The Ultimate Event

Have you ever been to a red carpet event? Or have anyone witnessed a red carpet event? I’m sure we all have.

We see celebrities and other important people in society arrive at this event. There a hundreds of people who have arrived there just to witness this.

We see loads of photographers at the ready to do battle with the other photographers to get the perfect shot.

We see glamorous outfits, expensive jewellery, fancy cars, elaborate lighting and audio, TV cameras, and not to forget the most important part of the event… the long red carpet that symbolises status and importance.

And all this for a very brief moment to see the people walk from their cars into the door of a building for a function.

But what we do not see is the person who has worked tirelessly with his or her staff for months in advance preparing that glamorous moment. Making it happen.

We don’t see the person who puts up the sound equipment, or the person who put of the light, or the person who cleaned everything up, or the person who rolled out the red carpet. That is what we do not see.

That is very similar to how God orchestrated and is orchestrating The Ultimate Event!

The Ultimate event that God has already orchestrated was Jesus’ birth.

And the second Ultimate Event that God is orchestrating is when Jesus comes again.

We are going to have a look at a small part of that majestic planning to try appreciate the work of the one who made it all happen.

I have combined two gospel texts for us this morning to get a better picture. One is about Mary, Jesus’ mom. And the other is about Jesus’ earthly dad, Joseph.

Context:

• Account of what happened before Jesus was born. We can see how God was planning The Ultimate Event.
• In the text leading up to our reading this morning, we meet Zechariah (Priest) and Elizabeth (Mary’s mother of Jesus’ cousin). They are married and well into their years when the angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah to tell him that he will have a son, John – Jesus’s cousin.
• Here’s the kicker… Elizabeth was old and barren.

Text 1: Luke 1:26-38

26. In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,

27. to a virgin pledged to be married (engagement) to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”

29. Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

30. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God.

31. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.

• Jesus’ name had a meaning - in the sense that God is telling us something. Jesus = Greek for “The Lord Saves” – which meant God was planning to initiate something that will save people.

32. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,

• Father David = From the Davidic line. David was Jesus’ great+ grandfather. So it doesn’t literally mean that Jesus’ father was David.
• Like my surname is Zondagh, and I am from the Zondagh line.

33. and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

• The house of Jacob = All who belong to the twelve tribes of Jacob which symbolised all people. So, Jesus would reign over all of God’s people.

34. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

• Contracted to Joseph but they were not yet together as a married couple. So she humbly enquires about the logistics of this plan.

35. The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

• You may or may not remember but this same action that takes place here with the Holy Spirit, also took place right in the beginning of time when the world was created.
• Genesis 1:2  “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
• So the Spirit who was at the time of creation, is the same spirit who is overshadowing Mary.
• Whilst doing that he created the body that Jesus would have.
• You often hear of minister talking about Jesus being fully human and fully God at the same time. Well, hopefully this will help you understand that right from the beginning, Jesus body wasn’t only created in a human’s womb but he was also created by the Holy Spirit.
• Example: Clay - Like if you take two pieces of different coloured clay. One red and the other yellow. One is fully red and the other is fully yellow, but when you squash them together to will have one ball of clay that is fully red and fully yellow at the same time.
• This didn’t happen in the case of John, Elizabeth’s son. He would be conceived naturally, although she miraculously conceived, John wasn’t created like Jesus was. Thus, simply by this contrast, we already determine that Jesus would be no ordinary person. He will be called the Son of God.
• Also what we need to understand is that Jesus, although his physical body was created in this moment, was always there. Jesus himself wasn’t created here, he doesn’t have a beginning because he is God, only his earthly body had a beginning.
• That’s how Jesus came into the world as a human but could remain fully God as well.

36. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.

• If Mary had any doubt about the she was going to become pregnant, it would be extinguished when the Holy Spirit tells her that her old barren cousin is 6 months pregnant.

37. For no word from God will ever fail.”

38. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

Now, do you remember that Mary is pledged to be married to Joseph? What happens when he find out that his soon-to-be-virgin-wife is pregnant? This is what soap operas are made out of! Let’s see…

Our second text is about Joseph:

Text 2: Matthew 1: 18-25

18. This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about : His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

• Before they came together = a women will stay in her father’s house and only after a certain time would she then go live with her husband. Only then could the consummate their marriage.
• So, they were married but not yet living together and they had not yet made love.
• What we don’t know is what kind of conversation took place between Mary and Joseph about this, but it is obvious that it wasn’t satisfactory to Joseph…

19. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

• Now this is integrity! He didn’t want to make a spectacle of Mary and blurt it out the she is pregnant without his baby. For if he did so, the law required that Mary be stoned to death. Hence, his idea of a quite divorce.

20. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

21. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

22. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet:

23. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

• Ok, what’s happening here? Is his name Jesus or Immanuel? Well, both.
• Remember earlier I said God was revealing what his plan was in the name of Jesus? Well, the same applies here. God is letting them in on a little secret. He is revealing that He is coming to save us and by doing so, He is going to be with us, as Jesus himself.
• The Ultimate Event is approaching! God is coming to be with us and save us!

24. When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

• Now only does his wife go home with him.

25. But he had no union (no consummation of their marriage yet) with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Ok, so I hope you have a bigger picture now of what happened. But allow me to bottom line it for us – time wise.

Already from the Old Testament times, there was talk about the coming of the messiah, Immanuel. But no one knew when until God made it happen.

So we have… different stages:

• From the Old Testament time,
• Fast forward to the conception of John the Baptist,
• 6 months later, the conception of Jesus,
• To, when Joseph and Mary are married when Joseph discovers Mary’s pregnancy.

None of this happened all at once. Everything was planned for The Ultimate Event, the birth of Jesus – When God himself will dwell amongst us. (We will cover that part on Christmas day).

God planned everything. He was the one behind The Ultimate Event, the birth of Jesus. And he had his ‘staff’ = those called by him to help in this planning.

In the Old Testament, we have the prophets and some other people.

And in the beginning of the New Testament, we have Mary and Joseph, and Zechariah and Elizabeth. All called to be part of the planning and preparation of The Ultimate Event.

And we know that The Ultimate Event happened relatively smoothly and there were some wonderful things that happened, but there weren’t any photographers, camera crew, nice cars, thousands of people or even a red carpet.

It was only Mary, Joseph, a few animals and some shepherds and some wise men. Nothing to suggest This Ultimate Event was happening.

So what made it The Ultimate Event? It was the birth of the Son of God into the world, who would come to take away the sins of the world and win salvation for the sinners. It was God with us, for God to save us. It’s the Event where everything would change… forever.

But we need to ask ourselves. Would this event have taken place if Joseph ignored the word of God that came to him by saying, “No God! That woman is a liar and I am hurt by this rubbish. You can take Mary and this virgin birth thing and forget about me.”

Or; if Mary decided to skip town in fear of her own safety instead over obeying God’s plan for her.

Maybe, Maybe not?!

The key here is that because Joseph and Mary trusted the Ultimate Event coordinator, The Ultimate Event happened.

So what do we learn from this?

As we know, Jesus never only came for one time only. He said that He is coming again. This is another prophecy that we are living in right now that hasn’t happened yet.

But what we need to know is, God is still the Ultimate Event coordinator who is planning Jesus’ second coming. And while we wait, God is calling on people like Mary and Joseph, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, the prophets, the disciples, and all the saints - you and me - to do what he asks us to do so that when The Ultimate Event happens, thousands of people will benefit because we have done our parts.

Like Joseph, we cannot have an incorrect attitude when God has something planned.

Like Mary, we cannot head for the hills when God asks us to do something that scares us.

We, need trust and Obey God like they did.

God is busy preparing this world for the second coming. We have all just survived the 21^st of December when, according to the Mayan Calendar, the world was supposed to end. But if the world did end on the 21^st, would we have been prepared for the Ultimate Event where everything changes?

When Jesus comes again, the bible tells us it’s not going to be a peaceful or quiet event. It’ll be the opposite.

The lesson we need to learn from this talk is that God is still busy planning. God is calling us to be ones who carry the message of the Messiah to others.

Like Mary carried and delivered the Messiah into the world. We, too, must carry and deliver the Gospel into this world.

Like Joseph was asked to suck it up for God’s bigger plan. We, too, sometimes must suck it up for God’s bigger plan.

We aren’t the people who should be seeking a glimpse of what’s happening at The Ultimate Event. We are the people who are supposed to be part of it, getting things ready!

That’s what it means to be a child of God.

God is planning this for our ultimate salvation. For us! To spend eternity with him where this is no more pain or suffering or sadness. It’s for us! So, I believe we owe it to God to be part of the behind-the-scenes-crew to help him as much as possible.

So how do we prepare for the second Ultimate Event?

• Ask yourself, “Am I doing what God wants me to do for Him?” if not, then what are you doing to find out. Ask God to show you, or simply get involved. Don’t just wait. Just Do!
• If you are, then how can you do it better? Then do it.

If you claim to be a Christian and have asked Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Saviour, then you do not have a choice. You must serve God and do whatever is required of you.

What must you do?

• Trust God’s plan for your life.
• Do whatever you must for Him.
• And remember, God is the Ultimate planner – in all things, especially in your life.
• His timing is perfect for everything.