It's right here in verse 78. Because of the tender mercy of our God whereby the sunrise—Yep. The sun. The sun and sunrises are associated with Yahweh's mercy and with Yeshua directly from a biblical standpoint. It's not sun worship. But that's not all. The Greek word here is anatole. Okay? And anatole has some very interesting roots. Okay? So yes, it means sunrise, or specifically it means the upward movement of celestial bodies, like stars rising over the horizon, or of course the sun rising.

Verse 79 gives the context of the sun rising to give light into dark places, right? And so it's the rising of the sun at dawn. So you could say the word also means dawn.

Now, in Dr. Heiser's research, in the resource I mentioned above, he makes a great point. He asks the question about this verse. He says, well, what does a sunrise have to do with the Messiah? And to answer, he invites us to jump over into the Greek Septuagint. Now, if you haven't been keeping up with this series, the Greek Septuagint is the Greek Old Testament that was translated before the first century and was considered authoritative during that time in which the New Testament was being written. When the New Testament authors quote the Old Testament, they typically quote from the Greek Old Testament, not the Hebrew Bible.

So in the Septuagint, the Greek word that Luke uses that's translated into sunrise is used three times to translate the Hebrew word tzemek, which is the Hebrew word for branch. So in the Hebrew Old Testament, there is a word—branch, tzemek. And when the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek, the translators chose to translate it as sunrise or rising up three different times. Now we know branch is a heavily messianic word. It has huge messianic tones, like the branch from David from the root of Jesse, right? But why would they translate it with the Greek word anatole? Well, we see in other earlier Greek documents, and this is just a nerdy moment, it's kind of neat.

We see in other Greek documents where the word anatole is used for a plant rising up to shoot up, right? So that's likely how that word got into the Bible in this context. The branch that shoots up, the Anatole, the rising up, generally as celestial bodies, but a plant. The word can also be translated as east, which is the direction of the rising sun, right? So it's a lot of significance here, a lot packed into this word. You even have the messianic prophecy in Numbers about the rising star. Yeshua is the rising celestial body that shines light into darkness. Not only that, you also have the imagery used in the Old Testament in association with Yahweh's rising up to bring judgment on evildoers and salvation to God-fearers.

Yahweh's Rising Sun

In Malachi 4:2, many of you are familiar with this verse. Can I just take a moment and let you know how much I appreciate and love ancient writing so much? God's salvation is going to make you so joyful that you are going to run around like a calf that just ate a bunch of good hay. I don't know. I love that for some reason. And the reason why these people are doing the fat calf dance is because their oppression has ended. They are rejoicing in their now free state. This is not a regular sun. It is the sun of righteousness that brings healing and salvation at the coming day of the Lord. Here, Yahweh is the sun that shines out righteousness and frees the people.

In Malachi 4 and in Isaiah 60, where God's shining rays shine down not only in Israel, but all the nations, right? Here, Anatole is Yahweh. The rising sun is Yahweh. In Luke, however, Anatole becomes a bit more ambiguous between Yahweh and Yeshua. It's Yeshua that is the branch. It's Yeshua that is the rising sun that brings forth the light, just as John indicates in John 1. He is the light to all man. And where does this branch or this sunrise come from in Luke's account? From on high. The word is used in the Septuagint in 2 Samuel 22 and in Psalm 18 to indicate the dwelling place of God's residence, the Greek word there for on high.

This is where Yahweh comes from. This is where Yeshua comes from. These two words are connected in Luke's account for that specific reason. It's the sunrise, the branch that shoots up, that brings light forth, right?

The King's Paradoxical Arrival

And so we turn to chapter 2 of Luke, and we see the nativity of the Savior of the world. And let's reflect on these passages that chapter 1 has simply launched us into. We're going to read a couple of verses here because I feel like it's important. And guys, what I want you to find is the beauty in Luke chapter 1 and 2, and I want you to see some of these connections, and I want you to see how Luke wanted to spend time to remind you as the reader of something that he felt passionate about. This is not just some nativity story. This is the story of the divine king being born into a broken world to bring restoration, to bring healing, to bring the light that will set you free.

It's an exciting story. It's one filled with passion and joy. It's one that should cause us to want to do the well-fed calf dance that Malachi 4 talks about. This is the story about the coming of our king into this world and how it was such a paradoxical arrival and everything that he did seemed upside down to the world. And yet whole kingdoms have fallen because of his legacy through us. The kingdom of God has conquered through his legacy through us, no matter how paradoxical or upside down it may seem. A king is born in an overcrowded house where he had to be laid in a feeding trough in the living room where the animals feed.

His first visitors, the ones most excited to see him, were dirty shepherds, common folk, coming in knowing that the angel had just spoken to them, looking down to see their king in likely the same type of crib they were placed in as children. That's the king? That's the divine son of Yahweh? He's like me. Yeshua's mission and trajectory—God's victory—was always to bring peace and mercy to overflow the world. That is how he conquers. And so we're going to read everything built up, everything that Luke did in chapter one to build this story up. The prayers of Mary, Elizabeth making the comment of this is my Lord.

You have the angel Gabriel coming. The only other place he comes is when he's announcing the spectacular message of salvation and an ultimate victory over oppression. And he appears and he tells Mary, you're going to have a child. And just to make it more audacious, Luke wants to emphasize the fact of the matter that Mary's a virgin. Mary's a virgin and this child will be divinely conceived. He is not just a human child. He is the unborn king, the son of Yahweh, the fully divine one. Luke even makes reference of him being the sunrise, the one that will come and bring forth light. Kurios—the only other time Kurios is used for someone besides Yahweh is for Yeshua—to intertwine that. That is the rocket boost that's launching us into chapter 2.

The Nativity Story

And with all of that pressure and anticipation over the reader, I would like you to join me in reading chapter 2 of Luke. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house in the line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah. Messiah means king. He is the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly hosts appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Can you see it? Can you see the joy and anticipation? Can you see this curiosity mixed with pride?

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

The Heavenly Celebration

Guys, is that not just an incredible story? See, we love to look back at the epic stories when angels appear in the burning bush of Moses or to Daniel. We always love to look back at these amazing stories when angels appear and when God acts and God gives this message and the Exodus account and all of these things and Jericho. Why is this story not up there with those? The heavenly hosts broke into earth's atmosphere to begin rejoicing over the birth of this child. The entire army of heaven came to earth to rejoice. That didn't happen in the Exodus account. That didn't happen in Noah's ark. That didn't happen...

The entire heavenly host came to celebrate the divine Lord, the divine King, the eternal King who has been born. This is the account that should bring joy welling up in our hearts. And here's the scene: a new reality with a new king. All of this flickers on the backdrop of the stage as Mary holds her son tightly in her arms and is soaking up the excitement of these strange shepherds and all of the people around them, all the while remembering the words of the angel Gabriel, her own prayer, the prayers of Zachariah, all of this being displayed as she looks into the eyes of Jesus, the sun of righteousness, the eternal king.

The Kingdom's Victory

And I don't know where you're at today, but this story is to be a reminder of who we serve and how great our God is. Nothing in the biblical story tops the excitement in this moment, the anticipation in this moment. Nothing in the biblical story is worth getting excited about more than the account of Yeshua's ministry on earth, of Yeshua being born, of Yeshua taking back creation, our eternal King. Shalom. I'm Matthew Vander Els, and I hope you enjoyed this message. Founded in Truth exists to build a community that bears the image of God and lives the redeemed life only Yeshua gives. If this message impacted you or if this ministry has been a blessing to you, we invite you to take part in making sure the message of Yeshua and the truth of God's word continues to reach others. To make

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