Advent 2, Wednesday December 11, 2019
“The Announcement”
Savior of the Nations, Come
2 Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh—
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.
- For you are the Father’s Son
Who in flesh the vict’ry won.
By your mighty pow’r make whole
All our ills of flesh and soul.
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 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. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
John 1:1-14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And 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.
In the Name of Jesus.
Announcements are made. That’s the way our world works.
Announcements are made, and they change things. The create new realities.
Some eighty years ago, a president announced, “This day will live in infamy.” At that announcement, things changed. A nation knew she was under threat, and from that day, we were at war with an enemy.
Some 67 years ago, a scientist named Jonas Salk went on the radio and announced a new vaccine. By that announcement, lives changed—the scourge of polio was defeated.
An announcement can change things.
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God,”
[the angel announced].
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his Name Jesus.”
[Luke 1:30]
The words were the Lord’s. The Lord announced them through the mouth of an angel.
God’s Word is not empty. His Word creates what it says. The Lord spoke his Word at creation, and his Word brought the Earth and the planets, the dirt and the plants, the animals and the fish, into being.
Gabriel speaks the Word to a young woman named Mary; it is the Word of the Lord, and the Word brings into being what it says. The Word is joined to the flesh of Mary’s womb, and Mary is with child.
From the hymn we just sang:
Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh—
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.
He is not flesh and blood. He is the eternal Word of God, who with God the Father created all things.
John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
He is the eternal Word. Yet now he has taken on human flesh. He is true Man, a child in Mary’s womb. Now, at the announcement to Mary, he is flesh and blood.
He is true God. He is veiling his divinity under human flesh.
What he does in the flesh, the sleeping and eating, the walking and sitting, the speaking and listening, the drinking wine with sinners, the being spit upon, the suffering, the dying—what he does in the flesh he is doing as true God. God in the flesh, saving sinners.
He is true Man, who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary.
As he is of one nature with the God the Father from eternity, so he is now of one human nature with you and me. This he did by being conceived and born of this woman, Mary, who is herself a daughter of Adam and Eve and is thereby of the same flesh and blood along with us and our children.
It’s Advent. The coming of God in the flesh. The announcement is made:
Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh—
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.
The Word is announced, and it creates the new reality.
The new reality is, We have a Lord.
Apart from the announcement, apart from the Word, we have no Lord. Not the Holy Lord, anyway, not the Lord of life, not the Lord who speaks a Word and creates something new.
Apart from the announcement, our lord is not of life, but of death. Our lord is sin, Satan, and the world. Our lord is our own sinful flesh. In those lords, we find no life, only death.
The announcement is made, and we have a Lord.
Mary is with child. Her child is of our flesh, like us in every way, but without sin.
Her child is our Lord; he makes us his people.
He makes us his own by cleansing us, by forgiving our sin, by clothing us in his righteousness, by giving us his Name in Baptism, by delivering us from sin, death and the devil. As we sang in the hymn:
For you are the Father’s Son
Who in flesh the vict’ry won.
By your mighty pow’r make whole
All our ills of flesh and soul.
In the Name of Jesus.