Amen. Thank you, doctor. And I invite you to give your attention to God's word as we look today into Isaiah chapter 60. Continue along as we consider the concert of the ages. Not the oratorio so much that is the vehicle for our considering the subject composed by George Frederick Handel, back in the 18th century. The Messiah that has already been sung in this community at least a couple of times, at least in our general area. But reminding us of the definite insert found in the Oxford English Dictionary is an agreement. And of course, the way we typically use the word now is consisting of a series of separate songs or pieces, and a number of singers or musicians perhaps taking part. But when we look at the work of God and the way in which there is agreement and harmony, a collusion of sorts, as prophets proclaimed in the early centuries, the coming of the Messiah, We are the ones blessed now to be able to live in the light of the coming of our Lord Jesus, now 2,000 years removed from that most historic event. And yet still amazed at all of that prophecy that led up to his arrival and how that his life and his passion, his resurrection by prophets, over 300 specific prophecies written centuries before he came. There's a concert of agreement there. Messiah, that is the Christ, the Anointed One. So let's look at Isaiah 60 beginning with verse 1. We'll read through verse 9. and nations shall come to your light, and kings to the bright rising. Lift up your heads and look to the sea. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall parade on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. come to you. A multitude shall cover you. The young shall come in frankincense and shall bring good news. Flocks of Kadar shall be gathered to you. The ram shall minister to you. They shall come on my altar and I will beautify my beautiful house. Who are you like a cloud and like doves to their windows? For the cover of the clouds shall hope for me. The ships of Tarshish, Firkish, and of the far, there's silver and gold with them. For the name of my God and for the Holy One, because He has made you beautiful. And may the Lord bless this reading of His Word. As the grass withers and the flower fades, The word of the Lord stands forever. This is the word which by the gospel is preached to you. Amen. Timeless. Well, after all, if truth is truth, it is time. No matter what age it's proclaimed. Now, we live in a time, of course, when there are passing fads, right? Some generations ago, if you were contemplating what sort of Christmas gift to give, perhaps to children, you might be thinking about, oh, I don't know, Mr. Potato Head. Some years ago, we all remember the great fad one Christmas. I remember when cabbage patch dolls were flying off the shelves and people were absolutely convinced if they owned one of those in 50 years, they and some of you have them more than they were when you bought them. I think about a man telling me one time that his favorite car years ago was a Packard. Somebody else was convinced that the Studebaker was going to take over. We all have lived through these various things through the years. We've seen popular notions rise and fall. We've seen things that were even true fall by the wayside. You remember being told that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from outer space? It was never true. It wasn't true then, it isn't now. In fact, it's very difficult to see from outer space. Astronauts say you have to be at a fairly low altitude in order to be able to look at it. But on the other hand, there are interstates and highways and mining projects that can be viewed from there. Lots of things we thought were true. And then along came shows like Mythbusters and messed up our whole day. But Truth that truly is timeless regardless of the age. And which we want to be anchored. Because in our culture, as it is in every era, people are being tossed here and there by every wave and by every possible notion comes along and people are carried away by that. And then they're waiting for the next one. Yet when we read God's Word, we're reading something that has endured through the ages. Because He is relevant. He rose from the dead. He rose from the dead to die an atoning death and is enthroned in glory. And we await His return. All of that is relevant because they're taught by someone else. And when we think of the Messiah, when we think of the oratorio that Handel did compose and that has been presented numerous times, still popular and hasn't fallen by the wayside, as so much other popular music has, because the subject matter is irrelevant. Because the truth of God is irrelevant. Being Scripture put to song means that the music itself will endure. Because the lyrics endure. When we read the chapter of Isaiah 60, Arise, shine, for your light has come. We see that notion of light. The way of spiritual ignorance. Spiritual ignorance. The type which separates us from things that we need to know, from the truth that we need to know in order to endure forever. Apart from that ignorance, and the light has shone on us, we would yet be in darkness. And the way to be in darkness ultimately is through the Lord Christ. In this recitative, I do hope I said that right over there in the corner. You know, you can look up stuff online now and it not only gives you the phonetic spelling, you can hit that little speaker button and this nice little voice will say it for you. I just want you to know that's the extent of my education. I know how to press buttons. In this part three, this recitative of the Messiah that Handel composed, He, of course, says in Isaiah 7, verse 14, quoting, Behold, a virgin shall conceive. But in the verse itself, it begins with those words that are in brackets there. And I've left it in the way in which it's conveyed in song. "...shall give you a sign." willing to listen, want to accept the word which was conveyed to him by the prophet. And so Isaiah says to him in no uncertain terms. All right, have it your way. And this is it. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us. There was an immediate fulfillment of that in the birth of a son, but Isaiah beyond that immediate fulfillment to the ultimate one with Christ. In the Hebrew, of course, the word virgin can be understood either way. A young lady or someone who literally has not known a man. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, wherein it was brought from the Hebrew into the Greek 150 years or so before Christ was born, word, and it's the one that's used in the New Testament, and it means a woman who is not a man. So, some of you perhaps have been in a service where a pastor so-called has, maybe because it is a popular notion in some circles, to simply say it means young woman. Dispel yourselves of any notion of a woman who is not known a man. Ministers said crassly some decades ago, well, if there was a child, there had to be a man around somewhere. That's blasphemy. In the womb of the Virgin Mary, our Lord Jesus Christ, He was conceived sinlessly. He was born sinlessly. He lived a sinless life. He died a sinner's death on a cross, but not because He was a sinner. became sin for us, but in no wise did he ever become a sinner." I actually heard a pastor once use that verse to say, well, he who knew no sin became a sinner for us. That is not what it says. Christ never sinned, but he became for us an atoning sacrifice and was treated as sin should be treated. And he paid the penalty. with his life. So this is very important. We're not talking about some peripheral doctrine. We're not talking about something of of minor importance. We're talking about something that is critical to our faith. We're talking about something as men and previous generations said more regularly than we do. Vitals of our faith and of our religion. And He is God with us. That's the extraordinary thing. After all, if you believe in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, that He created everything. Ex nihilo. I'm trying to, again, impress you with me being able to pronounce things that I don't know all that well. Out of nothing, from the Latin, ex nihilo. God created everything. If you really believe that, then what is it to believe that God would do impossible so-called thing in bringing forth His Son without sin from a virgin's womb. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Have you analyzed your thought process? Have you realized how far short of God's glory we all fall? And have you marveled that God could ever be with us? How that He Himself could become one of us? That is utterly extraordinary. And if we have allowed ourselves to listen to it so much and have become so used to it that we have lost our wonder of the truth. Oh, Christian, may God bless you to be reminded of just what a wonder this is that God who is holding us all together could dwell with sinners. And when he does it, people were not immediately struck dead. He is with us. And so, when we think of the light that shines, the light that has come, the glory of the Lord that has risen, we're talking about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that in Isaiah 40, as we read last week, where the verse begins, that bringest good tidings. By the way, When we start to read that next part, O thou that tellest good tidings. Somebody asked me recently, I saw this at least, and they were reading it to me, and they said, the people who use the King James Bible instead of looking at YouTube, do they watch Thou Tube? You'll get it. Just stay with me. But I want to read this Old Testament English version. You know, in language, as we understand tenses of verbs and the renderings of them and so forth, we know that we have a way of saying that something exists, that we are. And when we use a first person singular, we say I am. When I'm talking about you being where you are, I can say you are. When I talk about all of you being where you are, don't really have a distinction between those words. But there is a second person that is the term of endearment and familiarity. You see it in Spanish. You see it in other languages. You know, it's a it's a it's a way of phrasing things to indicate a closeness in relationship. And we had that in English back in the day. It's the word thou instead of you. And when we see that word used, it is the second person. And it means a closer, dearer relationship. And so just know that so that you can appreciate I'm not saying you need to use that version only. I'm just asking you to appreciate it a little bit. I told Gordon he was telling me something about the piano the other day, and it was very technical, and I said, hey, listen, remember, I had music appreciation. I can identify the instrument and tell you that it's a piano. But other than that, I don't really know a lot. So I'm just asking for appreciation for that older language. O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion. Someone who is in a close relationship, in a place of endearment. Get thee up." Again, close to me. You. Into the heights. And then in brackets, because Handel doesn't use the phrase, O Jerusalem, tell us good tidings. But he picks up with, O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength. Be not afraid. You see, and the doctrine of the virgin birth and its implications, then you are something someone less than God who appears on the scene. But being born of the virgin, sinlessly, conceived miraculously, even though He was in the most ruthless bedding, He suffered in the manger, but that wasn't the extent of the humiliation For He ultimately comes to us for our sakes. But when we see Him by faith with one true and living God, behold, your God, it's extraordinary that He has come in that way. Arise, shine, for thy light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. This morning when I was leaving, our condo to come here. I was looking off toward the west, and there was that full moon just setting low in the sky. And I thought, boy, I would love to be able to see a moon set out there in the Gulf of Mexico. I had too much to do here, so I didn't rush out there to see it. We see sunrises and sunsets, moonrises and the setting of the moon. And we see the beauty and the brilliance and the splendor of light. And I've told you before, I'm sure you probably, yes, you've told us, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I love lights at Christmas time. I love to see them on trees. I love to see the candles. I love to see, like I told you last week, a tractor lit up in a field. Anything looks good with lights on it. I love to see lights. And we've seen beautiful displays of lights through the years. And perhaps it's been a natural display of the sun in its presentation. but to think of the light of the glory of God revealed to us in the Lord Jesus. There is no light like that. And we have apprehended Him by faith without having seen Christ Himself. Yet, we have apprehended Him by faith that we are looking all together lovely. Though His appearance was not unlike average people. He was one of us. Yet, that beauty of the Holy Spirit radiated through His person so that those who saw Him saw a beauty that they could never behold before. And it will be revealed to us in glory when we see Him as He is. There will be such a brilliance and beauty of His glory fully revealed. it will cause everything else to pale in insignificance. I was thinking about that the most recent time that I was out there on the beach and was watching the sunset. I'd gone out there with my motorcycle. Kathy was away. You know, I got on my Honda and was driving down the road and that thing just took me to the end of its own sometimes. And there I was out there right about sunset. I rushed out there to the beach and I was talking to some folks there on the way and they were rushing out there And man, it's just different every time. All of those beautiful hues of colors as they present themselves across the sky. And I'm still amazed that when it happens, people applaud. It goes around with a microphone on the beach and says, pardon me, sir, can I ask you a question? What they're thinking is perhaps the Creator. Perhaps many who do it are acknowledging Others? I don't know. I wonder. But the thing is, everyone is absolutely amazed by it. Can you imagine the glory of heaven when we see the glory of the Lord no longer hindered by our sin nature? That which continues is our ability to see it. And we will see it in its brilliance. We will see Him in His glory's brilliance. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and grow in the people as it's rendered in the King James." Or thick darkness. That just means there's a lot of it. You know, you can be in a dark room, but you can be in a really dark room. I remember being down in a cave in Romania years ago when the lights went out down there. Boy, you talk about dark. That's thick darkness right there. I couldn't see the hand in front of my face. I was beginning to panic. and even know where this place is. That was darkness. degrees and PhDs, if you look at the demographics in the world at the time, I'm told that the most highly educated group of people at that time was Hitler's Nazi Germany. Schooling. from moral darkness by itself. Now, I'm thankful for learning. I'm thankful for the ability to read and to do arithmetic. What little bit I'm able to do it. I'm thankful to be able to figure out reason and to think. To learn to do that through education is something I will always be grateful for. But only the light that shines through the darkness of Christ can rescue me from the darkness that kills. from the darkness without hope. He has come into the world that by Him we may be rescued from this present darkness. And the Gentiles to thy light. And kings to the brightness of thy rising. Speaking of God upon whom the light shines. Like that western morning, the light that was shining on it. And we the people of God are that. Even through us. Even in flawed vessels. We're all just a bunch of cracked pots, right? I'm going to use the original from Paul's rendering there in Corinthians. Broken vessels. Cracked pots. But what's on the inside? That truth. That is the gospel. That light is the glory of God shining through our flaws, our cracks, our broken places. We are those upon whom the light shines. And many are coming to faith. I read a story just this past week where a man in the Middle East who had donated attack, not his own, because he's still here. But he planned it out. It was carried out by others. People were killed. And he had in his mind to kill Christians. But somewhere over the course of recent years, he really sat down and considered the scriptures. which teach that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And he suddenly, upon reading that, was absolutely convinced that such a Savior would come into the world and save. And he repented and trusted in Christ. His brother was even more convinced of the depths of terrorism, seeking to kill others. And when he found out that his brother had converted to Christ, was convinced that he needed to kill his brother. But before he could see his brother, he was confronted by the gospel of Christ. And the power of God transformed him. You know what they're doing now? Preaching together. How's that possible? It is the power of God. It is the light that shines in the darkness. The darkness has not comprehended it, and yet, he shines. It is the light that is at work in all of us. And so when we read about the coming of the Lord Christ in terms of light, we realize here is one who can dispel the darkness and rescue us from it. And then Handel, of course, goes back to Isaiah 9. As already, we've had that chapter referenced. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Death upon them, half the light shined. It's amazing. We would have been blind and still except that God had come in the person of His Son. We would still be walking in that darkness. Again, not just a lack of knowledge. There's a lot of things I'm still not knowledgeable about and I'm still pretty ignorant about and I can get by life pretty well. I was trying to understand what someone was saying yesterday about how an atom really is composed of these electrons and neutrons and what they really are doing. in my mind that they were just orbiting neatly around the nucleus of an atom. And the guy said, oh no, we haven't believed that since the 1920s. And he described for me what actually is happening. And I still can't tell you. Think about an atomic explosion. That's what my mind was doing. I thought, oh no. Just when I think I know something. There are all kinds of things we don't know. And yet, We can know Christ. In this moral darkness, it is possible for that darkness to be overcome. If terrorists in the near future are converted by Christ, what's keeping us from fleeing to Him with everything we have? Have you not realized that we've tried every other remedy known to human beings, and yet we still keep trying over to get to the same old failed methods. No matter what we do, killings are still taking place. Tell me we don't need deliverance from this darkness. Tell me the light doesn't have to come from heaven. Are we not convinced at this point that the light within us is not sufficient to deliver us from that thick blackness that surrounds us? Surely Christ had to come. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called the Counselor, the Most High, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." There's your answer. See, this is not a season meant merely for sentiment. It can be. But for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christmas, is it something to be observed? We keep all the year long. Christ had to come. That's relevant for us. in any season. Christ had to die for our sins. That's not just for Easter. That's every day for us. Every morning when we wake up. Every evening when we go to bed. That reality. That light. It's like a shaft. Shining in our dark world. for this Savior. And we think of how in a time of darkness, in our nation's great civil war, when a writer of poetry who had to deal with profound loss left for us words that inspire, now set to music as he heard bells ringing We too hear the music that results from Christ's coming. Music of freedom, deliverance, and salvation. May that music ring in our hearts. Whether sung in a... I don't want to say that ten times fast. Whether it's music we... hymns, or that which emanates from our hearts because Christ lives within us. The Messiah has come. And He is the glorious concert of the ages and eternity. Let's pray. Blessed be Your name, Lord, we pray. Thank You for our Savior, that light who has come in. We ask You, O God, to save us and deliver us. Lord, we pray that through us that light will shine as we reflect the One who shines upon us, that others Him is glorious. So, our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, don't you wish to say That old familiar carousel, That violent, sweet, the words we played, The feet on earth would appear to mend? And in Jesus' prayer I bowed my head, And in the peace of the earth I spent, To praise His strong and marvelous pow'r Of being on earth good will to men. Yet ring the bells more loudly, for God is nigh, for God is near. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With peace on earth, good will to men. Both now and forever, everyone said together, amen. So,