A TIME OF WONDER
A Time of Wonder
December 1, 2013, the Year of Our Lord
“…and His name shall be called Wonderful…”
(Isaiah 9:6)
Text from Matthew 1:18-25
The time of the Messiah is a time of wonder—He cannot be explained!
In Judea, 4 B.C., 20 centuries ago…
“It was about to begin – God’s plan for humanity. Sanctified hope is whispering like a still, small voice in the hearts of devout Jews throughout the land. No clear prophetic voice has been heard for 400 years, yet the spirit of prophecy is fluttering afresh over the ancient writings of Isaiah and Micah like a great bird anticipating its descent.
Religious systems and would-be prophets are settled in their convictions as to the purpose and manner of Messiah’s advent.
The injustice of worldly roman oppression is crying out for vengeance. Poverty, ignorance, and disease continue to plunder the people.
Enquiring angels are assembling for choir practice.
Demons are snickering, ignorant and unchallenged.
Wicked King Herod is proud of his “politically correct” rebuilt temple.
In a small prayer chamber inside the house of the Lord, an old woman weeps and prays, as she has done for the past 80 years.
Gabriel is reminding Daniel of his famous prophecy.
Faithful shepherds, like David, are singing over their flocks.
Wise men are scanning the heavens.
The heart of the sovereign God is stirring with the awareness of an everlasting, intertheistic covenant. The bosom of the Father is swelling with love, inspired to speak His Word.
The priestly house of Zacharias and Elizabeth is quiet. A young couple from the house of David is laughing as they plan their wedding and their future together.
The Holy Spirit, the power of the Highest, stands ready to overshadow a habitation of purity.
The stage is set. It’s time for the Deliverer to appear.
Matthew’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus’ birth from the standpoint of Joseph and his teenage fiancée, Mary.
Matthew 1: 18-25: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately... But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take to you Mary your wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call His name JESUS for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took to him his wife: and knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn Son: and he called His name JESUS.
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ (Lk. 1:34; Heb. 10:5) is foundational to our faith. His body was prepared pure and holy, free from the corruption of sin. He thus qualified as Heaven’s sinless, spotless Lamb, offered in pure sacrifice to God for the sins of the world.
The virgin birth of Jesus Christ really happened. We can consider a scenario 700 years before Joseph received this astounding news from the angel of the Lord. Let’s say Isaiah rushed home one afternoon to tell his wife the good news.
“Honey I’ve heard from God!”
“That’s terrific dear, what did he say?”
“Jehovah said that a virgin would conceive, bear a son, and call His name, “God with us”. (Isa. 7:14)
“You’re not going to preach that are you?”
The Lord waited seven centuries to vindicate the word of His servant who went to his grave without seeing the fulfillment of his trailblazing prophecy that would become foundational for the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven.
Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is again hovering over and overshadowing the remnant Church by the same Holy Ghost. This that we feel is the presence of the Lord being carried within a people. This anointing is a “holy thing” wrought by the overshadowing ability of the Holy Ghost.
Luke 1:35: and the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you; therefore that holy thing which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.”
When the Living Word was sown in the good ground of our hearts, we were born from above. (Jn. 3: 1-8).
Jas. 1:18: “Of His own will, He begat us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.”
1 Peter 1:23: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever?”
It appears that the iniquity of the earth is full and now judgment is in all the earth as we see the earth shake and groan. Yet, all hell may be breaking loose in the external, circumstantial realm; but the seed is okay. Lions can’t eat it. Water can’t drown it and the fire can’t burn it! We have been begotten by the Word of Truth, or reality. The world may look like a basket case and no one is running things, but the hope we hold for ourselves and our children lies within the indwelling seed of Jesus Christ and His Faithfulness.
1 Jn. 3:9 “Whosoever is born of God…”
1 Jn. 5:4 “For whatsoever is born of God…”
God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24) ---and that which is born of God is brought forth by the Spirit. The New Testament reveals that whosoever or whatsoever (a ministry, a proposed marriage, a business, an idea) that has been birthed by the Spirit:
- Is destined for Kingdom ruler-ship (Mt. 2:2)
- Is holy (Lk. 1:35)
- Is not of man’s will or flesh (Jn. 1:13)
- Is from above (Jn. 3:5)
- Is spirit (Jn. 3:6)
- Is purposed to bear witness to the truth (Jn. 18:37)
- Is incorruptible (indestructible) (1 Pet. 1:23)
- Is righteous (1 Jn. 2:29)
- Is love (Godly, God-like) (1 Jn. 4:7)
- Is powerful in faith to overcome the world (1 Jn. 5:4)
We can prove all things with this tenfold spiritual litmus test. The fire that comes forth in the Day of the Lord will try every man’s work of what sort it is (1 Cor. 3:12-15). The Feast Day of Atonement will bring everything into at-one-ment, or alignment. The plumb line with which He measures and adjusts all things is His Word, the divine seed. (Amos 7:7-8) Only that which is truly born of God will stand.
Zech. 4:6: “…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
1 Cor. 4:20: “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
Phil. 2:13: “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure”
Upon hearing Mary’s incredible announcement, this righteous man probably thought, “My life is over.” But Joseph was not willing or desirous to exhibit or display Mary to any kind of open shame. The legal penalty for adultery was death.
In those times, the covenantal relationship of engagement could only be broken by divorce. Joseph was willing to set her free, to let her go.
Every born again, Spirit-filled Christian has been impregnated with the Seed of God. Each can say, “I have been overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. Yet I cannot fully explain what is happening within me. Please don’t put me away!”
Men want to tag and stereotype you, to press you into their own religious mold. If you don’t fit their style, they’ll take your credentials and give you the left foot of fellowship! But these new and holy things cannot be labeled or explained.
When the power of the Highest overshadows a people, the ministry of mere men or women has little if anything to do with it. When the unexplainable happens, stay with your woman (the church). Don’t be ashamed of what the Holy Ghost has done; don’t shun apostolic ministries who carry the Seed of God. (Mt. 13:38; Rom. 1:16; 2 Tim. 1:8, 12, 16).
The Word is growing and we are showing!
As with Joseph, it will cost you to relate with those who are pregnant with the Holy Seed. A man or woman full of God is someone to be dealt with. We must add our faith to one another and mingle it with God’s believing that His Word will come to pass. Are we going to put each other away, or are we going to bring forth the Manifest Presence of the Lord.
Human wisdom and strength have attempted to push the power of the Holy Spirit down the steps of the church basement or out the door. Strategies and programs have come and gone and all are void of resurrection life.
Don’t be afraid Joseph. Don’t get “run” in your feet. Ultimately, the divine Wonder will “save much people alive” (Gen. 50:20)
In the time of the Messiah, things seem illogical. There are no easy answers, no quick fixes!
Sometimes we pray and hear nothing from God. Joseph may have inquired, “Where are you Lord? I’m a just man. I’ve kept my covenantal relationship with Mary pure in accordance with Your Word, and I don’t understand what has happened…she wouldn’t lie to me”.
Joseph wasn’t ready to be an earthly daddy to an eternal Spirit. Mary hadn’t been trained to change God’s diapers or teach Him how to walk. They weren’t prepared to raise God. You won’t learn the mystery of Godliness—God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)—in any Bible school. There is no class in which to learn this. Until others have been visited by the apostolic angel and impregnated with the same Seed, they cannot hear your heart.
There is the mystery of iniquity (2 Thess. 2: 3-4) and the mystery of Godliness. Man has yet to discover how vile he is by himself or how great he can become in God. No one save Jesus Christ has plumbed the depths or the heights of those questions. He alone descended to the lowest parts of the earth to put away our sins, and then was exalted above the highest heaven (Eph. 4: 8-10).
We must be careful to not think too much. Our soul or mind is like a woman’s womb, wherein conception (of thoughts) takes place. When fiery darts assail us, we must not receive them or meditate on them. Faith comes by thinking upon the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Fear comes by contemplating the voice of the devil. The birth canal for this fertilized seed is the mouth; our words—the baby---are the fruit of our lips.
Mary’s womb was like “the womb of the morning” (Ps. 110:3) anointed to give birth to a “new thing” in a new day. You may feel barren, but God might be saving you for Himself! He wants to plant His own royal nature in you.
If we will wait upon the Lord, the same angel, the same message, will come and deliver us from fear. Joseph did not act from impulse. Because of his great love for Mary, he couldn’t talk about Gabriel’s visit with his friends. They wouldn’t believe something he couldn’t explain.
The new and Holy thing in the virgin’s womb was begotten of God, kin to the Holy Ghost. This kingly seed, the fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures, had been sent to deliver.
Matthew 1:20 reveals that Joseph was a “son of David.” This entire contextual setting has to do with the Kingdom of God. Because God is sovereign, the angel can say, “Fear not” This phrase is mentioned 365 times in the Bible---once for every day of the year. No one among us is completely fearless. But we have been fertilized with the divine Seed.
2 Tim. 1:7: “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind.”
“Jesus” means “Jehovah our salvation.” His name is salvation because He shall save “his” people.
Joseph discovered three things about Jesus: His birth was supernatural, His mission was remedial, and His nature was divine.
Now as then, the time of the unveiling of the Messiah is a time of unexplained wonder! God did not consult Joseph or Mary, nor did He ask their permission when He invaded their private world. What a strange way to bring salvation to men! Joseph’s reputation would be ruined for years to come. Having a son meant everything in that day. In order to be tempted in all points like as we are, Jesus would have to receive the unjust accusation of being illegitimate (Heb. 4:15).
This new thing must be birthed in the hearts of men by the revelation of the Spirit, not by human might or power. What God has done and does by the Holy Ghost will bring great deliverance.
We are very close to a divinely appointed time. These are tough times for men who walk by sight and not by faith, who are trying to interpret these days in view of their preconceived ideas.
Judgment is on the earth. Yet, Once again it is time for Messiah to appear!
Political and religious leaders missed Messiah in His miraculous nativity. The time of the Messiah is a time of faith, and faith is contrary to reason.
How did Messiah make His initial entrance?
First of all, that day was a time of wonder…
Messiah cannot be explained. Now the wonder becomes a witness---once the Seed has been planted, once the new thing has been birthed in you by His Spirit, He must speak. Now the wonder becomes a witness.
Preached by: Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from King James Version; I entered into the labors of Kelly Varner, The Time of the Messiah, published by: Destiny Image.