Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries |
The most neglected mystery of all time, known by only a few, although revealed to all, the year 2011.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
ASCAPSI – What were the 5 top words that got their attention as a title for a book, song, movie, an article or a thesis?
1. Love
2. Murder
3. SL Sex
4. SL Marriage
5. Mystery
Our fourth and final Christmas special from the last year 2010, and our first message of the New Year 2011, both in honor of our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2CO 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
EPH 2:4, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
1JO 4:9, He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
2CO 9:15, Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
One of the most neglected mysteries of the year 2011 as it relates to the one who changed the world.
Why do we call the first day of the year January 1st and why do we call this new year, 2011? Time is mysterious and complicated enough as far as we are concerned but, added to that is the question Where did we get our calendar from?
Where did the months, the years, and the centuries, which make up our calendar and all have their origin from a very Catholic and Christian point of view, actually come from?
Why do we call this
New Year, 2011? To that question is that we are announcing this year to be the year 2011 Anno Domini, usually abbreviated A.D. meaning
“the year of the Lord”.
It is 2,011 years since the birth of Jesus Christ and His affection for us as well as His passion to fulfill the Farther’s will, resulted in His death and resurrection which ushered in a new era for the world.
As far as we know, the AD system was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus in Rome in 525, as an outcome of his work on calculating the date of Easter.
It was especially at the time of Charlemagne (8th Century) that the AD dating system became widespread in Western Europe.
The Lord Jesus Christ was born closer to what we call today 6 B.C. – Nevertheless the current dating system remains a reference to Jesus Christ. Every letter that is dated, every check that is written, every appointment that is made is swept up into the life of the one who changed the world. Someone once said that Jesus is Lord of History since history is “His-story”
The most neglected mystery of all time, known by only a few, although revealed to all. The mystery of the year 2011 and the one who changed the world.
HEB 4:12, The word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
REV 13:8, the One who would change the world is called the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
ACT 2:23, He was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, and nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men who put Him to death.
ACT 4:27-28, For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.
Think with me this morning as we consider that the life of the one who changed the world was born in a little-known village called Bethlehem as a child of a peasant woman, MIC 5:2.
MIC 5:2, But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, {Too} little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.
Five hundred years before the birth of the Messiah, the prophet Micah had prophesied the place of His birth.
MAT 7:14, “For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.”
Though the city of Bethlehem was a very small city, the Lord had chosen it to be the place of birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Messiah.
Those in positions of authority lack the intestinal fortitude it takes to stand up for the truth and go against the herd.
JOH 12:42-43, Many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”
LUK 16:15, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
MAT 23:5-6, they are those who do all their deeds to be noticed by men; They love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the churches,”
When the priests and scribes failed to believe and apply that Bethlehem was the place of birth of the Messiah, they also failed to know that the city of David was Bethlehem.
God chooses the little things of the world to conceal in glory its greatest things. As Gideon said in JDG 6:15Gideon said to the Lord, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.”
JDG 6:16, The Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”
JOH 1:45-46, Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
We are also taught that the life of the one who would changed the world worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty – LUK 3:23.
NUM 4:3, from thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting.
At this time we are then told that the life of the one who changed the world then became a traveling preacher,MAR 1:35-39. Think of this amazing but almost never considered fact that the life of the one who changed the world was one who never wrote a book.
HEB 10:7, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the roll of the book it is written of Me) To do Thy will, O God.’”
The life of the one who changed the world would be the one who never held an office; JOH 18:36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
He never did one thing that usually accompanies greatness with the exception of performing miracles whenever He wanted or desired to. MAT 8:4, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and present the offering that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”
He had no credentials but Himself;
JOH 14:11, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves.” While still a young man, the life of the one who changed the world would have public opinion turn against Him. The life of the one who changed the world would be marked by His friends running away from Him in time of trouble; MAR 14:27. And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’”
One close to Him would also deny Him, as well as all of His disciples; MAT 26:33-35, 69-75.
The life of the one who changed the world went through the mockery of a trial, MAT 20:18-19. The life of the one who changed the world ended up nailed to a cross between two thieves;
MAT 27:38 At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.
His executioners gambled for His only piece of property – His coat; MAR 15:24, And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them, {to decide} what each should take.
The life of the one who changed the world would have His body laid in a borrowed grave;
JOH 19:41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid.
Twenty centuries have come and gone. And today He is still the centerpiece of the human race.
All the armies that ever marched,
All the navies that ever sailed,
All the parliaments that ever sat,
And all the kings that ever reigned put together,
have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as that?
One Solitary Life. He was born in an obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until he was about thirty. He then became an traveling preacher. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn’t go to college. He had no credentials but Himself. After preaching three years, the public turned against Him. His friends ran away.
He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth. He was laid in a borrowed grave. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched,
all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and
all the kings that ever reigned
“HAVE NOT AFFECTED THE LIFE OF MAN ON THE EARTH AS MUCH AS THAT ONE SOLITARY LIFE.”